Three projects created by CEHD students and alumni won prizes at the 2020 Acara Challenge competition. The annual competition, which challenges individuals to develop solutions to pressing social and environmental problems, took place virtually on March 26. More than 200 students, alumni, faculty, and community members heard pitches from 12 finalists and voted on their favorites. The three winning projects with CEHD ties were Furaharakati, the Loring Collective, and LibroMío.
Furaharakati
Furaharakati, created by School of Kinesiology graduate Anna Solfest, won the silver prize in the undergraduate division. The project is an exercise program for Ugandan adults. “Our team was interested in older adult health and we were connected with Faith Nawagi, an RN and researcher in Kampala, Uganda,” she said. Nawagi has done extensive research on the health of older adults in Uganda. Solfest and her team worked with Nawagi to develop an idea to address some of the most well-documented challenges that that population faces and created a community-based exercise program. For winning the silver prize, Solfest and her teammates, Allison Berry of the College of Biological Sciences and Allie Trask of the School of Nursing, will receive $3,000. “This funding will go toward implementing and evaluating a pilot program of this plan, and this pilot program we plan to transition into a long-term permanent program that will promote physical activity, social engagement, and improve the quality of life of older adults in Uganda,” Solfest said.
Loring Collective
The Loring Collective, created by human resource development and business and marketing education student Melissa Riepe, won the bronze prize in the undergraduate division. Team members include Tony Burton and Enzo Mazumdar Stanger of CLA, Izzy Voigt of CFANS, and community partner Brady Bunkelman. The Loring Collective is a non-profit with the goal to empower queer creatives through celebration, showcasing, and networking of the Twin Cities’ queer talent. “Queer creatives experience of variety of discrimination depending on identity and experience, but overall they are underappreciated in the local scene,” Riepe said. The Loring Collective is addressing this challenge by giving the recognition these creatives deserve through creating an online fan-voted awards program, developing the careers of creatives through open mic nights, and fostering collaboration between local artists. For taking bronze, Riepe and team won $2,000 to pay for expenses related to developing a pilot project. “We hope that through our events and programs that we will foster a community throughout the Twin Cities of queer creatives across mediums,” Riepe said. “We want the community to thrive together.”
LibroMío
LibroMío, created by a PhD student in second language education, was selected crowd favorite for the graduate division. LibroMío provides affordable access to books in all formats in Spanish and anchors reading enjoyment and sharing of reading experiences with enjoyable, cross-generational community practices. In a pilot period of six months, every member of a participating Latinx family can choose a Spanish book in any format each month. The books are theirs to keep. When LibroMío delivers the book bundles personally to the families each month, the delivery is combined with enjoyable community practices, specifically a family conversation over food about reading experiences, life challenges, sense of life satisfaction, community connections, and empowerment. These conversations and community moments allow for ongoing evaluation of the pilot and inform how to scale and implement LibroMio in the years to come. As crowd favorite winner, LibroMío receives $500 for project development.
