Saw Monkey Wrench
keep up the gd wrk.
use for Costco treats for performers/staff/volunteers.
We apprec. all you do in community.
Fantastic website.
looks wonderful.
make annual donation.
If I'm around, I might stop by.
Have a gr8 & healthy 2026.  Thx.


In honor of my friend Laramie F. who is an anti-imperialist artist and shares in the collective struggle for a Free Palestine

Thank you, Story House, for all the laughs, ideas, surprises, heartfelt connections. What a beautiful community builder. 

Best wishes to my creative sister, Elaine Tajima, and your partners in your Origins project.  

Christmas gift for Ellie Vanderlip from Pat and Birdy

Thank you for your important and beautiful work, love Catherine Filloux 

I am proud to contribute to this incredible space that inspires so much hope.

SFNF is San Francisco's premiere performance art troupe and a fiscally sponsored project of Intersection for the Arts.

The San Francisco Neo-Futurists are a collective of wildly prolific artists dedicated to the perpetual creation of experimental theatre that is immediate, ephemeral, accessible, and cheap. We believe the stage is an extension of daily life: we perform as ourselves in a non-illusory, interactive style that challenges the audience to create alongside us as active participants with a voice of their own. We respect and uplift each other on and off stage through non-hierarchical accountability, collective decision-making, and anti-oppression practice of all kinds. We do over 100 shows a year and we will never stop. 

San Francisco Neo-Futurists

The Foundation's operations are mainly in Palestine and in the United Kingdom through the Mosaic Rooms.

We support children, teachers, and young artists in the fields of culture and education 
 
The A. M. Qattan Foundation (AMQF) is an independent, non-profit organization working in the fields of culture and education, with a focus on children, teachers, and young artists. Founded and registered as a charity in the United Kingdom in 1993, the Foundation operates mainly in Palestine, Lebanon and the UK. Our Vision   A just, free, enlightened, and tolerant society with an active global presence that embraces dialogue and produces knowledge, art, and literature Our Mission   Achieve a dynamic cultural environment that is conducive to the production of emancipatory thought and knowledge Our Values Rights and dignity for all; Freedom, pluralism, dialogue, and the production of knowledge; A spirit of collegial productivity; The courage to act justly and ethically. Strategic Goals 2020–2024 Develop and disseminate cultural output to a wide public, encouraging it to become more active and responsive; Strengthen existing cultural, artistic, and educational structures to make them more dynamic and capable of producing critical and emancipatory thought and knowledge; Work towards an ecosystem conducive to the Foundation's role and mission; Promote the A. M. Qattan Foundation as a pioneering institution and an inspiring model; Ensure financial sustainability.

A.M. Qattan Foundation

Story House Ithaca brings people together to share, study, create, and enjoy stories in all their forms.

Story House Ithaca brings people together around stories. We define “story” very broadly, to include fiction and nonfiction, poetry and song, documentary, journalism, photography, audio, film, theater, puppetry, visual and performance art, graphics, dance, and every other way of communicating ideas and experience. Our definition of “house” is also broad. We hope eventually to settle into our own space, but for now we’re excited to be popping up around the community.

**The Problem**

Our society is going through a period of fracturing, as people of different socioeconomic, cultural, and educational backgrounds divide into ever more insular groups. One reason for this is a lack of opportunities for people to interact in meaningful and non-threatening ways. This has had disastrous consequences in politics, public health, and many other areas.
  
 **Our Approach**

- Story House creates. We dream up, organize, and present workshops, discussions, readings, talks, screenings, exhibitions, performances, participatory projects, and other activities. 
- Story House collaborates. We work with organizations, artists, activists, scholars, and others to plan and present compelling programming. 
- Story House connects. We help creative people and groups find new partners and reach new audiences. 
- Story House empowers. We help members of our community acquire the skills they need to tell the stories they want to tell.

In all our programs and activities, we are committed to creating inclusive spaces that welcome diversity. We strive to foster interactions between people of different cultures, ethnicities, and socioeconomic backgrounds, with the goal of working toward shared understanding and a more equitable, anti-racist society.
 
**Our Team**

Lesley Greene (co-director) is a producer, designer, writer, and director. She worked for many years at the Kitchen Theatre Company, where she curated and produced three performance series, created sound and projection designs, and served as chief grant writer and head of marketing. She is a co-founder and co-organizer of Porchfest, a festival that began in Ithaca in 2007 and now takes place in more than 150 cities across North America.
  
Jonathan Miller (co-director) is a writer, journalist, editor, radio producer, podcaster, and media project leader whose work has taken him to more than 20 countries. Since 2006, he has been executive director of Homelands Productions, an award-winning journalism collective that specializes in public radio features and documentaries. Jon serves on the board of Ithaca City of Asylum and coordinates the ONWARDS project, which seeks to help displaced writers, artists, human rights defenders, and scholars find stability in the USA.
 
**Contact information** 

Lesley Greene and Jonathan Miller, co-directors
[info@storyhouseithaca.org](mailto:info@storyhouseithaca.org) 
   

Story House Ithaca

Saffron Arts & Culture sparks creativity with accessible programs and experiences that help artists and youth thrive.

**Support** [Saffron Arts and Culture](https://www.saffronartsandculture.org)

Saffron Arts and Culture fosters artistic expression and creativity by providing accessible art programs, mentorships, and vibrant, innovative experiences for a diverse creative community of youth, emerging, and established artists. We want to create an environment where talent flourishes and voices are heard.

Your contribution fuels our mission through three core initiatives:

[Saffron Arts + Ed](https://www.saffronartsandculture.org/artsed)

We partner with schools and community centers to bring high-quality art experiences directly to elementary, middle and high school students. Through hands-on projects and mentorship, students discover their creative spark, build confidence, and develop skills that support lifelong learning.

[The Origin Stories Project](https://www.saffronartsandculture.org/originstories)

Our signature storytelling and visual arts initiative invites participants of all ages to explore the moments that shaped who they are—experiences of arrival, legacy, revelation, or adversity. These narratives are transformed into original artworks and shared through moderated forums and exhibitions that foster empathy, dialogue, and community connection.

[Saffron Creative Collective](https://www.saffronartsandculture.org/creative-collective)

We support artists at every stage through exhibitions, workshops, residencies, immersive cultural tours, and an online marketplace. This initiative helps artists grow their practice, reach new audiences, and build sustainable creative careers.

**Together, these initiatives create vibrant, inclusive spaces where artistic expression is celebrated and creativity becomes a bridge to understanding. Your support makes this possible.**

***We are fiscally sponsored by Intersection for the Arts, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, which allows us to offer you tax deductions for your contributions. This ensures that you’ll receive an acknowledgement letter for tax purposes, and your donation will be available for our project.***

Saffron Arts and Culture

Artists' Television Access is an all-volunteer, artist-run, underground and experimental media arts gallery founded in 1984.

Artists’ Television Access is a San Francisco-based, artist-run, non-profit organization that cultivates and promotes culturally-aware, underground media and experimental art. We provide an accessible screening venue and gallery for the presentation of programmed and guest-curated screenings, exhibitions, performances, workshops and events. We believe in fostering a supportive community for the exhibition of innovative art and the exchange of non-conformist ideas.

Artists' Television Access

Built on conflict resolution, crime prevention, diplomacy building, community development and preservation of historic memory.

The community art projects created in the Perquin Model focus on the challenges posed by inter-communal and societal conflicts in today’s world.

Our mission is to bring greater awareness through shared town meetings and through the planning of collaborative art interventions and public art pieces.

The collaborative art projects recover historic memory while providing artistic skills and practical expertise in a new model of art education.

The mandate of our school is to create bridges of collaboration with local and political agencies that will welcome art as a contribution of social planning, to develop leadership roles among the participants, especially the youth who will face the challenge to grow up in a collapsed economic scenario threatened by poverty and unemployment.

Through art and creative praxis, children and youth focus on conflict resolution envisioning a proposition for endurable peace.

Walls of Hope

Empowering Palestinians since 1983 through education, culture and relief programs in Palestine and beyond. Together, we build hope

**Taawon (Welfare Association)** is a **non-profit**, **civic organization** launched in **Geneva** in the year **1983**, upon the initiative of a group of **Palestinian and Arab economists** and intellectuals.
**Taawon has become one of the largest organizations operating in Palestine and the diaspora camps in Lebanon**, whereby it touches the lives of **more than one million Palestinians** on an annual basis, with half of these beneficiaries being **women**.
**Since its establishment, Taawon has invested funds reaching nearly US $900 million, dedicated to development and relief programs.**

**Taawon’s record** over the past 40 years reflects a journey full of achievements reinforced by **strong partnerships**.
Taawon’s long and rich experience has enabled it to:

- Overcome **obstacles** and **difficult conditions** due to the **Israeli occupation**
- Find **innovative and creative solutions** to crises
- Remain responsive to needs despite **social and economic instability**

Taawon maintains a presence in:

- **Palestine**
- **Jordan**
- **Lebanon**
- **Switzerland**
- **Great Britain** (via its sister organization)

Its **interventions reinforce the steadfastness** of **Palestinian citizens** in **Palestine** and the **refugee camps in Lebanon**.

**Taawon aims to:**

- **Empower Palestinian individuals** and **civil society institutions**
- Strengthen **identity**, **freedom**, **democracy**, and **human values**
- Preserve **Palestinian cultural heritage**, highlighting its **unique position**
- Unleash the creative energies of **youth**, **women**, and **children**
- Provide **equal opportunities** for all segments of society
- Promote **creativity** and **excellence** despite the most difficult circumstances

**Taawon works in partnership** with civil society organizations through:

- Purposeful planning
- High-standard policies

Guided by:

- The **Universal Declaration of Human Rights**
- The **United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)**
- The **Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity**

🏅 *Awards & Recognition:*

- **Taawon Awards for Excellence & Creativity**, granted annually to those advancing **sustainable development in Palestine** 
- Recipient of the **Mahatma Award (2018–2020)** for **COVID‑19 humanitarian efforts** [taawon.org](https://www.taawon.org/en/content/awards-received?utm_source=chatgpt.com)

***Our Vision****:*

*“To envision the Palestinian people as citizens of an independent, free, democratic Arab Palestine, living in dignity, prosperity and self‑fulfillment.”*

Taawon (Welfare Association)

The Taube Center is committed to strengthening the bonds between Jews and Jewish communities worldwide.

The Taube Center provides innovative educational programs and extensive resources with the aim to enrich Jewish life in Poland and to connect Jews from around the world with their Eastern European heritage. The Taube Center has developed an array of programs, which serve the Jewish communities in Poland and engage audiences from around the world. Constantly expanding its network of partner organizations, the Center has recently become a member of the European Association for the Preservation and Promotion of Jewish Culture and Heritage. Taube Jewish Heritage Tours Taube Jewish Heritage Tours is a mission-driven, on-the-ground Jewish heritage tour service based in Poland. Our professional team of academics, guides, educators, and community leaders provide meaningful and engaging customized tours of Poland's multicultural landscape, infusing each encounter with illuminating personal stories and insights from those engaged in Polish Jewish life and committed to the preservation of Polish Jewish heritage. TJHTalks Series Having suspended our flagship program, Taube Jewish Heritage Tours, we launched TJHTalks in April 2020 as an interactive way to maintain contact with past and future tour participants and to broaden the Center's audience. Yerusha: Professional Development Program The year-long program, now in its second year, distinguishes itself from other Jewish professional development opportunities in that the operative language is Polish and all workshop facilitators are based in Poland. Resource and Educational Materials The Taube Center has developed a sophisticated set of resource materials in several languages that support our educational programs and are especially valuable for our study tour program. Our publications have been disseminated at the POLIN Museum and the Galicia Jewish Museum and through Polish embassies and cultural institutions around the world.

Taube Center for Jewish Life & Learning

The Rivanna Area Queer Center provides a safe refuge for all LGBTQIA+ people 
in Charlottesville and the surrounding counties.

LGBTQIA+ people need spaces of our own where we can take refuge, build resilient communities, and organize for our collective liberation. RAQC provides a safe and loving home for the queer community in Charlottesville and the surrounding counties. Programming at RAQC addresses multiple areas of need: support groups, peer counseling, and on-site mental health professionals contribute to the emotional wellbeing of our community. Classes and workshops on topics as diverse as screen printing, foraging, and self defense address our physical and creative needs. Social events like mixers, parties, and performances ensure that our region’s vibrant queer culture continues to flourish. In addition to our own programming, RAQC also serves as a safe and accessible space where all local queer organizations and individuals can host their own events.

Rivanna Area Queer Center (RAQC)

We host 300+ social impact projects across Europe 

Open Collective Europe promotes charitable initiatives within the European Union, with a focus on Education, Social Impact and Civic participation, and provides such initiatives with a simple and transparent way to manage their finances. Open Collective Europe's mission is to promote projects in the EU with the following charitable purposes: - increasing access to educational resources and training,  - creating a positive social impact and  - developing tools to improve civic participation within cities or communities. Future perspectives At the beginning of 2022, we shared our desire to grow the Open Collective Europe community. Our goal is to make the community more vibrant, supported and resilient. We set out to build a more comprehensive fiscal hosting service and support system for our collectives.  

Open Collective Europe

Provides creative arts programs to young patients and families in children's hospitals across North Carolina.

Arts For Life is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting pediatric patients and families through arts education and engagement. By providing educational art programs, we enrich patients’ lives, nurture their minds and spirits, and encourage positive healthcare experiences for children and their families. Arts For Life helps children every day in three communities across North Carolina.

Arts For Life

Dedicated to supporting an open and dynamic Palestinian culture nationally and internationally 
 
 The Palestinian Museum is a S

The Palestinian Museum is a Swiss-registered non-governmental association with a branch in Palestine (currently undergoing official of registration). The Museum's Vision: A vibrant Palestinian culture Mission: The production and dissemination of emancipatory learning experiences about Palestine, its people and history through innovative programmes in Palestine and around the world. Values - Inclusivity: The Palestinian Museum builds partnerships and bolsters Palestinian communities wherever they are - Excellence: The Palestinian Museum produces verifiably accurate content - Creativity and Innovation: The Palestinian Museum presents novel tools and concepts as well as innovative content across all its platforms - Transparency: The Palestinian Museum is accountable to society and strives to maintain its trust - Independence: The Palestinian Museum is an independent institution with no political affiliations - Inspiration: The Palestinian Museum is a source of hope for a free Palestinian future Museum without Borders The Palestinian Museum was designed as a transnational institution, capable of overcoming geographical and political boundaries to reach Palestinians within historic Palestine and beyond. Its digital collections and online platforms, alongside its network of local and international partnerships, will allow for the sharing of skills, resources, programmes and exhibitions with individuals and institutions worldwide. The Palestinian Museum sits on a 40,000 square metre plot of land in Bizeit, 7 kilometres north of Ramallah and 25 kilometres north of Jerusalem. The building's structure merges with the cascading terraces unique to Palestine's hills and is surrounded by gardens that incarnate the agricultural and vegetational history of Palestine. The Museum is Palestine's first green building with a Gold LEED certificate from the U.S. Green Building Council. The building has received the 2019 Aga Khan Award for Architecture. The Palestinian Museum is designed as a transnational institution, overcoming boundaries to reach Palestinians within Palestine and beyond through its digital collections and online platforms, alongside its network of local and international partnerships.  The Museum's organizes annual and seasonal exhibitions, virtual reality exhibitions, permanent collection expansion and conservation, public and education programmes, knowledge-based programmes, digital and archiving projects, and capital and infrastructure projects. 

The Palestinian Museum Association 

Dawn Treader Christian School is a nonprofit organization based in Paterson, NJ. It received its nonprofit status in 1973.

Dawn Treader Christian School inspires and equips students to grow in spiritual maturity through biblical truth, achieve academic excellence, and impact the world for the Kingdom of God. DTCS educates the total student in an intercultural, Christian setting so that each may live the Christian life as a unique image-bearer of God.

Dawn Treader Christian School

Baltimore Youth Arts provides creative education and job training for youth, focusing on those impacted by the justice system.

**Baltimore Youth Arts (BYA)** is a community-based arts and workforce development program for youth ages 14–25, focusing on those impacted by the juvenile justice system. BYA offers young people a platform to express themselves, build leadership skills, and prepare for employment and adulthood through paid creative job training, mentorship, and educational programming.

We work inside youth detention centers and in the community to ensure that young people are recognized for their creativity, resilience, and power. Your support helps us provide youth stipends, art supplies, job training, and a safe, supportive space where youth can grow and thrive.

Together, we’re creating a future where young people are not only heard but hired, healed, and celebrated.

Baltimore Youth Arts

We serve youth in Florence, Hartsville, Hemingway, Johnsonville, Lake City, Pamplico, & Timmonsville with out-of-school programs. 

Boys & Girls Clubs of the Pee Dee Area have been serving youth ages 6-18 for more than 60 years. Today, we operate seven club sites in Florence, Hartsville, Hemingway, Johnsonville, Lake City, Pamplico, and Timmonsville with more than 700 kids passing through our doors each day.

Our mission is to inspire and enable all youth, from throughout the Pee Dee area, especially those that need us most, to realize their full potential as productive, responsible, and caring citizens. Clubs fill the gap between school and home with a welcoming, positive environment in which kids and teens have fun, participate in life-changing programs, and build supportive relationships with peers and caring adults. Using a nationally recognized, evidence-based programming, our priority outcomes include

- **Academic Success:** Graduating from high school ready for college, trade school, military, or employment
- **Good Character & Leadership:** Being an engaged citizen involved in the community, registered to vote, and modeling good character
- **Healthy Lifestyles:** Adopting a healthy diet, practicing healthy lifestyle choices, and making a lifelong commitment to fitness.

In every community, boys and girls are left to find their own recreation and companionship in the streets. An increasing number of children are at home with no adult care or supervision. Young people need to know that someone cares about them.

Boys & Girls Clubs offer that and more. Club programs and services promote and enhance the development of boys and girls by instilling a sense of competence, usefulness, belonging and influence.

Boys & Girls Clubs are a safe place to learn and grow – all while having fun. We truly are **“The Positive Place For Kids.”**

The purpose of the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Pee Dee Area is to promote the social, educational, health, leadership, and character development of boys and girls during critical periods of their growth. This includes tutoring and academic assistance and instilling the importance of learning.

Boys & Girls Clubs provides a safe place to learn and grow; ongoing relationships with caring, adult professionals; life-enhancing programs and character development experiences; and h**ope and opportunity.**

Boys & Girls Clubs of the Pee Dee Area

Did you know that 1.3 million children in Kenya between 10-19 years old struggle with mental health? ChezaCheza has developed a robust dance therapy curriculum built to improve the mental health and well-being of children.

ChezaCheza is a Kenyan not-for-profit founded in 2018, and we are on a mission to create access to safe spaces for children in marginalised communities where dance supports their mental health and well-being.

Through our therapeutic dance sessions, children experience the joy of dancing while flourishing into young adults with strong minds who show up in life with self-esteem and high self-awareness and approach life’s challenges with responsible actions.

Our Why
Children in marginalised communities live in a chronic environment of stress, with high levels of violence, abuse and adversity. 

This is an environment that induces toxic stress, making it difficult for children to regulate their emotions, resulting in impulsive actions and decisions, physical acting out, drug abuse, anxiety, and low self-esteem. ChezaCheza wants to use dance as therapy to combat this.

Community Dance Coaches
We find, train and equip dancers from marginalised communities to become Community-Based Dance Coaches who create safe spaces in their communities and schools.

Through an intensive training program, they gain skills to guide a ChezaCheza session, where they teach children how dance can be a tool for expressing their feelings, releasing stress, and building confidence.

Weekly Dance Sessions
Children receive a child-friendly, fun and culturally appropriate mental health service through weekly therapeutic dance sessions.

Each session incorporates Dance Movement Therapy, Social-Emotional Learning and Mindfulness Meditation.

ChezaCheza 

The BnF's mission is to collect, catalogue, preserve, enrich and communicate the national documentary heritage in France.

Join us to restore, preserve and make available to all our universal heritage  
 
The Bibliothèque nationale de France  (BnF) is France's oldest cultural organization, originating in 1368 as the Royal Library of Charles V. It has grown over the ensuing 650 years into one of the world's largest, most prestigious, and most digitally accessible libraries.  The BnF is a leading custodian of a world heritage. Its encyclopedic collections are unique: all disciplines, whether intellectual, artistic or scientific, are represented in a comprehensive way. 

The BnF preserves over 44 million documents. In addition, the BnF's digital library, Gallica, provides free access to 10 million documents, for people from around the world to use for reading and learning. The BnF strives to provide educational, cultural and social enrichment to all.   

Projects to support:
There is a wide variety of projects to support at the BnF: digitization, acquisition, research activities, scholarships, etc. 
We selected 3 specific projects you may be interested to support:   

- The Marcel Proust collection acquisition 
- Emergency restoration - salle des Vélins 
- Henry's Miller Return to Paris
   
Please, click on the dedicated tabs below to find more information about them. If you wish to find another project to support, feel free to contact us. 

Bibliothèque Nationale de France

A center that preserves Cambodian history through film.

Bophana Audiovisual Resource Center, (founded as the Association pour la recherche, la production et l’archivage des documents audiovisuels in 2005), is a leading non-profit and non-governmental archive center, committed to reviving the memory of Cambodia and fostering Cambodian culture through arts and multimedia. This memory and culture have been nearly destroyed by three decades of war and genocide. Aiming to reconstruct the memory of Cambodia, under the term “Save and Resuscitate Yesterday’s and Today’s Memories”, Bophana Center collects and safeguards audiovisual archives of Cambodia including films, photos and sound archives from around the world; provides public access to this audiovisual heritage; and trains youths in filmmaking to facilitate freedom and artistic expression and for archiving the country. These efforts will help Cambodians to gradually restore this priceless heritage, and will enable them to understand their past, build their present and invent their future.

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, and like other institutions in Cambodia, Bophana Center has complied with restrictions which required the closure of public spaces, work places and the suspension of outdoor projects which are the main sources of the Center’s income. As a result, the Center struggled to cover basic monthly expenses to pay for staff salaries, utilities, and other core expenses.

As Bophana begins to re-open, staff are returning and exploring ways to re-start Bophana's programs.  Your donation at this critical moment is urgently needed and will help the Center survive the unprecedented challenges posed by the COVID-19 virus pandemic and the resulting national and global shutdown.

**Your generous donation will have a significant impact here at Bophana:** it will make it possible to continue Bophana Center’s vital work, keep staff, and through their efforts, have an impact on many aspects of life here in Cambodia, with students, indigenous communities, and a host of other groups.

Association pour la recherche, la production et l'archivage de documents audiovisuels

E N C Inc is a 501c3 nonprofit organization since 2019, based in Marsfield, WI focused on older adults and adults with autism.

Adults with autism need society to understand what autism is for each individual.  The education system, in much of the US, has gained a great deal of expertise in meeting individual needs and reliably creating a environment for individuals to be successful.  Unfortunately after high school there is a cliff rather than a bridge to more productive opportunities.

Our older adults in America are very often isolated by circumstances of where they live and how their lives have changed.  Children have grown up and moved away.  The social activities that the children obligated them to attend are gone so many have no social contact for weeks.  Isolation leads to boredom, loneliness and depression.  Loneliness has been shown to be as hard on health as 15 cigarettes a day.  

The Pandemic has taught us how all of us NEED social engagement.   It is not a luxury it is a need and each person needs social engagement differently.   The model for aging in America right now is to stay in one’s home as long as possible, move to assisted living if it is feasible, and ultimately to a nursing home as independence deteriorates.

The people who live the longest active lives on the planet are engaged in family and community and are needed members of the community.  In assisted living and nursing home models our older Americans often feel meaningless and crave a more meaningful life.

What if we could create a multigenerational community that understands autism and cultivates volunteer activities that support one another?  What if we could create a pedestrian community where one could walk down to the community center to meet for coffee and conversation?  What if we had close working relationships with property management, social services and our coordinating staff?  We could create successful long-term places to live for families, older Americans and autistic people in a vibrant connected community.

It has been estimated before the pandemic that up to 40 % of homeless people had intellectual or developmental disabilities.  We don’t really know what percentage have autism, but I can tell you a story about a young man near me.

Tim, not his real name, was 28 years old, with a job and living in his own apartment for three years in a complex for people with disabilities when he was arrested for cutting the cords on the vacuum cleaners for the second time.  For those of us who live with loved ones who are autistic we ask, “Why did it happen a second time?”  Autistic people have a variety of sensory hypersensitivities that may be sounds, sights, tastes, smells, and touch, basically any sensation that can be felt.  The manager could have told Tim when he was going to vacuum so that Tim could put on a headset, or the manager could have vacuumed when Tim was not home.  Likely the vacuum sound was torture for Tim.

Instead of working out a solution Tim was arrested and could have ended up in jail.  Fortunately Tim’s parents were still in the picture, and just as fortunate, the judge recognized that Tim was not competent and as such had not committed a crime.  Unfortunately, Tim was evicted from his housing, and would have been homeless except that his parents found him a place to live.

Many people with autism will never be able to self-advocate.  This is an inherent part of autism.  Navigating the social world is confusing at best and one of the biggest challenges for autistics to navigate the social world of the neurotypicals.

My autistic son has taught me a lot about how different autism perception of the world is from mine.  I like to say that living with him “Everyday is Opposite Day.”

What do we mean by opposite?
 
An autistic person may run back into a burning building after being rescued, seeking their place of comfort.  Unfortunately people have died, both the autistic person and would be rescuer when this has happened.  The person with autism may seek comfort when stressed and want to return to a bedroom.
 
A person with autism is likely to be unable to look at you and listen at the same time.  Most people assume if someone is not looking at them they are also not listening.  This is not only untrue but can also lead to worse issues.  Law enforcement is often trained that avoiding eye contact is a “guilty look.”
 
“Time out” may not be an effective strategy for discipline, as many autistic minds prefer isolation.  The isolation with “Time out” is often exactly what the person with autism likes; it is quieter, much less confusing and overwhelming and can be a situation that they want to experience over and over.

Services are not enough for our older Americans, our autistic loved ones, or any of our isolated people.  What is missing from our choices of assisted living and nursing homes?  A meaningful life.  People need opportunities to do meaningful things on their own terms.

We are interpreting an award-winning model, “Treehouse Community” in Easthampton, MA, that brought together older Americans with families adopting children who have experienced foster care.  They have a high school graduation rate near 100% for those children with near 90% who go on for higher learning.  The community is all about building long term relationships.  The older Americans we met there voiced, "I never imagined I could have a life like this."  The older Americans support one another, the kids, the parents and love what they are doing.

In the model they have a three-way cooperation between Treehouse staff, property management, and social services.  They are able to match peoples’ needs to available services, leveraging what is available already.  It is a neighborhood community that considers itself trauma informed and encourages 6 hours or more a week of volunteering in the community for seniors.  This might be giving rides, teaching a skill like cooking, or taking a walk.

We have spoken to church groups, employee groups and clubs and the most common question is, “Why doesn’t this exist already?”  This kind of community is not for everyone.  Grouches need not apply.  For people who want to build a new social life where they are needed it is a new choice.

Imagine a community where people appreciate one another, where we grow understanding of one another’s’ unique qualities.  I imagine a community where my autistic son can greet everyone enthusiastically and the people get a charge out of it.  I call him “My Tigger” for the way he bounds and bounces from person to person greeting them repeatedly with his big smile.  He seems to understand that greeting people makes them happy so I imagine his repeated greetings as him multiplying the happiness he is spreading.  Who wouldn’t want someone who is happy to see them?

We will be nurturing understanding of one another, not just the autistic individuals.  We will be fostering volunteer activities of all kinds that can introduce people to one another and create teamwork in efforts desired by the community members.   We see many of the needs and abilities that may dovetail, like our older folks needing house cleaning and a few of our autistic people who love to clean.  We see working with local agencies and creating new opportunities to expose our special people to new activities but with agencies that know how to do it.

As a parent I worry about what will happen to my son when I can no longer advocate for him?   Family is not enough.  He needs a community.  We need to grow advocacy both for our aging population and our adults with disabilities.

Autism is very challenging because each person is so different.  The saying in the autism community is, “If you know a person with autism you know ONE person with autism.”  In a neighborhood community it is our aim for people to know one another and look out for one another.  

We are partnering with Wisconsin Housing Preservation Corporation (WHPC), a nonprofit developer to create the rental properties that will include a portion of affordable rental units and a community center.  We would also like to have a home ownership option immediately adjacent to the rental community.

We aim to have an outreach activity that includes the general public and those with autism in the greater community who wish to engage.

We don't have a committed timeline yet, but an estimate is three years.  We don't have a final budget yet but our estimate is $1,000,000 for our part of the capital fund and $500,000 for start up costs and staffing.  The Treehouse model has  a Community Facilitator, an education officer, coordinators for volunteers and outreach coordinators.

We believe our town is the right place for the first community like this.  We have many retired teachers and healthcare personnel who have the passion for helping one another.  A small town has its challenges in fundraising and we are grateful for the opportunity on Every.org.  We believe that this community model will be replicated and will promote a better healthy aging option for our growing population of older Americans.

I imagine a community where people understand and value one another.  I imagine a community where "My Tigger" can greet and spread happiness to all he meets there.  One need only understand that he will not likely be a conversationalist but he has a great smile and enthusiasm that is contagious.

I imagine a community where my son and others like him are safe in the world when parents are gone.


E N C Inc

MG Foundation empowers under represented youth through fitness apprenticeships, with guaranteed high income generating futures.

The Mallory Gaston Foundation is dedicated to empowering at-risk youth from Marin, San Francisco, and Alameda Counties through career exploration and internships in the health and fitness sector. Our mission is to create viable work opportunities and foster the development of responsible and engaged citizens through this transformative program. By providing education and purpose, we aim to bridge the gap between marginalized communities and the broader masses, instilling understanding, empathy, and empowerment.

Our Commitments:

1. Empowering At-Risk Youth: We are committed to providing underserved youth with the tools, resources, and opportunities necessary to explore and pursue careers in the health and fitness sector. Through mentorship programs, internships, and hands-on experiences, we aim to instill confidence, passion, and a sense of purpose in each participant.
2. Creating Viable Work Opportunities: We believe that every individual, regardless of their background, deserves access to meaningful and sustainable employment. By partnering with local businesses, organizations, and professionals in the health and fitness industry, we strive to create pathways to viable work opportunities for our program participants, ensuring a brighter future for them and their communities.
3. Fostering Responsible and Engaged Citizens: Our program goes beyond career exploration; we are dedicated to nurturing well-rounded individuals who are actively involved in their communities. Through our comprehensive curriculum, we emphasize the importance of personal growth, leadership, and social responsibility, equipping our participants with the skills and mindset necessary to become compassionate and engaged citizens.
4. Bridging Communities and Instilling Understanding: We envision a society where everyone is valued and understood, regardless of their background or circumstances. By connecting youths from marginalized communities with the broader masses through our program, we aim to break down barriers, develop empathy, and create a sense of unity. We believe that education and purpose serve as the foundation for building bridges of understanding within our community.

Through our unwavering commitment to at-risk youths, viable work opportunities, responsible citizenship, and community bridge-building, The Mallory Gaston Foundation strives to make a lasting impact on the lives of our young people and the communities we serve. Together, we can create a brighter future for all.

The Mallory Gaston Foundation

The Atlas Cultural Foundation collaborates with rural Moroccans to improve their quality of life. 

ACF understands that community needs cannot be solved in isolation and therefore works with a holistic, integrated approach to development. ACF facilitates successful projects by utilizing systems thinking and teams up with experienced partners, stakeholders, local, international or governmental bodies, and community members.

ACF was founded in 2009 and is a registered US 501c(3) non profit organization and a registered Moroccan association. All donations are tax deductible to the extent of the law. ACF is a non-denominational and non-political organization.

Atlas Cultural Foundation

Checks can be made out to Intersection for the Arts, with Arts Los Altos in the memo-line, and mailed 1446 Market Street, SF 94102

Arts Los Altos is dedicated to implementing public art that creates connections among diverse community members and local businesses, elevating the cultural identity of Los Altos. 

We have the unique ability to work directly with artists, the downtown business community and property owners to achieve vibrant, curated public art on private property. 

Public art represents innovation and sustainability, reflects nature, honors history, inspires imagination, provides moments of reflection and educates the community, from local lore to global information. It promotes economic prosperity by creating an artistic and cultural destination. Color, lighting and movement can be part of the public art, enhancing public spaces and defining a sense of place. 

Arts Los Altos

c89.5 is listener-supported public radio, playing uplifting dance music and providing career-connected learning for our students.

c89.5 is a listener-supported, non-commercial radio station owned by the Seattle Public Schools and operated by professional adult staff and students in the electronic media program at Nathan Hale High School. The station is almost entirely self-funded: over 95% of its operating revenue comes from listener donations and local businesses.

Over 150,000 listeners throughout Puget Sound tune to c89.5 every week for a diverse range of music celebrating individual differences and focusing on the joy in life. The station reaches a broad range of listeners, with a high concentration in both the 18-24 and 45-54 age ranges. Over 30% of c89.5 listeners identify as LGBTQ+.

c89.5 supports the personal and professional growth of our students, giving them the skills and confidence to succeed in careers in media and other professions. Our students gain practical experience in digital media production, public speaking, and professional presentation. Many of our alumni have gone on to careers in journalism, radio, television, and digital media.

The station is also a pioneer and worldwide leader in dance music, monitored by Nielsen and by MediaBase, and one of eight stations tracked for the Billboard Dance chart.

c89.5 has won numerous awards and is recognized as an influential radio station on the cutting edge of dance music as well as a premier high school broadcast facility.

Your donation is fully tax-deductible and supports the general operating fund of c89.5.

c89.5 Public Radio

The IWM is a non-profit institution that promotes intellectual work and enables encounters of people around ideas. 

The Institute for Human Sciences (IWM Vienna) is an institute of advanced studies in the humanities and social sciences founded in 1982. We promote intellectual exchange across disciplines, between academia and society, and among regions that now embrace Eastern, Central and Western Europe, the Global South and North. We aim to reframe larger questions of academic debate and public interest that address today's complex challenges. We believe that sustained intellectual work and its broad dissemination is essential to a humane future of open, just, and sustainable societies. 

Institut für die Wissenschaften vom Menschen (IWM)

Let's dream together better!  Exploring wisdom for a world of magical technologies with paleontologist-futurist Michael Garfield.

**If you could do anything with technology, what will you do?**

Humans On The Loop is a transdisciplinary inquiry into the nature of agency in our age of automation.

In our AI-infused society, the gap between imagination and “reality” is smaller than it’s ever been — and now it’s time for humankind to graduate from asking if our dreams are possible to asking how we can dream better. This means cultivating deeper self-awareness, more discipline and humility, and a better metaphysics of technology to help us wield these new superpowers. But decades into a period of rapid information scaling, our grasp of consensus reality and executive function have eroded, causing an epistemic crisis. The wicked problems of this century require coordination at unprecedented scale, but our greatest natural resource — attention — has worn even thinner than our topsoil. How do we regenerate it and restore the faculties we need to be good stewards of this new ecology of minds?

Navigating the challenges that come with new information technologies is a group exercise and demands inherently plural approaches. The right response to tools that amplify our biases is to lean in with curiosity and play, not fearI have spent two decades studying and synthesizing  perspectives on intelligence and technology, innovation, and human-technology co-evolution…as well as testing bleeding-edge creative tools in public, helping cultivate systems literacies for navigating transformation, and fostering a massive network of mentors and collaborators with whom I share a devotion to the cultivation of a healthy Biosphere and Technosphere. As AI comes of age, this is the moment to recruit as many of them as we can into a multimodal public inquiry on wisdom and technology, power and responsibility, holistic practices for cultivating saner futures…and how we can keep Humans On The Loop and at the wheel.

It's going to be a trip — how can we make sure that it’s a good one?

This project exists to foster a renaissance of collaboration and the conditions for new ways of knowing. Its goals include to:

– Boost public discourse at the intersection of technology and wisdom
– Create a legacy of public goods that help train instruments for deepening our understanding
– Prototype and demonstrate experimental tools for thought
– Promote the adoption of reflexive AI for both private and public good
– Help map the emergent ecosystem of changemaking orgs and wise innovators
– Fertilize new narratives and strategies for navigating "wicked problems"
– Bridge domains and cultures in positive-sum collaboration

***Explore this project's [vision document](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1kIoDlRD721UhZW4SjXIeccpCo2-v3ngoF1iZDwNyfPU/edit?usp=sharing), [pitch deck](https://bit.ly/hotl-slideshow), and* [essay/podcast archive](https://michaelgarfield.substack.com/t/humans-on-the-loop)*.***
***[Subscribe](https://michaelgarfield.substack.com/subscribe) for weekly dialogues plus articles, reviews, monthly hangouts, and more.* And please** [email my secure inbox](mailto:humansontheloop@proton.me) **with questions or partnership requests!**

Humans On The Loop

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