Another trip was ventured to NYC to expand the scope of our work outside of our immediate community in Washington DC, and to expand the scope of our personal and professional experiences. This time, we stayed with some good friends in what many claim is the most diverse neighborhood in the world: Jackson Heights in Queens, NY. Little did we know that over 160 different countries are represented in this NYC neighborhood, and over 135 languages are spoken by its residents. We were in awe of the sheer diversity represented!
The reason for this trip to New York was to support the work of a highly effective and essential organization called BronxWorks (formerly the Citizens Advice Bureau). Some of their annual fundraiser promotional materials were designed in the Eighty2degrees studio, so we felt drawn to the event we had helped promote. We wanted to attend ‘BronxWorks Rocks’ at the Hard Rock Cafe at Yankees Stadium to get a better feel for the impacts of this community-building group of Bronxites.
What we experienced was a group of dedicated and amazing people who have been working for many years to bring the necessary attention to the lack of city resources being allocated to the Bronx community. BronxWorks has been helping change the focus and the future of this once-neglected borough of NYC for 38 years, and now serves over 37,000 people per year from their 28 facilities throughout the Bronx. They are serious about their positive impact upon their community, and are positively changing realities for tens-of-thousands of lives through their assistance, legal guidance, arts, education, and other social needs programs every day, for every person, from every age level.
Community is very important to a socially-responsible business like Eighty2degrees, and Eighty2degrees is especially open to working with social enterprises, green businesses, non-profit groups, and community-empowering organizations such as BronxWorks, wherever the community may be. Community is very important to a socially-responsible business like Eighty2degrees, and Eighty2degrees is especially open to working with social enterprises, green businesses, non-profit groups, and community-empowering organizations such as BronxWorks, wherever the community may be. We’d like to acknowledge the help we received from GOOD magazine in connecting us to the needs of this great non-profit organization: BronxWorks.
If you’re involved with an organization or business venture that wishes to work with like-minded people when creating your promotional materials for a big event or project, or perhaps when re-branding the organization or creating materials for a new aspect of the business, Eighty2degrees loves to do great work for great people! We’d love to hear from you—to forge a working relationship built upon trust and positive futures.
As crazy and overwhelming as NYC can be, it is also one of the most fascinating places on Earth. That’s why we – the founders of Eighty2degrees – like to make an appearance there at least 3 or 4 times per year. Over the first 5 months of 2010, we have worked with two amazing organizations in New York: Indego Africa and BronxWorks. Both are non-profits seeking to empower different groups of people, and both are involved in work which we believe is essential in creating positive futures for their respective communities. More about BronxWorks in the next post…
In January, we took a trip to New York to showcase our partnership with Indego Africa – a non-profit social enterprise working to empower women in three different Rwandan communities. Having designed the promotional materials for their major fundraising event, titled The Indego Africa Project, Rwanda and Social Enterprise: Investing in Women, we were excited to be a part of the festivities. Since the partnership between Eighty2degrees and Indego Africa has been so greatly appreciated, the event organizers invited us to have a presence at this event. We designed a special promotional piece emphasizing the symbolic connectivity and communication between people and technology, which is so important for people working together from different parts of the world. The opposite side of this promo piece carried a business card and listed the services offered by Eighty2degrees.
Photos courtesy of Deutsch Photography
By investing their energy, organizational talents and skills, as well as significant and substantial volunteer power, those who have created and driven the success of Indego Africa are on a mission to show by their working example what a social enterprise is capable of achieving. Their model for success relies on giving back equally to those communities in which they work. Their example is that of an organization that believes in the power of education and empowerment, and in the immense power of women to create, maintain and grow sustainable livelihoods for themselves and their families in Rwanda.
We strongly support the fair-trade mindset of Indego Africa, and believe – as they do – that teaching and empowering others to deliver themselves out of poverty is a great model. As well, long-term skills development and skill-sharing is a wonderful and productive way into the future of economic development for Africa and for any developing country. With more cooperation between the people of the world, we will surely create a better future for many by embracing and supporting such noble efforts as those being made by the inspiring volunteers and staff of Indego Africa.
Hearing from the founders of Indego Africa, as well as the keynote speaker for the event, Stephen Kinzer, we learned a lot about the unique qualities and importance of the work in which Indego Africa has undertaken. Mr. Kinzer is an award-winning foreign correspondent who has covered more than 50 countries on five continents. His book, “A Thousand Hills – Rwanda’s Rebirth and the Man Who Dreamed It,” tells of the promise that has emerged out of the tragedy of the 1994 Rwandan genocide. We met a lot of fascinating people who are working for positive change in the world, including someone from The Clinton Global Initiative and Foundation Rwanda.
Eighty2degrees looks forward to continuing our working relationship with such a great group of thoughtful people. We are honored to be able to contribute to the success of Indego Africa.
With all the snow we’ve had here in DC this year, it was inevitable that people would eventually get out and enjoy it, however much people like to complain about ‘bad’ weather. Even though we like it hot here at the Eighty2degrees studio, we were excited when we heard about the facebook-organized snowball fight at one of the most popular people-watching areas in all of DC: Dupont Circle. So we went, not knowing what to expect, but hearing that hundreds -if not thousands- of people would be there.
It was held during the height of the snowstorm (the first of two in the span of five days!!!), and there was somewhere between 12 and 18 inches of snow on the ground when the ‘fight’ started. We had a blast hurling snowballs in the general direction of the brave souls who had perched themselves in the center of the circle surrounding the frozen fountain sculpture. We took a few pictures,
as well as a short video…
OK, so we left the snowball fight eventually. Word has it that it raged for hours before it finally dissipated, as the snow in DC continued to pile up and the streets were emptied of moving vehicles like never before in its history… yeah! It was an absolutely strikingly beautiful weekend to just walk around in the middle of the city’s streets. Then the call came the next day from one of the organizers of the snowball event, someone we had met at a Green Drinks DC happy hour named Ami Greener (his real name!): he wanted us to design a t-shirt to commemorate the big day. Obviously, it would take a quick and intense bit of work to get the designs uploaded onto Zazzle fast enough for all the snowball fighters who might wish to remember the event in this way. Needless to say, our team took on the challenge and worked long into the night to complete not one but two designs for Mr. Greener to market to his facebook group of 6,000 snowball fight fans. For us, it was a great way to get some fun work done during the first of the two huge snowstorms that week! To make it even better, the profits from this impromptu endeavor will go to help Haiti recover.
When you’re new to town (any town), it’s a bit of a challenge and adventure to find new friends, make connections to the community, and figure out where the most fascinating places are waiting to be discovered (especially in a city the size and scope of Washington, DC). There are all kinds of hidden gems and great people to meet here in DC, as the founders of Eighty2degrees have discovered over the past 18 months. One great way of finding people with similar interests has been Green Drinks DC, where those who consider themselves green supporters of the planet’s ecosystems and life-support systems converge to mingle and establish new friendships, build community, and/or make new connections to further their work.
Whether meeting the founder of Live Green at LeftBank, or perhaps finding a hidden gem of a business like Corehaus DC, the venues that are chosen for this once-per-month happy hour gathering are always well-researched, fun places to meet up for a drink with some of DC’s movers and shakers in the green movement. You’ll often find the founders of Eight2degrees there, for sure. It’s where we go to keep up with the latest and greatest happenings around our new community. What we’re perhaps most excited about is our realization that DC is even more ecologically-oriented than we had envisioned. Before moving here to launch our business, we did our research. But what we’ve found since landing here is a city full of energized people who are here to tap into the movement of change that is happening in this country, regardless of what’s happening in the White House and Congress.
