My Community Project Story

Are you brainstorming for a project idea? Do you have a simple idea but do not know how to start? This blog is for you.

Overview

I had always wanted to make a positive impact in my community by starting a project. When I was selected to be a youth delegate at New Brunswick Multicultural Council (NBMC), I knew I had to get it started. I spent time looking up the internet to find inspiration and see what projects people were doing. Finally, I ended up with a unique idea that I named Little Free Library & Packages.

Little Free Library is a free book-sharing box that is usually built in neighborhoods, parks, and trails. It is popular in the world as it makes books more widely available, especially for those who are unable to afford them. As well, exchanging books is an activity that helps strengthen the bond within a community. Seeing the potential of this idea, I decided to implement it.

Furthermore, I noticed that there were a lot of unfortunate kids who did not have enough proper school supplies to go to school. Hence, I wanted to make packages filled with new school supplies to help them.

So far, my project has received 40 donations. I and my team have donated new school supplies to Moncton Headstart to contribute to their campaign. We are planning to carry out another community project which will focus on helping homeless people.

After running my project for four months, these are three things that I found the most important.

Ideas

There are several themes that you can choose to focus on, such as education, environment, STEM, robotics, entrepreneurship, etc. Here are a few examples:

• Environment/Sustainability: organize a community cleanup, start a community garden, make posters to promote reusable items in school, etc.

• Education: tutor primary school kids, launch an online course, tutor your friends, ask your teachers to be teaching assistants, etc.

• STEM: host an event teaching kids about science, found a STEM club in school, etc.

• Entrepreneurship: start a small business on Etsy selling handmade stuff, etc.

You can check out this link for 350+ different project ideas: https://mindofmica.com/passion-project-ideas/

It is challenging to come up with an idea. You can look up the internet to see some projects that people have done. You can ask your teachers, friends, and family. You can identify a problem in your community and find a solution. Once you figure out what to do, it will be a lot easier to develop a plan. The key to a successful project is your passion. Choose an idea or a theme that you are truly passionate about. Only then, you are willing to spend a lot of effort to make it happen.

Hint: Try to choose an achievable idea.

Planning

Planning is time-consuming, but it is important for the following steps. You should know how long your project will last, how it will impact the community, how much it will cost, and who your target audience will be. I suggest using Notion, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Word, Google Spreadsheet, and Google Docs to keep track of everything.

Task list created by Notion

Budget created by Excel

Note: If you need financial support to get started with your project, consider applying for a grant program. My project was funded by Rising Youth-a grant program offered by TakingITGlobal. They require you to submit a detailed description of your project, start/end date, and project budget.

Here is the link to apply: https://www.risingyouth.ca/?csc=true

Teamwork

Teamwork is a crucial factor leading to success. My project would have been terrible without my team. As a leader of the team, my responsibility was to encourage everyone to work collaboratively. I developed plans, delegated tasks, managed budget, ran workshops, and motivated others. I also ran team meetings to discuss plans and ensure that everything was going well.

There are many different ways to start a project. Everything written in this blog is based on my personal experiences. Always remember to be confident! I hope it helps!