Idea: Exchange programs/ideas/travel with our Sister City in Sa...

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education non-profit coaltion environmental justice social virginia blacksburg nicaragua bocay jose san city sister

Comment by homebody on 04/01/08 09:33 AM

Blacksburg was recently designated a "cool city" and we could learn a lot from the people of Bocay who, with very little resources but a lot of hard work and imagination, are transforming their city into a more sustainable place to live and grow.

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Advice given by SianMuir

04.10.08 | 09:11 PM

This sounds like a very exciting project! I would love to see you move it into the social entrepreneurship realm by considering how you might make this trip a financially sustained annual venture. For that you have many options. You can try to find a/some sponsor(s). Alternatively many groups have brought back crafts and items after such a trip that they sell to help pay for the next trip. You could easily start to import crafts too which would also increase awareness of Bocay in your town!

I was you I would be thinking about some of the needs in Bocay and how you might help them. We have a great example in our town that also has a similar [informal] Sister City in Mexico where most of the Latino population in our town come from. An issue that they had was that they could not get shoes cheaply because they were so remote and a lot of the villages had to walk around bare foot. One of our residents has started collecting good used shoes and worked out a cheap way to ship them to our 'sister city'. There the shoes are sold to the locals cheaply and any profits used to help…more

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Q1: Most people in the town are not aware of our Sister City and our first challenge is to raise awareness of our sister city, our history with Bocay, and how the town has developed. (0) Respond

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Q2: The Coalition for Justice formed in the early 1980s and was flourishing. Since then, although still functioning, our membership and funding has diminished. This year, we want to grow the Coalition and be more involved with the community through our Sister City connection. (0) Respond

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Idea Description

The Coalition for Justice worked hard to get San Jose de Bocay, Nicaragua designated a sister city to our town, Blacksburg, VA in the 80's and funded a school as well. Since then, several green empowerment programs have been developed in Bocay including a community micro-hydro project, reforestation programs, construction of a gravity-fed potable water system, sustainable farming techniques, biomass rice dryer, and a computer school. We want to strengthen our ties to Bocay, form an exchange program with the community where groups, including members of town council, can travel to Bocay in order to exchange ideas on sustainability, as well as cultural and educational exchanges.

What will you do if you win $10,000 for this idea?

Coalition for Justice, in coordination with Witness for Peace, is planning a trip to San Jose de Bocay in January 2009. We would use the money to fund scholarships for those in need of funds and also use the money to help repair the school that we built that was recently damaged by storms. Remaining funds would be ear-marked for further exchanges.

Exchange programs/ideas/travel with our Sister City in Sa...

General Advice (1) Give advice

Q1: Most people in the town are not aware of our Sister City and our first challenge is to raise awareness of our sister city, our history with Bocay, and how the town has developed. (0) Respond

Q2: The Coalition for Justice formed in the early 1980s and was flourishing. Since then, although still functioning, our membership and funding has diminished. This year, we want to grow the Coalition and be more involved with the community through our Sister City connection. (0) Respond

Idea Description

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