Eco Abet Summer Charrette 2013 ReCap

On June 13th, 2013, Eco Abet, a Kansas City-based non-profit architecture and design organization, hosted its third annual summer charrette and fund/friendraiser at the KC Design Center in Kansas City, MO. As more than 90% of the population cannot afford design services, Eco Abet bought together the Kansas City design community with several non-profit organizations and individuals that address the needs of local underserved groups. The design charrette included diverse groups of designers, along with representation from the non-profit groups being served.

There were over 50 participants and eight charrette teams signed up for the charrette. The teams collaborated to generate a solution for a specific, identified design need. The charrette took place from 11:30 am to 5:00 pm, followed by a public exhibition and reception from 5:00 pm to 6:00 pm. The presentation started at 6:00 pm.

The general mission of the organization is to act as a catalyst to meet the design needs of the underserved, primarily in the Kansas City metropolitan area, by serving as a connector and conduit between the design community and other nonprofit organizations.

Funds generated by the event will be used to provide architecture and design internships with Eco Abet. In return, interns will provide a valuable design service to underserved communities. Eco Abet would like to thank event sponsors Burns & McDonnell, BNIM Architecte, Price Chopper, Boulevard Brewery, JE Dunn, and Treanor Architects. Thank you to our non profit partners Upper Room Program, St Mark Hope Center and Digital Bridge. Finally the Summer Charrette would not be a success without the charrette team leaders and their enthusiastic team members.

Thank you everyone for supporting Eco Abet to advance it’s mission. We will keep you informed on our plans to take these projects forward. We hope to see you all at a future charrette.

Save the Date

2013 ECO ABET SUMMER CHARRETTE

THURSDAY, JUNE 13

  

DO YOU SEE A NEED IN YOUR COMMUNITY?
LET US KNOW!

Eco Abet is currently gathering project ideas for this summer's charrette and we want to hear from YOU!

Projects should be related to an issue or a location in your community to which you believe
a half-day of GOOD DESIGN and GREAT TEAMWORK will make a big difference.
If you have an idea in mind, or know someone who does, let us help!

Send an email to Charmalee Gunaratne at: cgunaratne@ecoabet.org

1 out of 45 Children Homeless, Says Report

ABC News’ Tom Shine and Amy Bingham report:

The congressional hearing room in the Rayburn House Office Building was lit brightly, all warm and cozy. The chairs around the witness table were comfortable, and a bottle of water was set before each place.

It was quite a contrast to the living conditions of Rumi Khan, an 11-year-old sixth-grader; Brooklyn Pastor, a 12-year-old seventh-grader; and Brittany Amber Koon, a Pvt. First Class in the U.S. Army.

Bounced between motels and homeless shelters, sleeping in cars, using gas station bathrooms to wash up and brush their teeth in, these young people were here to ask a Congress –47 percent of whose members have a net worth of $1 million or more – for a little help.

Koon, who said she first became homeless in eighth grade, had been in and out of foster care, slept in her car and “couch surfed.” When she leaves the Fort Hood base for the holidays, she said she would still have no place to call home.

“Like me, you have chosen to serve your country,” she told House Financial Services Subcommittee members. “You here in Washington, and me in the field. Just as you have faith that I will be out there protecting you, it is my hope that you will use your power here to protect youth like me.”

Koon was one of six to testify before the congressional committee. According to a recent report from the National Center on Family Homelessness, one out of every 45 children younger than 18 in the United States is without a home. As a result of the recent economic downturn, almost 500,000 more children were pushed into homelessness, an increase of 38 percent. Read more...

Homelessness in New York: it’s not child’s play

Albor Ruiz

Christmas is beautiful in New York, so much so that thousands of people from all over the world flock here to spend the most joyous of holidays.

But for the nearly 50,000 homeless children in this city, Christmas in New York is more Charles Dickens than “Miracle on 34th Street.”

Even worse, New York is not the only place in the country where thousands of children do not have a home this holiday season. Defying all logic, in the U.S., one of the richest nations on Earth, more than 1.6 million children — one in 45 — live in cars, motels or homeless shelters over the course of any given year. Read more...

The forgotten American homeless

The recession’s effect on children: More kids face homelessness, poverty

By Liz Goodwin National Affairs Reporter

The worst recession in a generation hit the nations' children's especially hard, according to a new report.


A larger number of children fell into poverty between 2008 and 2009 than was ever recorded before in a single year, going back to 1960. Nearly 21 percent of children lived in poverty as of 2009, the most recent year for which data is available, making children more likely than any other age group to be poor. Read more...

Refugees in Juniper Gardens - Urban Farm in Kansas City

816 Bike Collective Existing Facility

816 Bike Collective is a collective of individuals from diverse backgrounds working on a volunteer basis to rescue and repair bicycles. They believe in empowerment through education and support the use of bicycles as a healthy and ecological means of transportation.

Their Mission:

1. To gather and repair bicycles that would otherwise be disposed of, disregarded or destroyed
2. To distribute these bicycles to those who need them in exchange for donated time, resources or revenue – dependent on each individuals needs and means.
3. To increase the amount of people who ride bikes and time spent riding.
4. To educate the various communities in Kansas City about bicycles: including mechanics, maintenance, safety, and the potential solutions to related social and environmental issues.
5. To empower individuals by providing the education, materials and skills that facilitate self-reliant transportation.
6. To foster a sense of respect and community among participants that will extend to the greater Kansas City communities.
7. As a collective, we will never exclude or deny any individual or group based on race, class, gender, sexuality, age, ability, or any other aspect of their identity in word or deed. If you can assist us in any way, (i.e. tools, bikes, time, legal services, etc)

Eco abet is working with 816 Bike Collective to revovate thier recently purchased building in 31st and Cherry street.

Nabolu Girl's Center, Kenya

The Nabolu Girl’s Center believes that with support, Maasai girls can maintain their cultural pride and obligation while pursuing an empowering education. It brings this belief to fruition by providing girls with a safe place to seek educational resources, shelter, scholarships, support, and family reconciliation. Nabolu is a Maasai word that means “to open the future;” through innovative Maasai run programming The Nabolu Girl’s Centre not only opens the future for Maasai girls, but it also opens the future for their communities. It's mission is to provide access to educational resources, to help maintain the cultural pride of Maasai girls while supporting them in their educational pursuits through reconciliation programming, to teach girls integral life skills, to raise awareness within the community about issues affecting Maasai girls, and to provide a home away from home.

Eco Abet is providing architectural services in designing the new building. Above image is a view of the new building for the Nabolu Girl's Center.

Nabolu Girl's Center, Kenya

Nabolu Girl's Center, Kenya. Eco Abet is working with Women Empowerment Breakthroug, a non profit based in Arizona on the new Girl's Center Design.

St. Mary Kevin Orphanage, Uganda

St. Mary Kevin Orphanage, Uganda. Eco Abet is working with Change the Truth a Kansas City based non profit organization on developing of the site plan.

Record Number of Families Seeking Refuge in Shelters

By LESLIE KAUFMAN
In what some see as a sign of the economic downturn’s impact on the city’s poorest, more families entered the homeless shelter system in September than in any other month since data has been collected. Read more..

Children & Dreams

I wanted to share new improvements of Nabolu Girl's Center. Here are some beautiful images of our young clients visions of their home. I have posted two images earlier. I received rest of the images recently. I love the ideas, color and most of all their innocence in believing in their dreams.

Nabolu Girl's Center, Kenya

Above are some of the concept designs done by Massai girls of their new Girl’s Center.

Haiti's kids need the chance to do great things

(CNN) -- On January 12, I went to basketball practice and then spent time with a kids' basketball league. The whole time my phone was in the car. When I finally looked at it, I had about 50 messages saying, "Have you been watching the news about Haiti?" Read more..

Is this the best we have to offer?

I came a cross this picture while researching about schools in Africa. Is this the best we can offer to these children?

Photo credit to UNICEF

UNICEF: Young survivors discuss life in Haiti's camps

SUSTAINABLE SHELTER ATTEMPTS; Ashapur, West Bengal, India

Life prior to 2008 April:

Shuva Kharna 8 years old, eldest of three children, lives with his parents in Ashapur, West Bengal, India. Their father is a daily worker and earns $ 28 a month and mother is a home maker.

Like most other villagers, their home was constructed with help of several villagers, with the materials available with in close proximity. Some walls of the house were built out of traditional Wattle and Daub construction. Building material used for making these walls, include a woven lattice of wooden strips called wattle is daubed with a sticky material usually made of some combination of wet soil, clay, sand, animal dung and straw. Wattle and daub has been used for at least 6,000 years, and is still an important technique in many parts of the world. This technique is becoming popular again in more developed areas as a sustainable building technique.

In rear part of the house, there were locally burnt bricks columns supporting the roof and open bamboo frame walls. Large palm leaves were used as a cladding on these open frames walls to prevent harsh sunlight reaching the interiors in hot summer days and protection from heavy rain during the monsoon season. Large gunnysacks were sewed together and used as screens to manually control the light reaching interiors.Shuva Kharnas home utilizes abundantly available natural light and encourages natural ventilation.

The floor was made out of elevated compacted earth and finished with layer of mixed clay and cow dung, which they believe keeps the snake away. Locally produced clay tiles used as the roof cladding were laid on top of the bamboo frame.

Even though this habitat falls into sustainable category, it was a dangerous shelter to live in during the Monsoon season.

Heavy rains beat the unprotected earth walls causing them to damp decay. The family had to struggle constantly to up keep the walls. Sometimes it would not be possible to live in the house; they would take shelter in community centers. This continuous struggle took time away from children’s education and their father’s time earning his daily wage.

Where do sustainability points fall with the daily struggle of the less fortunate people?

Data is collected from Children International recorded project. Photo credit : Children International