$1,000 Grants Up For Grabs | Awesome Atlanta

Earlier this year the Atlanta Chapter of the Awesome Foundation for the Arts and Sciences, Awesome Atlanta, (@AwesomeAtlanta) launched and has funded five grants in the metro area to date. Two of their $1000 grants have been for technology related projects and the group is on the lookout for more.

More about the past tech-based recipients: 

  • Recently announced winner, Simon Berrebi, is a Ph.D. student at Georgia Institute of Technology. As part of his research, he has developed a method to control buses using real-time information that could replace schedules. The idea is to send buses at high frequency and at regular headway to minimize passenger-waiting time. The method consists in holding buses at time-points to space out the headways and avoiding bus bunching. Operationally, tablets in the buses tell the operators when to drive and when to stop. With the funds, Simon plans to test a control method within two years on a high frequency bus route in Atlanta to provide a showcase, at the national level. The grant will allow him to purchase equipment to build the tablet-based control system.
  • Last June, Goodie Hack was the recipient of Awesome Atlanta’s $1,000 grant to help continue their efforts in bringing technology buffs and non-buffs together for brainstorming and web/app development workshops. Goodie Hack’s goal is to raise under-privileged communities’ basic need averages in terms of education, economic, health & wellness, safety and environmental issues worldwide up to their own countries’ national averages.

The Awesome Foundation is, well, awesome! As a grant recipient, not only did the funds allow us to add much needed elements to Goodie Hack, but their support from marketing and introduction standpoint has been critical in allowing us to take the next step. We are EXTREMELY grateful. – Joey Womack

More on the Awesome Foundation:

Collectively, Awesome chapters from around the world have awarded $1,171,000 to 1171 projects. Aside from helping nonprofits and ordinary people with great ideas, what also makes the foundation awesome is that each chapter is comprised of 10 Trustees who pool their personal funds to give the grant.

As background, the Awesome Foundation for the Arts and Sciences is an ever-growing, worldwide network of people devoted to forwarding the interest of awesomeness in the universe. Created in the long hot summer days of 2009 in Boston, the Foundation distributes a series of monthly $1,000 grants to projects and their creators. The money is pooled together from the coffers of ten or so self-organizing “micro-trustees” and given upfront in cash, check, or gold doubloons. The chapters are organized by founders and trustees around geographic areas or topics of interest.

Most of the original founders are technologists and engineers. Their first project 5 years ago was the building of a campus hammock made out of sustainable and reusable material that could hold about 20 people. The group has grown to an impressive 103 chapters in 24 countries. The Atlanta Chapter of the Awesome Foundation’s grants will support projects in sciences, arts, education, civic engagement, media, and entertainment.  The grants can go to groups, individuals, small non-profit organizations, almost any entity and 501c3 status is not a requirement.

Check out Awesome Atlanta’s monthly Awesome Hour on Wednesday, October 15 at 7:00 pm at Fork and Juniper located inside of the Hyatt Atlanta Midtown. Simon Berrebi will be recognized and given the $1,000 grant to continue his cause. Individuals and groups interested in applying for an Awesome Grant in the future are encouraged to come out and meet the group’s trustees. RSVP for Awesome Hour.

Check out these Tech Projects Funded by Atlanta and other chapters:

About the Author: Dr. Dionne Mahaffey PsyD, is business-psychologist, author, entrepreneur,professor and a Life & Business Strategies Coach. She is also the Founder and Chief Trustee of The Awesome Foundation’s Atlanta Chapter.

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