With a call for “Raising Consciousness, Tipping the Balance,” the 2017 Southface Fulcrum Awards recognized the programs, people, buildings, movements and organizations that demonstrate excellence in pursing Southface’s vision: a regenerative economy, responsible resource use and social equity through a healthy built environment for all. The second annual awards were held this past March at Southface’s Greenprints Conference, and as we approach the third annual Fulcrum Awards, we decided to check in with the past three winners to see how they’ve improved over the past six months.
Project Tap In was recognized as a citizen-science project, rather than simply a student-science project, and engaged the wider community in an important conversation about water. The jury was inspired by Project Tap In thinking outside of the box and created a new “Next Generation” category for the groups’ win.
Project Tap In inspires better decision making about water at the consumer and service provider levels. With the help of organizations in Atlanta, the initial work was completed by a group of 15, tenth grade students under the supervision of Ashley Rutland and James Watson with The New School Atlanta and project advisor Susan Davis. The project engages the community in an important conversation about water using educational materials and resources. The students developed multimedia campaigns to encourage other students in Atlanta to regularly test water quality in their homes and then submit their results to a central database.
We caught up with Susan Davis, Executive Director of Improve International, to see how Project Tap In has progressed.
In the six months that have passed since the 2017 Fulcrum Awards, how has Project Tap In improved? Have the students added anything new to the project?
Since the Fulcrum Awards, we have tightened up our curriculum in order to expand into other schools in the Atlanta area. At this current moment (September 2017) we have four other Atlanta schools (public and private) who are interested in implementing Project Tap In. We also explored partnership with the Community Engineering Corps – an alliance of Engineers Without Borders-USA, American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), and American Water Works Association (AWWA). Everyone agreed that Project Tap In is a very impressive initiative, especially being led by high school students. AWWA may be interested in supporting the project locally through connections with the AWWA Georgia section, particularly to finesse and foster the message on education of safe drinking water. However, all agreed it is not a program that CECorps could partner with. AWWA national is not supportive of water quality testing outside the scope of individual projects, as there is so much that goes into water quality testing and the education that accompanies it. Events can also escalate quickly depending on results (think Flint, Michigan) that would require professional expertise. We still need to reach out to the AWWA Georgia section.
Describe how the impact from the project still resonates today.
Recent major disasters that affect the quantity and quality of water available in the United States (e.g., Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria) have highlighted the fact that we can’t take our water for granted. The goals of Project Tap In are still relevant – to empower and educate students about their water quality and ideally get some of them interested in water as a profession. We expect the impact to only grow as we expand to additional schools.
What did the multimedia campaign for Project Tap In entail?
This is still in development as we develop our outreach program to other schools. The website is projecttapin.com.
How can people make better decisions about water at consumer and service provider levels?
We are very fortunate in the United States to have systems, regulations and trained professionals who keep our water safe, affordable and really convenient (taps everywhere!). Water quality testing should enforce our trust in the system, and on the rare occasions when there are problems, water users and providers can only benefit from having more information.
What’s next for you, your team and/or your project?
The New School plans to transition leadership to one of the 11th year students (who focus on entrepreneurship projects). This is still volunteer managed. I will continue supporting the project with strategic and technical guidance, submitting proposals for funds and joining meetings with prospective schools. We are still actively seeking funding to support development of curriculum in line with Georgia science standards and professional management of the program as it expands, as well as partner schools to pilot the curriculum. Please contact sdavis@improveinternational.org for more information on this.
The winning projects of the inaugural Fulcrum Awards continue to have a rippling effect on their project teams and communities around them. Since 1998, Greenprints has been a highly anticipated gathering for the latest thinking on regional issues surrounding sustainability – both as the policy level and in practice. The conference facilitates conversations between researchers and on-the-ground practitioners that promote sustainable buildings and communities. Southface looks forward to the next group of inspiring projects that will demonstrate excellence in pursing Southface’s vision: a regenerative economy, responsible resources use and social equity through a healthy built environment for all. Save the date for the 2018 Greenprints conference: March 12 – 14. We are in the process of crafting great curriculum and can’t wait to celebrate Greenprints’s 20th birthday.
