OUR IMPACT
As part of our fellowship program, fellows create community projects that offer a unique service to underserved communities and can end with the completion of their term.
Additionally, Our Board and staff are knowledgeable and passionate community activists who have spearheaded projects of their own for Our Future.
We are dedicated to creating projects that capitalize on existing programs, rather than competing with them, and filling in gaps where we find them.
Community Resource Cabinets
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Jaydin McMickle helped create, stock, and maintain two 24/7 access Community Resource Cabinets that provide basic goods to meet public needs. She has plans to establish more Resource Cabinets throughout Cedar Rapids communities in partnership with Our Future pas the end of her fellowship term.
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Active: Two Resources Boxes are stationed along 1st Ave and College Dr. and more are expected to be built in 2025!
501(c)(3) Status for Nonprofit Saving Us
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Saving Us was created by Tony Chapman to provide a safe space for community members to share resources and build relationships through consistent Community-Building Block Parties. With Saving Us, community members have access to free food (hot meals and grocery), entertainment, mindfulness activities, non-profit resources, restorative circles as a means of violence prevention and community-building activities.
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Saving Us is always partnering with local businesses, organizations, and community groups. If you are interested in partnering with Saving Us, contact Tony at savingus.cr@gmail.com.
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Active: Status: 501(c)(3) status is pending and events are ongoing! Check out Saving Us’ Facebook page to learn more.
“Diverse Dialogues” Mentorship Program Framework
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Emeline Niyrukundo designed a curriculum to narrow the gap experienced by ELL students. The material focuses not only on their academic needs but also on enriching other aspects of their lives, by connecting ELL students from a Middle School in Linn County with young adult mentors who share their first language. Emeline encouraged community involvement by hosting an event that connects the Cedar Rapids community with all CRCSD ELL students and showcasing the opportunities available in Linn County.
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Completed: The framework for this mentorship program is completed and looking for a home! If you or someone you know is interested in leading this program, please contact us at ourfuture@our-future-iowa.org.
COMMUNITY FRIDGE
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Our Future supplied a refrigerator to the Wellington Heights Community Church for residents to take whatever they may need.
The fridge is located in a shed outside the facility where it is stocked with fresh organic produce at least once a week in the summer by Feed Iowa First and remains accessible to the community 24 hours a day in the fall and spring.
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Ongoing
FARM TO PANTRY
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During the summer growing season, Our Future picks up and delivers produce to Feed Iowa First, whose produce distribution program supplies free fruits and vegetables to food pantries, select community locations, and 24-hour fridges.
All our produce comes from Rainbow Roots Farm, an Iowa City farm dedicated to using regenerative farming methods that sequester carbon and sustain healthy soil.
The program is financed and operated by Sunrise Movement Cedar Rapids, who started the program with a goal to provide nutritious foods to residents in need while supporting local farmers who use sustainable and resilient growing practices.
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Closed, subject to availability of funds
SOLAR + BATTERY RESILIENCE HUB
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In the event of a community-wide power outage, such as the one that occurred after the 2020 derecho storm, residents without access to generators or enough money to replace food in their refrigerator encounter an immediate crisis.
We seek to create a resilience hub for such residents through the addition of a solar and battery system at the Wellington Heights Community Church.
Solar panels by themselves cannot generate electricity during a power outage, but with the addition of battery storage, our system will have the capacity to generate charging stations, as well as a community refrigerator donated by Our Future.
The project was developed and led by mechanical engineer and Our Future Board Member Darrow Center.
Contact us with any questions about replicating this project at other locations.
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Installation in progress
POST-DERECHO TREE PLANTINGS
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Our Future helped Linn County carry out their Tree Equity program, created to engage and coordinate with residents who needed assistance replanting trees after the 2020 derecho storm.
Clark McLeod of the Monarch Research Project donated funds to purchase 10,000 trees for Linn County residents. Our work consisted of finding residents in need of help, organizing distribution sites in each quadrant of Cedar Rapids, and delivering and planting trees for residents who needed extra assistance.
The effort was led by Linn County’s Sustainability Director Tamara Marcus, who soon after joined Our Future’s Board of Directors.
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Complete
RECLAIMING GARDENING COURSE
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One of our 2022 fellows, Ta’sjé Carrasco, worked with the Academy for Scholastic and Personal Success to design a curriculum for a hands-on gardening class that addressed the deep and complicated connections communities of color have to agriculture.
Ta’sjé focused on teaching gardening skills through a reclamation lens. The class discussed pressing issues such as food deserts and redlining, while teaching students how to grow and tend food-yielding plants in their communities.
Approximately 30 students attended the class over the course of five weeks—planting, tending, and harvesting vegetables.
The garden is located at the Linn County Resiliency Hub at 520 11th St. NW, Cedar Rapids.
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Complete
WELLINGTON HEIGHTS BASKETBALL COURT
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Through Our Future, racial justice advocate and recent Coe College graduate Harold Walehwa engaged with Wellington Heights residents to identify potential locations for a future basketball court. A basketball court could serve as a positive outlet and community gathering spot for residents of all ages in the neighborhood.
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Ongoing
Cleanse Your Mind: Mental Health Initiative for Youth of Color
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Created by Wilsee Kollie in 2023 this four-week program educated ten fifth and ten eighth-graders of color on how to use writing, art, rest, and community as tools to cope with mental health struggles. Community members and parents of participating students were invited to a panel discussion event on how to support children’s mental health.
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Local Community Leaders
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Complete
Know Your Rights as a Student: Criminal Justice and Miranda Rights Course
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This program was lead by Daisy Garcia Barrientos in 2023 and contained four courses for forty high school students to be educated on the Iowa and National Criminal Justice system, by focusing on knowing their rights and how to navigate law enforcement interactions. The program helped students advocate for racial justice issues by providing them useful resources and information.
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Complete
REBEL Readers Book Club for Minority Women
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REBEL Readers was a three-month program lead by Tiaja Butler in 2023 that used three culturally-relevant texts to increase the reading proficiency, critical thinking skills, and self-confidence of ten minority Metro High School women whose academic success was disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Completed