The 24 Hour Citizen Project funded five community projects in the event’s seventh year, held on Saturday, November 11 in Lafayette.
The 24 Hour Citizen Project started in 2016. The annual event invites teams to: “Dream It. Pitch It. Fund It. Do It.” To date, thirty-three citizen-led projects have been funded and implemented over the years, for a total of nearly $150,000 in private funding.
Past projects funded include Krewe de Canailles, Musical Instrument Library (the M.I.Brary), BARE Walls, Sensory Safe Spaces, and Inclusive Prom. The Y Lafayette letters, crowd-funded in 2014, were the 24 Hour Citizen Project team’s first funded project and helped inspire the first event.
The five projects funded at this year’s event, held at Acadiana Center for the Arts, were:
- Team Acadiana Art Closet — This project will install small free art supply closets throughout Lafayette Parish, especially in areas where it may be otherwise difficult to access art supplies. The team was funded $2,000.
- Team Barbershops, Books & Boys — This project will place mini libraries in barber shops in the community to encourage reading and mentorship. While waiting for a haircut or sitting in the barber chair, books will be available for kids to read. The team was funded $2,400.
- Team Abby's Acre —- This project will deliver ecological boost packs of native habitat and education to the veterans in our community. These kits will include housing and habitat for native species, and bring diversity and rehabilitation not only to the ecosystem, but also to the people in the community it surrounds. The team was funded $3,200.
- Team Fais Doo-Doo — This project will introduce ten pet waste stations throughout Downtown Lafayette, and residents and visitors with a convenient way to dispose of their pet’s waste. The team was funded $3,750.
- Team Sensory Grooves — This project will turn up the volume on Autism Spectrum Disorder acceptance with a silent disco dance, celebrating the inclusivity and uniqueness of developmentally disabled children in Acadiana. The team was funded $3,500.
Each year, Civicside – the organization that puts on the 24 Hour Citizen Project – launches a call for ideas from citizens in mid-June. The event leans on a nearly year-round effort to find and recruit projects, volunteers, partners, ideas, expertise, and funding in order to develop a “pipeline of promise” for citizens in the region, according to 24 Hour Citizen Project founder Butch Roussel.
Funded projects are required to report updates through “Dear Community” letters on a quarterly basis. The 24 Hour Citizen Project organization will mentor projects until completion. To follow project updates, visit 24hourcitizenproject.com [24hourcitizenproject.com].
The Backers, who funded the projects, are Benoit & Evans, APLC, Unitech Training Academy, Social Entertainment, Home Bank, William C. Schumacher Family Foundation, Advancial Federal Credit Union, Scott Eye Care, Techneaux Technology Services, Junior League of Lafayette, Right Place Capital Partners, Jubilee Court, CGI Federal and Dr. Erick Knezek BESE District 7.
