Lots of Power and Clean Currents

Lots of Power website

Over the past few months, Pellegrino Collaborative has been working with wind power company Clean Currents to develop “Lots of Power,” an exciting new mentoring program to address one of Philadelphia's greatest problems, vacant lots. The project pairs high-school age students with professional designers and architects to research and develop innovative concepts for specific vacant lots in Philadelphia's Kensington community.

Lots of Power will be administered in partnership with Kensington Renewal, AIGA Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley Green Building Council.  During the six-week program, teen participants will work in teams with professional mentors to gain real-world experience using design thinking to discover and exhibit creative potential, communicate their ideas, and take positive action in their communities.  The project speaks directly to one of Clean Currents’ brand principles, Community Engagement.

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Highlights: April 2013

Pellegrino Collaborative is developing a comprehensive community engagement project in Philadelphia for Clean Currents, a certified B-Corporation supplying residential and commercial customers in Maryland, Washington, DC, and Pennsylvania with wind and solar power options. Lots of Power, will pair creative professionals and high schools students in mentoring teams to develop new uses for abandoned lots in Philadelphia.

Together+, a joint effort with the Kgosi Foundation, University of Notre Dame and the Center for Social Concerns, will be producing the first round of materials to alleviate xenophobia in South Africa, developing curriculum and impact measurement tools, as well as expanding the program within South Africa and adapting for other parts of the world. 

Our work with Schwartz Powell, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Playworks moves into the development phase of a project within the Foundation's Vulnerable Populations portfolio. And, having a ball working with our friends at Sappi to further develop their CSR platform.

On April 18th, Andréa Pellegrino will be giving an Implementing Social Change workshop at West Virginia University for students, educators and community leaders as part of Design Ignites Change, our collaboration with Worldstudio and Adobe. Another workshop will take place for professionals on April 26th at the Human Rights Campaign headquarters in Washington, DC in collaboration with AIGA DC and QED group. 

Alleviating xenophobic violence and fear in South Africa

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees reports that in 2012 over 225,000 people were claiming asylum or refugee status in South Africa; 300,000 more have applied but have yet to receive a decision on their status. In 2008, the fragile post-apartheid society erupted in xenophobia-fueled riots that have led to distrust, destruction and even death. The violence continues today.

In response, Pellegrino Collaborative, the Johannesburg-based Kgosi Neighbourhood Foundation and University of Notre Dame faculty and students developed together+, a multifaceted campaign designed to unite a South African community divided by xenophobia, and to inform, inspire and empower its most vulnerable members.

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Brain Drain's CityPulse

CityPulse website

For the past year, Pellegrino Collaborative has been working with Brain Drain (a collective of young designers, architects, urban planners, journalists, and educators) to advance their St. Louis-based project, CityPulse.

As part of the GOOD Ideas for Cities initiative in St. Louis, the Brain Drain team was paired with urban leaders Hank Webber, Washington University’s Executive Vice Chancellor for Administration, and Patrick Brown, Special Assistant to Mayor Slay, to consider how to energize young adults about St. Louis, and get them to stay and engage in the city.

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Design Ignites Change Fellowship program

Design Ignites Change, an initiatve of Adobe and the Adobe Foundation, has awarded nearly $100,000 to support student design projects addressing social issues in communities across the globe. Program developers, Worldstudio and Pellegrino Collaborative, are currently restructuring the awards program (previously the Implementation and Idea Awards) to establish a Fellowship Program for both students and creative professionals.

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