Upon learning there was a rural community in Opa-Locka which was considered a food desert with limited access to fresh fruits, vegetables and healthy whole foods, we enlisted our Young Leaders to develop ideas and find solutions to help these residents in need.
Through a platform called IdeaScale, we used crowdsourcing to engage our Young Leaders and gather crucial feedback on how to best support this community. As a result, they focused on motivating and educating students and residents in this low-income, high immigrant area to get them excited about healthier food choices and exercise habits.
With determination and creativity our Young Leaders held a successful community event called “Turnip the Beet”. Together they planted a fruit and vegetable garden on the urban farm of the THRIVE Campus at the Opa-Locka Community Development Corporation (OLCDC), offering the Opa-Locka residents healthier food options.
“It was a pleasure being part of the United Way Young Leaders team this weekend at the Opa-Locka Community Development Corporation. It was just amazing to see everyone smiling while working as a team, laying the foundation for the urban garden. Our work will help teach hundreds of people in the local community the benefits of eating healthy straight from a garden! Crowdsourcing helped gather ideas from multiple Young Leaders and helped turn our vision into a reality. This weekend, I felt happy to be part of the United Way team that helped bring our vision into reality. I took a moment to look around at our Young Leaders working together to help our local community build an urban garden and realized how great this is…It will be a gift that will keep on giving” said United Way Young Leader, Eddie Martinez.
Sponsored by Native Tree Nursery and the Abess family, this health initiative was a much-needed movement for the Opa-Locka community.
What is crowdsourcing? Crowdsourcing is the practice of engaging a ‘crowd’ or group for a common goal — often innovation, problem solving, or efficiency. It is powered by new technologies, social media and web 2.0. Crowdsourcing can take place on many different levels and across various industries. Thanks to our growing connectivity, it is now easier than ever for individuals to collectively contribute — whether with ideas, time, expertise, or funds — to a project or cause. This collective mobilization is crowdsourcing.*
*crowdsourcingweek.com