An firm geared toward assisting survivors of sexual and other violence received the major five-figure prize at a Tuesday event celebrating the Johns Hopkins University Social Innovation Lab’s (SIL) latest cohort.
The celebration, which took spot on the personal university’s health-related system campus in East Baltimore, also marked the graduation of the accelerator’s 10 effects-concentrated ventures. Ballet Immediately after Dark, started by Tyde-Courtney Edwards, gained the $25,000 leading prize. The group aims to supply cost-free, trauma-educated and holistic assets to these who have survived sexual trauma and numerous ranges of violence in Baltimore metropolis. Educated by a dance therapy model, Ballet Just after Darkish significantly seeks to uplift Black youth and gals.
Edwards on Wednesday told Complex.ly that the award “means the opportunity to have a larger sized impact is a lot more probable.
“Personally, this award will make me, my get the job done and survivors in our neighborhood experience found and heard,” she continued. “We’re lastly escalating into a place the place non-public conversations about healing and the demands of our survivors are currently being elevated to community platforms.”
To that conclusion, Edwards mentioned that she will use the award funds to establish out the organization’s employees and operational capability. Ballet Just after Dark will also be finishing a prototype for a material platform, called B.A.D. Studios, that it intends to start in June or July 0f this 12 months. The content material will be created in tandem with Root Department Media Team, a Baltimore-based mostly communications company.
Edwards also noted that she was pushed to ensure that “survivors of trauma and violence to not knowledge the identical lonely journey to therapeutic that I experienced.” She praised SIL and its director, Madison Marks, for providing Ballet Immediately after Dark a help construction to far better “reimagine the accessibility” of the organization’s sources.
This video from Procter & Gamble‘s “Queen Collective” series particulars Edwards’s tale and the motives for Ballet Following Dark’s creation:
Having next spot and $15,000 was The Puzzling Dysfunction Undertaking. The corporation acts as a source and advocacy hub for the developmental wants of young children with autism, connecting them to a network of peer advocates, accredited gurus, art remedy and different medicine providers. GRASS Baltimore, a zero-waste cooperative that maximizes the value of glass by turning it into artwork and reselling bottles to regional breweries, gained third place and $5,000. An further viewers prize of $2,500, which viewers users voted on after all of the organizations built pitches, went to TamPal, which designed a sensible machine for accessibly dispensing tampons and pads.
All participant firms in the accelerator’s 11th cohort received $1,000, together with the possibility to accessibility a reimbursable grant of up to $5,000 by the Johns Hopkins I-Corps Internet site Grant application.
Look at out a video of the pitches and occasion.
Donte Kirby is a 2020-2022 corps member for Report for The us, an initiative of The Groundtruth Venture that pairs younger journalists with area newsrooms. This position is supported by the Robert W. Deutsch Basis. -30-
