After taking a break between semesters we are now back in action! We have a fresh team who is excited to continue the momentum we began last fall as Open Source Construction. We also have an exciting opportunity for you to be involved at the end of this post!
We had an extremely successful fall term from the conception of the vision of Open Source Construction to following through to the end of the semester. At the end of the semester we participated in IPRO Day, put on by IIT, and had the opportunity to present what we're doing to hundreds of individuals, leaders and world changers. We received some valuable feedback and are beginning to use that information to make improvements this semester.
This semester's team has been actively working on several projects so far, including: developing a fully accessible website to share information to the world, working on creating a business plan for OSC to become a self sustaining organization, and continuing to gather, research, and develop ideas that can be shared to help those around the world.
We are focusing on providing a few of our partners, RISE International and WorldServe, with solutions for their building projects. RISE International builds schools in Angola and has just finished their 147th school, providing the opportunity of learning to over 90,000 kids! WorldServe has recently worked primarily in Mexico border towns building homes for those in need. They have built 6 projects in the past 4 years since they've began.
How can we lower their construction costs so they are able to make a greater impact with the same amount of money? Are there ways that they can utilize an alternative construction technique to improve their buildings with lower costs? These are the questions we hope to answer over the course of the next few months.
However, we know that we don't have all the answers. So we are reaching out to you to help us! You have witnessed problems. You have witnessed solutions. You bring something valuable to the table. We will be putting on several Workshops aimed at brainstorming and developing solutions for these organizations. Stay tuned as we will be sharing more details soon!
-Ryan Sutton | OSC Team Leader
