Summer 2019 Recap!
Bright Start Project — The place where potential gets an opportunity.
It has been a productive summer! During June, a group of fifteen students from the League of United American Citizens (LULAC) were hosted at BSP to jumpstart their micro-electronic engineering fundamental skills. The students used practice circuit boards to learn various soldering techniques–sharpening their overall confidence and know-how before moving on to the culminating project, which was developing a fully-functional hand-held video game console emulator. Our favorite part of the project was seeing the students collaborate with each other to problem solve when they encountered difficulties with their individual tasks. the future success of these boys and girls requires more than potential; it requires the right environment, adequate resources, social capital, ambition, and ultimately, it requires opportunity. Thanks to our team’s fundraising efforts via Made in Oak Cliff, we were able to provide these students the tools and the creative space to work on their projects.
I like art shows, you like art shows, we all like Splintered: A Wood Art Show! The July heat inspired us to invite the community out to enjoy our wooden art pieces along with exhibits from local Dallas Artists, Robert S. Garza, Raymond Butler, Daniel Yanez, and Viktor Ortiz. Splintered: A Wood Art Show was a come-and-and-go art expo and social gathering that also allowed guests to participate in several DIY projects such as earring painting and LED lamp building. Hosting the wood art show in our makers’ space allowed us to engage the community by interacting with Tyler Station visitors that do not normally associate First Thursday events with altruistic community-minded organizations like ours.
The creative arts and craft events hosted by Made in Oak Cliff (@Oakciffdiy) this summer raised the funds necessary for us to continue our mission and to continue to operate in our space. Collaborating with other local businesses like, Cocoandre Chocolatier, Re-Creation Studios, LT Printing, and Four Corners Brewing Co. to put events together has been extremely motivating and it has shown us that the community trusts us to make an impact in the lives of local youth through our organization. We are grateful for our partners and look forward to collaborating in the future . Our founder and Executive Director, David Reyes, raised and additional $300 through his own Birthday fundraiser which allowed us to purchase the supplies needed to launch our upcoming Kids Engineering Workshop. There are multiple ways to support our mission— click here to see how you can help!