June 15, 2006 | Read Time: 6 minutes
Could chocolate milk solve a city’s problems? What if public water fountains began serving it? Might people smile more often? Might ethnic tensions ease? Might road rage all but vanish if hungry drivers could get a quick dose of sugar and calories to fill their stomachs?
Admittedly, it sounds like the utopian dream of the Nestlé Quik Bunny, but one charity has considered the idea, albeit lightheartedly, as part of an unusual contest to spark civic engagement.
This spring the D.C. Appleseed Center for Law and Justice asked people who live and work in Washington to pitch proposals on how to improve the nation’s capital.
Appleseed, a social-justice advocacy group that derives its name from the folk hero Johnny Appleseed, made a simple appeal: In 250 words or less, define a problem, suggest a way to fix it, and say how solving it might benefit the city. As an incentive, the charity offered a kind of junior-grade MacArthur “genius” grant: $5,000, with no strings attached for first prize, $2,500 to second place, and $1,000 to third.
Thanks to offbeat ideas like the chocolate-milk urban-renewal plan and coverage by local news media, the contest generated a fair amount of buzz even though it was the first time the charity had held it. Appleseed received more than 900 entries, mostly by e-mail, during the 37-day submission period and was able to bring together the city’s often segregated populations, with entries from all of the city’s eight political subdivisions, known as wards.
“We’ve struck a nerve,” says Walter Smith, the charity’s executive director, adding that the contest’s biggest achievement may not be the ideas it inspires, but the fun way it allows citizens to interact online while thinking about Washington’s needs.
The milk scheme aside, most of the proposals are thoughtful ones to help a city that despite economic growth in the last few years continues to have one of the highest crime rates in the United States and nearly 17 percent of its families living in poverty. For example, Appleseed received 220 ideas just on how to fix the troubled education system.
After sorting through the hundreds of submissions, Appleseed last week crowned as the best idea a plan to unite churches, schools, and community groups in an effort to clean up trash from D.C. streets. The charity’s board of directors and staff members had narrowed the list to 20 finalists, and then city residents and people who commute to Washington served as the final judges, voting online for their favorite idea as if it were a nonprofit version of American Idol. More than 1,200 people voted.
Joy M. Doyle, a 30-year-old who works in the D.C. public school system, earned first place with her idea to stamp out litterbugs.
Ms. Doyle says she came up with her Capital Clean-Up Project after moving to Washington’s Congress Heights neighborhood from Bristol, Va., two years ago, where she saw streets infected with the “plague of litter.” “It just jostled me that it’s a recurring issue,” she says.
She wants public-school students to be required to pick up trash for volunteer credit, and organizations or individuals to “adopt” city blocks, which they would keep litter-free. Ultimately, Ms. Doyle wants people to think twice before they leave a candy wrapper or other trash on the sidewalk. “It’s about breaking a human behavior,” she says.
The second-place winner proposed building a sports complex to give teenagers a place to hang out after school, while the third-place winner suggested establishing trade and apprenticeship programs.
For her part, Ms. Doyle says she did not participate because of the money; her primary goal is to see her idea become reality. “It would be a waste of energy if it got this far and was shelved,” she says.
To avoid that, Appleseed set up a public forum last week, during which Ms. Doyle presented her idea to mayoral candidates running in November’s election.
With the race heating up — the current mayor, who is retiring, endorsed a city council member for the office in May — Appleseed’s executive director, Mr. Smith, says the contest had perfect timing. “This is your opportunity to let candidates know before they come into office what you, the people, want to see done,” he says.
In addition to the main contest, Appleseed has one for students in kindergarten through high school. The winners of that idea competition will be rewarded with free tickets to a Washington Nationals baseball game and will be honored on the field before thousands of people.
Mr. Smith says he would like to see other charities around the country copy the contest as a means “to identify real, honest-to-goodness new ideas.”
He says several Appleseed centers elsewhere — there are 15 around the country — have been keen about adopting the idea.
But despite Mr. Smith’s enthusiasm, the contest hasn’t been an easy sell to donors. The June and John Hechinger Family Trusts and other contributors have given $11,500, but Appleseed still hasn’t reached its $15,000 goal.
Mr. Smith says the shortfall won’t affect the contest, adding that last week’s political forum could spur new gifts.
The contest has brought some much-needed levity to Appleseed’s staff members, who usually engage in more heady work, such as studying Washington’s HIV/AIDS problem. Mr. Smith says some ideas reduced them to “hysterics” in Appleseed’s small downtown office.
One of those submissions — and a favorite of Mr. Smith’s — failed to make the final list. The idea? A “social” car on the city’s subway, which is known for its church-like quiet and standoffish riders. “This is a car where we invite people to talk to one another. Now, is that a serious, burning issue about housing or taxes or education? No,” he says. But “I think that’s a cool idea.”
The person who submitted the idea summarized it this way: “Washington, D.C., is a city made up of people who are from all over the United States and the world. Many of these people come here without knowing many people. … If there were a designated ‘social’ car, then anyone who chose to ride on the ‘social’ car would be open to meeting new people and chatting.”
Several people praised the idea online. They suggested a quiet car, a cellphone-free car, and a subway car with a bar to serve alcohol. “Definitely helps the social situation,” wrote one person.
Another humorous, if slightly disturbing, proposal also drew a lot of responses. The suggestion involved distributing foam baseball bats to Washingtonians to hit people causing a public nuisance, such as not picking up their dogs’ waste. The title of the submission: “Smack people in the head when they do something stupid!”
Appleseed rejected the proposal, finding the idea of a band of roaming foam-bat vigilantes unnerving.
As the bulk of the contest entries suggest, most D.C. residents prefer their civic solutions less violent, more civil — and a little chocolate wouldn’t hurt.
