Innovate Blog

Innovation Center Board of Directors Member and Treasurer, Roger Curry, is, in a word, humble.  Of course there’s much more to Roger than a single word – as the board’s oldest member and a true captain of industry, he comes to the work with a lifetime of experiences.  Nevertheless, during a recent conversation, his sincere humility resonated soundly in his every story and comment.  He is a man who puts others first.

New Haven, Connecticut is not known as an arts capital of the modern world.  Rather, in recent years, connotations of life in the city have been overwhelmingly negative.  Nevertheless, a group of New Haven middle schoolers, Youth as Leaders (YAL) of New Haven’s Easter Seals Goodwill Industries, have committed themselves to serving their community by uncovering and highlighting how the arts play a positive role in neighborhood life. 

The Hill Youth Action Team – better known as HYAT – is aptly named.  The five young people that gather weekly in the Hill neighborhood’s public library are doing just that: they’re taking action on the issues that matter most in their hometown.  In a neighborhood where crime and poverty are too often the reality, HYAT youth are serving and leading their peers and neighbors by tackling pressing community challenges.

When we had the chance to catch up with Innovation Center Board of Directors member Carolyn Edlebeck in early February she was packing – for Uganda.  For as long as we’ve known Carolyn, nearly a full 12 years, she’s always been going somewhere and doing something – whether it be a visit to her town’s city hall to advocate for a new recreation center, or a trip to Mexico with her sisters to volunteer in a community day care.  When we spoke, just one month after her college graduation, she was filling her suitcase with protein bars and insect repellent

San Mateo County, located on the San Francisco Bay Peninsula, is a nature lover’s paradise.  With ocean, mountains, forest, and national parks all within a day’s drive – and northern California’s storied weather to boot – it seems that county residents would be spending more time outdoors than in.  Nevertheless, obstacles – some expected, others unexpected – often keep these Californians, especially youth, indoors.  A group of young people from Redwood City, California are working to find out why, exploring their own community’s

In New Haven, Connecticut, the local YMCA is a place of transition.  Located on Chapel Street, the YMCA borders both Yale University and New Haven’s Dwight neighborhood, a federal empowerment zone where high school dropout rates are high and nearly 40% of the population is below the poverty level.  “You go a street up,” says YMCA Youth Director Maggie Scalzo, “and people are walking around with everything they need; you go a street back, and people haven’t eaten in two days.”  But at the Y, transition signifies more than a passive geographi

Youth Development Training and Resource Center (YDTRC) in New Haven, Connecticut models collaboration at every level.  The product of a partnership between two local organizations – Yale University’s Consultation Center and New Haven’s Citywide Youth Coalition – YDTRC now serves as a nexus of professionals, information, and support for a state-wide collaboration for youth development.  And to top it off, YDTRC is orchestrating yet another collaboration: the network of sites,

Since its opening in 1984, the Monterey Bay Aquarium, located on the Monterey Bay in Monterey, California, has been a favorite fieldtrip for San Francisco Bay Area school children of all ages.  Every year, over 80,000 students traipse the Aquarium’s watery halls, teacher and parent chaperones in tow.  For a day, they have the opportunity to interact with the plants, animals, and ecosystems introduced in their science class textbooks.  Through the Aquarium’s exhibits – underwater forests of Cal

My bike rack crashed my dinner party.  Better said, my bike rack crashed in on my dinner party; either way, it was an uninvited guest. 

In the Southwestern United States, the Sonoran Desert stretches for over 100,000 square miles.  At first glance, it does not appear to be an exactly hospitable environment – with recorded temperatures reaching over 130 degrees Fahrenheit in the shade, it is one of North America’s hottest deserts.  However, for countless generations the Tohono O'odham – People of the Desert – have called this desert home.  And today, Tohono O’odham Community Action (TOCA), a local co