Pepsi has stepped into the realm of providing grants to community projects through Pepsi Refresh Project.  They are looking for people, businesses, and non profits with ideas that will have a positive impact in their communities.  Every month Pepsi will accept 1000 ideas, in which individuals will be allowed to vote for up to 10 of their favorite ideas per day.  Pepsi has six main categories which include Health, Arts & Culture, Food & Shelter, The Planet, Neighborhoods, and Education.  This project has four grant sizes of

• $5k (up to 10 Awardees/Month)
• $25k (Up to 10 Awardees/Month)
• $50k ( Up to 10 Awardees/Month)
• $250k (Up to 2 Awardees/Month)

Which equals up to $1.3 million each month to the best ideas. During the grant cycle, there will be up to 32 potential Pepsi Refresh Grant recipients selected. Pepsi Refresh is looking for ideas that will have a positive impact on communities in the United States and are feasible and completed within 12 month of first received funds.

Games That Will Tech Digital Literacy In NOLA

Within the first month of this competition, several New Orleanians have entered with refreshing ideas to do their part for the city. One that caught our eyes was Fugue, which is a program looking to develop games that teach imagination and digital literacy in New Orleans.  Evelyn Rodriguez who has a background in computer graphics, plans to teach 7th to 12th graders interactive game development. The goal of this project is to teach story-telling and innovation skills through game play.  She also plans to create a portable media lab for community access as well as develop online and printed educational curriculum for future classes.  Evelyn aims to take a team of artists and Internet utopians and develop an interactive, real-world urban game that encourages diverse national and global engagement.  Evelyn has taken an active role in creating publicity not only for her idea but for the other candidates in  New Orleans (Hopenola).  Recently she stated, "Why not have the resources come into your community and do some good?".

Other Great Local Ideas

About Our Legacy Inc. (Current Rank 51st for $250k) This idea will create an enriching after school programs for at risk youth in New Orleans. They hope to facilitate choices and opportunities while modeling appropriate behaviors, restructuring cognitive distortions and correcting social skill deficiencies.

Manifest Your Destiny House Program (Current Rank 68th for $250k) This program plans to build a sustainable afterschool center in New Orleans. This house will be open daily allowing students a place to learn how to live and work green, as well as bringing ideas to their neighborhood. This center will offer workshops, tutoring, gardening, job placement, and much more. This center will be able to house up to 150 student and will be a completely green environment.

Project Peace On The Streets (Current Rank 153rd for $50k) This idea will provide a program that encourages intervention and prevention to at risk youth. This program plans to create an environment of trust and activities to remove youth from the streets and on to a peaceful playing field with such activities as baseball tournaments.

Growth Through Energy & Community Health (Current Rank 13th for $50k) This program will create a fuel community renewal by growing Sunflowers on blighted vacant land. They plan to reclaim up to 50 vacant lots in New Orleans and create green environments that will empower the community and add innovation .

How To Get Involved

1. Support New Orleans Ideas: Vote and tell others! The voting ends on February 28th.
2. Create A Dynamic idea to help New Orleans and submit it to Pepsi Refresh Project. (Apply Here)