ThirdSpace@SPARK
What can you do, where you are?
On September 25, 2020, we kicked off the year with our very first SPARK, a conversation about best practices for student-led change projects.
What are SPARKS?
SPARKS are conversations between Barnard community members and visionaries about how to change the world.
SPARKS will stay here all year - bookmark this page because we're regularly adding more.
Dive into the resources and ideas these visionaries suggest exploring as you make change in your local community, by clicking on their names under their photos. These resources will also stay posted - and grow - throughout the year.
And if you want more...
see what's catching our attention.
What would you add to this list? Email us:
thirdspace@barnard.edu
In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic and the movement for Black lives have illuminated the need for deep change and a complete re-imagining of our approaches to community safety, economic security, and access to education.
These three, interconnected topics are a thematic structure for SPARK and for the year-long ThirdSpace@ experience as a whole.
Here’s how we are defining them:
COMMUNITY SAFETY
What is a world in which every one of us feels safe like in practice?
Mutual aid networks, alternatives to policing, restorative and transformative justice communities, creative approaches family life, and abolitionist movements have imagined this world in theory and are putting it into practice.
ECONOMIC SECURITY
What would a small- or large-scale economy that is structured to promote and preserve life, rather than monetary profit, be like in practice?
Triple bottom lines, renewable energies and cradle-to-cradle design, B corporations, social entrepreneurship, collective ownership and mutual aid, universal base income, urban agriculture and a new future of work are all ideas that suggest a stronger economic safety net can be built.
ACCESS TO EDUCATION
What is a world with universal access to information and learning like in practice?
Information overload, the idea of fake news, and social media activism are just a few of the ways in which access to information and education shape public life. Education that works for all might include student-centered, "non-traditional" education models. It might prioritize the experiences of marginalized communities, especially the narratives of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color. It might leverage technological advances for low-income communities. Education could be a window into the future of more open and democratic learning, responsible reporting, and critical media consumption.
