Wear it Forward, a student-led initiative dedicated to finding a way to donate clothes conveniently in their city, has won 1st place in the national CAP Multimedia Contest hosted by Teach Democracy.
A team of 4 Mountain House High School students in the Law and Society class noticed a lack of a convenient way to donate shoes and clothes, often having to drive around 10 miles away just to donate. From clothes that children have outgrown to out-of-season apparel, the pile of potential donations has been growing in the homes of Mountain House. This generates textile waste and strips clothes of their chance at a second life.
There was also a lack of awareness of trustworthy donation centers, causing potential donors to be discouraged and confused about where to donate. One thing was clear: there needed to be a connection between the residents of Mountain House and local donation centers.
The CAP Multimedia Contest challenges students to leverage media to raise awareness about issues they believe are important, with a focus on civics and policy. So, the students got to work.
Their first action was to research, to gain knowledge about the underlying factors and consequences of textile waste. They discovered the horrors of capitalism and the fast-fashion industry, how it takes advantage of its workers and favors quantity over quality. The industry works hand in hand with consumerism, as they produce low-quality clothes for a cheap price. These products are short-lived, causing people to throw them away and replace them after only a short period of use. This generates textile waste, economic loss, and even chemical pollution from its unethical production. After researching, it was clear that this issue was worth raising awareness about. It was then that one of their members coined the name of their project, Wear it Forward.
Their second action was putting out a survey to gauge how much Mountain House residents would use their service. It gave exposure and garnered interest for people to become involved in donating clothes, as well as helped gather ideas for a solution. From there, they built a blueprint for their solution, implementing donation boxes throughout the town and having volunteers sort and transport them to donation centers.
Their third action was to reach out to the Mayor of Mountain House, Andy Su, to gain insight on how they could set up these boxes. However, Mayor Su informed them that Mountain House was a master planned city, and donation bins were not in this plan. It would be unlikely that they would get the city's approval, as well as get funding for permanent, industrial boxes. Instead, he helped them pivot to one of their alternative ideas: curbside pick-up drives.
In this system, residents would gather donations and fill out a form to let a team of volunteers know where to pick them up. They would then leave donations outside of their homes at a certain time, with the convenience of not having to drive or even speak with volunteers. Volunteers would then pick it up and sort it at someone's house, and the sorted donations would be transported to local community centers, which could cycle every drive to ensure donations are well dispersed.
Circling back to their actions, they decided to redo their survey, gearing towards their new plan of pick-up services. Results showed that residents found it extremely convenient to donate using these services, and that volunteers would be willing to help. And so, the team doubled down and created a sign-up system for their new solution.
Their fourth action was to contact elementary school principals in Mountain House, as they found that many of the schools generated lots of clothes in the lost and found. Schools are also a great outlet for parents to donate old clothes that their fast-growing kids no longer fit. In light of their original solution, they also requested to have temporary, cost-friendly plastic bins which can collect donations as well. They also contacted the Mountain House High School principal, Dr. Auerbach, for approval of the program, and possibly a box in the high school office. In this meeting, he offered his support and insight on how to market.
Their fifth action was to harness the power of media, aligning with the goals of the CAP Contest, by creating social media and a website. They created an Instagram account, @wearitforward_mh, where they post about donation drives, what their program is, and the effects of capitalism, consumerism, and textile waste. They also created a website for residents to easily find volunteer sign-ups, an event calendar, and donation instructions.
The Wear It Forward team condensed all of their actions and steps into a presentation and uploaded it to the contest for submission. They included their future plans for donation drives, creating a club at the high school for esteemed members and volunteers to fill their shoes, and preserving its longevity.
On June 6th, they received news from Teach Democracy that their project had won 1st place in the nationwide CAP Project Contest. This was a huge milestone for the project, giving them exposure and motivation to continue. It marked the beginning of a student-led initiative that continues to build connections for Mountain House residents and local donation centers.
Follow along on their journey at @wearitforward_mh on Instagram, and visit their website https://sites.google.com/lammersvilleusd.net/wearitforward/home to get involved.
Results from Multimedia Contest: https://crfcap.org/mod/page/view.php?id=208
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