We’ve made it past the first stage of a grant competition to provide

funds for our local mapping

work with high school kids. That’s great news, except that now

I have to write a full proposal on short notice. Among other questions,

I need to answer this: "What is unusual about your project?"

We intend to help high school students who are not college-bound to

play leading roles in original scholarly research on a matter of public

importance, and see whether that work increases both their academic

skills and their civic commitment. The topic, which I’ve discussed

here before, is healthy nutrition and exercise and the degree to which

these outcomes are affected by the physical environment.

The Orton Foundation provides a great collection of youth-generated

maps at communitymap.org.