At Big Bowl of Ideas, we believe that the fight for justice and equality is an intersectional one. That’s why we were so excited to team up with Sierra Club, one of the country’s oldest and most prominent environmental justice organizations, to help create So Fresh So Green, an initiative to engage young people of color in issues around environmental, social and economic justice prior to the 2016 election.
A Fresh Logo Goes a Long Way
The first thing we did was create the name of this effort — So Fresh So Green and then various logo draft designs to accompany it for the Sierra Club using our VAVIA (Vision and Values, Images and Applications) approach. In creating the logos, we tried to get at the heart of what the So Fresh So Green initiative is about: getting young people, especially young people of color, hyped about environmental justice. The final selection is here:
So Fresh So Green, LIVE!
Once the logo was established, we moved to take So Fresh So Green straight to young voters. First, we conducted targeted research of pre-Election Day events attracting large numbers of young people of color in battleground states. Then we developed creative ways to partner with those events in order to spread the word about So Fresh So Green.
Cross-Town Rivalry Game in North Carolina? Perfect
In Raleigh, NC, for example, we presented and promoted a couple of events before and after the highly anticipated football game between HBCU rivals Shaw University and Saint Augustine’s University. Before the game, working with local environmental justice contacts, we organized a #GoVote pre-game space with appearances by Dr. Everett Ward and Dr. Tashni-Ann Dubroy, the presidents of Saint Augustine’s and Shaw University, respectively, and Aaron Mair, Sierra Club’s national president. In the space, just outside the entrance to the stadium, Sierra Club distributed BBOI-designed informational handouts about local environmental justice issues. After the game, we produced a #GoVote party featuring a high energy performance by hip-hop artist Dice Raw, of the legendary Roots crew. Both events gave Sierra Club the opportunity to highlight environmental justice issues with the young voters in a way that felt fresh and fun.
Young Gets It Done Rally and Concert in Miami
On the day before the Election, we brought So Fresh So Green down to Miami for SEIU1199’s Young Gets It Done concert, featuring Angie Martinez, Rick Ross, Gucci Mane, Pusha T and many more. At the concert, Sierra Club distributed more BBOI-designed informational handouts about environmental issues in South Florida, and offered concert goers the opportunity to show their support for environmental justice via the photo booth app PHHHOTO. Big Bowl of Ideas designed a number of custom So Fresh So Green photo booth backdrops for this that evoked the natural world while appealing to young, urban voters. It was a great way to draw in young people interested in social justice and get them thinking about the environment. Check out a few of our favorite snapshots here:
So Fresh So Green ushered in some new ways to communicate with young voters in North Carolina and Florida on Election Day for this organization. We’re excited to work on more environment-related projects in the future, as fighting for environmental justice will only get more and more critical given the current political climate.
