Our Crowdfunding Groups
Dear New Start Familia,
As our program concludes today, I am overwhelmed with gratitude for the community who pulled together and assisted the New Start staff in so many ways, this crowdfunding campaign being one of them. When the campaign closed on Wednesday night, we had exceeded our goal at 106%: $5,301 all thanks to your time, voice, and donations! Thank you, thank you, thank you, from all of the New Start family.
This project will be used to fund a one-time donor scholarship for each of our Academic Conference winners, who were announced today at our closing ceremonies:
Congratulations to our winners, and THANK YOU to all of our donors and advocates who shared this campaign. I just can't say it enough. Thank you. New Start is magic because of its caring community.
With all my best,
Jacob Shirley, MA
Program Coordinator
Hello New Start Fam!
Happy Friday! It's been an exciting Week 5 for New Start. Our 27th Annual Academic Conference wrapped up yesterday, and my heart is so full seeing 1) how much pride these students took in their finished research and presentations and 2) how fast the community came together to fund these scholarships! When this campaign closed at 11:59 on Wednesday night, we had raised $4,225. Wow!!! Look at what our voices accomplished.
While I'm elated by our progress, it's hard to ignore the fact that we were THIS CLOSE to the goal of $5,000. 84% in a couple short weeks, with some real, true momentum building.
So, I'm excited to announce this campaign has reopened for just five more days! We have just $775 to go, which can go a long way for our students!
Consider that $19.93 (the first giving level and the year the conference started!) can buy a student two or three meals at the Student Union.
$27 can fill up a commuter's gas tank.
$51 is a week of groceries.
$100 is substantial help with textbooks.
$296.55 can buy a simple laptop for school work.
I want to wrap up with some points of feedback we heard from our students today:
"The high point of the conference was when people started asking questions at the end. It was like, 'You know this! Teach me more!' It was really gratifying and helped me realize that not only do I know a lot, but I'm capable of teaching it, too."
"We were really nervous about presenting on a topical issue, but at the end, the people in the room started asking how they can learn and do more. We felt like we actually empowered change."
We have a few more days to empower change as a community of alumni and advocates! Please share widely, and let's see if we can close the gap and hit our goal together!
Bear Down,
Jacob Shirley, M.A.
Program Coordinator
Good evening, New Start Familia!
A huge thank you to everyone who has contributed to our campaign with your time, word of mouth, and donations! In the past week we jumped from 33% to 64% of our goal, and every penny of that goes to our students.
I'll keep this short and sweet! Tomorrow is the first day of our 27th Annual Academic Conference, and we're excited to see the culmination of all our students' work. With that, our campaign will also be closing tomorrow night (July 17th) at 11:59PM MST. We have a little over 24 hours to make one last push. Can you encourage your network to chip in and support our students with the cost of a cup of coffee or a lunch? If you feel that New Start positively impacted the life or career of you or someone you know, they can also share the campaign on Facebook. The more people who know, the more of an impact we can make tonight and tomorrow! I know the power of our community.
So what do you say? One last push for our New Start 2019 class?
Bear Down!
Jacob Shirley, M.A.
New Start Coordinator
Good morning New Start family!
We hit a third of our goal this morning(!), and I want to take this time to thank everyone who has supported this project so far with your donations or even your voice! We've had some incredibly generous donors contribute to our campaign over the past few days, and truly, every little bit helps. With that said, we still have a trek ahead of us and 8 more days to reach our goal!
Meanwhile, our New Start students been hard at work on their own goals and preparing for next week's conference! Tuesday workshop sessions continue to be very well-attended, a testament to our students' drive to succeed and what they're willing to put into their projects. Here's just a small taste of the panels we're getting excited about (keep in mind there are over a hundred!):
Remember you'll be able to stream a handful of academic panels on Facebook live next week! Keep an eye out for another update and learn which panels will be chosen for the live feed.
In the meantime, I'd like to challenge and encourage you to spread the word and share this cause with any New Start alumni in your life, family and advocates, friends, and anyone else who might be willing to help. Keep in mind you're not constrained to the amounts listed in the five "donor levels" on the page. You can give more, less, or somewhere in between! Can you help us reach $5,000? I have a good feeling about it!
Very best,
Jacob J Shirley, MA
New Start Coordinator
Good morning, friends!
New Start kicked off Week 3 yesterday, and it's been a beautiful thing to see the students starting to find their home away from home. They've been actively engaged all over campus, from the cultural resource centers to the Su Casa dorm programs, and even in their academic colleges. In regards to the Academic Conference, you should see how hard these students are working to develop something really great! Every Tuesday afternoon, the Academic Conference committee hosts a workshop to help students prepare for the conference, and attendance has been booming. The first two sessions filled the Kiva Room (seriously, check out the photo)! Students are turning in their conference proposals now, and we can't wait to share some of their topics with you.
In our first week, we hit 10% of our $5,000 goal! We're off to a great start, but there's still a long way to go over the next two weeks. So we need your help! If you'd like to become an Ambassador for this scholarship campaign, you'll be invited to create your own login for this page, share the project with your network, and keep track of how much your network has been donating. It's a fun project for those who like to get competitive or see the fruits of their labor!
Please share this campaign widely, and if you'd like to become an Ambassador, please email me directly at jshirley@email.arizona.edu. Watch here for more updates over the next two weeks, and as always, thank you so much for your support and for your role in the New Start family. We cannot do this without you!
Bear Down,
Jacob J Shirley, MA
Program Coordinator
New Start’s Academic Conference has been around since 1993!
100% of New Start – that’s right, every single student – presented work at last year’s Academic Conference!
296 minutes and 55 seconds – that’s how much footage of last year’s conference was streamed on Facebook Live in 2019! You can still check out those presentations on New Start’s Facebook page.
