Expanding and Making ProjectsThatMatter.org Accessible to The New School Community

By Michael Diamond

Projects That Matter is a free nonprofit website that connects practitioners, students, faculty, and volunteers with projects to transform our world into a better place for all. My personal experience through interning with ProjectsThatMatter.org has thus far been a great learning experience. Part of my internship tasks in providing outreach for ProjectsThatMatter.org involves reaching out to environmental and sustainability organizations to help them register projects on the website. In helping them register projects, this allows students to partake in environmental projects. In addition to individuals from organizations registering their projects, another great aspect of ProjectsThatMatter.org is that students can also find projects to participate in based on their interests, such as based upon the sustainable development goals.I believe that it would be also beneficial to have The New School community get involved with ProjectsThatMatter.org. Current New School students can see find projects, while alumni and faculty can register their projects on ProjectsThatMatter.org. Ultimately, by getting The New School community involved through both finding as well as registering projects on ProjectsThatMatter.org, this website can only become more successful in its mission to create a cleaner environment and a more sustainable future. ProjectsThatMatter.org has the potential to have a higher turnout rate for both students finding projects, as well as individuals within the field who can register their projects for students to find.In addition, some of the specific projects that are posted on ProjectsThatMatter.org are relevant to different cities. The photo posted above is a picture of the city of Detroit, which is known for its industrial economy but has the potential to become a more environmentally friendly city. Some of the projects already included on ProjectsThatMatter.org are meant to improve the environmental quality of a particular city, including creating a stronger environmentally based economy in the city of Detroit. By expanding ProjectsThatMatter.org to The New School community, projects can either be found or registered that are based on improving the environmental and economic quality of additional cities in the U.S. and internationally. New School students can also work on projects either in person or virtually depending on the specific project. All in all, in discussing the positive aspects of ProjectsThatMatter.org, The New School community would greatly benefit from participating in environmental projects with ProjectsThatMatter.org 

Michael Diamond is currently an M.S. Degree Candidate in the Environmental Policy and Sustainability Managementprogram at The New School.