Adobe Show Your Impact Feature: Project Kindle

Last month, TechSoup and Adobe announced the winners of the Show Your Impact Design Contest. We thought the innovative work created by the winners and runners-up was so inspirational, that they should be shared more broadly and could perhaps give other nonprofits and libraries fresh ideas for your creative works. You can see the first featured group in this earlier post.

This week, we are featuring the winner of the Social Change category in print and photo: Project Kindle's Book, I Know: Kids from Camp Kindle Share Their Stories of Living with HIV/AIDS.

Project Kindle's mission is to improve the quality of life for kids who are dealing with HIV/AIDS and other life-altering struggles. One of the hardest things for kids with HIV or AIDS to deal with is the stigma they face from society. Project Kindle knew that if they wanted to help improve the lives of the kids, they would have to find a way to combat that stigma. They decided to create a book and a video that is provided cost-free to hundreds of schools across the country.

"We gave the kids a forum to tell their stories, show off their writings, display their artwork, and let their peers in classrooms around America know that even though they had HIV, they were no different than any other kid," said their submission essay.

Their book is available in electronic form, which is not only a fun user experience, but it is environmentally friendly as well. They can now distribute as many copies as are needed without the environmental costs of printing and shipping the books.

The two runners up in this category are the Ventura County "Quit" Campaign by the Ojai Valley Youth Foundation and the Day Labor Station Poster Series by Public Architecture.

Their work and stories are persuasive. Click through to see how youth created a compelling anti-smoking campaign while developing career skills, and how a poster gave the public the opportunity to connect with day laborers as individual human beings, rather than members of a faceless group.

Check out their submissions and the other winners and runners up on the Show Your Impact site.

We encourage you to show your support for their local work with a donation to their programs: Project Kindle, Public Architecture (Day Labor Posters), and Ojai Valley Youth Foundation (Quit Campaign).

Thanks to all the organizations which participated and watch for more features of the winners in coming weeks!