We stimulate dialogue and creativity through artistic and cultural projects

The PORCH Society stimulates the senses by covering visual, audio, literary, culinary and horticultural practices by hosting, enabling and engaging a wide variety of artists at both national and international levels to spend time in our communities and soak up our fabulous unique culture. At the same time, these artists give something back in areas where we need help, particularly in education and community development. The PORCH Society believes in the huge benefit gained by experiencing a new culture and living life at a slightly slower pace. These types of experiences are the ones that help an artist to see a little differently and grow. Simultaneously, our communities can experience the types of inspiration and growth that talented worldly guests can bring. Where arts and artists lead, community, creativity and cultural activities will follow.

We catalyze the transformation of education in rural communities

The PORCH Society catalyzes transformational change in rural educational settings. Even with the advent of the internet, we have noted a decline in test scores and educational standards of many schools in rural communities. As farming becomes increasingly mechanized, jobs have become scarce and rural communities are becoming marginalized and displaced, taking their schools down with them. The vision of PORCH is that carefully selected coordinators will work with communities to help turn their schools around. Outside funding will be sought and the programs will work closely with each state’s department of education and the local schools looking for transformational change to create a type of partnership environment. PORCH will be using current models of success, known leadership initiatives, and even some of the tenets of the German apprenticeship system to educate students to a high academic level, while giving them a portfolio of practical skills. It is also the vision of PORCH that these schools promote the excellence of all students regardless of their gender, race, ethnicity or religion. In order to attract business into rural areas, it is imperative that companies see an educational springboard for their employee’s families as diverse as the employees themselves. 

We promote radical innovation for a more balanced and sustainable future

PORCH will focus on the pillar of natural resources and making sure that urban users of these resources protect, and invigorate the rural communities working to provide them. These include agriculture, energy, water and all natural materials that come from the ground. Urban growth has in effect, sucked on natural, rural resources to the tipping point. We are rapidly approaching the day when rural communities can not deliver goods to cities on a timely basis. It is challenging to the point of ‘impossible’ to comply with what is written by the cities in governing rural resources on how to grow and mine etc. in order to give growing, urban populations the produce and raw materials needed for ever expanding consumption. There are signs of this natural and human drain impacting our countryside negatively every day.

We facilitate breakthrough opportunities for connectivity and shared growth

Urban and industrial consumption has required economies of scale that have sucked a great deal of brain capital out of rural America. Technology has now provided us with a way to grow large and important crops with fewer people and higher yields. However unless the communities around that land are strong and sustained there will be no one to maintain or intelligently implement the technology. Historically, well into the 20th Century, rural America has been one of the principle drivers of the U.S.’s success. All thing rural were serious contributors to the US in terms of thought leadership, creativity and economic prosperity. Today that impact is marginalized. Many rural communities are mired in drugs, boredom and hopelessness. Making things worse, there has been very little investment in access to the internet. This is a phenomenal handbrake to creating educational, creative and economic opportunities. PORCH will work to see this changed.

DONATE NOW     $30 buys seeds for the garden

DONATE NOW     $50 buys an appliance for our demonstration kitchen for our food science program

DONATE NOW     $75 provides the popcorn necessary to feed all of children a special snack at our weekly “Movie Night”

DONATE NOW     $100 provides the fee for one of our students to have a special immersion project such as a day canoeing on the Mississippi River, or a day at the Museums of Memphis

DONATE NOW     $200 buys an honorarium for a day for a special guest speaker or artist to come into the school and help us transform a child’s life

DONATE NOW     $500 buys a stove for our food science program

DONATE NOW     $1000 buys a share in our commercial greenhouse for our gardening and landscaping class. $25,000 provides an entire greenhouse

DONATE NOW     $50,000 buys the food truck we need to start our entrepreneur project for our food science program

DONATE NOW     $30 buys a round trip for a child in a rural community to see a museum in a nearby city

DONATE NOW     $50 buys a digital camera for an art student

DONATE NOW     $250 pays for a visiting artist to spend a day in class teaching kids

DONATE NOW     $1000 supports a traveling pop up art show through a 10 town rural American tour

DONATE NOW     $150 buys a kindle or a chromebook for a child

DONATE NOW     $1000 provides the honorarium for a teacher to give a club or evening class in programming to high school kids