Bridging Horizons Community Service Contest
Bridging Horizons provides a community-oriented service experience that gives groups the opportunity to apply the knowledge they have gained and make a positive impact by helping community members overcome physical barriers. Each entrant completes a project in their community that helps to enhance independence for a person (or people) with a disability. The first, second, and third place winners receive cash prizes of $500, $250, and $100 respectively.
Download Bridging Horizons contest brochure
50 Project Ideas for the Bridging Horizons Contest
The following are some ideas that might help your FFA chapter get started on a project for the Bridging Horizons Contest. You could begin by looking around your school for possible ideas. We suggest that you keep it simple and have fun. Many of these projects would only take an afternoon or two to complete, but can have a long-lasting positive effect on your community. Use the links for project idea photos.
- Install Rearview Mirrors. Install rearview mirrors on agricultural equipment so that an individual with a bad back will not have to twist as much when backing up.
- Fabricate a Rolling Cart. Design a cart that can be scooted through a garden or around a shop for people who have trouble walking. The Tippecanoe Valley FFA Chapter designed a shop chair for a farmer who could stand for extended periods of time.
- Conduct a Community Assessment. Go out into your community and do a community or worksite assessment on accessibility. Do the police station, hospital, public fishing sites, or local parks have ramps, an accessible parking spot, a clearly posted sign pointing to an accessible entrance, accessible restrooms, a compacted walkway that a wheelchair could roll on and other features that ensure access? If not, follow up with a written proposal to your county officials reporting what you have found, possible changes that need to be made, why the changes need to be made, and whom to contact to make the changes.
If you believe that your chapter could assist in accomplishing some of the needed changes, offer to help. - Mark Accessible Parking Spaces. Get some blue paint and refresh or make new accessible parking spacesat your high school, baseball diamond, tennis courts, local businesses, etc. (Become the "Blue Crew").
- Fabricate Stencils. Develop a stencil for marking accessible parking areas, and distribute it to local businesses.
