Circular Receives Funding for Statewide 'Create Your WY' Program
Sheridan, Wyoming’s 501(c)(3) Circular showcases community-based solutions to global waste problems in the energy sector. Our projects focus on second-life uses for energy materials, sustainability awareness, youth and adult art education, new community narratives, and female entrepreneurship.
Circular is very pleased to announce funding for a new statewide program titled 'Create Your WY'. Funding for the new program is provided through ARP Recovery Funds, made possible by the American Rescue Plan of 2021 and made available to our organization by the National Endowment for the Humanities and Wyoming Humanities.
Create Your WY will be a six-part recorded series that introduces and addresses statewide, national, and global waste problems while encouraging small-scale, community-based solutions from participants. Each episode will be 20-25 minutes in length.
Create Your WY allows a broader, statewide audience and participation. The primary audience will be 6th-12th grade students and University students, although anyone in the state with interest is encouraged to participate. The series is recorded rather than live-streamed to allow for viewing at any time. This will allow youth to view in a classroom setting or at home.
Currently, Circular Executive Director Logan Jenkins and Circular Board Member Dr. Matthew Henry are co-planning the proposed episode format and potential topics. Jenkins and Henry will discuss topics including the reuse and repurposing of solar panels, wind turbine blades, coal byproducts, carbon dioxide emissions, various plastics, and water conservation and efficiency measures.
In addition to Circular, Jenkins is President of the U.S. Department of Energy-funded WY Ranch and Cofounder of the U.S. Department of Energy-funded CircuSolar. Dr. Matthew Henry is an Assistant Instructional Professor at the University of Wyoming’s Honors College, where he teaches Honors Colloquium. His research focuses on the role of narrative and storytelling in communities facing the environmental and social impacts of natural resource extraction and climate change.
Jenkins adds “Create Your WY will spur creative thinking around the future that participants wish to see in Wyoming and encourage making a career out of doing so. These informed and thoughtful discussions encourage creative, practical solutions from statewide participants who may feel their voices are currently not heard. We will demonstrate that problems that face our nation and other countries can be met with meaningful, Made in Wyoming solutions.”
Further details on the program will be made available in early January. Updates will be made through Circular Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram pages.
Note: The findings, conclusions, etc. do not necessarily represent the views of Wyoming Humanities or the National Endowment for the Humanities.