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(this is an email sent to john@tumblr.com so if you feel like sending it again be my guest…this is the plan for Project Moore)
My wife and I are moving to downtown Raleigh in a week. We’re leaving the outer-Raleigh suburbs in favor of historic houses and the chance to be able to actually walk to where we need to go.
In the time we’ve spent down there over the past few years (it’s been a long planned move) I’ve been struck by a certain part of Raleigh called Moore Square. It’s a park, in a decent part of Raleigh, that happens to be located near two bus stops, a homeless shelter, and a Salvation Army. This all combines to mean that there’s a large homeless population that resides in Moore Square. Most of these people spend their days hanging out in the park, playing ball, talking, etc…then they wander off to sleep wherever they can…as one gentleman told me recently “[he] lives in the forest”.
I want to set up a booth in Moore Square on a weekend day, be it Saturday or Sunday, and offer these people the chance to blog on Tumblr. I’m planning on reaching out to local printing companies so that the people who are interested can choose their tumblr URL and we can then provide them with business cards with their blog name on it.
We are going to do this every week. Every week on whatever determined day I will go to Moore Square and offer these people a chance to update their tumblogs. The weekly date will give them something to look forward to. They can try to do well week to week so that they can update their tumblogs on the weekend. It’ll give them a voice, a much needed voice. It’ll give them an internet presence which could help with job searches. Hopefully, it’ll give them a sense of pride knowing people are hearing their stories in their own words.
I plan on doing this myself anyway. I have an old Dell laptop that I’m more than willing to dedicate to the cause. However, with the amount of people who may participate I’m not sure that one laptop will do the job. Plus I lack the resources to set up any kind of formal booth. I was planning on approaching people and explaining to them how Tumblr works and asking if they’d be interested.
This idea could really catch on, it could provide a much needed sense of self confidence to people who literally have nothing in the world, and it could help put them in a better place. This idea won’t work only in Raleigh, this could be applied in every city. Giving someone a voice is giving them a new chance at a better life, tumblr could be the medium for that voice.
My question is would Tumblr be willing to provide support for this project? Be it material support, be it press support (if we coordinate on details), be it whatever you feel willing to donate.
I look forward to hearing from you, and more than that I look forward to seeing the first tumblogs go up from the people in Moore Square in Raleigh…
