We’re baaaack!! After another year of awesome projects, great feedback, learning and tweaking, we’ve returned for yet another round of an even newer and more improved Elevator Project process. Idea Makers kicked it into high gear last Tuesday at EP’s JumpStart orientation, where attendees got the inside scoop on this year’s process and its improvements under the expert guidance of Ep’s own Gabrielle Clermont. The planned “bootcamp” part of the session, where attendees would be given the opportunity to get a “jump start” on their applications was postponed and will instead be held on November 3rd (7-9pm) at 10 Carden as the introductory session of this year’s Elevator Academy.

The Ramp Up, Amp up! Elevator Academy series will run from November 2015 until February 2016, Tuesdays 7 p.m. until 9 p.m at 10 Carden (Check our Eventbrite page for details). The extended schedule will give ideamakers more time to polish their projects and network with each other ahead of the February 5th application deadline. Although the workshops themselves will take a more “hands-on” approach, focused on facilitating the completion of project applications and helping Idea Makers in meeting the “Great Standard” of our scoring rubric, the skills that participants will gain are transferable to project development and project management in a wide variety of sectors including start-up/entrepreneurial and not-for-profit. Stay tuned to this blog for schedules and previews of upcoming Academy workshops.

After the February 5th deadline, a panel of community experts will first score the applications according to our “Great Standard” rubric, then decide which of them will be populating this year’s idea bank. The change in format ensures that the idea bank is populated with the most promising and ready-to-go applications – not only for when it comes time for the community at large to vote (March 8th – 25th), but also for when contributors and benefactors are deciding which projects they would like to support.

And speaking of contributors and benefactors, another change you’ll notice this year is in our approach to supporting the projects. From the beginning, EP has been committed to resourcing our projects differently. This year, we wanted our model to more accurately reflect that although money is an important resource for many of our prospective projects, community benefit is about so much more. To reflect this we’ll be adjusting our language and model accordingly. Stay tuned for more details about how we’ve improved our model for this year.

Last, but not least, save the date! The Big Show will be May 26th, 2016.

There’s lots of exciting upgrades to look forward to in this year’s Elevator Project. Let round 3 begin!!