Choosing Your Facing Project
At this point, you may have already chosen a topic to face in your community. Something to consider, however, is that your original topic idea or name may shift depending on partners you continue to bring on board. For example, Union College decided to shift their project title from “Facing Drug Awareness” to “Facing Addiction” once the project leads began conversations with other partners and they realized “Addiction” was a better fit.
It is important to note, however, that whatever you choose as the unique URL for your website—that The Facing Project team will build for you—cannot be changed once you tell us and the site is built. We recommend keeping your site name neutral, especially if you decide to continue on with The Facing Project and face other topics in your community. An example of this would be: http://ucla.facingproject.com/. The Community Service Commission at UCLA determined they want their URL non-specific so their future Facing Projects can be housed on the same site.
To continue to flesh out your topic/issue, form a planning committee to begin conversations about what topic/issue needs to be “faced.” This committee could include representatives from nonprofits, educational institutions (k-12/higher education), government, writers, or other volunteers in your community. If you need help during this early stage, feel free to email The Facing Project for guidance.
A few examples of what could be faced in a community include:
Facing Abuse/Violence/Domestic Violence
Facing Bullying/Cyber Bullying
Facing Hunger
Facing Unemployment
Facing Religion
Facing Childhood Obesity
Facing Fatherhood
Facing Single Parenting
Facing HIV/AIDS
Facing Death
Facing PovertyFacing Homelessness
Facing War
Facing Teen Pregnancy
Facing Coming Out/GLBT Stories
Facing Immigration
Facing Refugees
Facing Autism
Facing Eating Disorders
Facing Welfare
These are just a few examples to get your creative juices flowing. Ask yourself—what is important in my community but not being discussed? How will The Facing Project fill this gap?