I think that this is a wonderful proposal. For me, the top priority is to establish relationships with national disability organizations headquartered in the D.C. area. This can lead to better access to individuals with needs that e-NABLE can meet.

If I understand everything clearly, than I have a bit mixed feelings about this proposal. The intentions are great of course. It is really good to get more collaborations and partnerships to benefit the reach of e-NABLE. I am the chapter leader of e-NABLE the Netherlands and I am doing almost everything mentioned above for my country, the Netherlands and also for the Dutch speaking part of Belgium. I expect that some people of other chapters are doing the same thing. I am also aware that doing this takes a lot of time, but more people are doing this voluntary, just like me. Since e-NABLE is a global community I don't think funding should be focussed on only D.C., but it should benefit the global community.

@Sandra Dermisek. Points well taken, Sandra. And many thanks and congratulations for doing what most of us have failed to do. Please share your processes and insights! If you share with Madison, under this proposal it will be her responsibility to disseminate widely, so we can help get other volunteers doing what you have figured out!

My thinking is that we should "kickstart" processes that volunteers typically can't, don't, or won't do. History shows that you are the rare exception.

@Jon Schull, it isn't easy, it took al lot of work for over 7 years now to get where we are right now in the Netherlands with our chapter. I also think that what we are doing may not be working in every country, because of cultural differences.

We have learned that it is good to send out messages out into the public, this can be many things; social media posts showing the results of our work (f.e. smiling kids that have received an e-NABLE device), but also getting articles written in newspapers, magazines etc. We have been on national television twice and that boosted our fame. Also, a good website is also helping people to be able to find us. We also are attending Maker Faires in the Netherlands and Belgium; we show there at a stand what we are doing. We are making this fun for everyone to let them try-out giant Phoenix hands (200-250% size) and this helps to get a conversation going and telling them what we are doing, and this also results often in voluntary donations to us. With these donations we can buy materials for making hands.

So important is to let as many people as possible know what we are doing, so they know we exist and people in need can find us!

This resulted in a very nice contact and cooperation with a university hospital in the North of the country, another revalidation centre and with a patient association for people with limb differences.

I must say when we started in 2017 many medical professionals were hesitant to cooperate and at some point, they still are, but if I get a chance to talk to them, I can explain, that we don’t interfere with their work, but we can help people as a addition to their work. The Netherlands is quite a prosperous country, even though a lot of children are not getting a prosthesis compensated by the health insurance, but they do are curious how it would be to have a prosthesis. In that case a hospital or revalidation centre can not provide a prosthesis, but we can often make an e-NABLE device. So, for these cases we can be the addition to their work. The hospital does give sometimes training to better use the device.

Since almost a year, we are also making mostly arms for people in the Tigray area in Ethiopia, Africa. We are cooperating with a Dutch foundation that is already active there and has contact with the biggest hospital in that area. A doctor there takes measurements and photos and in the Netherlands our volunteers are making the arms accordingly. Most people there have amputations, and it is therefor easier judge what is needed to make a proper prosthesis and being able to do this from such a distance. The doctor there checks if everything fits correctly, so we have a great closed loop there.

It was a lot of work, but I am proud of what we have achieved since 2017, when we first started.

Feel free to check our website (www.enablenederland.nl) and our Facebook to see what we have been doing past years. Most is in Dutch, but Google translate can help out. ;-)

I am sure other chapters like e-NABLE in France and Turkey and probably some more do the same things for their location, but it may be possible that other actions work better for these countries.

My two cents...

I think all of the points in the proposal are exactly in line with the ethos of individual e-NABLE chapters around the world. We should be working to identify potential recipients of e-NABLE devices and collaborating with local volunteers and Makerspaces to fulfill those needs. Any connections with local stakeholders we make along the way as a result of our work fosters a stronger network, and it's those growing connections that have made e-NABLE what is is today.

This is a lot of work for any chapter and the hope is that the chapter builds a robust enough team of volunteers that it can distribute that load and benefit their area. However, it's not in line with the ethos of e-NABLE as a global distributed volunteer organization to fund positions at individual chapters.

With all of that said, I could see an avenue for a rewrite of this proposal more in line with the e-NABLE fund. If there is a need for such materials (and the entire organization should be solicited for feedback, starting with @Jon Schull) the project could focus on your bullet point:

• Develop outreach materials, including presentations, brochures, and digital content, tailored to different target audiences.

The intention of the project would have to be the creation of those material templates that all chapters under the e-NABLE umbrella could download, tailor, and use. DC could be a case study in taking your outreach materials and tailoring them to a specific region, and later you could provide insight as to how those materials benefited your particular chapter.

To make this a project, and not a paid position, the proposal should be re-written to be a sum of money in exchange for tangible deliverables and delivery dates so we can assess the value of the deliverables relative to the needs of the larger organization.

Good points but piloting in DC is a great start. Â

I'm in full support of this  proposal and urged Madison to develop [email protected] cell: 585-738-6696
Co-Founder, Â e-NABLE: volunteers worldwide making free, 3D printed prosthetics
Innovation Fellow, JMK Innovation Fund

Sent from iPhone: beware tyops.

I like the ideas and if Jon supports it I support it. I would like to see this Outreach to extend Nationally, and World Wide if successful. Sorry for the Cliche' but " You have to crawl before you walk, and walk before you run."

I think that any form of Outreach will improve our availability around the world. I would like to see more discussion on the proposal as well.

Richard

Thank you, everyone, for your comments and feedback. I truly appreciate you taking the time to provide your input. I understand that this proposal may not be perfect, but I hope that in the end, it will serve as a valuable resource to enhance outreach efforts for other chapters. Your support and insights are invaluable as we work towards our shared goal of making a positive impact in our communities.

@Jeremy Simon - can we move this proposal to a vote? Thank you!