In this episode of the 2021 Virtual BGG Summit, we hosted Mackenzie King and Julia Armstrong from Can't Stop Columbus (CSC), a dynamic collective of volunteers that create and curate initiatives to fight systemic issues exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. These issues--hunger, joblessness, racial justice, and more--are addressed by teams of seasoned professionals, students, corporate leaders, non-profit organizers, and everyone in between. 

It is worth mentioning that Mackenzie and Julia are no strangers to community-building in their professional careers either. Mackenzie is the Director of Innovation Initiatives at Smart Columbus, a public-private partnership between the City of Columbus and the Columbus Partnership that forwards cutting-edge technologies in our regional infrastructure. Julia is the Director of the OHI/O Informal Learning Program at Ohio State. This out-of-the-classroom experience allows students to build technological solutions to real-world problems. Naturally, they have used these skillsets to drive CSC's year-long crusade to support their community.

"We've grown extensively beyond just a couple apps," says Mackenzie. "Developers showed up, and designers showed up, and what we ended up having to do as a key role in the backend was creating an infrastructure for all of these matches to be made."

As of March 2021, she says CSC has expanded to address double-digit impact areas and over sixty individual projects. This includes Columbus Arts Hub, which was born out of CSC to connect residents to local artists through event promotion, organized art walks, and marketplaces for artists to sell virtual backgrounds and masks. Similarly, WeFeedCbus facilitates donations to women- and minority-owned restaurants that prepare and deliver meals to frontline workers and those in need. 

For Julia and Mackenzie, Can't Stop Columbus has provided more than just programming.

"I just remember falling in love with my city and my community," says Julia. "We reached out across the city and found like-minded individuals who are willing to wake up early or stay up late and skip their weekends to do amazing things for people."

The CSC team, facing vast uncertainty and societal instability, came together last March, intending to impact their neighbors in the wake of a brutal pandemic. Their dedicated team, flexible structure, and resolve to keep enabling their city have allowed them to accomplish this goal. But, as we are sure they would tell you, they are only getting started. 

Thank you for joining us on this episode of the 2021 Virtual Business Generating Good Summit. Are you looking to get involved with CSC? You can register with them here. Also, make sure to check out our other podcast episodes, where we will continue to explore topics around volunteering for good, consuming for good, and advocating for good.