TCP Logo com·pas·sion \kəm-ˈpa-shən\: Mindful support, relief, and genuine human kindness- for others, ourselves, and our environment.
 
   
What: The Compassion Project (TCP), a non-partisan, non-religious organization and project, is designed to bring the Bozeman community and the greater Gallatin County together through education in and outside the schools around compassion- what it means, how to recognize it, how to practice it, and why it is important. Upon completion of these school and community lessons and workshops, each participant will receive a donated 8x8 inch wooden block to create their own artistic representation of compassion based on what they learned. The final output of this project will be an installation of all art pieces (~10,000 pieces) around Bozeman in the spring of 2019. It is the hope that this will then be expanded to other communities around Montana and beyond.
 
Who: All K-12 students in the Gallatin Valley community, MSU community, families and community partners will be invited to participate through classroom lessons for teachers and schools that opt in as well as through public and community workshops and after-school programming. We anticipate approximately 10,000 participants, however those impacted has clearly been a ripple effect- from our crew and their communities to the participants and their communities (teachers, students, parents), and then anyone who will interact with the actual installations in the spring. Temporary installations will happen in the spring of 2019  at the following locations: Emerson Center for Arts and Culture, Red Tractor Pizza, Sola Café, Bozeman Public Library, and Fork and Spoon Community Café.
 
Workshops offered: Over 200 teachers in the K-12 systems have been trained on the curriculum in order to facilitate g TCP in their own classrooms. Most of these trainings happened in-person in 3-hour trainings, but a few were done through a 1-hour webinar that we created for this purpose. We believe over 250 classrooms in the valley will have been impacted by this project as well as approximately 50 “partner projects” of community members and MSU students participating in the curriculum. We are partnering with the following schools: Bozeman High, Chief Joseph Middle, Sacajawea Middle, Hawthorne, Hyalite, Irving, Longfellow, Meadowlark, Morning Star, Emily Dickinson, LaMotte, Monforton, Anderson, Meadowlark, Whittier, Belgrade K-4, Sleeping Giant Middle (Livingston), Bozeman Field School.
     

Other partners: Bozeman Public Library, Cancer Support Community, Bozeman Deaconness, Montana Behavioral Institute, Verge Theater, Bozeman Rotaract, Big Sky Youth Empowerment, MSU US101 classes, MSU Multicultural Ed classes, MSU Ethic of Care class, Bozeman Health Collective, Delta Gamma Educators Society, International Programs TEA Fellows, Red Tractor Pizza, Bridgercare, MSU EDU101 class, Montana State University (for open sessions), Suffer Out Loud, The Traveling School, and MSU Counseling and Psychological Services.

 
Desired Learning Outcomes: To help individuals, in the K-12 schools, the university community, and the broader community of Bozeman, MT to:
  • Learn to understand compassion,
  • Learn to recognize acts of compassion and opportunities for compassion, and
  • Learn to integrate compassion into their own lives and their community.
    
Funds raised: Approximately $50,000 (all sponsors are up to date on our website) including cash through donations and grants as well as in-kind donations (point of pride is winning a $10,000 grant from the Southern Poverty Law Center and over $11,000 from individual community members in the GiveBig Gallatin Valley event over 2 years).

 

How can I learn more and get involved?

 
Follow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/CompassionPject/
 
Follow us on Instagram: @compassionpject For more information or to get involved, please email Kayte Kaminski at thecompassionpject@gmail.com