Equals Three Communications added two accounts: A contract to assist The Cultural Center of Spain and a contract to work with the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) on its Budgetball Civic Engagement Initiative.
The contract to assist The Cultural Center of Spain (CCE) was to identify opportunities to implement cultural initiatives in conjunction with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which range from halving extreme poverty to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS, all by the target date of 2015. The initiative aims to strengthen the cultural industries in Latin America while addressing issues from human capacity building to cultural rights.
The initiative is developed under the Master Plan of the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation and Development, the AECID, and it aligns with the guidelines and strategies of the United Nations Development Program Culture and Development Report (2004) and UNESCO's The Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expression (2005).
The Cultural Center of Spain is a Miami-based non-profit organization with educational, artistic and cultural purpose aimed to promote and foster cultural cooperation, local creativity and the creation of a space for dialogue and exchange. CCE is a part of a network of cultural centers belonging to the AECID, which consists of 15 cultural facilities located throughout Latin America. Equals Three will organize and effectively communicate CCE’s efforts to achieve the goals set forth by the AECID “Culture and Development Strategy Paper.”
The Budgetball Civic Engagement Initiative is supported under a grant provided by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. The goal is to engage participation of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) by increasing marketing and outreach efforts. The initiative aims to engage HBCU students in civic engagement activities related to fiscal responsibility through playing the game “Budgetball” and other related activities and events.
“Budgetball” is an innovate sport that combines fiscal strategy and physical play. The sport was designed to help the nation’s youth experience the process of managing debt and savings, while making the connection between personal fiscal responsibility and national debt. Players are exposed to the real-time, physical experience of managing assets and liabilities. During a game, teams score points by passing a volleyball to a teammate in the end zone, while strategically managing their Budgetbucks. Budgetbucks may be borrowed, earned or spent. To win, a team must creatively and responsibly use debt and savings to gain an advantage over their opponents and score more points.