Please describe your proposed solution.
How you perceive the problem you are solving:
Students who want to use any of the potential tools of a blockchain have a severe problem. They have a very difficult time getting ADA. They can't buy it off of the shrinking list of exchanges unless they are over 18 and the number of alternative on-boarding tools has shrunk to almost nothing. Without ADA they cannot perform transactions, and therefore their is no ability to reap the rewards of this amazing network.
Please describe your proposed solution:
When the equipment and accounts for stake pools are donated to an ASB Club by MAV100, it immediately creates a channel for blockchain assets to be distributed to students throughout a school district in a variety of ways. ASB (Associated Student Body) Clubs are not for profit organizations that can engage in business related activities for the benefit of the students. For example: If we donated a chili cooker to a club so they can sell it at a school sporting event like a basketball game, they can keep the proceeds that they make and use them for a variety of student initiatives. The proceeds could go towards new computers in the computer lab, school supplies, scholarships for students, or for lunch on school field trips. All we need is delegation to student pools and the services of the blockchain can be accessed by thousands of students in any community around the world.
Your reasons for approaching it in the way that you have:
In this scenario the students are learning about a powerful new technology, becoming a solution for budget shortfalls in the school district, and earning their own ability to transact on this network by helping secure it. The amazing inclusivity of the Cardano proof of stake mechanism needs to be leveraged more to improve adoption by distributing ADA to more potential users. This model can distribute ADA to millions of students over the next few years, and we as a community just have to decide that greater adoption is the most important thing we can support with our delegation.
How will you demonstrate or prove your impact?
We will work with the ASB Clubs to show on-chain the ADA earned by ASB Clubs, and all use of ASB funds is public record, which we will detail on our website. As examples students will be able to use ADA to buy ice-cream from a local shop, or rent a paddle board at the State Park through partnerships with local vendors that are already in the works.
How does your proposed solution address the challenge and what benefits will this bring to the Cardano ecosystem?
By supporting students to build their own stake pools inside of ASB Clubs MAV100 will be empowering thousands of students to earn their own ADA. The benefits to the Cardano ecosystem from thousands of young students gaining access to the blockchain would be enormous and this model can distribute ADA to millions of students over the next few years as we start more chapters of MAV100 around the world
What impact will this project have for Cardano besides funding the project team, and what value does it bring to the Cardano ecosystem?
We will be raising a generation of students around the world that will lead their communities and parents into a decentralized future. It will enable a vast new user base to engage with the blockchain as a payment rail system, a security layer for their own community telecommunication system, or even as base layer of their own personal ASB Club sponsored metaverse campus. Cardano is a network of many things, and the value of ADA needs to transform from a speculative store of value, to a gateway asset for transacting on the most powerful network in the world. We think that distributing ADA to the next generation will help usher in this critical transformation.
Please qualify or quantify the impact you believe your project will bring to the Cardano ecosystem.
We currently have 17,000+ students in 5 school districts earning ADA through ASB clubs in Chelan County, WA. We will start involving more districts as delegation grows in WA, with clubs in the Seattle Metropolitan area, Spokane Valley, and Yakima Valleys on the horizon this year, which could push us into the hundreds of thousands of students. We have interest in starting new chapters of MAV100 in Oregon, California, Idaho, Florida, New York, Alabama, and the Dominican Republic. This model could spread very quickly, and will only be limited by delegation to student run stake pools.
How do you intend to measure the success of your project?
We have numerous measurable metrics. We are going to know the number of Stake-Pools we start in those schools, and we are determined to get 10 stake pools supporting ASB Clubs with Catalyst funds. We are going to know how much ADA is delegated to those Stake-Pools of which we will track local community delegations. We are going to know how many new wallets are created in each student stake pool alliance by students and their families. We will also keep track of ADA earned and distributed by ASB clubs. We intend for ASB Clubs to generate at least 150,000 ADA over the 12 month period, enabling transactions by thousands of students.
Please describe your plans to share the outputs and results of your project?
Displayed on the MAV100 website and announced through social media (Discord/Twitter/others) we will share the following results:
1) # of Student SPO's
2) # of Student Wallets
3) ADA earned by Student ASB Clubs
4) Use of Student ASB Club ADA
5) Delegation by local community members
6) Student use of other Cardano Projects and integrations with them