Germinate local genius with ABQ Sprout

mscaprikell / CC BY-SA 2.0

Have you heard about this grassroots effort to improve the city?

The model works like this:

• Folks pay to get into a dinner cooked by a local chef.

• During the dinner, people make pitches on how to make Albuquerque a better place.

• The diners vote, and the money they paid to attend the event becomes an instant micro-grant for the winner.

In Albuquerque it’s called ABQ Sprout, though it’s based on a model that goes by various names in other cities. The first-ever dinner is Saturday, Jan. 28, at the South Valley Multipurpose Center (2008 Larrazolo SW). Admission is $15 to $30 on a sliding scale.

Related Stories

• From Toilet to Tap: Rio Rancho plans to pour effluent into the aquifer by Christie Chisholm (2/23/2012)
• State axes cap-and-trade by Christie Chisholm (2/16/2012)
• City to pipe landfill methane to the jail by Marisa Demarco (02/01/2012)
• Council Watch: The city’s first no-bike road by Carolyn Carlson (1/26/2012)
• Power Play: Symposium pitches nuclear energy in New Mexico by Marisa Demarco (4/28/2011)
• News Bite: A spit shine on the city by Marisa Demarco (1/19/2012)