The FACT Social Justice Challenge opened for submissions last week (and will continue accepting your ideas until October 4th). There are already some great ideas in the mix and we wanted to take a minute today to help get you thinking about new Projects you could submit or maybe highlight a Project you are already working on that aligns with the Challenge topic. So, just what does “social justice” mean?

What is "Social Justice"?

For our purposes, let's start with FACT's "About" statement, at least as a starting point to lead the discussion:

FACT believes that everyone is entitled to fair and just treatment, basic living standards, equality of opportunity, and a voice in the decisions that affect them and their communities, and that individuals and institutions should be accountable for their actions.

This statement is not only talking about FACT, but defining "Social Justice" in simple terms and some of the key words are fairness, equality, justice, choice, and accountability. So, put very simply, we can say that social justice has to do with creating greater equality in society and better treatment equally distributed across sectors of society. 

SOCIAL JUSTICE ISSUES

Looking around the websites of other organizations that support social justice issues, we can see similarities in the causes they support or promote. Here are a few of the issues covered by organizations like the Office for Social Justice, US Council on Catholic Bishops, and the Centre for Social Justice.

• Age
• Arms Control
• Death Penalty
• Democracy and Corporate power
• Environment
• Gender
• Health
• Housing and Homelessness
• Hunger
• Immigration
• Labor issues
• LGBT Issues
• Peace and Justice
• Poverty/ economic inequality
• Race
• World Peace

Recognizing that this is an overly simplified definition and issue list, we hope you will tell us what you would add to the definition of "Social Justice" and which issues you would add in the comments below.

About the FACT Challenge

Our Challenge theme this year is “Collaborate for Social Justice." We chose this theme because beneath all the new platforms, widgets, tools, social media, and innovative products lies the potential for people to collaborate in new ways with one another.

The FACT Challenge seeks to surface innovative Projects that leverage web and/or mobile technologies to foster collaboration around social justice issues.

HOW TO SUBMIT A PROJECT

Follow these easy steps to submit a Project in the FACT Challenge:

1. Register (to prove you’re not a robot) – it just takes a minute. NOTE: You will receive a confirmation email and need to confirm your registration in order to proceed.
2. Log In to the site
3. Click on “Create & Manage your Project” at the top of the screen 
4. Select "FACT Social Justice Challenge" in the Active Challenges field 
5. Complete the Project Submission form with your details
6. You have a few options for saving your Project. You can save and continue working, or publish the Project. Note that only "Publish" will make your Project visible in the Project Gallery. You can continue to edit your Project after publishing it as well. 

You can continue to edit and update your Project throughout the submission period (August 23-October 4) based on feedback from the community or other developments.

HOW TO PARTICIPATE

SHARE: Let your friends, colleagues, and networks know about this opportunity to profile ideas and find collaborators!

SUBMIT: Submissions are now open – submit your Project today!

SUPPORT: Even if you don’t have a Project to submit, your feedback and comments will help other Projects improve – share your ideas! Here is a listing of the new Projects submitted to the FACT Social Justice Challenge this week:

• ScheduleMemphis
• Sleep in for the Homeless
• AwareGuide

LEARN MORE

Visit the FACT Challenge pages below for more information:

• About the Challenge
• Rules & Guidelines
• FAQ
• Contact us at any time with questions!