Sappi Fine Paper Announces Recipients of the 15th Ideas that Matter Grant

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Sep 04, 2014, 09:00 ET

BOSTON, Sept. 4, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Sappi Fine Paper North America announced today the grant recipients of its 15^th annual Ideas that Matter program, aimed at helping designers create and implement print projects for charitable causes. Since 1999, as part of Sappi's corporate social responsibility program, Ideas that Matter has funded over 500 nonprofit projects, contributing more than $12.5 million to causes that use design as a positive force in society. The program is open to North American designers who are partnered with a nonprofit organization and have created a solution that is ready for implementation. This year's nine winning projects highlight how designers can use the power of paper as a catalyst for social change and innovation.

"The Ideas that Matter Grant program allows Sappi to expand our commitment to cause-related marketing, addressing real-world issues through design by supporting charitable projects around the world," said Patti Groh, Marketing Communications Director, Sappi Fine Paper North America. "We understand the power of strategic design and are proud to help this year's inspiring recipients act as change agents for improved global healthcare, education and economic stability."

2014 Ideas that Matter Grant Recipients

Designer, Firm	Project Title	Project Description	Nonprofit to Benefit from the Grant
IntraCollaborative	Rent Regulations Rights Poster and Subway Campaign	Materials will explain rights to tenants and empower them to organize collectively for rent-stabilized apartments and access to affordable housing throughout New York City.	The Center for Urban Pedagogy http://welcometocup.org/
Robert Sedlack, Brandon Keelean, Jacqueline Hull-- University of Notre Dame	Growing Together	A new children's book and suite of educational materials to help educators in South African communities address the stigma and division stemming from HIV/AIDS and teach their pupils about tolerance and acceptance.	Kgosi Neighbourhood Foundation http://www.togetherplus.co.za/
Jean-Benoit Levy, Studio AND	Redesigning the San Francisco Street Sheet	Street Sheet is a hand-distributed newspaper with well-written, truthful news that comes directly from homeless people themselves. This project will redesign the Street Sheet to increase its visibility and readability to have a greater impact on the public discourse around homelessness and poverty in San Francisco.	Coalition on Homelessness http://www.cohsf.org
Boone Sommerfeld, Splash	Clean Water + Clean Hands	Illustrated training books that will educate children in deep poverty in Asia and Africa on water hygiene.	Splash http://splash.org
Michelle Kwon, Meghan Lazier, Robin Newman-- School of Visual Arts	Say No More	A game for middle school girls in the United States which helps them understand and create healthy relationship boundaries.	ECPAT-USA http://www.ecpatusa.org
Maria Rogal, Design for Development – University of Florida	Kanan Honey	Marketing materials for Kanan Honey, to support local economic development in rural towns in the Yucatan region of Mexico. These materials will communicate the quality of world-class Mayan honey in order to increase its sales in the Mexican and international markets.	The United States-Mexico Foundation for Science http://fumec.org.mx
Julia Radke, Inktank--University of Central Oklahoma	AdoptUgly	A campaign, paired with an event, which promotes adoption of "ugly" dogs that are left in shelters. Adoption is achieved by humorously aligning readers' "ugly" moments with the looks of the "ugly" dogs in the shelter.	The Bella Foundation SPCA https://thebellafoundation.org
Natacha Poggio, Design Global Change--University of Hartford	Prosthetics Training Across Borders	Educational rehabilitation materials that facilitate communication between local practitioners and their patients—some with limited literacy skills—to help them understand how to wear and care for their new prosthetic device and thereby successfully regain mobility.	LIMBS International www.LIMBS.org
Nate Mullen, Allied Media Projects	Transformative Education Toolkit	The Transformative Education Toolkit is a professional development resource for teachers. It includes techniques for empowering students to take control of their own learning.	Detroit Future Schools/Allied Media Projects https://alliedmedia.org/news/detroit-future-schools

For more information about Sappi's 2014 Ideas that Matter grant recipients in North America, please visit: http://www.na.sappi.com/ideasthatmatterNA. The Call for Entries for next year's Ideas that Matter program will be announced in the spring of 2015.

Selection Criteria

Ideas that Matter proposals are evaluated on creativity, potential effectiveness and practicality by an independent panel of judges, selected annually, who are recognized for their commitment to design for social good: Cheryl Heller, Partner at CommonWise and Chair, MFA Design for Social Innovation at SVA in New York; Mark Randall, Principal & Creative Director at Worldstudio in New York; Lana Rigsby, President & Creative Director at Rigsby Hull in Houston; Chris Rubino, Art Director & Designer at Chris Rubino Studio in New York; Christine Gaspar, Executive Director at Center for Urban Pedagogy (CUP) in Brooklyn.

About Sappi Fine Paper North America

Sappi Fine Paper North America, known for innovation and quality, is a preeminent North American producer of coated fine and release papers, as well as dissolving wood pulp (DWP) and market kraft pulp headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. Its coated fine papers, with highly recognized brand names such as McCoy, Opus, Somerset and Flo, are used in premium magazines, catalogs, books and high-end print advertising. Its food packaging brand, Lusterprint is a greaseproof product with an excellent print surface. The company is also the world's leading supplier of release papers for the automotive, fashion and engineered films industries, including the globally recognized Ultracast brand. Sappi's release papers provide the surface aesthetics for synthetic fabrics used in footwear, clothing, upholstery and accessories, as well as the textures for decorative laminates found in kitchens, baths, flooring and other decorative surfaces. Sappi globally is the world's largest manufacturer of dissolving wood pulp, a versatile raw material for a wide range of products including textile fibers and household products. Sappi Fine Paper North America, through the recent conversion of the Cloquet pulp mill, manufactures dissolving pulp under Sappi's Specialised Cellulose division primarily for the textile markets.

Sappi Fine Paper North America is a subsidiary of Sappi Limited (JSE), a global company headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa, with over 14,000 employees and manufacturing operations on three continents in seven countries and customers in over 100 countries around the world. Learn more about Sappi at: www.sappi.com/na.

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