OUR WORK
The World is the Lab.
Some experiments grow into long-term programs. Others point toward what comes next. All of them move the work forward.
Add paragraph text. Click “Edit Text” to update the font, size and more. To change and reuse text themes, go to Site Styles.
01 - HOW WE CATEGORIZE OUR WORK
01
Active
An established program with ongoing work, long-term partnerships, and real people involved. The experiment has moved into practice.
02
Emerging
A partnership or idea in active development. Something is clearly here — we're in relationship, in discernment, building toward what it becomes.
03
Monitoring
Signals we're tracking and sitting with. Questions worth following before we decide what, if anything, to build. Curiosity before commitment.
ACTIVE
EXPERIMENT 01
Up With Africa
Steve and Tamra showed up in East Africa in 2018 with a lot of questions and not many answers. That was intentional.
The questions led them to Kisoro, Uganda. Then Rwanda. Then the DRC. To community-based organizations with deep local roots. To honest conversations about what was actually hard, what people actually needed, and what kind of outside involvement was useful versus what just got in the way.
Communities hold the knowledge. The job is to show up, pay attention, and put resources behind what people are already building.
Up With Africa grew from those conversations. Five Peer-Driven Change initiatives completed across Uganda, DRC, and Rwanda — partnering with more than 300 households as co-designers of their own futures. A demonstration farm in Kisoro District, now in its fourth year. University sponsorships for students in the DRC committed to coming home with what they've learned.
Up With Africa is a DBA of The Audacity Lab and the origin of everything we do.
LOCAL WOMEN IN THE VILLAGE OF BUNAGANA, DRC
VIEW OF LAKE MUTANDA, KISORO, UGANDA
KIGEZI MUSEUM, KISORO, UGANDA
EMERGING
PARTNERSHIP 01
Montessori on Wheels
Some partnerships find you before you find them. That's how it was with Montessori on Wheels.
Tatenda Muchiriri Blessing has been carrying a vision for twenty years — that BIPOC children, given the right environment, will show you exactly who they are. He's been driving that belief, literally, into communities that most institutions drive past.
At Audacity, we pay attention to engagement, energy, synchronicity — those signals that say something's worth following. Montessori on Wheels was one of those signals.
When our founder first sat down with Tatenda, he asked one question: what if you didn't have to do this work alone?
We didn't rush. We stayed in relationship through every conversation, every round of due diligence, every moment of discernment. And now Montessori on Wheels is in the orbit of the Audacity Lab. We are partnering together, trusting that what emerges will be something neither of us could have built alone. We can't wait to see where the bus takes us.
LOCAL WOMEN IN THE VILLAGE OF BUNAGANA, DRC
VIEW OF LAKE MUTANDA, KISORO, UGANDA
KIGEZI MUSEUM, KISORO, UGANDA
MONITORING
PARTNERSHIP 01
Tracking the Universe.
Not everything we pay attention to becomes a program. Some threads stay threads for a long time — a question worth sitting with, a sector worth learning about, a signal worth tracking before deciding what to do with it. Here's what's were observing right now.
SIGNAL 01
Rethinking Wellbeing
We’re looking at how well-being can be defined and measured in ways that go beyond surface-level metrics and capture harder-to-describe aspects of wellness.
As interest in “well-being” grows across sectors, we’re focused not only on understanding it, but also on asking who those insights should serve and how they might lead to healthier engagement, not just better reporting. This includes early thinking around what a multidimensional assessment tool in the U.S. might look like, and how it could support key groups such as educators, students, and practitioners.
02
The Future of Computing
We’re paying attention to how computing is advancing—including early work in areas like quantum computing, which has the potential to fundamentally change how complex problems are solved.
While still taking shape, we’re interested in the broader ecosystem forming around these technologies and what they might mean for the communities and issues we care about.
03
Intersecting Care Models
We’re observing care models at the intersection of people, animals, and community. We're exploring how organizations centered on animal welfare approach healing, care, and connection for both animals and the people who engage with them.
Through site visits and conversations with practitioners, we’re looking to better understand how these models function and whether there are insights that translate into broader approaches to wellbeing and community.
Not all explorations become opportunities - but each one shapes how we think, where we listen, and what we may choose to build next. So we stay curious.
LOCAL WOMEN IN THE VILLAGE OF BUNAGANA, DRC
VIEW OF LAKE MUTANDA, KISORO, UGANDA
KIGEZI MUSEUM, KISORO, UGANDA
PRINCIPLE - 003
Expertise Lies with Local Actors
Communities hold deep knowledge about their own lives. We enter as learners, not experts. Real, lasting change comes from the ground up — rooted in place, trust, and relationship.
PRINCIPLE - 002
Partnering with Syncronicity
We pay attention to timing, alignment, and emergence. Rather than forcing outcomes, we cultivate the conditions for ideas to unfold naturally — like a murmuration finding its shape.
PRINCIPLE - 001
Better Together
Complex challenges require collective intelligence. The most resilient solutions emerge from genuine collaboration across difference — no single perspective holds the whole truth.
What UW/A does...
Student Support
University sponsorships and English immersion programs for youth in the DRC pursuing education and returning home to lead.
Uganda Demonstration Farm
4 years of crop experimentation and sustainable land management in Kisoro District, in partnership with local community organizations.
Peer-Driven Change
5 initiatives across Uganda, DRC, and Rwanda. 300+ households as co-designers of their own futures.
01
Peer-Driven Change
5 initiatives across Uganda, DRC, and Rwanda. 300+ households as co-designers of their own futures.
02
Uganda Demonstration Farm
4 years of crop experimentation and sustainable land management in Kisoro District, in partnership with local community organizations.
03
Student Support
University sponsorships and English immersion programs for youth in the DRC pursuing education and returning home to lead.
PRINCIPLE - 003
Expertise Lies with Local Actors
Communities hold deep knowledge about their own lives. We enter as learners, not experts. Real, lasting change comes from the ground up — rooted in place, trust, and relationship.
PRINCIPLE - 002
Partnering with Syncronicity
We pay attention to timing, alignment, and emergence. Rather than forcing outcomes, we cultivate the conditions for ideas to unfold naturally — like a murmuration finding its shape.
PRINCIPLE - 001
Better Together
Complex challenges require collective intelligence. The most resilient solutions emerge from genuine collaboration across difference — no single perspective holds the whole truth.
What MOW does...
School & Community Partnerships
Collaborations with schools and organizations to integrate Montessori practices, co-design programming, and train educators — centered on equity, relationship, and the realities of the communities they serve.
Parent & Caregiver Empowerment
Workshops that honor families as children's first educators. Caregivers explore Montessori-informed tools and strategies rooted in their own cultures, languages, and lived experiences.
Exposure Visits
Mobile classrooms that bring Montessori directly into neighborhoods, schools, and community spaces — so families can see it, try it, and imagine it as a real possibility for their children.
01
Peer-Driven Change
5 initiatives across Uganda, DRC, and Rwanda. 300+ households as co-designers of their own futures.
02
Uganda Demonstration Farm
4 years of crop experimentation and sustainable land management in Kisoro District, in partnership with local community organizations.
03
Student Support
University sponsorships and English immersion programs for youth in the DRC pursuing education and returning home to lead.
EMERGING
PARTNERSHIP 01
Montessori on Wheels
Some partnerships find you before you find them. That's how it was with Montessori on Wheels.
Tatenda Muchiriri Blessing has been carrying a vision for twenty years — that BIPOC children, given the right environment, will show you exactly who they are. He's been driving that belief, literally, into communities that most institutions drive past.
At Audacity, we pay attention to engagement, energy, synchronicity — those signals that say something's worth following. Montessori on Wheels was one of those signals.
When our founder first sat down with Tatenda, he asked one question: what if you didn't have to do this work alone?
We didn't rush. We stayed in relationship through every conversation, every round of due diligence, every moment of discernment. And now Montessori on Wheels is in the orbit of the Audacity Lab. We are partnering together, trusting that what emerges will be something neither of us could have built alone. We can't wait to see where the bus takes us.
PRINCIPLE - 003
Expertise Lies with Local Actors
Communities hold deep knowledge about their own lives. We enter as learners, not experts. Real, lasting change comes from the ground up — rooted in place, trust, and relationship.
PRINCIPLE - 002
Partnering with Syncronicity
We pay attention to timing, alignment, and emergence. Rather than forcing outcomes, we cultivate the conditions for ideas to unfold naturally — like a murmuration finding its shape.
PRINCIPLE - 001
Better Together
Complex challenges require collective intelligence. The most resilient solutions emerge from genuine collaboration across difference — no single perspective holds the whole truth.
What MOW does...
01
Exposure Visits
Mobile classrooms that bring Montessori directly into neighborhoods, schools, and community spaces — so families can see it, try it, and imagine it as a real possibility for their children.
02
Parent & Caregiver Empowerment
Workshops that honor families as children's first educators. Caregivers explore Montessori-informed tools and strategies rooted in their own cultures, languages, and lived experiences.
03
School & Community Partnerships
Collaborations with schools and organizations to integrate Montessori practices, co-design programming, and train educators — centered on equity, relationship, and the realities of the communities they serve.
Not all explorations become opportunities - but each one shapes how we think, where we listen, and what we may choose to build next. So we stay curious.
MONITORING
SIGNALS
Tracking the Universe.
Not everything we pay attention to becomes a program. Some threads stay threads for a long time — a question worth sitting with, a sector worth learning about, a signal worth tracking before deciding what to do with it. Here's what's were observing right now.
SIGNAL 01
Rethinking Wellbeing
We’re looking at how well-being can be defined and measured in ways that go beyond surface-level metrics and capture harder-to-describe aspects of wellness.
As interest in “well-being” grows across sectors, we’re focused not only on understanding it, but also on asking who those insights should serve and how they might lead to healthier engagement, not just better reporting. This includes early thinking around what a multidimensional assessment tool in the U.S. might look like, and how it could support key groups such as educators, students, and practitioners.
SIGNAL 02
The Future of Computing
We’re paying attention to how computing is advancing—including early work in areas like quantum computing, which has the potential to fundamentally change how complex problems are solved.
While still taking shape, we’re interested in the broader ecosystem forming around these technologies and what they might mean for the communities and issues we care about.
SIGNAL 03
Intersecting Care Models
We’re observing care models at the intersection of people, animals, and community. We're exploring how organizations centered on animal welfare approach healing, care, and connection for both animals and the people who engage with them.
Through site visits and conversations with practitioners, we’re looking to better understand how these models function and whether there are insights that translate into broader approaches to wellbeing and community.
ONGOING EXPLORATION
Tracking the Universe
We track the universe by staying close to what's emerging — monitoring signals across wellbeing, advancing technologies, and the intersection of people, animals, and community to spot the patterns that might shape what comes next.
LEARN MORE →
EMERGING PARTNERSHIP
Montessori on Wheels
Through mobile classrooms, family learning, and deep partnership, Montessori on Wheels (MOW) creates joyful, hands-on access to Montessori for children and families who have been pushed to the margins of traditional education.
FLAGSHIP INITIATIVE
Up with Africa
Our work is already underway through Up With Africa (UW/A), our flagship initiative. UW/A works alongside community-based organizations and local households to understand how people build stability, dignity, and opportunity in their daily lives.
.png)
A think-and-do lab where bold ideas are tested in the real world. Denver, CO · 501(c)(3)