SeatPleasantCityCenter.com (Event Web Site)
Ascender was awarded a contract to design the web site and print advertising for City of Seat Pleasant new City Center Groundbreaking event in September 2012. We were thrilled to serve. This historic and important event attracted nearly 3000 attendees and many more online viewers of the online video stream.
“A City of Excellence”
The City Center Project is a “Community of the Future”, an urban lifestyle in balance and harmony with the ecosystem that sustains life responsibly, organically and economically without sacrificing convenience. This project will integrate innovative technology with creative architecture in urban environments to establish local self-reliance and security. Yes, we are “Bringing Communities & Nature Together in Harmony.”
This development integrates innovative technology with creative architecture in urban environments to establish local self-reliance and security. To that end, this development is an integrated, distributed, renewable, sustainable infrastructure and energy production project. Enveloped within the project will be integrated photovoltaic (BIPV), micro turbine, combined cooling, heating & power (CCHP) buildings with geothermal micro turbine wind waste water and trash.
www.seatpleasantcitycenter.org
Ascender Wins 2012 TELLY AWARD for 'Enlisted: Conversations with Five Generations of African Americans in the U.S. Armed Services (2012)'
MUSEUM & CULTURE | ORAL HISTORY | DOCUMENTARY
ENLISTED: CONVERSATIONS WITH FIVE GENERATIONS OF AFRICAN AMERICANS IN THE U.S. ARMED FORCES (2012)
Our first museum video installation opened as a part of the Prince George’s County African American Museum and Cultural Center’s (PGAAMCC) ‘Coming Home’ World War II exhibition in North Brentwood, Maryland in, May 2011. ‘Enlisted’, is our 16-minute documentary featurette produced from oral histories of six African Americans who lived in the Washington, DC metropolitan areas that served in World War II, Korean War, and two Vietnam War veterans– and their collective experiences in service to their country.
The exhibition, ‘Coming Home: How the African American Experience in World War II Shaped the Culture of Prince George’s County’ explains how the full integration of the U.S. armed services during the second world war actually opened the a new widnow of opportunity for many African Americans to seek and pay for, higher education and gain new professional skillsets. This was eventualy contribute to making P.G. County, Maryland the most affuent, predominately black county in the nation.
Tagline
ORAL HISTORY & DOCUMENTARY
‘Coming Home: How the African American Experience in World War II Shaped the Culture of Prince George’s County’ explains how the full integration of the U.S. armed services during the second world war actually opened the a new widnow of opportunity for many African Americans to seek and pay for, higher education and gain new professional skillsets. This was eventualy contribute to making P.G. County, Maryland the most affuent, predominately black county in the nation.
The Gospel of Healing: Volume I: Black Churches Respond to HIV/AIDS
‘The Gospel of Healing: Volume I: Black Churches Respond to HIV/AIDS’ is an independent documentary film that profiles five outstanding models of faith-based HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and care services, that target primarily African-American communities. It also features powerful commentary from renown pastors, theologians and HIV/AIDS advocates and educators, discussing stigma and discrimination, capacity building and the critical role of traditional black churches working to increasing access to quality health care.
Since it’s premiere in at the 2012 International AIDS Conference, the film has received national acclaim at invited screenings in more than 40 U.S. cities. It has also earned the producers, the Hildrous Poindexter Community Spirit Award from the Association of Black Public Health Workers at the 2012 American Public Health Association (APHA) 2012 Annual Meeting.
LIFE for Sickle Cell Foundation (Logo/Brand ID)
Making a Difference. One Life at a Time
CLIENT: Life for Sickle Cell Foundation, Inc.
ART DIRECTION/ DESIGNER: Paul Grant
DATE: Summer 2012
'A Struggle for Dignity' (Museum Exhibition Logo/ Brand)
CLIENT: Prince George's African American Museum & Cultural Center (PGAAMCC)
DATE: JUNE 2012
ART-DIRECTION/ DESIGN: Paul Grant
'The Gospel of Healing' Premiere at IAC | Thursday,July 26 2012
Ascender premiered our first feature-length documentary film 'The Gospel of Healing: Volume I: Black Churches Respond to HIV/AIDS' at the 2012 International AIDS Conference in Washington, DC , July 26th, 2012, in the Global Village Screening Room. This was the first time in 22 years that this conference will be held in the United States. Nearly 200 people filled the screening room (which had actual seating for only 100) through out the film screening.
Unfortunately, many were turned away.
Almost six months later, we are still receiving requests the screen the film and host workshops around the country. We are honored to have played a small part in such a significant event.
International Stigma Conference (2011- Present)
Client: CEAS / Howard University
Project: Organization and Conference Branding, Conference Poster Series (2010-2013)
Art Direction: Paul Grant
We have had the pleasure of working with a team of passionate doctors and advocates who founded a non-profit based at Howard University School of Medicine. Their mission is simple. They want to eradicate all health-related stigma. Their goal is to create a Center for Study of Stigma, housed at the school. It's a worthy cause. Their outreach began with HIV-related stigma then came the first conference wholly dedicated to looking at ways to eradicate stigma associated with HIV/AIDS.
The Ascender team jumped at the chance to brand their new organization, Coalition for the Elimination for AIDS-related Stigma (CEAS) and their first annual conference, The International Stigma Conference, which takes place around World AIDS Day , at Howard University since 2011. Take a look at our work since then.
'Colorado Get Ready: The Wellness Train Is Coming'
The Ascender team worked very hard throughout spring and summer 2011 to help The Collorado Black Health Collaborative to re-design and promote the release of their 2011 Resource Directory --a statewide listing of African American healthcare providers. The booklet is also full of articles, up-to-date fact sheets and healthy recipes. 
The 2011 resource directory will be released for free online and distributed in print across the state, through CBHC's vast network of partners, including businesses, the Colorado State Department of Public Health and Environment, community-based and faith based organizations.
It's all about promoting wellness. Wellness--as we understand it-- is a lifelong commitment to maintaining good wholistic health practices and seeking preventative care. That takes real commitment. For 
many, the notion of 'wellness' is challenging. But it is a concept that we all have to embrace. Just because you provide a person with health insurance, doesn't mean that they understand how to use it to actually stay healthy, improve their health and overall quality of life.
That calls for a community mind-shift.
Thelma Craig, the Chair of Collorado Black Helath Collaborative --also a writer and perhaps one of the most creative partners that we have had the pleasure of working with--came up with the idea of a 'wellness' as being a train. CBHC is the conductor and their goal is to shout 'All aboard!, ' loud enough for everyone to get on-board in order for the train to move away from its present station.
We like that idea. It also means that Ascender is their bullhorn.
So, how do we-- in producing and promoting this invaluable resource -- make health and wellness 'sexy'? How do you shift the public mind-set away from getting sick first before you seek care? And then, how do you make it easy for an entire community to find out where they are to go to get appropriate care? This year, we developed a passion for health marketing and asking these types of questions....It's gonna take more that slick design and witty slogans and it going to take consistent crafting and disseminating messages that raise awareness about the threat of chronic illness, the availability of new treatments and promoting healthy lifestyles.
We are going to make certain that CBHC's message of wellness is resonated, statewide. So, stay tuned and be ready... The 'Wellness Train' is headed your way,too.