Los Angeles(June 19, 2017): 12 teenage girls from California have created a solar-powered tent which they hope will help tackle homelessness.
In the San Fernando Valley, 20 miles northwest of downtown LA, homelessness increased by 36 per cent to 7.094 people last year, according to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Agency’s annual count.
Although they had little money to give, a group of teenage girls wanted to make a difference. So they’ve created a specially engineered tent.
“Because we come from low-income families ourselves, we can’t give them money,” high school senior Daniela Orozco told Mashable.
They were recruited by non-profit organisation DIY Girls and also won a grant of $10,000 (£7,800) from the Lemelson-MIT Program to work on their invention.
The 12 girls have designed and built a solar-powered tent that rolls up into a backpack. None of them have any engineering training so largely taught themselves using online videos and tutorials.
Having spent a year working on the project, they’re today presenting the tent at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
DIY Girls aims to encourage young women from low income families to pursue careers in maths, science and engineering.
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