Author: Sarah

Prototype→Bring a friend day/ guest lecturer

Problem: We need to help BGCA increase the “Cool” factor. Once we do this, the    transportation problem will fix itself.

Entice: We can advertise on social media and make fliers about the special guest lecturer who is coming to the club and each member can bring a friend for free. The BGCA members can also spread word to their friends about the event.

Enter: Once we have a headcount, we could do our best to get everyone there via Ms. Camille’s van and by having other volunteers drive.

Engage: The event will promote a fun atmosphere with food and drinks. We will make sure the guest is relevant and interesting to the teenagers. After the lecture, the guest can do some sort of interactive activity with the kids.

Exit: After the day is over, the club members and friends leave with a positive view of the club.

Extend: The members and their friends will share this experience by posting pictures on social media.

Idea #1: “Bring a Friend Night”

What will we test and how?

Host a “bring a friend” night at the BGCA. We will test if implementing new events to the BGCA will increase the “cool” factor, and ultimately bring in more teens. When doing our interviews, we heard that one of the most exciting things about the club was the teen nights they would have. The goals of hosting this event will be for the friends to realize what the Boys and Girls Club can offer, as well as helping those that are already members realize it is a “cool” place. We can measure our results by going to the “bring a friend night.” We can survey the members of the club as well as their friends to see how they enjoyed it and if they would consider coming to more of these events.

Where will we test this idea?

We will test the idea at the gym of the Main BGCA location in South Bend.

Who will test this idea? And when?

We will test the idea as a group, by talking to members pre and post, that way we will be able to understand their thoughts going into it, and how/if they changed after the experience. We will also talk to the supervisors at the club who will be able to witness the event in its entirety.

 

Idea #2: Guest Lecturer/Guest Visitor

What will we test and how?

Bringing in a guest lecturer will give the kids another activity to participate in. This is something different and will add variety to their everyday experiences at BGC. Guest speakers can also allow them to learn about cool things and get to know about something they did not have prior knowledge to. We will test how the students respond to this activity-whether or not they like it. We will also test if we can get lecturers to come speak.

Where will we test this idea?

We will test this idea at the BGCA South Bend location.

Who will test this idea? And when?

Our team will survey the kids after the lecture and we will also be present to see how they are responding to the presentation.

 

Idea #3: Skype Volunteering

What will we test and how?

We will test out the viability of bringing in tutors to the BGC through Skype or other videoconferencing tools.  Once we have assessed whether the BGC has the hardware needed to use Skype we will test the effectiveness of tutoring over the internet.  After tutoring, we’ll ask kids for feedback on the process and perform a review of grades later to compare past and present performance.

Where will we test this idea?

We will test this idea at the BGC in South Bend, and the tutor will be at some other location.

Who will test this idea? And when?

One of our group or the Notre Dame club that volunteers at the Boys and Girls club will tutor some kids over the next two weeks on the Internet and our group will be at the BGC to oversee the process and ask students for feedback immediately after.

Design Goal

• Target customers in this case are the teens of BGC. We have learned that out of those that attend regularly, there is an overall positive outlook on the experience, fellow members and staff.
• There is a desire to bring others into the club, but many friends of members are not interested, because of the lack of the “cool” factor.
• There are social and psychological ends that need to be fulfilled for the target customers with our specific case. Social in terms of making the club a place that is not only beneficial for their safety, but also their social lives. Psychologically, it is important for them to see consistency in a place like this, because it is shown in research that a majority of members experience some lack of structure in at least one aspect of their lives outside the club.

User Perceptions

• I think bringing more members in and providing a more robust option list of activities is important to the well being of our customer, but not necessary. The club has managed to get along well enough before, so this would just be something to enhance it.
• I think perception is very important to our users, because as teenagers, that means a lot to them. There could be an aesthetic attribute to our solutions in new technology or activities we introduce to the club, as if they are good and up to date, it would help up the “cool” factor we discussed earlier.
• Similar to the aesthetic aspects, reputational aspects are extremely important in this case, because a big issue of attracting new members to the club is the reputation it has of being “boring” or “uncool”. Working on building up the positive reputation of BGC would have a positive domino effect.
• Key insights from our research are that once members are there, they tend to stay loyal, but it is a challenge to recruit new members for a variety of reasons (money, other commitments, etc.). Also was insightful to realize the lack of active promotion of the club, which could be a reason the issue of transportation has not been brought up before.

Problems/Needs/Opportunities

• The current members want more from the club. They want to take more field trips and have better technology programs.
• The BGC offers activities such as crafts and gym time. The users get bored with doing the same thing everyday.
• Field trips and other experiences could allow students to get out of their comfort zone and learn new skills. In addition, it will challenge them to be leaders and better communicators, which are attributes BGC strives to instill in the students.

Functional Attributes

• It would be necessary to be mindful of the members and their schedules. So for transportation, we would need to assure that it could be coordinated to fit a wide variety of high school’s end time of the day. Also, if we would look into rides back after the afternoon, we would have to do our best to find a time that would work for the most members (if we were to implement an extended hours option).
• As per everything at BGC, any new implementation would need to live up to the standards they have set and consequently followed as a club for decades. We would want our solutions to only enhance a member’s experience at BGC in a positive way, so therefore would be extremely thoughtful when creating anything new.

Constraints

• BGC faces financial constraints. They do not have the money to get buses for field trips, or better technology.
• BGC also lacks a sufficient number of quality workers. They only have 8 part time volunteers and one full time volunteer.

1. Expert Interview (Mr. T)

Date: 03/02/2017

Type: Expert Interview

Location: BGCA Gym

Team Participants: Sarah, Jake, Jordan

User Characteristics:

• Approximately 27 years old
• African American
• Used to be a volunteer, now the athletic director
• Been involved in BGCA in some way for 10 years
• Has ideas for more variety in payment plans
• Puts emphasis on importance of members having a ride home
• Look for what the kids want and create a place that has all those things

Memorable Quotes:

• “We need to offer more open gym time for older kids because some don’t think they can come after they’re done with their sports at their high schools”
• “We could get kids interested with just one flyer that says we have Wifi, a gym to play basketball and an XBOX”
• “A lot of these kids would come more often if they could pay per visit instead of the $50 all at once and risk not getting their money’s worth.”

Top 3 Learnings:

• T sees a lot of untapped potential in terms of teen members for the club.
• There are many teens that love to just come into the gym and shoot around/play pick up games.
• There is focus on getting the kids to the club, but there is also a big need to get the kids home at night.

Key Insights:

• There are passionate employees and volunteers throughout BGCA
• Employees/staff have the best insight for areas to improve.

 2. User Interview #1 (Patrick Christie—Extreme #1)

Date: 03/03/2017

Type: User Interview, Extreme #1

Location: via phone call

Team Participants: Sarah

User Characteristics:

• 16 years old
• White
• Sophomore in HS
• Attends private, all boys high school
• Plays baseball and hockey for his high school
• Unaware of many details about BGCA
• Does not know anyone who attends the club

Memorable Quotes:

• “I really don’t know much about the Boys and Girls Club except for what I’ve seen on commercials”
• “Is there even a Boys and Girls Club close to us that people could go to?”

Top 3 Learnings:

• BGCA does a good job of using famous alums in commercials
• Ignorance among upper class areas of the country as to where the closest BGCA site would even be
• Perception that only lower class people attend the club

Key Insights:

• Maybe more other teens would get involved despite economic status
• If it is a fun place that a group of friends would meet frequently, it can appeal to a large group

3. User Interview #2 (Camisa—Extreme #2)

Date: 03/02/2017

Type: User Interview, Extreme #2

Location: BGCA Lounge

Team Participants: Sarah, Jake, Jordan

User Characteristics:

• 16 years old
• African American
• Junior at Adams High School
• Has been going to the club since early childhood
• Mom works at the club
• Has liked moving up through the club from member to part time volunteer now
• Loves being a role model for younger members
• Enjoys closeness among members
• Thinks if more people had a way of getting there, they would go

Memorable Quotes:

• “It honestly becomes like a big family here. You end up growing up with a lot of the other members”
• “I just try to help out as much as possible with all the different members, especially the little kids”

Top 3 Learnings:

• A lot of times members are involved with their entire families
• Think that a bus would really help the teen group because there is only the option of a van that can fit 8 people, but more would most likely be interested
• Overall desire for consistency among both members and volunteers

Key Insights:

• Many teenagers are able to stay home alone and therefore aren’t looking for somewhere to go/something to do after school
• Teen nights are a big success at the club and having them more frequently could help teen turnout at other times too
• There is a desire for more up to date technology and also info sessions on computers and coding

 4. User Interview #3 (Ciarra—Extreme #2)

Date: 03/02/2017

Type: User Interview, Extreme #2

Location: BGCA Lounge

Team Participants: Sarah, Jake, Jordan

User Characteristics:

• 16 years old
• African American
• Junior at Adams High School (takes the van to the club after school)
• Aunt works at the club…that is how she got involved
• None of her school friends go to the club with her
• Wants teens to know they would like coming to the club because they would meet new people, make new friends and help the community
• Thinks having college aged tutors would be beneficial for teens

Memorable Quotes:

• “The quality and consistency of the tutors for the teen group could be better. Like if Notre Dame students came more that would help.”
• “People at my school that I am friends with usually just go straight home after school and don’t want to come here and be with people they don’t know.”

Top 3 Learnings:

• There are a lot teens that actually enjoy their daily trips to the club
• Thinks that the tutor program could be used attract more people. Also introducing coding classes/clinics more consistently would keep people interested.
• The club bridges age gaps, and provides areas of common ground among the entire teen group.

Key Insights:

• Since her friends at school are not the same as her friends at the club, she offers perspective of different types of students in the area
• Really impacts the members when volunteers only come once. They realize they have good intentions, but doesn’t seem that they care too much when they don’t come back at all.

 5. Immersion (at BGCA)

Date: 03/02/2017

Event: Watching the boys play basketball on the bleachers with a group of teenage girl members and then playing some pick up soccer for two of them

Event Description: Casual conversation among the five of us with topics ranging from Prom to future life plans

Key Takeaways:

One of the main things I took away from this was how much more comfortable these girls were talking to me once we were in an environment that was natural and it didn’t feel like I was interviewing them. For example, Ciarra was one of the two girls we did a formal sit down interview with, and during that she was extremely quiet and shy, but once we got to the gym, she began to talk to me about where she wanted to go to college and asked advice on whether to go to Prom or not. I also found it surprising how close these girls were, despite the variety in their ages. They ranged from 12 to 17 and even though there was that gap, they all found common ground. It was nice to talk about their families and what they thought about BGCA, but it was especially good because they didn’t feel like I was forcing any information out of them, instead they volunteered the information. I got the impression that many of them had confusing, and sometimes stressful family situations, and that BGCA was a great outlet for them for 3 hours after school everyday.

6. Analogous Immersion (at King Center)

For my analogous immersion I looked to the Martin Luther King Jr. center that is also located in South Bend. It is a similar set up to BGCA, but obviously is not as major of a non-profit. I had the chance to visit the King Center with the basketball team for a clinic they did as a whole team. I realized that this was a different day for the people that attend the center than typical days because there was a big group of people visiting. However, as a manager I worked with some of the staff there to get everything ready and that’s when I got some good insight. Overall, I got the feeling that it was a more relaxed environment than BGCA. There was less structure, which I view as both a good thing and a potentially problematic thing. There was also a wider variety in age, as well as more even number of each age group. The one big thing that King Center offers that BGCA doesn’t is later hours. I think, especially after our interview with Mr. T, that the extended hours at night would be a major benefit for BGCA’s teen program. It would be interesting to find out more about the King Center’s volunteer program and see how that is compared to BGCA. I think moving forward it would be helpful for our team to take a day or two at the King Center to find out more about it and consequently using its tactics for the betterment of BGCA.