Projects Spring 2017 – Page 10 – Innovation & Design Thinking

Ideation Summary Clay High School

Posted on April 5, 2017 by Patrick

Ideation Summary

Based on our four Guiding Principles, the team created three comprehensive ideas that would both enhance the student experience within Clay, while simultaneously highlighting the best parts of the school to prospective parents. Once students at Clay feel more comfortable and safe at school, we believe they will be more able and willing to learn and challenge themselves. In turn, we believe that a re-branding of Clay to highlight their strengths as an academic high school is necessary, and will help increase enrollment numbers in the coming years.

“Clay Pride” focuses on increasing student spirit and pride within the school. There could be an opportunity for a “Clay Day”, where bracelets, t-shirts, and artwork representing the school in a positive light are sold. The team also sees a need for a buddy or mentor program that spans across classes, which could help defuse some of the tension and violence students face. It could also provide opportunities for freshman to learn about opportunities in the school, and at its best, could even be used to solve conflicts or disciplinary issues in a non-traditional way. This idea focuses on the guiding principles, “Make me feel safe and comfortable” and “Help me find a strong community”.

Clay Pride

Clay Day / Share Joys
1. Sell bracelets, shirts, Clay spiritwear
2. Come together to fundraise for a charity or group in need of resources
3. Organize effort to clean and paint the school
4. Prepare a presentation or assembly where students show off talents
Create Groups/Teams Across Years
1. Mentorship style program
  1. Each student randomly placed in group with standard number of students from each grade in the school
2. Monthly student led meetings with senior and junior leaders taking initiative of group discussions
  1. Competing throughout the year for prizes
  2. Encourage older students to help out the freshman with classes, clubs, personal issues, or anything else that comes up
  3. Student leaders on each team that provide feedback to Principal Eid, and report directly to him
  4. When a student is having a disciplinary issue, use the other students to help him/her resolve the problem

Entice: Entice more prospective students by showing that Clay students and the school have a mutual commitment and dedication for each other. Various efforts organized by students, faculty, and family members, such as fundraisers, can be a good marketing tool for this.

Enter: Once students enroll into Clay, their first impressions must be positive, or at the very least meet student expectations. Results from the research carried out suggest a number of students felt they had been “conned” into enrolling in Clay with promises that were never really fulfilled. So while it is important to work towards rebranding Clay, it is equally important to do so taking into account student expectations and the school’s ability to meet them.

Engage: In order to truly engage new student in Clay, steps need to be taken to structure and encourage community building. In the long term this component will prove to be a critical aspect for Clay’s survival and growth. Furthermore it is the most sustainable approach to develop school pride. This form of intrinsic motivation aims to improve student perception of their own school which will hopefully lead to a better image and reputation and bolster Clay’s current enrollment level.

Exit: As students leave, there would be a transition of leadership from the outgoing seniors to the incoming ones. The buddy system that we envision will transition into the next year, as a whole new class of students come in. This will lead to mentees becoming mentors, and hopefully encourage them to be positive leaders around campus.

Extend: Through the various Clay Day / Share Joys activities and mentorship program, Clay graduates will have a strong sense of pride for the school. This will lead to positive word of mouth and reputation which will in turn contribute to increased enrollment numbers. Alumni may even donate in the future to Clay Day / Share Joys fundraisers in order to continue the philanthropic success of the events.

Our next idea is titled “Clay Connections”, and it involves partnering with schools in the area to increase the network that students can access. On an enrollment level, connections with elementary and middle schools would help direct more kids to Clay. However, there is also value in connecting with colleges in the area, so that students can access some of the programs or opportunities available to them through the universities. This idea supports the guiding principle “allow me to learn outside the classroom”, since the increased connections will widen their academic experience past the walls of Clay.

Clay Connections

Connect with Elementary/Middle Schools
1. Meet with principals to find programs that Clay could continue to attract kids
  1. Ex. Continue Bilingual Program from Holy Cross Schools
2. Coordinate a “Meet Clay High School” event for middle school parents looking to choose a high school for their child
3. Put marketing information about Clay into middle school newsletters, bulletins, etc.
Connect with local colleges
1. Organize college fairs where students can meet with recruiters and learn about opportunities after graduation
2. Organize college trips where kids can go see schools in the area, and learn what they need to do to be competitive applicants
3. Organize programs with local colleges (Maybe Notre Dame) where students can tutor or mentor Clay kids
4. Organize a program where College Students can come help coach sports teams, and in term become mentors/role models for students

Entice: We want to create Clay connections that expand the possibilities for students at Clay. Students will be enticed by the partnership Clay will have with the University of Notre Dame and the opportunities Clay students have to visit Notre Dame’s campus. Also Clay will position themselves as the top language high school in the South Bend area. Students will start a bilingual curriculum that extends from middle school through high school, providing students with 6 years of language education. This program will establish a strong language pipeline for students seeking to thrive in their language studies. The goal is for students to become bilingual through this program.

Enter: When students enter Clay one of the most immediate interactions with Clay connections will be enrollment in the Clay language program. They will be continuing the language education that started in their middle school education, which should allow for a smooth transition to high school language courses. Another area where Clay students should expect to see immediate Clay connections are within participation in Clay sports teams. Students from Notre Dame and other local colleges will be coaches on some of the Clay sports teams where Clay students will be interacting with and learning from college students on a daily basis during their sport’s season.

Engage: Clay Connections will secure student engagement by providing students with opportunities outside the classroom. Opportunities which wouldn’t be available in other academic institutions and which will allow them to have a more holistic education. Through partnerships with institutions such as Notre Dame and other higher education entities, students will be better positioned to pursue further education. This initiative intends to differentiate Clay from its competitors. Moreover, it will allow students to network and start building up their contacts. This is an opportunity which should appeal and motivate academically proficient students with the goal of attending a prestigious university. Also as a part of the Clay language program students will have the opportunity to spend a few weeks in a country which speaks the language the student was studying. This immersion in a foreign country would provide first hand experience in speaking the language learned.

Exit: In order to make this initiative successful, it is vital to build a strong alumni network. As students graduate Clay, it is important to retain contact and for them to encourage current Clay students to approach them and use them as a resource. Clay students who later are accepted and enroll at Notre Dame or Indiana University will be particularly valuable resources due to proximity. Overall, in order to make this effort sustainable, it is necessary to make expectations clear to Clay alumni and to help them grow into their new role as mentors.

Extend: There will be two main extensions from the Clay connections solution. One will be the continued use of the language learned through the 6 year Clay language program. Hopefully students of the program will continue to be able to use the language learned in daily lives as if they were bilingual and some students may even be able to seek jobs requiring dual language abilities. The other main extension will be the college placement success of Clay students. As more Clay students are accepted into better colleges, the Clay pipeline will grow stronger. The colleges will identify Clay as a school where they can trust that good students are coming from. Clay graduates will also continue to write letters of recommendation for Clay students and donate back to Clay because they are so proud of their school.

Finally, our last idea is named “Clay Marketing”, and involves re-branding the identity of the school. Rather than completely eliminate arts and shift to a more academic-focus, we believe that Clay should find ways to market their academic opportunities in conjunction with their strong arts magnet. This could involve highlighting AP class offerings and accelerated tracks to parents, so that they understand the tremendous opportunities their child will have at Clay. This idea supports the guiding principle “offer me opportunities to achieve academically” since the rebranding will shift the focus from Clay only as an arts school, to an educational center that has strong opportunities in the arts.

Clay Marketing

Update all marketing materials to better represent the best parts of Clay
1. Increased focus on AP Program
2. More balanced focus on academics and arts in unison
3. Change name of the Clay magnet program to something that better represents the school, such as the Liberal Arts magnet
4. Testaments from current students/graduates that highlight the best parts of Clay
5. Maybe have some Clay graphic design students create the brochure, so parents can see the value of arts education

Entice: Based on our research, there seems to be either a void of information or misunderstanding on what Clay can actually offer to its students. A re-branding of the school is essential. Clay should find ways to market academic opportunities in conjunction with the arts magnet. Clay should focus on shifting away from just an “artsy school” to a educationally sound institution that also offers opportunities in the arts.

Enter: Similar to the “Clay Pride” idea, it is important that student expectations are met. Rebranding Clay is impossible unless actual student experiences are changed. In other words, it is essential to not overcommit for the sake of marketing the school by making promises that cannot be kept.

Engage: In order for this idea to be effective, Clay should allow its students to more actively contribute to the marketing process. When it comes to Clay’s strengths and weaknesses, the students know best. Moreover, this way the marketing process can be more effective as prospective students are more impressionable by peers of similar ages. It is also worth noting that a significant number of students take pride on the inclusive and accepting nature of Clay which should is an opportunity which definitely should be exploited.

Exit: Based on our research, one of the biggest factors in deciding a school is word of mouth. Positive word of mouth from graduates will be an effective yet cheap method of marketing and rebranding the school.
Extend: Testaments from various graduates that prospective students can look up to can have immensely positive marketing effects. Therefore, establishing a close-knit alumni network that can spread the positive Clay experiences can become a successful and sustainable method of marketing.

Ideation Summary

Posted on April 5, 2017 by Mark

Our Ideation Summary focuses on 3 potential ideas for not only providing safe transportation to the Boys and Girls Club, but also providing services to make the teen program more attractive and increase the overall attendance of the teen program.

Idea 1: Use ND student volunteers to aid with transportation to the club from local high schools.

Rather than try and work with the public school transportation system, we came up with the idea to try and use volunteers with vehicles to help transport the user to the club safely. This could be an effective transportation method that has very little to no expense.

Entice: Make current users of the teen program aware of the available systems through the clubs social media accounts and other marketing vehicles.

Enter: Gather enough trained volunteers with vehicles to at least cover the high schools that have students who are current users. This will hopefully attract 3 to 4 more students from each school to become users of the club now that there is a way to get there.

Engage: With available transportation, new users can now engage themselves in what the teen program has to offer. Whether it be sports, socializing with peers, or doing homework the hope is that the new users will enjoy the club and want to stay a user.

Exit: The user will exit the service once they find an alternative mode of transportation (possibly have their own car), or when they are too old to attend the program itself.

Extend: The availability of transportation to the club will hopefully benefit a larger number of local teens by giving them access to a safe place to be after school where they can exercise, socialize, and work on school work.

Idea 2: Create a 3 on 3 basketball teen tournament challenge

To think of new ideas to attract potential users to the club, we thought that a 3 on 3 tournament would be a way to utilize their up to date basketball gym as to create some excitement around the club and potentially attract users from local schools.

Entice: Offer an opportunity for local teens to be competitive with their peers. During our interviews, a big draw for the current users was the ability to play sports with friends after school in a nice facility. This will hopefully get more bodies through the door and potentially more members for the teen program moving forward.

Enter: Their can be a tournament registration online or on the Clubs social media pages.

Engage: The tournament will allow the teens to use the facilities and potentially get to know and befriend some of the current users of the program and potentially become users themselves.

Exit: The participants leave the tournament more comfortable with the club and having met new friends.

Extend: The hope is that a enjoyable time at the tournament will convert some of the participants into users of the teen program.

Idea 3: College prep tutoring given by ND volunteers.

Not only is it important to attract the teen users, but it is also important to raise awareness of the program to the parents of the local South Bend teens. We think an effective way to grab the attention of the parents is through an established College Prep course.

Entice: Attract new potential users through club social media platforms. Social Media could also be an affective way to reach out to the parents of the teens. A good prep course could possibly entice parents to spend the money for the program.

Enter: Their can be sign up sheets and schedules posted on the clubs social media platforms.

Engage: With ND volunteer students, the users can effectively engage in quality college prep. This could be a way to attract more users to the club if they know that the prep courses are quality and worth while.

Exit: The users leave the program with a prep course and will hopefully use what they have learned to pursue a college education.

Extend: The former users obtain college degrees which allow them to get jobs and establish careers.

Ideation Summary- SJHS

Posted on April 5, 2017April 5, 2017 by Daniel

IDEA 1 ( Alex)

Idea 1 consists of a system utilizing both an app/website as well as a receptionist/ transportation coordinator. The system will begin when a patient first schedules an appointment. The receptionist will as if they have a Smartphone. If yes the receptionist will ask if they would prefer to get text message and use an app or to receive a phone call. If no it will automatically be a phone call. A few weeks before the appointment there will be a confirmation text or call. With the text, the patient will confirm the appointment and answer if they need transportation help. If yes it will direct them to a webpage or app in which they can enter all of the relevant information such as appointment time, pickup location, insurance information, budget,number of passengers etc. The app will put out all of the relevant transportation options including cost and duration of trip and the patient will select and schedule the method of their choice. If the patient does not have a smartphone or does not choose to use the app a phone call will be made and a receptionist or transportation coordinator will enter the information into the system and book the transportation for them. Patients will also receive a push notification or automated phone call the morning of their appointment reminding them of their pickup time and method of transportation.

Entice	Enter	Engage	Exit	Extend
Patients are enticed to the system when they first become a patient or try and book an appointment after the program is implemented. Receptionists, Doctors, and transportation coordinators advertise this service and there are pamphlets in waiting rooms and information online.	Patients enter this service when they are first onboarded into the system. When they book an appointment they can choose to opt out, opt in, or have it on an appointment basis. When patients are asked to confirm an appointment, they enter when they click YES they need transportation help	Patients engage when they enter all of their relevant information and select and schedule a transportation option for their appointment.	Patients Exit the program after they successfully make it to their doctor’s appointment and make it back to their desired destination.	Extend occurs when patients tell their family and friends about the system and encourage them to take advantage of it.

Idea 2 – Partnership with Uber/Lyft ( Dan and Cole)

Idea 2 involves St. Joseph Health System developing a partnership with Uber. While prices associated with Uber may be a concern, the flexibility and readiness that Uber provides will have enough of a positive impact that SJHS will overcome its current transportation problem. Some barriers to developing such a partnership include billing; while Medicaid patients are covered for transportation in most situations, the amount organizations are reimbursed varies between states. Another issue is the fact that SJHS patients and clients may not have the ability to readily access technology such as smartphones used to request Uber rides. The benefits that having clients use Uber affords healthcare organizations outweighs these barriers, and there are even ways to overcome these barriers. At the following URL, https://tinyurl.com/n4rthzp, a healthcare expert discusses the various ways organizations have undertaken partnerships with Uber and Lyft to overcome problems with transportation. There is an opportunity for SJHS to give patients access to requesting Ubers on their website or through phone calls with receptionists. Our team will conduct further research into the intricacies of billing regulations and any other liabilities or other issues associated with SJHS partnering with a transportation company such as Uber.

Entice	Enter	Engage	Exit	Extend
While scheduling appointments, patients will be made aware of SJHS’s partnership with Uber and the benefits associated with using Uber.	Patients will have easy access requesting Uber rides through their smartphones, through the SJHS website, or through phone calls with SJHS employees.	Uber drivers will be knowledgeable of the reimbursement policies so that rider and driver feel in control of the situation.	Uber allows SJHS clients to leave reviews, similar to regular Uber users. SJHS should look to develop a survey or platform to assess patient satisfaction.	Assessing a decrease in missed appointments and word of mouth will validate the usefulness of a SJHS-Uber partnership.

IDEA 3 – Fleet of vans/ shuttles (Helen and Joe)

Idea 3 involves St. Joseph Health System to provide shuttle services to their clients. The idea is that clients would request a ride from designated pick-up and drop-off locations either online or through the phone. Clients will enter location, date and time, and how many people are riding with them. SJHS would then use its own vehicles to supply rides for its demanding customers. The designated locations can imitate the transpo bus stops or SJHS can cater more towards its clients by using its database to find the ideal drop-off/ pick-up zones. Although resources are tight, it could be a worthwhile investment for SJHS to buy one or two vans as it will pay off more for their patients to get to their appointments than to lose money for every missed appointment. Similar to Notre Dame’s SafeBouND system, volunteers could be in constant contact with a dispatcher for safety, legal, and logistical reasons.

Entice	Enter	Engage	Exit	Extend
Patients are enticed to examine this service at the time that they schedule an appointment.	Patients enter this service when they confirm that they are in need of transportation services in order to get to an appointment.	Patients engage this service when they schedule a pick up by a hospital van/ bus, and fill out all required information to be picked up. They are then picked up from a designated location and taken to their appointment.	Patients Exit the service after they successfully make it to and from their appointment.	Patients extend this service by spreading word of it to friends, family, and other people in the community. Through this, the service will become more popular and utilized, allowing all patients to make it to appointments.

Ideation Summary

Posted on April 5, 2017April 5, 2017 by Madison

IDEATION SUMMARY:

For the following three central ideas, the team tried to combine several of our ideas to achieve the most likely ideas to prototype. We also tried to achieve a wide variety of focuses.

Connect with Clay: (AKA Bridge Program)

The Connect Clay Program would establish concrete ways in which CHS students could interact with the community and middle school students. The more connected CHS is, the more positive commentary will circle and the more powerful word of mouth will be.

Tutoring of Advanced Clay Students (ACADEMICS)
Student Social Media Post Day (MEDIA)
Boys and Girls Club Connection (
Clay Sports Teams Sponsor Teams of Younger Kids (SPORTS)
Inviting Middle School/Elementary School Students to Act in Musicals/Plays (THEATRE)
Hosting Art Classes for People in the Community? (ART)

Entice: Advertise in middle schools, use art teachers, athletic coaches to go into the schools to encourage students to come and develop their skills. Sell them on building a connection with Clay to do work that otherwise wouldn’t be possible. SELL CONTINUITY

Enter: Get students enrolled in camps, classes during the summer

Engage: Make sure they receive good coaching, good teaching etc

Exit: At end of summer, lesson, give a speech to encourage them to continue coming back and to continue this journey at Clay high school. Students voice to their parents that they want to attend Clay High School

Extend: Reviews, ripple effect, students who go through the program through word of mouth encourage other students to attend.

Offering Opportunities // Building a Better CHS

A large part of the solution is focusing on marketing and how people find out about Clay, but we also wanted to touch on potential ways to improve Clay itself so that students want to stay there and tell their friends to go there.

One of these ideas was some sort of ND Connection. This could include tutors from ND coming to Clay and helping with academics, or ND art students working on joint projects with CHS students.

Another potential recommendation was to improve the physical appearance of CHS. Our recommendation for this was to paint the lockers and add some color to the slightly drab hallways in that way.

Another option, Hire better teachers, counsellors, tutoring, better coaches, fight song, identity, etc. And pair teachers with students.

Entice: Attractive facilities of the school will entice students to attend Clay.

Enter: The feeling that the school looks nice and has a good ambience will encourage students to enroll in Clay High School

Engage: Students need to feel engaged in their passions and their education. They need to feel like they are equipped to accomplish their goals: job or college. They also need to feel proud of being a CHS student.

Exit: Need to feel Nostalgia and look back on time at CHS with pride and. They need to miss being at CHS, the connections, the family

Extend: The positive experience at CHS then gets passed along through word of mouth and Clay has an identity.

Other Options:

South Bend Connection?
Advanced Students tutoring average students

Marketing Approach

Our primary idea for a marketing approach is a video that shows what a day in the life of CHS is like, and makes students excited to go to a school like Clay.

Video
- Show it in the middle schools
- CHS informational day
- Send to Counselors
- Mass Social Media Post

Entice: Students are more visually engaged than brochures and informational talks, and having that information explained through a video format readily available would be more effective of a tool.

Enter: The video would distributed through social media platforms or at the beginning of an informational session about Clay.

Engage: The video would demonstrate the various types of students, following them through their daily life and what their 4 years would look like.

Exit: The video ends with a pitch specifying that the student watching the video should really consider Clay as an option and recommend them to pursue more resources to find out more about CHS.

Extend: Students, excited by the video, share the video amongst their friends, maybe to try and convince them to look at Clay with them all together.

Other Options:

Virtual Tour
Synchronize materials

Parents commit to telling their friends.

Ideation Summary 5E Storyboard

Posted on April 4, 2017 by Garrett

Idea #1: App

–Entice: Students can learn about the BGC from the app, see schedules, upcoming events, membership pricing, any available transportation options, and friends who also attend BGC

-Enter: Students can register and pay for membership through the app

-Engage: Study materials and volunteer contact information can be found on the app so that students can complete their homework and tutors can stay up-to-date with student grades

-Exit: Notifications through the app can inform students when parents arrive for pick-up, allow them to sign out in-app.

-Extend: BGC promotional material can be shared on social media through the app, students can send invites to friends (possibly for membership coupons)

Idea #2: Skype volunteering

–Entice: A larger tutor base will be available if location is no longer a limiting factor, so students will have more help available, enticing parents to send their children to BGC.

-Enter: Students can sit down at any computer or tablet in the BGC and connect during tutoring hours to their assigned tutor to work on homework.

-Engage: While working on homework, students can perform “screensharing” to show their tutors homework problems, and tutors can type out the help they provide or perform example problems on the student’s own screen.

-Exit: Thanks to limited travel time, volunteers are available for more tutoring time, and exit is as simple as signing off the Skype call.

-Extend: The Skype call does not necessarily have to take place at the BGC. If a student is away from home or the BGC for some reason, they only have to find a device capable of taking a Skype call to work with their tutor. Easy volunteering like this will improve volunteer consistency and build relationships between volunteers and teens.

Idea #3: Guest Lecturers

–Entice: Public figures that are popular to the kids would draw in students, and be able to provide messages better received than if the same information was conveyed by normal authority figures. Whether these messages are speeches of guidance, motivation, or education, the kids would have more incentive to come to BGC if the people they met there were unique and particularly interesting on special occasions.

-Enter: Students could sign up for guest lectures ahead of time in order to bring friends and meet the guest personally (although not strictly necessary for attendance), exposing others to this special BGC experience.

-Engage: Communications with guests should be clear and directly tailored to the students at the BGC. When figures already important to the kids speak to them on a personal level, their impact is enhanced and the kids will better internalize the message. Personal interactions will motivate students to make the most of their experience with guests and build important connections as well as communication skills the kids will utilize their whole lives.

-Exit: When guests leave, students will have had a unique experience with a strong impact that will differentiate itself from the already-positive time they spend with the Boys and Girls Club on a day-to-day basis.

-Extend: When guest lecturers make connections with students and maintain contact, the students may be able to transform what was once a lecturer-attendee relationship into a mentor-student relationship, and continue to cultivate valuable lessons from the positive role model that they communicate with. Even in the event that some students don’t maintain this contact, they will still know one more person in their community that they can look up to, one they may not have known before. They can carry the lessons they learned from the guest lecturer and see the lessons in action in that figure’s life whenever they hear news about that lecturer, whether they were a local board member, an athlete, or some other citizen in the community. The allure of guest lecturers and any positive reactions from the community may grow into more demand for the BGC, growing the community at the Club, and more clout for bringing in more guest lecturers, in a positive snowball effect.

Gallery Day Reflection

Posted on April 4, 2017 by Steffen

On our gallery day we had Principal Eid and Ms. Willis come to the Stayer Center to check out the progress of our work. Having both the administrative perspective of Principal Eid and the teacher perspective of Ms. Willis allowed for a full discussion of situation. We had a ton of information to share with them from all of our work including user interviews, a journey map, and immersion experiences. Our feedback from current students on our graffiti wall done by Pat and student surveys done by YoungJae and Guillermo gave us a lot of different perspectives on the current environment in Clay, while some of our user and expert interviews provided us with parent, principal or school board views that provided an outside look at Clay.

Some of the key takeaways I had following gallery day were:

The distinction between focusing on the parent or student user experience is key. If we focus on designing for the one user that impacts the issue the most that will be our best bet.
Improving the view of Clay as a school aesthetically can make a major difference in the view of Clay overall. One thing that Principal Eid mentioned is the difference between how walking into Adams high school and Clay high school is in terms of aesthetics. With the skill of Clay arts students, aesthetic improvements to Clay should be very doable.
Finding ways to interact with local colleges is an area for opportunity. Currently the only interaction seems to be when college counselors come to Clay to give a talk on their school, but we see going to the college campuses as an experience that may make Clay more attractive. Ms. Willis really liked the idea of possibly going to a college library to do research for an English project as an opportunity to visit a college.
There is a discrepancy between how administrators and students want administrators to be viewed. Mr. Smith is the disciplinary administrator and many students noted that they disliked Mr. Smith. Principal Eid said that that was a good thing because it meant that Mr. Smith was doing his job.

Ideation Summary

Posted on April 4, 2017 by Sarah

City of South Bend:

Our Ideation Summary focuses in on 3 potential solutions for preventing/eradicating chronic homelessness in South Bend using the “5E” framework.

Hire social worker as a counselor in charge of three chronically homeless individuals

Entice: Develop a counselling program and market it to social workers around South Bend. Additionally, begin to stir interest amongst the homeless population by making them aware of the benefits associated with having a counselor.

Enter: Start with at least 10 social workers. Train them on how to effectively work with the homeless population (i.e. attitude, motivation, behavior, drug issues, mental stability, etc.). Begin to introduce them to key figures at hospitals, social service providers, center for the homeless, soup kitchens across town, employers, landlords, and many other influential figures that the homeless people need to interact with on a daily/weekly/monthly basis.

Engage: The counselors would provide mentorship, access to drug and mental illness counselling, employment opportunities, resume reviews, increased access to social service resources, access to food via soup kitchens, their personal network, personal experience, access to temporary and permanent housing. They would help homeless population begin to develop a social network, hopefully giving them the means for advancement.

Exit: Counselors could make weekly visits/checkups after their assigned homeless individual is in permanent housing to make sure they are still clean from drugs, mentally stable, and still employed/attending work.

Extend: Staying in touch with the homeless individuals (hopefully now fully independent/not homeless) and utilizing them to help the current homeless population with their problems. Continuing to grow the network and have people sharing their experiences.

Key Takeaway: Homeless individuals are in need of a support network to get themselves out of their situation. Without developing support relationships, it is difficult for them to receive the motivation and support overcome their homelessness situation.

Shared living to help develop a network. Develop subsidization program.

Entice: Spread awareness to homeless people by means of their counselors. Attract the homeless population by informing them of a way to live more independently, while having a support network of similar individuals. Low cost, non-discriminatory, and provides address for social security purposes.

Enter: Allocate resources and funding to apartment buildings or houses in South Bend that can be turned into communal living homes. Create a specific program with regulations (ex: drug tests, job requirements?) that allow 4 or more homeless people to live together in government subsidized housing.

Engage: The housing would lift a burden off the residents’ shoulders, so that they can spend more of their time toward finding a stable job, paying for food, paying off other bills or loans, etc. The residents would have their own rooms to ensure individual privacy and independence, but would share other areas like the kitchen and living rooms, thus strengthening the support system between them.

Exit: After the residents establish a stable income and can support themselves, connect them with local landlords who can provide low-income housing. The residents would eventually move into their own private apartment and live on their own.

Extend: Maintaining close relationships with former housemates and building new relationships to expand each individual’s support network. With greater support, homeless individuals and people in danger of becoming homeless can reach out for help and advice.

Key Takeaway: Establish a support system that homeless individuals feel they can connect with on a personal level. These individuals have gone through similar experiences and can empathize with each other.

Hire homeless to deliver food via bike.

Entice: Create corporate partnerships with food delivery companies such as Grub Hub, Dine In, Uber eats,etc. and create a program in which homeless people could deliver the food via bikes owned by the company for a small fee, and consumers would have the option to purchase a meal for the homeless person as well (BOGO model). This would be a good PR opportunity for companies, and provide jobs and meals to the homeless.

Enter: Counselors would connect members of the homeless population with this program, and the City of South Bend would create incentives for corporations to participate (tax credits, financial incentives, etc.).

Engage: The partnership would give homeless people a source of part-time work, while also providing some food and building work experience. Biking to deliver the food ensures that users do not need a license, and it is a type of work that most people could participate in.

Exit: The users would establish a steady source of income and begin building a professional network. Hopefully, they could get a full-time job after this position.

Extend: Eventually, the homeless individuals could use this network to find full-time work and establish more contacts in the professional world. They could also spread the word to other individuals in the community who may be looking for a low-skill requirement job with a flexible work schedule.

Key Takeaway: Finding a source of simple, and relatively easy work could go a long way for these individuals if the company is willing to hire them.

Create database with information of all chronically homeless individuals in South Bend. Without defining the population, it will be difficult to create an effective solution.

Entice: Understanding the profiles of chronically homeless individuals is the first step to designing and implementing a comprehensive solution to this issue in South Bend. We must first gain insight into exactly how many homeless people are within our range, and also learn more about their individual needs so that resources can be allocated more efficiently. The homeless offer their information to be collected in order to access personalized solutions.

Enter: This information will be individually updated through personal accounts, or gathered from individual interviews and consulting sessions. Additionally, it is important to gain insight into the individual’s life from another person’s perspective, a person that he or she might frequently interact with, to get the full picture of the individual and an unbiased story.

Engage: This database will include biographical information such as a basic description of their appearance (height and weight) and other unique characteristics that would separate them apart. It also will include the individual’s “story”, along with a list of prioritized needs that the individual and the interviewer have conversed about. Lastly, a picture of the individual will be included for future identification purposes, if needed. This information will be uploaded to the cloud where counselors and city officials can access the data without having to re-mine for it.

Exit: When an individual has successfully entered into permanent housing, he or she will be moved to a section on the database separate from the biographies of current homeless people.

Extend: It is important to maintain a relationship with all of these individuals in order to track progress on their recovery and integration back into the real world. Also these biographies with the permission of individuals, can be shown as examples of how to move out of homelessness or of how to prevent it from happening. These stories can be uploaded to a blog so people can ask questions and so it can be easily accessible.

Key Takeaway: Identifying homeless individuals and gaining a more detailed understanding of who they are and what they might need in a timely manner is a small step towards further organization of the homeless assistance system. In addition having their stories can help the city understand the nature of homelessness and how to better deploy resources into the future.

Ideation Summary

Posted on April 4, 2017 by Wendy

Our Team has developed 3 different services that will help the homeless people find their way out of homelessness. While these may be rough ideas for now, we are quite confident on the need to focus on our second guiding principle of reminding them what a good day is. We decided this based on satisfying the second tier of the hierarchy of needs which may help them realize that they need to help themselves and use some resources that are available to get out of homelessness. There is also the importance that they need to some structure for their day and to not have too much free time.

Idea 1- A Man’s Best Friend

We had the idea that we could partner with the humane society or another animal shelter program similar to that to volunteer an hour or too and just let the homeless people hangout with. We thought that this was a good idea because there are so many studies done on how dogs and other animals can really bring up the morale and help with depression.

Entice- Homeless people will be enticed to use this service because it is simply something that they can do throughout the day with their free time. Possibly if they once have had a pet, they may want to hang out with one or they may simply be an animal lover, it is quite hard to refuse hanging out with a puppy.

Enter- One of the main things that we will have to combat is people using the service. Hopefully there will be a building close to downtown where this can happen but if not, there is the possibility that we can bring the animals too them via van or car.

Engage- The user will simply interact with these dogs as little or as much as they would like. There will be a volunteer watching over the interactions so no dogs are stolen in the process.

Exit- The user will stop using the product completely once they decide that they need to get their life back together and start using resources to do so. The user just may also not want to hangout with the dogs anymore, hopefully the former.

Extend- In the short-term, hopefully these dogs make such an impact on someone that they cannot go a week without seeing them. In the long-term, hopefully this news reaches others and they see the impact that dogs can have and they hopefully use the service as well.

Idea 2- Coach Holtz, For Your Life

The second idea that we came up with was simply a life coach but with a little twist. Rather than have a mandatory counselor with set meeting times and standard questions etc, we were thinking that this person could be more of a friend. We found that in order for the homeless to open up, they just need someone to be friendly. I’m thinking of this person more as a best friend then a counselor, and we think that will be very effective.

Entice- The user will want to use this service because they may just want a friend. If not we can have a counselor seek out people to simply talk with.

Enter- The user will enter once they are comfortable talking to the counselor and want to meet with him, rather than being forced to meet with him. We thought that this was an important note because once people are forced to do things, they are often more closed to the process.

Engage- By setting up meetings themselves, the user will hopefully then realize that they will want to get their life back on track. This counselor will have the available tools and resources to do so.

Exit- The user will exit the process once they have been fully entered into the recovery stage. They will still keep contact with the counselor, as they are a good friend, but the meetings will not be as often.

Entice- The once homeless person will be a great way to spread the word. We think that the importance of keeping this voluntary and informal is crucial to the success, so not advertising much is crucial.

Idea 3- Work Out till You Break Out

Our third idea is based off of the proven benefits of exercise and helping with depression. Depression and other mental illnesses is a major problem with many of these homeless people, so we decided to take one of the best proven and cheapest cures for these illnesses and bring it to them. At first is may be difficult to get them to engage, but once they do we think that they won’t be able to stop. We will bring fun ways to exercise to these shelters and show the homeless that they can be fit too, hopefully ending with a new vigor to change their life.

Entice- The user will be enticed to start with the exercise program because it will be another thing to fill up their day. They will choose this over drugs because we may be able to create a group effect of people that want to do it, then people will follow.

Enter- The user will enter once they see all of the other people are involved. Whether it is a van full of people going to an open gym or just people in the shelter working out before they sleep, this stage will involve others joining the process.

Engage- The user will being working on those abs! But actually simply working out and being a repeat customer to the service.

Exit- The user will exit once they are able to join a gym themselves. They can even stay in the program and help entice other homeless to start exercising again.

Extend- As in the exit stage, we can have others try to entice other homeless or other user will see the success of a few and want to join.

Workarounds

Posted on April 3, 2017 by Garrett

If your door doesn’t have a kickstand and it needs to be propped open for a coaches’ clinic, you improvise.

If your heat press singes your clothing when pressing labels, you cover the thing you want to heat press with another piece of fabric.

If players knock gold chips off their helmets every game, you buy stickers and cover them in gold so you can just patch the scratches instead of retreating the helmet.

Interactive Ethnography

Posted on April 3, 2017April 3, 2017 by Garrett

User Interview: Tristan (BGCA Attendee (Extreme #1))

Team Participants: Garrett Fisher

Location: Boys & Girls Club 502 E Sample St, South Bend

Date: 2/24/17

Characteristics:

13 years old

Began attending BGC at 3 months old

African American

Freshman at Adams High School

Hobbies: Listening to music, playing basketball

Interview Highlights:

What do you like about the BGCA?

“I can positively develop my personality here, the environment is great, the people are nice… it’s like a second home for me.”

What could be better about the BGCA for you?

“We could have better sports equipment and more technology.”

What is the BGCA to you?

“It’s a team of people like me, a community, a home.”

How do you get to and from the BGCA?

“Miss Camille drives me here from school, and then I ride my bike home or sometimes my parents pick me up. I bring my bike from school on the back of Miss Camille’s van.”

Learnings:

Tristan associates the BGC strongly with feelings of home and personal identity.

While the issue of transportation is kind of a hassle, Tristan focused on other areas when asked where the BGC could be improved.

During the interview, kids could be overheard asking for permission to go to the gym multiple times. Sports matter more to these kids’ perception of the club than the logistics of getting to and from the BGC.

Key Insights:

There are kids who believe the BGC is part of who they are.

These kids will find ways to make it to the club as long as it remains available, welcoming, and beneficial for them.

User Interview: Drechun (BGCA Attendee)

Team Participants: Garrett Fisher

Location: Boys & Girls Club 502 E Sample St, South Bend

Date: 2/24/17

Characteristics:

14 years old

Started attending BGC summer of 2016

African American

Freshman at Penn High School

Hobbies: Snapchat, playing basketball, playing NBA 2k video game

Interview Highlights:

What do you like about the BGCA?

“The people and the positivity.”

What could be better about the BGCA for you?

“I like everything here the way it is. The BGC doesn’t need to change.”

What is the BGCA to you?

“A place to have fun.”

How do you get to and from the BGCA?

“My parents pick me up and drop me off… it’s a pretty easy process.”

Learnings:

Drechun sees the BGC as a place to have fun and doesn’t believe any major changes are necessary.

He also has no complaints with transportation, as his parents can take him directly to and from the club.

As during the other interview, kids could be overheard asking for permission to go to the gym multiple times. Again, sports matter more to these kids’ perception of the club than the logistics of getting to and from the BGC.

Key Insights:

Kids that don’t have transportation issues are a strong resource for the club and they should be kept in mind when coming up with solutions later.

Kids attending BGC don’t necessarily do so in order to spend more time with friends from school, as Drechun knows of no other Penn students at the BGC.

Expert Interview: Miss Missy

Team Participants: Garrett Fisher

Location: Boys & Girls Club 502 E Sample St, South Bend

Date: 2/24/17

Characteristics:

Age: Mid 30s-40s

Mother, College Student

African American

Interview Highlights:

Why do you think kids come to the BGC?

“It’s a place for them to just be kids, to see friends that they may have gone to school with before they split up for high school, and to just hang out in a positive atmosphere.”

How do kids get to the BGC?

“LaSalle buses students to the BGC, but otherwise its mostly parents taking them here and home. Miss Camille drives some students here in her van too. Some students walk here if their school is nearby. Any kids who walk home need a permission slip and can only walk home on days when the weather isn’t too bad.”

What do the kids like to do the most at the BGC?

“Basketball, definitely. The computers and the video games are popular but they always want to play basketball.”

Learnings:

Both the students and the staff at the BGC see the club as a strongly positive place for kids.

Transportation is largely parent-driven right now, as these kids are generally not walking or biking to the club.

Sports, as noted before, are a major part of the culture at the BGC.

Key Insights:

Since parents continue to bring their children to the BGC every day while many of them work, they must see the value in the BGC. The parents may be a resource to tap in solution plans later.

Staff at the BGC are incredibly dedicated and are willing to do anything to help the kids.

Non-User Interview (Noah)

Team Participants: Garrett Fisher

Location: Phone Call

Characteristics:

17 years old

Has never attended Boys and Girls Club

Hawaiian-Samoan American

Junior at Woodlake High School in Woodlake, CA

Hobbies: Camping, surfing, hunting

Interview Highlights:

What do you think of when you hear ‘Boys and Girls Club of America’?

“I think of a place where little kids go to hang out, they’re usually in cities I think. Like ‘The Y’ but aimed more at kids.”

Do you know anyone who attends a Boys and Girls Club?

“No, but I do have a lot of friends who go to ‘The Y.’”

What do you typically do after school?

“I play sports year-round, I work with my fair animals, and I go to work. If I’m not doing any of that I’m usually trying to hang out with friends”

How do you get from place to place?

“My mom works at the school and coaches volleyball after, so unless I have morning swim practice I go with her, otherwise I drive my grandpa’s truck, as long as it works.”

Learnings:

Noah occupies his time with a lot of different activities, and doesn’t seem to find himself having much free time.

He is able to take advantage of the fact that his mother is a teacher and a coach, allowing him to partake in sports without needing his own car most of the time.

There is no BGC in his area, but he seems to think “The Y” would be a good substitute.

Key Insights:

Consider “The Y” for an analogous immersion.

Students with lots of extracurricular activities are probably not the best target demographic for the BGC.

Immersion Experience at the BGC

Date: 2/24/17

Event: Day at BGC

Event Description: Played cards with the kids and Miss Missy, played pool, and watched basketball, all while making small talk.

Key Insights:

The kids are extremely personable and lively. They have no problem talking about whatever comes to their minds, and they include others without fail. Nobody in the BGC is an outcast, no matter the age or background. Many of the kids are quiet and content to sit in the lounge in silence, but anyone who wants to be social at the BGC is in good company. The kids who attend the BGC seem to be at the younger end of the high school age spectrum. Maybe once they are of the age when they can begin to drive themselves they no longer choose to go to the BGC. Maybe once they can drive they have to get jobs to support themselves and their families. These could be important issues to consider when trying to target certain groups to attend the BGC.

Analogous Immersion at “The Y”:

In order to accurately determine the performance of the BGC, our team is comparing results and activities to similar organizations.

After talking to Mikey, head of The Y in Woodlake California, the following information was gathered:

What activities does The Y sponsor?

“We keep the high school pool open in the summer for recreational use and partner with the local Tiger Sharks summer league swim team to teach kids to swim safely and in a fun environment. We also hold open gym almost year-round after school hours during both semesters and all day in the summer. We host summer day activities for small children as well. Zumba classes use our facilities occasionally too.”

Does The Y have any school-specific activities like homework help or tutoring?

“We are severely limited in staff and funding, so while we do what we can, there isn’t much structure to our academic side.”

How is attendance across different student ages?

“Attendance remains relatively even among ages, maybe even increasing among high schoolers because we’re right behind the high school and we have both indoor and outdoor basketball courts, and the outdoor courts are open for use at any time. That’s a really good draw for the kids who are bored and just need something to do. They want to be active, they just don’t always have many options here in Woodlake.”

Key Insights:

The 24-hour basketball court is a big plus for The Y. The Y’s location between the middle school and high school is also an advantage, as transportation is not an issue for students, and the area is familiar. Police tend to check on the well-lit area pretty often so the courts are always a safe place to exercise. While an outdoor court is a more viable option in sunny, warm California, something similar may be of interest to the BGC of Saint Joseph County, at least for the warmer months. What BGC does better than The Y, however, lies in their academic help. The Y is run by about five people at most, while the BGC has staff and volunteers that allow each kid to get more individualized attention when he or she needs it.