Connecting and empowering communities to work toward shared goals
BACKGROUND
How can we build trust between Chicago communities and first responders? Motorola Solutions approached our student team wanting to know.
We began by turning our attention to those Chicago communities for answers, and arrived at even more interesting questions about what "community" really means, who defines them, and what they need to thrive.
CLIENT
Motorola Solutions
TEAM
Sarah Braunstein, Shangyanyan Li, Taniya Thakkar
COLLABORATORS
Chicago first responders and community members
Big picture learning
Whatever you're looking to accomplish, there may be a number of others knee-deep in similar endeavors. Design is connective — leverage existing efforts where you find them.
GUIDING INSIGHTS
Building trust
Growing engagement
Strengthening connections
Dissolving boundaries
"Resident engagement is key for our work. Get to know your neighbor."
—Chicago police officer
"I work, so I'm not really around to get involved in anything."
—Chicago resident
It’s very difficult getting the word out. Making sure everyone is connected is the hardest part—you can only reach so many people."
—Community organization leader
"People don't have time for meetings that are basically status reports."
—Chicago resident
COMMUNITY REFRAME
At first we saw communities as living within the geographic and legislative boundaries that are typically projected on them. But communities are not solely spatial—they’re issue and attachment-based, where demographics shift and issues change.
People's attachment to issues they care about is what connects them to each other. Could we design a solution for people to build their communities from the ground up? What might that look like?
Deed builds a culture of participation through activities that bridge people within and between communities.
Encourages face to face interactions to build trust among community members.
Supports community members in extending conversations into actions.
Uses data to reveal insights back to the community in order to strengthen connectedness and identity.
HOW DEED WORKS
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A VALUE-DRIVEN PLATFORM
Most social platforms aim to devour your focus and time, without much intention of giving anything back. That's how they are designed and measure success.
Deed is an antidote to screens eating our lives, and reminds us why we’re drawn to social apps in the first place: to connect with real people, to stay updated with institutions and causes we care about, to expand our minds and hearts through new ideas and experiences, and to find the things in this world that link us to our passions, our purpose, and ultimately our humanity.
SUCCESS METRICS WITH INTEGRITY
At Deed, we measure success by accumulative actions done out in the world, collective goals accomplished, new initiatives begun by people who might have otherwise passed each other unnoticed on their morning commute. The goal is not to hold your attention hostage, but to liberate it and invest it back into what you care about most, one focused action at a time.
