Dear friends of Design Impact, The design problems our team tackles every day are often “wicked”, meaning they are complex, interrelated, and seemingly unsolvable. Whether we’re focused on workforce development, quality medical care, or improving educational outcomes, we know that there are no singular catchy solutions that can fix them in their entirety. But we also know that there are incredible opportunities for change. At Design Impact we focus on what we can do. We work with our partners in schools, hospitals, government, and social services to get more creative, get more efficient, get more aligned, and get more empathic. We design systems and services that get at deeper root causes, that surprise and delight, that engage and empower. Check out the rest of this report to see the impact. If you’re interested in improving outcomes across many issues, as well as improving the way social change is happening across sectors, then I hope you’ll consider supporting Design Impact this year. It’s not just design – it’s revolution.
INCUBATE PROJECTS THAT TRANSFORM COMMUNITIES
EQUIP LEADERS WITH SOCIAL INNOVATION TOOLS
ADVANCE METHODS OF CREATIVE COMMUNITY CHANGE
Looking Forward,
Kate, Ramsey & the Design Impact Team
UNIQUE PROJECTS
ORGANIZATIONS
with various local partners
with Design Thinking tools
INCUBATED INCUBATED
EQUIPPED
CITIES FAR & WIDE
ADVANCED through sessions & workshops
FEATURED PROJECTS
July 2014 - June 2015
USING A TWO-GEN APPROACH
IMPROVING THE GOLDEN HOUR
How might we increase the number of women choosing well-paying, high demand jobs in Advanced Manufacturing (AM)? Design Impact collaborated with Partners for a Competitive Workforce and Gateway Community & Technical College to explore this issue. By working with women, front-line workers, and employers, our team discovered new ways to increase women pursuing and succeeding in AM careers, while involving their children in STEM learning. Read more.
Design Impact traveled to New Delhi, India to document the human story behind traffic accidents and to uncover opportunities for reducing motor vehicle deaths. On behalf of the Ford Motor Company Fund, we studied each step in the crash-to-care process and identified opportunities for better prevention, faster emergency response, and improved health outcomes. We’ve turned these solutions over to the Ford innovation team for direct action. Read More.
Advanced Manufacturing Design Project
CREATING OPEN SPACES
Ford Crash-to-Care Project
FINDING THE ROOT OF STEM
Studio C (case study on the following page)
STEM: High School to College
For the past six months, local nonprofits worked in diverse teams to creatively address complex social issues in Greater Cincinnati. This community is Studio C, a collaboration between Design Impact and the United Way of Greater Cincinnati. In its second year, Studio C continues to engage social sector leaders in creative community change through Design Thinking, Social Innovation, and Leadership. Read more.
What are the factors that lead young adults to pursue STEM education and careers? Design Impact is working with Greater Cincinnati STEM Collaborative, Partners for a Competitive Workforce, and Hughes High School to increase students enrolling in post-secondary STEM education. Through insight collection with local students, educators and administrators, we’re uncovering systems level opportunities for change. Read more.
RE-ENVISIONING ENGAGEMENT EXPLORING ALTERNATIVES Engaging Youth in Program Design
Compassionate Economic Development
Design Impact, Project Connect, and the University of Cincinnati’s Center for Community Engagement developing new ways to connect youth experiencing homelessness with UC students. Design Impact led a design process that built empathy with middle schoolers and generated new ideas with a variety of programmatic stakeholders. The result is a new program that will be introduced in 2016. Read more.
In partnership with Community Matters, the Economics of Compassion Initiative, and the people of Lower Price Hill (a Cincinnati neighborhood), Design Impact is working to enhance the daily lives of community members through the development of alternative economic models. We’re currently prototyping a “Time Banking” approach that enables community members to exchange goods and services without the use of money. Read more.
DEEP DIVE: STUDIO C + HEAD START 1. THE PROBLEM City Heights, one of Housing Authority of Covington’s (HAC) key neighborhoods, is a secluded housing project in Northern Kentucky with 220 young people under the age of six residing there. Only 1 in 10 attend pre-school, which in previous years has resulted in 90% of the students from this geographic location not being ready for kindergarten (as measured in 2013). Before beginning Studio C, the team believed that the secluded nature of the housing development was the main factor to low levels of pre-K (Head Start) enrollment. The inital question they had was:
How might we increase access to transportation so that Head Start enrollment increases?
2. THE JOURNEY When the group began the Design Thinking process through Studio C, they were almost certain that the barrier that they were confronting was transportation. They were encouraged to get out and talk with people to test this assumption. Through engaging the community, they uncovered that there were more fundamental barriers to pre-K enrollment than they initially thought. It emerged that the primary barrier was that parents thought that pre-K would involve their children sitting at desks all day, and they believed that their children were too young to be away from their parents during the day. With these new insights, the team stepped back and asked;
How might we shift parents’ attitudes about pre-school to increase enrollment in Head Start?
3. THE RESULT Because of the methods Design Impact introduced, the team was able to gain new understanding about their users. The team developed several ideas to answer this question, and eventually selected a few two-generational approaches to test with parents and children.
The HAC and NKCAC doubled – and then tripled – the number of kids enrolled in Head Start!
Thanks to the Studio C experience, more young children will be ready for Kindergarten!
ABOUT THE TEAM The Housing Authority of Covington (HAC) & The Northern Kentucky Community Action Commission (NKCAC) attended Studio C in 2014. NKCAC provides the Head Start program for families in Northern Kentucky to ensure kindergarten readiness for their communities, while HAC provides diverse housing opportunities and programs that encourage self-sufficiency.
GLOBAL VOICE
FINANCIALS
116,120 is the total number of miles INCOME
EXPENSES $474,005
$531,328
EARNED INCOME $ 239,987
DESIGNING-IN-ACTION $ 398,836
GRANTS $ 231,167
RUNNING THE SHIP $ 40,545
IN-KIND DONATIONS $ 55,095
SPREADING THE WORD $ 21,907
INDIVIDUAL DONATIONS $ 5,079
RENTING THE SPACE $ 12,717
FUN FINANCIAL FACTS We have almost doubled our budget over the last year! Here are more quick facts about how far we’ve come. OUR FIRST YEAR
$63k budget 1 source of income team of 2
NOW
$511k budget (704% growth) 21 sources of income team of 13
our team travelled this year to build meaningful partnerships and expand the reach of our design education.
While the majority of our work is based in our hometown of Cincinnati, we recognize the importance of having a global perspective. Through our travels, we’ve strengthened our own knowledge and learned valuable lessons about specific regional needs, other expert approaches, and points of collaboration on issues that affect us all. Here are some places we have published that newfound knowledge. Stanford Social Innovation Review Public Interest Design Practice Guidebook, Ch. 20 Core 77 – Designing Here/Now Living Cities Nashville Nonprofit Review
THANK YOU We are grateful to the many people who have helped us bring design and innovation practice to where it’s needed most.
A special shout out to Kaleidoscope for six years of shared space, project collaboration, and generous donations of time and talent!
Aaron Swick Amazon Smile Annie E. Casey Foundation Ascend Innovations Carol Ann and Ralph V. Haile / US Bank Foundation Center for Creative Leadership Center for Nonprofit Management Children Inc. Cincinnati Children's Hospital and Medical Center Cincinnati Interfaith Commmittee Cincinnati Made Cindy Tripp Collective Impact Forum Community Matters DAAP Cares Danielle Kokachak David Singleton and Verna Williams Economics for Compassion Initiative Education Matters Findlay Market First Batch Ford Motor Company Fund Gateway Community and Technical College Gavin DeVoreLeonard GE Matching Fund Geoff and Kristen Zoeckler
Global Citizen Leaders Global Language Project Greater Cincinnati STEM Collaborative Greater Dayton Area Hospital Association Hughes STEM High School Jerad Raines Joiner Family Fund of The Greater Cincinnati Foundation Julianna Boehm Photography Kaleidoscope Katherine Creason Kathleen and Michael Krug Fund of The Greater Cincinnati Foundation KJV & Associates CPA Lighthouse Youth Services Living Cities Lyden Foust Matt and Marcia Kornau MetroLabs Miami University Mike Baker Mount Mary University Neil Kelly Over-the-Rhine Community Council Partners for a Competitive Workforce Powerhouse Factories Pro Bono Partnership of Greater Cincinnati Procter & Gamble
Project Connect Public Allies Rachel Griner Solar Tint St. Francis Seraph Sarah Center Success by Six The Greater Cincinnati Foundation The Health Collaborative Turner Winget Family Fund of The Greater Cincinnati Foundation United Way of Greater Cincinnati University of Cincinnati Center for Community Engagement University of Cincinnati DAAP University of Cincinnati School of Social Work Vera Soper W. K. Kellogg Foundation We Have Become Vikings WE School / iFeel ZooMates
WHAT KIND OF WORLD ARE YOU DESIGNING? 205 W 4th STREET, SUITE 1150 | CINCINNATI, OH 45202 For more information, email bizg@d-impact.org
Please consider giving a gift to DI this year to help us advance design and innovation in spaces that otherwise cannot afford it.
DONATE HERE