UX Research
Service Design
Community Project
AIGA Changemaker Series
Design thinking for nonprofits fighting homelessness.
Industry
Nonprofit
Year
2018
Timeline
5 months
The Research Question How might we provide volunteer services to client families while respecting their confidentiality? Context The AIGA Austin Changemaker Series pairs creative professionals with nonprofits. The 2018 cause: homelessness, with Foundation for the Homeless, which provides safe shelter for homeless families and guides them toward affordable housing. Case managers map goals, action plans, and housing stability assessments, but limited resources and poor communication were driving high recidivism. The transition to self-sufficiency is emotionally taxing, and the system was straining the people running it.
Solution
My Role UX Designer and Researcher on AIGA 'Team Star,' working directly with nonprofit staff. Kickoff data gathering: interviews, secondary research, design-thinking exercises with the Foundation's team. Process Outcomes, assumptions, hypotheses; collaborative design; built a Foundation for the Homeless persona, mapped the customer journey as a storytelling workflow, and ran a prioritization grid to evaluate ideas. Ideation was deliberately trimmed into smaller execution groups until one concept stood out. Key Insight Client family needs are demanding and diverse, and stress plus resource limits were pushing case managers toward unsustainable approaches. The answer wasn't more case-manager hours. It was leverage: a way to extend support without extending the staff.
Outcome
What Was Proposed A Virtual Mentorship Program (storyboarded), extending guidance to families beyond what case managers could cover alone; plus a volunteer brief template for the Foundation and practical outreach and scheduling recommendations using free tools. What the Foundation's program manager said: 'As more volunteers join the organization, they tend to become donors. Donors share in the work and mission of the organization, making their volunteer experiences more meaningful.' — Andrew Willard, Program Manager. Learnings Successful volunteer programs need a dedicated full-time manager — structure beats enthusiasm; case managers need a clear vision of success, and volunteers and families need clear expectations of each other; research with vulnerable populations demands extra care with confidentiality, a discipline that transfers directly to healthcare research.
