How might we Encourage City Neighbors Hamilton’s Parents to be Active Participants in Creating an Equitable, Diverse and Sustainable Community?
How does a school re-imagine and find its culture again after the pandemic? This was the question City Neighbors Hamilton (CNH), a charter school in Baltimore was asking in 2021. As the world was reopening, schools across Baltimore and the nation were wondering where they stand while transitioning from virtual/remote learning to in-person/classroom learning. CNH wanted to focus on equity and school culture from the perspective of teachers, parents, students, and the Board of Directors.
CNH partnered with MICA’s Center for Social Design on a human centered design project to understand how the school’s culture, community and values were developing, post-pandemic.
Our design team was tasked with parent’s/caregiver’s/guardian’s insights and perspectives and their interactions with the school and teachers. We visited the school, toured classrooms, interviewed teachers, staff, administrators, students, and parents to gain a deep sense of the school’s culture.
Positive Goals
We want CNH parents to understand and share the CNH Values
We want CNH parents to be active participants in creating a powerful, positive and long-lasting community culture
We want CNH parents to uphold CNH values beyond the classroom
Through survey’s, interviews and and brainstorming, the design team was able to focus the school’s culture, community and values into three Concepts which presented areas of opportunity, interactions and interventions to support parents.
Finalized Concepts:
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Using color, way-finding, signage and re-structuring flow of people to create opportunities for momentary interactions.
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Breaking down CNH values and principles throughout the year. Each month features one value with events for the community.
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Providing space (physical or virtual) for parents to communicate with each other.
Final Prototypes:
The first prototype focused on areas outdoor interactions between parents and teachers on the grounds to allow better interactions for a thriving school culture. From the brainstorming sessions, parents marked on a map where they interact with other parents and teachers during student drop off and pick-up.
The second prototype created opportunities for parent interactions (i.e. spirit nights, meetings, monthly values calendar, etc…) to support the school’s culture in the local community. Both prototypes were presented to the school’s Principal and Assistant Principal.
Design Team: Dhvani Shah, Ellie Bazurto
Advisors: Thomas Gardner, Picket Slater-Harrington
