CAPI Design for Good Project

The AIGA Minnesota Design for Good initiative has partnered with the Humphrey Graduate School of Public Affairs to connect policy students to design professionals, with the goal of promoting a deeper and more innovative approach to problem solving for the public good. A team of consultants will be working with CAPI to leverage one of their programs—the food shelf—to have a broader impact on the lives of the clients who use this resource.

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Applying Design Thinking to the Social Sector

Our collaboration with CAPI USA is now an e-Study available on the Hubert Project. Learn more about our processes, methods, and tools.

Go to the Applying Design Thinking to the Social Sector e-Study here.

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Looking back on our value and process

The month of September was incredibly busy, as we all returned to school (as students, researchers, and teachers) and began to wrap up our final recommendations and report to deliver to the CAPI staff.

Now that our final report has been delivered, recommendations have been shared, and we’re looking forward to promoting our work through various presentations around the cities, we’ve had some time to pause and reflect on our process, our value, and how Design for Good might continue into the future.

As a team, we’ve realized that our process, although typically discussed as “creative problem solving,’ was more focused on problem finding and defining. The majority of our time was spent conducting research to gain empathy for our users and create a visualization of the big-picture space surrounding the service of a food shelf. Through this, we found areas of opportunity, and ways in which CAPI could improve its already well-functioning service. 

So what, then, was our deliverable? If we weren’t solving a problem, but rather improving a service, how would we add value to CAPI? Our two primary deliverables were stories from participants and a comprehensive list of recommendations: immediate, short-term, and long-term, that addressed specifically our three user-based goals. The first-person narratives collected from a number of CAPI participants relate the existing value of the service, tell firsthand the need for culturally sensitive food, and reinforce the humanity behind the service. These will be valuable resources for CAPI as funders increasingly ask for “stories from the field,” given that they have access to endless amounts of quantitative data. The recommendations are approachable from a number of angles, and will provide jumping-off points for CAPI as they look for new funding streams and apply for upcoming grants.

As a final note, I believe that this project illuminates the need for change at a funding level. A Design for Good team should be brought into an organization to help them research a service-delivery or a broad opportunity-area, with the understanding that their deliverables will be more guiding and shaping than physical and complete. In order to support and sustain this effort, grants and other funding mechanisms that are specifically related to research-based problem-finding initiatives need to be in place. I believe that if funders are aware of the value added by this pause in the process, they will embrace this change. After all, funders want to make better use of their resources, and ensure that the projects being proposed are worth their time and money, and are not having their meaning or importance stretched in order to fulfill the requirements of a particular RFP or grant application. On the other side, organizations want to do work that really matters. But, it takes time, space, and dedicated process to determine what should be done and why.

And that’s where there’s room to Design for Good.

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Empathy.

It is almost bittersweet to be at the 'end' of a project that has been really meaningful for us (the team), and hopefully for our client organization CAPI, everyone that has been on this journey with us (Design For Good, CAPI funders, other emergency food provider organizations, people we've met along the way),... and most importantly, for the participants of CAPI's food shelf. 

Yesterday, we gave the first of (many) 'final' presentations we will be doing. It was to the CAPI management/staff and Design for Good. We worked really hard at our presentation (Sieng didn't sleep, Ange and I barely slept), and we are rather proud of it!

We were glad the response was heartwarming, and we received really good feedback from everyone present. It was very interesting for me, personally, to recap the entire project in our presentation, and to walk through the process again. At the heart of 'design thinking', lies the concept of empathy, and it astounded me how much that mattered in the success we had seen in our research process. As a non-Hmong speaking person, I was initially fearful of my inability to understand much of what was going on, but in the end it did not really matter - I was still able to build relationships with the Hmong participants by being open to their kindness, their sense of humor, their candidness and their strength of character. These are people who had seen more than I ever would in my life, and experienced things no one would dream of putting another though. They invited us to share in their stories and their lives. As I looked back at the photos taken from the events, or listened to the recordings, it was humbling to know that they were sharing personal stories with us as these listening sessions took place.

Meanwhile, we are finishing up our final recommendations. Another few days (or sleepless nights) and we'll have something that will, hopefully, improve the lives of CAPI participants.

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union CAPI USA Food Shelf, 3702 E Lake St, Minneapolis, MN 55406

Taken 9/12/2013

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There is no power greater than a community discovering what it cares about. Ask: “What’s possible?” not “What’s wrong?” Keep asking. Notice what you care about. Assume that many others share your dreams. Be brave enough to start a conversation that matters. Talk to people you know. Talk to people you don’t know. Talk to people you never talk to. Be intrigued by the differences you hear. Expect to be surprised. Treasure curiosity more than certainty. Invite in everybody who cares to work on what’s possible. Acknowledge that everyone is an expert about something. Know that creative solutions come from new connections. Remember, you don’t fear people whose story you know. Real listening always brings people closer together. Trust that meaningful conversations can change your world. Rely on human goodness. Stay together.

Margaret J. Wheatley, 'Turning to One Another'

Today, I was at school for a volunteers' briefing (I will be at the Humphrey School Orientation next Monday), when the associate dean Laura Bloomberg shared this beautiful poem with us. I think this gets at the heart of what we do here with our Design for Good team -- listening, listening to what matters, respecting that our participants have so much to offer, and to listen (yes, again) to their stories.

Have a wonderful weekend, followers of the blog. 

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Dream CAPI Food-Shelf Experience

If Design for Good could have a wish, along with many other wishes, it would be to have a convenient location for the food shelf and improved facilities. Although the current one can be improved upon we wanted to explore the possibilities of a space solely dedicated to CAPI participants.  In order to truly visualize this concept we created a quick model within Google SketchUp to reflect our ideas.

To better understand what the space had to be we created a story about Sheng Lee, a mother of five who anxiously awaits going to the food shelf every first of the month. We told of her journey as she entered the building and walked into a furnished room with the smell of tea and pastries, while she waits. Soon after she is greeted by the smiling face of Pa Houa who does intake checking to see if anything has changed within her family. After intake a very energetic young man named Pao who is a volunteer greets Sheng. Pao was recruited from the local High School and he personally helps the participant with collecting food. As Sheng ventures fourth into the food-shelf she meets Toua, the food-shelf coordinator. Toua works hard facilitating and moving the traffic along as the participant’s wheel their shopping carts choosing what they want. Once she has gathered all the food that she wants, she weighs the food and exits the shelf. Happy with what she has gotten she leaves CAPI and goes home until next time.

This was just a short synopsis of a much more detailed story. This was presented in front of our listening sessions. It was well received by the participants as they looked on and gave valuable ideas about what was needed to improve the food shelf. For example they liked the idea of a simple white board where they can just write down food that they would like to see. Although they may never get to see the food of their dreams, it gives them a voice and empowers the participants. This was a very gratifying project that allowed participants to see a dream location that they already have within their minds.

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On food access and coming together, stronger.

(Photo courtesy of Food Access Summit on Facebook.)

I was privileged to attend the Food Access Summit last week. It was very inspiring to meet, hear, and talk to others who are passionate about food access and food security issues, and are committed to doing something about it. From what I heard, this year’s summit was twice as big as the previous year’s, with almost 500 attendees turning up. I think that's testament to how important this issue has become!

Throughout the summit, we had the opportunity to hear from the leaders in the movement, including Ricardo Salvador, Mark Winne, Pakou Hang, Nevada Littlewolf, Lt Gov. Yvonne Prettner Solon, Secretary of State Mark Ritchie, and many others. 

The key takeaway points are:-

1. Food access and food security issues are systemic challenges faced by our society. The underlying causes are often economic (poverty), and our current system is broken. Participants of food-related social services are caught in a vicious cycle. Our current solutions/services are temporal, and cannot solve these issues for the long run.  2. Collaboration among organizations/individuals is key to strengthening our political and social impact power.  3. Advocacy and lobbying are essential in creating systems-wide changes.  4. You (organizations that are serving participants on a regular basis) have stories to tell. Legislators need (and want) to know how they impact on real lives, not numbers. Our stories can be powerful.

For the next year, attendees have called for the organizers to focus on developing the political and collaborative power of the organizations/individuals working on food access issues. Personally, I cannot wait to see what everyone does with the excitement and momentum from being a part of this summit. 

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Nancy Yang

Meet Nancy. She is the star persona used for story telling in our participant listening sessions.

Envisioned by Sook jin, illustrated by Sieng.

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Prototyping through Stories

Today we had our second 'community listening' event. This time we had participants turn up to listen to 'ideal vision stories' of what CAPI might be like in the far future. These stories serve as prompts to conversation. We had two 'stories' that we ran by the groups (they were divided into two sessions), and both sessions ran for about 45 minutes. 

Ange and I couldn't wait to be debriefed by Sieng and Palee on the content of the conversation, but from the bits we got, we knew that the participants were passionate about how these changes could better help them understand the food items they receive, how they could learn to make use of them, and ways they could get involved. We had participants who offered to show us the unseen side of their life - what happens to the food once it goes home?

We are always humbled by the things we learn from our participants, and today, we feel that again.

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On a more personal note, an earlier conversation was had with one of the participants (an animated and wonderful Hmong woman), myself, Palee and Rhea. It was an interesting conversation about the younger Hmong generation and their lack of interest in learning the Hmong language. The participant also told us of Jasmine Tierra, a young African American singer who sings Hmong songs. With this, she hoped to see a revival of the appreciation of Hmong culture among the younger generation of Hmong Americans. The participant and her husband then proceeded to show me a English to Hmong translation app on their Android device and encouraged me to pick up Hmong -- in which I thought was really sweet of them. I had been mistaken as Hmong in our many interactions with the Hmong participants at the food shelf and during our previous community listening event, so I might need to learn more than my two-liner "Hello, I am Sook Jin, and I don't speak Hmong". (As per Ange's post earlier, it's now a running joke in our team that I may have Sieng beat at being more Hmong than he is.)

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Sook Jin is going to be Hmong in no time. It’s not fair. It took me 25 years to become Hmong and she’s going to do it in one summer.

Sieng

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Community Garden day

  CAPI along with Gardening Matters was able to work with a local motorcycle shop donating their vacant lot to some of CAPI’s food-shelf participants for gardening. On this small piece of land 18 families take care of it, working on their own individual 4ft x 4ft plot. It maybe small, but the feeling of independence from growing strengthens the souls of those who tend it. It was a great time seeing these strong independent women in the Hmong community working on this garden. Not only are they utilizing unused space that would of been left barren or forgotten, these women have brought vitality to a space that is deemed unworthy of growth and contribution. Through the hard work of these women they are able to build self-confidence and also provide what little yield the land has to offer for their families. More than 60 families are on a waiting list for gardening. All they want is more land to be self-sufficient and show off their gardening abilities that were passed down to them.

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Our team have a wonderful week planned. We will have our second community listening event this Friday, where we will focus on prototyping some ideas we brainstormed for implementation. 

Also, I (Sook Jin) am headed to Duluth for the Food Access Summit from August 13, 2013 to August 15, 2013, all thanks to the scholarship the organizers have kindly provided. You can learn more about the summit here. I will also be live-tweeting so you can follow me via Twitter @thismadrush

Come say hello if you're at the summit, too!

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The Travelers Art Exhibit Featuring Hmong American artists Exhibition opens July 26, 2013

2242 University Ave W, Suite #150 St Paul, MN

Sieng is a participating artist in this exhibition. We're plugging this here not because we're biased (Ange and I certainly thought his exhibition piece was an evocative, meaningful one), but we'd recommend this for what the exhibition showcases - the Hmong identity and its place in the arts.

To quote (from the gallery's website): 

The Travelers is a good description for Hmong people. Gypsy-like, the Hmong have traveled from perhaps the northern Siberia region, to China, to Southeast Asia, and then to the West and landed in various countries like America, Europe and even Australia. They are Travelers. Even those Hmong American folks who've never traveled beyond the U.S. borders, go about their lives in a way that is directly a result of that bi-cultural evolution.

Yes. Bi-Cultural Evolution.

Now this is an Art Exhibit, and though some social commentary may be introduced, the focus is on the personal vision of these group of artists as they express themselves through 2D and 3D visual arts. The hope is that this will be an interactive experience. That just as the audience learns about each artist's perspective, their own knowledge and perspective come back to the artists and add to the entire experience. This trading of information has always been an adaptability trait of the Hmong, and our hope is for you to see that trade and melding in their Art.

As Artists, as Travelers, these Hmong-American Artists will find, indicate, explore, pot the sometimes seamless, sometimes rough melding of 2 cultures cultures and worlds into their endlessly evolving self. While at the same time remaining true to their core identity. Because like it or not, the most common issue an Artist has is what is their SELF? And when you add in the bi-cultural evolution, then the question becomes more of "What part of the 'self'" is Hmong, or American, or both, or none...and where does the Artist fit into all of this?

Artists from any part of the world would tell you, a part of their job is to show a varied, true representation of their times. With The Travelers Art Exhibit, Chaos Art Gallery will have these talented artists give the world a slice of not just where Hmong American Art is now, but where Hmong Americans life is now.

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Dear readers: follow our "Community Listening" tag!

As per Ange's previous post here, we had our first participant-led "community listening" event on 7/26/2013. It was a success, and the food shelf participants that came along were happy to share their stories - some bittersweet, some funny, mostly personal. As the design team posts their thoughts, observations, and memories of the event here, you may want to find it all in one convenient spot:- the Community Listening tag. It is accessible on the navigation panel on the side, listed under Read Entries on Community Listening Events. 

The event was a significant one for us and we will endeavor to share more of our memories of it here. For myself, the most poignant moment were the quotes I heard, and I felt privileged to never be hungry in my life. I thought of my parents, their hard work and dedication in keeping my family well fed, and how my siblings and I were able to focus on studying and doing well in school, instead of being sidetracked by the pang of hunger in our stomachs, worrying about when the next meal would come.

From the photos I managed to shoot throughout the process, the one above was my favorite. It was a candid shot. The lady above volunteered to be the first in line to show off her new reusable bag and the food items she chose. Her joyous smile despite the difficulties she faced was humbling and rewarding, and every time I think back to our Friday event, it is this very image that comes up to mind.

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...this pack of instant noodles will be diluted with enough water to feed my family of seven, so all of them will get a little taste of it.

A focus group participant, commenting on how she will make use of the single-serve pack of instant noodles she chose to take home with her. Comment made at the first community listening event held on 7/26/2013, paraphrased from a story translated by Sieng/Palee.

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Language-less listening: a new type of "focus-group"

Friday was a big day—our first participant-focused event led by our Design for Good team. At this point in our process, we have a clear understanding of what's happening *at* the food shelf, but we realize there is still a lot we don't really know about our participants—and their lives before and after receiving this service. So, what better way to find out than to ask them…and really listen.

A sensitive plan When planning this sharing and listening session, we knew that we wanted to wanted to create an environment that was unique, comfortable, and casual (despite there being a professional videographer and three non-Hmong unfamiliar faces in the crowd). To do this, we converted a conference room into a "Hmong party room", complete with snacks and Hmong music. We also wanted to have a connection to food, but without being overly focused on making a list of "wanted" and "unwanted" items to have the food shelf. In addition, we were aware of the fact that our participants are very thankful for the service they receive, and unlike other audience groups who may feel free to be critical or offer suggestions, they would be hesitant to share negative feedback. Realizing this, we created an opportunity to simply get to know participants (and their relationship to and with food) a little bit better, without looking for specific answers to our questions or explicit feedback on our ideas.

A new way of sharing Upon their arrival at CAPI, participants were instructed to select a few food items from the table (highlights included fresh fish, veggies, and Asian-specific ingredients such as tofu and fish sauce). Once their selections were made (which happened *very* quickly), Sieng informed them of our plans: they were to use these food products as inspiration or a catalyst for sharing their memories or other personal stories about food. We decided to have Sieng and Pa Lee (CAPI staff) casually lead the session, encouraging interruption and spontaneous dialogue; no translation would be taking place. With no translation interrupting the flow, stories were shared continuously, with laughter and nods of agreement scattered throughout. Sook Jin and I were free to fully and wholly observe the interactions, body language, and other emotional responses to the stories being shared. Overall, I noted that only a couple people used the food as props or referred directly to the food when telling their stories. I assumed that many people were just sharing stories about food (or their Hmong stories in general), which was exactly our intention. I also heard a lot of laughter and much agreement—indicating that there was a good amount of universality to the stories being shared. One very long story in particular elicited much laughter, but also had long periods where people seemed disengaged or as though they weren't listening.  What we learned (in brief) Following the event, a brief recap with our team and CAPI staff confirmed these observations, and provided further explanation for the responses. What seemed like disengagement was actually a somber tone, as the story being shared was incredibly sad, relating events from being a child during the war in Laos. Sieng and Pa Lee also reinforced the general enjoyment experienced by participants during this unique engagement opportunity. As a group, we identified some overarching themes:

our participants are very thankful and appreciative of the service

the service is greatly needed 

their Hmong identity is very meaningful and important

Of course, we'll be diving deeper into the stories shared here, but that will take some time to translate and review. These immediate takeaways simply reinforce that as we continue to work towards "improving the lives of the food shelf participants," we must keep in mind the Hmong identity and ways that it can be strengthened, both within the FS service itself and within CAPI services as a whole. 

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"Feet up in the air, cans and bottles down on the ground" CAPI USA Food Shelf, 3702 E Lake St, Minneapolis, MN 55406

Taken 7/26/2013