In partnership with Opportunity at Work (O@W), a not-for-profit social enterprise focusing on solutions to solve the opportunity gap, 3x3 partnered with O@W's innovation team and STARs – workers Skilled Through Alternative Routes – to envision what a STARs led Digital Community could be. We applied a community-centered design approach to create a 2 week fellowship with the goal of STARs designing and developing a meaningful new digital community to act as a home for current and future STARs.

PROJECT

OVERVIEW

During the fellowship, STARs fellows developed their community MVP and proposed several prototypes to continue to build off of and design the piloting phase of the digital community.

The STARs-led digital community will be a community hub for STARs to make meaningful connections, support other STARs, and help drive the movement forward.

*Learn more about the campaign here

OUTCOMES

photo credit

https://www.tearthepaperceiling.org/

A Digital

Community led

by Community

CLIENT

Opportunity at Work

ROLE

PROJECT MANAGER, DESIGN RESEARCH, STRATEGIST, FACILITATOR

PROJECT DURATION

June 2022 - October 2022

TEAM

3x3 innovation agency , TEAM OF 3

CO-CREATING A COMMUNITY CENTERED FELLOWSHIP

PHASE 1

CONTEXT

WHO ARE STARs?

STARs are talented individuals who do not have a 4-year college degree but are Skilled Through Alternative Routes such as job or lived experience, associates degrees or certification or military service.

Degree screens, biased algorithms, stereotypes, and exclusive professional networking have blocked career opportunities for STARs which comprise of a 70+ million strong pool of talent.

66% of rural workers are STARs

55% of Hispanic workers are STARs

62% of African American workers are STARs

50 % of all US workforce are STARs

WHO ARE STARs?

STARs represent our country’s diversity. They reflect our country’s racial, ethnic, and cultural diversity. They are represented in all regions, races, ethnicities, genders and generations across the U.S.

CO-DESIGING A FELLOWSHIP

PHASE 2

APPROACH

MULTILINGUAL OUTREACH PROCESS

As we began the outreach process, our research ambassadors were paired with our partnering CBOs to target specific language groups and neighborhoods. Our research ambassadors were not only bilingual and translators but also native language speakers, some of whom themselves were members of the community in the neighborhoods where they conducted the research. This level of cultural context was necessary to be able to delve deeper into language nuances and learnings.

Qualitative Research was conducted in English,Chinese, Spanish, Haitian Creole, Bengali & Arabic. American Sign Language (if requested). Survey was also distributed in Russian.
All posters, surveys and collateral for print and social media were designed in these 6 languages and included QR code access. To include folks who don’t have internet access or limited digital literacy we distributed printed surveys and posters when canvassing in diverse ethnic neighborhoods.

OUTREACH STRATEGY

Our primary recruitment strategy was to partner with Community Based Organizations (CBOs) who work directly with NYC’s immigrant population. We reached out to 40+ CBOs. Our final selection was primarily based on the target neighborhoods and language groups identified in our sampling plan. Our qualitative research focused more on difficult-to-reach populations groups with limited English proficiency and internet bandwidth.

The CBOs we partnered with were pivotal in the promotion of our survey through the use of their newsletters and social media channels. They also aided in identifying relevant ways the community would be likely to engage such as community events where we canvassed and tabled in order to speak directly to community members to address questions about the research.