Master’s Thesis Project
In partnership with Stephanie Meier, MDes IxD 2011
Women with young children are a growing population experiencing homelessness. Transitional homes, like HSH,1 provide shelter and educational programming aimed at fostering the development of skills necessary to attain and maintain basic needs. The benefit of safe shelter provides those experiencing homelessness an opportunity to focus on emotional, social and academic development.2
Our partnership with HSH started by asking how designers might develop supports for women as they transition to self-sufficiency. We now interpret this union as a case study examining the intersection of design and public service. Our goal is to understand and implement design solutions that support the service delivery of HSH.
Engaging clients and staff in a variety of activities, the study started by trying to understand the service and client journey at a high level, with the intent to support the client as she transitioned out of HSH. The research process clarified that the primary opportunity lie in supporting the transformation currently underway within the house to strengthen the service offering of HSH.
HSH is comprised of dedicated and caring staff that currently face challenges to deliver the service they intend. Lack of protocols
and artifacts, unclear expectations, and no defined roles lead to staff’s confusion and uncertainty about how to invest themselves in their daily work. Responsibilities are unevenly distributed. This leads to a service inconsistently delivered to clients, strained relationships between staff members and between staff and clients.
Staff members participated in a collage activity to identify the skills women need to be self-sufficient. They collectively derived these six Core Competencies that women should have when exiting HSH: community, parenting, health, self-esteem, relationships, ability to provide for self and family
Our research lead us to synthesize our findings into four Areas for Consideration:
Culture: shared vision and investment in job
Knowledge transfer: consistent and productive staff to client engagement
Adaptability: tools to cope with fluctuating interpersonal dynamics
Procedures: establishment of protocols and consistent documentation
For the duration of our partnership, we will look at the Areas of Consideration and how they facilitate the achievement of the Core Competencies. We hope that in creating a balance within these Areas, HSH’s living system will be well equipped to dynamically respond to each client’s unique journey.
PARTNER
Stephanie Meier, MDes IxD 2011
Duration: first semester, to continue
VIEW
"Design's Affective Lens" Imprint, Print Magazine
CONTRIBUTION
to come
Carnegie Mellon University
Master Thesis project
Kristin Hughes, Adviser, Associate Professor
School of Design
DOWNLOAD
Poster (1.2MB)
1 To maintain the privacy of our partner organization it will be referred to as HSH.
2 United States Interagency Council on Homelessnes. “Opening Doors: Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 2010.”
