We know that when communities come together, change is possible. That’s why on Aprill 24, KIPP DC and the Deputy Mayor for Education’s office brought together more than 40 families, students, staff, and community members to identify and solve challenges related to safe passage. Using a design thinking approach, participants identified community assets and resources along with potential barriers to student safe passage in their zone. From there, participants teamed up to ideate solutions and build of the ideas of others using collaborative techniques such as “yes and”.
During this activity, participants learned the abstract concept of “Yes And” through a paired activity where groups where asked to create a new, innovative version of a typical household item (microwave). Participants then used what they learned in that activity, and applied it to the team identified recommendations. The purpose of this activity was to prepare teams to contribute to ideas without the fear of the word no, which can cause distrust and fear among group participants.
By the end of the night, the group identified the three following recommendations:
#1: Neighborhood street lights/watch committee
- Ensure that there are ample neighborhood street lights, and that they are working
- Implement neighborhood watch committee; have someone consistently driving around a neighborhood or people monitoring certain blocks
#2: App
- Create an App the school manages
- Would like it to notify users of dangerous things happening in the area
- Would track things like sex offenders nearby, if there’s a car chase happening, a robbery that recently occurred, etc.
- Would also like to allow students to mark when they arrive home, like the way people are marked “safe” when a natural disaster occurs
#3: Buddy System
- Schools pair students up with peers that live close to them, so students can meet in the morning and walk to school together, and also meet up after school and walk home
- If a student isn’t there in the morning, the others may text them to make sure they’re okay and going to school
- This could also improve attendance!
- If a student isn’t there in the morning, the others may text them to make sure they’re okay and going to school
Other Ideas:
- Shuttle bus that takes students to and from school
- Carpool system
- Ensuring that all Metro stations have cameras
- Improving bus schedule consistency
- Having Metro employees at train platforms or bus stops that students use
- Building relationships with police officers to remove negative connotation; some people would not feel comfortable calling the police if an incident occurred
