We know that when communities come together, change is possible. That’s why on May 8, KIPP DC and the Deputy Mayor for Education’s office brought together 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: Emergency Alert System
- Install emergency blue lights from school to nearest metro stops/stations
#2: Bus Students to and from metro stops
- Buses will take students to and from metro stops to ensure their safety.
#3: More resource officers
- Provide schools with more resource officers to talk students to their destination after clubs.
Other Ideas:
- School lets out earlier so that students can participate in after-school activities and get home before the sun goes down
- Carpool systems
- Buddy System
