Hawthorne Community Center Project

Abstract

Supporting neighborhood-led comprehensive community development strategy, 10 graduate students in the People Centered Design Research Methods Course (V511) will apply participatory design methods and develop a series of engagement tools that will enable people to participate in community development process by revealing their needs from multiple dimensions. The whole process of participatory design aims to develop a better understanding of community needs through design participation. This participation will results in a series of actionable insights for the center to better meet the needs of community members.

Purpose of Research To understand the user experience of members of the Hawthorne Community Center, specifically the experiences of working families, ESL students, senior citizens, the homeless, and teens.

Working families: To understand the current interactive experience between

Parent and child: strengthening parent/child relationships and interactions

Children: empowering social and mental skills of children at different ages

Parents: supporting the individual identities of parents

ESL students: To understand on how language barriers lead to reliance and/or empowerment in the users’ lives

Senior citizens: To understand how the seniors’ reliance of the community center and how that changes as they age, and also how empowered they are and this is affected by belonging to the center

Homeless: To understand the clients of the Rapid Rehousing and Homeless Prevention program based on their intangible, emotional needs and their physical, tangible needs

Teens: Their current personal experience at school and the after- school program