City Neighbors Hamilton: Culture & Values
Engaging key stakeholders of a school to explore the post-pandemic shift in its culture.
A human-centered design immersive where we were tasked with understanding how the culture and values of City Neighbors High School in Baltimore, MD were evolving after the Covid-19 pandemic, from the point of view of key stakeholders like the staff, teachers, parents, students, and the board.
Design Challenge
The 2020 Pandemic created a change in the culture and values of City Neighbors Hamilton due to the lack of in-person contact between its key stakeholders. We were divided into smaller teams in order to understand the perspective of the students, teachers, board and the parents respectively. I was a part of the team that was responsible for understanding how parents perceived CNH’s existing values.
Positive Goals
We want CNH parents to understand and share the CNH values
We want CNH parents to be active participants in creating a powerful, positive, long-lasting community culture
We want parents to uphold CNH values beyond the classroom
Research Overview
The challenge was to find parents who had the time to talk to us within a span of a week. We conducted a few brief interviews with teachers and board members in order to understand their point of view of the parents while they were dropping off their kids to school and we shared a survey which was circulated to parents and teachers through the weekly school newsletter.
Part of the survey that was circulated
Synthesis
We synthesised the data collected from the surveys and extrapolated some key quotes from parents. We learned that parents valued CNH for their diverse culture, their inclusive community-focused attitude, and their child-centered values but since covid they felt disconnected from the school and needed a change. We came up with a few themes and ‘how might we’ statements to help us brainstorm after which we segregated the concepts in three main buckets - physical space, events and activities, and communication and training.
Synthesis, pertinent quotes, themes and brainstorming concepts
Insights
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Open to other cultures
Paying attention to racial & gender equity -
Parents’ involvement has changed from in-person to digital
Parents want interaction with the community -
Parents want to be included in conversations & decision-making
The Ideas
“Values” calendar: Breaking down CNH values and principles throughout the year.
Each month features one value with events for the community.Moments of Interaction: Using color, way-finding, signage and re-structuring the inflow of people to create opportunities for momentary interactions amongst parents.
Listening Sessions: Providing space (physical or virtual) for parents to communicate with the school and get their voice heard.
The Outcome
Our immersive ended before the execution phase but all the teams shared the data, synthesis, insights, and ideas with the board members, principal, and the teachers of the school. They were appreciative of the the work we did and excited to execute the ideas based on what the school could do.
