MS Delta Youth Empowerment
Affordable Design and Entrepreneurship - 2014/2015
Self Empowerment in the Delta
THE PROBLEM
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The legacy of anti-black racism in the town of Clarksdale, MS perpetuates cycles of poverty and low self-efficacy
THE SOLUTION
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My team and I built real connections with teens, young adults, and community leaders in the town to better understand the landscape and pain points (both internal and external)
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We collaboratively brainstormed ways in which the design team could leverage our resources to drive lasting improvements as determined by members of the community
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We pitched ideas for a social venture that would be kickstarted by the design team, but owned and sustained by the community, that would provide opportunities for self-empowerment through education, community mentoring, employment, and organization for larger community projects
THE CLUES
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The economy relies on tourism centered around the birth of blues music, which is inextricably tied to chattel slavery and Jim Crow era oppression
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The tourism sites have primarily Black residents and is purposefully underdeveloped to maintain a historic atmosphere while the white parts of the town are allowed to grow and change
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Those who do not wish to participate in the tourism economy are forced to leave Clarksdale, taking their skills elsewhere
THE AFTERMATH
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A mobile makerspace was created to bring accessible hands-on STEAM and entrepreneurship learning opportunities to underserved students
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Young folks who we worked with have gone on to become community leaders themselves, initiating positive change through direct actions that target the roots instead of the symptoms (Example: Improving school performance by providing free beds for children)
Techniques: Ethnographic Research, Interviews, Co-design, Focus groups, Surveys and Questionaires, Personas, People Portraits, Opportunity Identification, Framework Generation
