My Brother’s Keeper
An action plan and workshop amplifying the voices of young men of color
Partners:
Thrive Chicago
Obama Foundation
My Brother’s Keeper Alliance
Faculty Lead:
Chris Rudd
Class:
Co-Design Workshop
Students:
Justin Bartkus
Tommie Collins
Robert Grossman
Shuyi Liu
Yuting Mao
Pinakee Naik
Brian Siegfried
Xiaoqiao Tang
Andreya Veintimilla
Justin Walker
#challengesandhopes
#systemsdesign
#designanthropology
#servicedesign
#delight
#woke
“When designers discuss communities historically affected by racism, bias, and discrimination, we often use these words: impoverished, destitute, underprivileged, underrepresented, forgotten, and at-risk. This narrowing of our vocabulary results from our having focused on the stereotypical issues regarding young men of color that routinely appear in newspaper headlines or the evening news. This skews our understanding of these communities, as we accept a narrative of inevitable brokenness and tragedy. ”
In February 2014, President Barack Obama launched My Brother’s Keeper (MBK), a national effort dedicated to creating opportunities for all boys and young men of color. In the present day, situated within the Obama Foundation, the MBK Alliance focuses on building safe and supportive communities for boys and young men of color where they feel valued and have clear pathways to opportunity. In May 2019, Thrive Chicago, a nonprofit, brought together private and public groups to address issues such as mentoring, social and emotional learning, education, and employment in innovative ways.
Thrive Chicago later approached Christopher Rudd, faculty member at the Institute of Design and founder of ChiByDesign, to create the second iteration of an action plan using a participatory design approach. The crux of the project involved the class’ recruitment of high school-aged young men from Chicago to join our teams, get a crash course in design, and guide the work with their voices, talents, and points of view. Our efforts converged on a final report that contextualized and articulated ten action principles for change.
At the conclusion of the semester, the class staged a workshop to assist representatives from organizations around Chicago to generate pathways towards integration of the defined action principles. The workshop was designed for each organization to determine which principles to explore, how to explore them, and to assess how their capabilities align with the actions they’ve chosen.
You can view the whole report here.