Greater Good Studio to Launch Social Labs Project with Support from Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to Build Healthier Communities for Children | Call for Proposals Released, Letters of Intent due Marc

  CHICAGO, IL - 03/15/2017 (PRESS RELEASE JET)

Greater Good Studio (GGS), a human-centered design firm focused on social impact, announced the launch of Raising Places, a new project supported by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The project uses a labs-based approach to catalyze collaboration among diverse local leaders to build healthier communities where children and their families can thrive. GGS will facilitate a nine-month process in communities that are primed to move from ideas to action and to create long-term, sustainable change. A Call for Proposals is available at www.raisingplaces.org.

“We believe that all children deserve to grow up in places that support their health and well-being, and yet many live in communities here in the U.S. where they and their families face challenging conditions”, said Sara Cantor Aye, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Greater Good Studio. “We also know that local stakeholders have the assets and capacity to create the change they want to see in their communities. We’ll use human-centered design methods to create a lab environment where teams of local leaders go beyond business as usual, transforming their perspectives in order to transform the systems they work within.” 

Human-centered design (HCD) is a problem-solving process that is grounded in empathy and iteration. Through HCD, participants observe, listen to and build relationships with residents and other community stakeholders. Then they engage those same stakeholders in a collaborative process of brainstorming, prototyping and testing multiple rounds of solutions. In creating Raising Places, Greater Good Studio has adapted HCD to fit within a social labs structure, where diverse stakeholders become partners in creating solutions that work for everyone.

Up to six grants of $60,000 each will be awarded to a diverse cohort of communities from across the country. Interested communities must submit their Letter of Intent (LOI) by March 31. Additional information about the grant application process is available at www.raisingplaces.org.

About Greater Good Studio

Greater Good Studio uses human-centered design to improve the quality of life for all people. Our work helps mission-driven clients and communities build the capacity to solve old problems in new ways. For more information, visit www.greatergoodstudio.com.