Beyond 12 Action Board

Project Description

Beyond 12's technology platform and coaches provide low-income, first-generation, and historically under-represented students with the support they need to succeed in higher education and in life. When moving into the community college space, Beyond 12 and IDEO approached us to consider their upcoming products, and answer the question: how might Beyond 12 use its digital coaching platform to mobilize community college students to redesign their institutions so they are more accessible, affordable, inclusive, and relevant?

Problem

About two-thirds of students at California’s community colleges and private for-profit two-year schools are from the lowest-income families (PPIC). Mobilizing community college students who are low-income present unique challenges. My team narrowed down the scope of the brief by asking: how might we create an efficient system to prioritize and address low income students' organized efforts for change?

Insights

Community college students have less time than other students to create change on their campuses, however they also have a lot of good ideas for improvements. The current system for creating change is bureaucratic and confusing. Students need a proposal system that can connect students to the right people to make something happen. In order to create effective and meaningful change, students, student leaders, as well as administrators need to collaborate, instead of working in silos.

Solutions

We created the concept of a web and mobile based forum that can connect students with administrators at their community colleges, facilitate support among peers, allow transparency of the bureaucratic process, and reduce the onboarding time for student leaders hoping to create change.