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MARCH 2–4, 2017

SOCIAL CHANGE INNOVATION SUMMIT:Informing the Work

Introduction

Human Centered Design

Discovery

Synthesis

Personas

Challenges/Ingredients

Opportunity Spaces

The Next Lives Here Summit

Appendix

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Table of Contents

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This work was supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant Number HRD-1650433. Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed are those of the researchers and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

The Next Lives Here: Social Change Innovation Summit was a three day conference that brought national and local

experts together to advance understanding of how backbone organizations can best support collective impact as it

relates to increasing representation in STEM education and careers. Additionally, the Summit sought to:

• equip participants with understandings and skills necessary to facilitate the development of a backbone

organization that can most effectively support collective impact in STEM representation;

• move from theory to practice by providing participants a deep dive into Cincinnati’s strengths, challenges, and

lessons learned through its collective impact/backbone work;

• capture shared learnings to inform development of backbones across the nation; and

• create a broader network to leverage these learnings for a bigger, more coordinated impact.

The Summit was undertaken by The University of Cincinnati’s (UC) College

of Education, Criminal Justice, and Human Services with funding from the

National Science Foundation (NSF). From March 2nd through March 4th

2017, 125 participants, including students, teachers, administrators, non-profit

leaders, business professionals, and academics, met to share knowledge and

collaborate on how to develop and sustain collective impact initiatives that

support STEM representation and driving community level outcomes.

To inform and direct the Summit, UC engaged Design Impact (DI) to conduct

ato human centered design (HCD) process to gain a deep understanding of

backbone development as it relates to STEM representation.

The following report provides an overview of the HCD process. A separate

report has been created that captures the Summit experience and outcomes.

INTRODUCTION


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Human Centered Design is a problem-solving process that employs empathy, creativity, and rationality to define, explore and solve problems. It is focused on understanding and building empathy with users, considering divergent possibilities, and learning through action. HCD follows a four step process which includes discovery, synthesis, ideation, and prototyping. In this project we focussed on the first two steps, discovery and synthesis, with ideation and initial prototyping occurring at the Summit.

HUMAN CENTERED DESIGN


READINGS AND PREVIOUS RESEARCH

Best practice research included the following articles and case studies:

• Advanced Manufacturing Case Study

• STEM Case Study

• Math Case Study

• Readings on CI and STEM

INTERVIEWS

Our interviews included:

• Shiloh Turner, CI Consultant

• Jeff Edmonson, Strive Together

• Leslie Maloney, Carol Ann & Ralph V. Haile, Jr./U.S. Bank Foundation

• Stephanie Byrd, Success by Six

• Polly Page, Northern Kentucky Education Council

• Janice Urbanik, Partners for a Competitive Workforce

• Mellisse May, Greater Cincinnati STEM Collaborative

• Gerald Soloman, STEM Ecosystems

• Focus Group, UC STEM Students, Hughes HS Students

The goal of our research was to learn about developing and sustaining a

collective impact initiative that supports STEM representation. To complete

this work we built a diverse team to conduct qualitative interviews, surface

insights, and make recommendations.

CORE TEAM AND PROCESS

The Core Team represented a variety of perspectives on STEM.

Our team included:

• Ramsey Ford, Design Impact, Design Researcher

• Tamaya Dennard, Design Impact, Design Researcher

• Kathie Maynard, University of Cincinnati, Assistant Dean

• Mary Adams, Greater Cincinnati STEM Collaborative, Program Manager

• Joe Chavez, Kenton County Schools, Teacher

• Isaac Tresenwriter, University of Cincinnati, Student

• Rachel Wright, University of Cincinnati, Student

• Alicia Boards, University of Cincinnati, Graduate Student

Our research included reading about best practice in Collective Impact and

STEM Ecosystems, but focused on conducting one-on-one interviews with key

stakeholders for Collective Impact and STEM. A total of eight interviews were

conducted along with a focus group of STEM secondary and post-secondary

students.

Discovery


Our design team met to make sense of the research and structure it for use in the Summit. This resulted in three

different outputs: Personas, Challenges/Ingredients, and Opportunities. Each of these content pieces, detailed in the

following pages, were used to drive inclusive and creative thought at the Summit.

PERSONAS

Personas are imaginary people based on the real people that are interviewed in the process. They are designed to

represent realistic challenges and opportunities that system stakeholders may face. Personas are a helpful way to push

divergent thought and keep a variety of stakeholders at the center of the creative process. At the Summit, the personas

were used in a storytelling exercise. In this exercise, small teams redesigned the STEM ecosystem to overcome specific

challenges faced by the persona. The following pages contain the five personas developed for the Summit.

CHALLENGES/INGREDIENTS

The ecosystem interviews were designed to gain insight on the key ingredients and hurdles to building system-wide

collaboration on STEM representation, and it was natural to communicate insights from these as a set of ingredients and

challenges. The following pages contain these lists. During the Summit, each ingredient and challenge was printed on its

own card and used by teams during the storytelling activity to drive a wider variety of ideas.

OPPORTUNITIES

Based on the research we identified key opportunity spaces for building a representation focussed STEM ecosystem.

When working on a large, complex problem--like STEM representation--opportunity spaces help the design team focus

on areas where they are most likely to have impact. These opportunities are each framed with a bold, “How might we…”

question. The opportunity spaces identified in this process were used to help focus and structure the Summit activities,

but were not directly presented to participants.

Synthesis


PERSONAS


Pat Carson has worked for a

Fortune 500 company for 18 years.

She entered the company as a

mechanical engineer and worked

her way up to a senior level human

resources executive. In her role

in HR, she saw few women and

African Americans entering the

company in STEM-based careers. Her

curiosity in this led her to become a

volunteer math and science tutor at

a predominantly African American

school near Downtown Cincinnati.

Once she became an on-site math

tutor, Pat noticed that many students

weren’t on grade-level in math. This situation presents a huge challenge for

children because of the cumulative nature of math: once you get behind, it’s

very difficult to catch up. She also came to believe that many of the math

learning challenges that students faced had to do with their home lives and

growing up in poverty. One of the fifth graders she tutored complained of not

getting much sleep due to going to bed hungry.

These experiences made Pat reflect on her own kids and the privilege they

had growing up. She wants to see kids in less affluent school districts be

afforded the same opportunities. She also knows that not only are math and

science fun but careers in these fields result in higher incomes. Pat believes

PAT CARSON

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

• How can we activate more volunteers like Pat?

• How can we create more opportunities for early exposure to STEM

professionals for underrepresented students?

• How can we ensure that students don’t fall behind in their math education?

PERSONA 1

that a STEM-based career could quite possibly change one family’s outlook

and income trajectory.

While Pat enjoyed being a volunteer tutor, her responsibilities as a corporate

executive and to her family didn’t give her the time she needed to make the

impact she desired. She decided to take an early retirement package from her

job and went to work full-time on her newly developed passion for helping

students in underserved communities excel in math and science courses.

Michael Bryant is currently a 7th

grade science teacher in the Boone

County School District. He loves kids

and looks for different opportunities

to enrich their lives. He even coaches

basketball for the girl’s middle school

team. He loves teaching science and

sees it as a way to really invigorate

education. He believes that science

is the subject that really makes

education come alive.

Michael recently graduated from

college and is excited about his

career path in education. Many of

his classmates pursued careers in

engineering and enjoy much higher salaries but Michael knows he is following

the right path.

Michael is a first year teacher and one of his very first endeavors in his middle

school was a school-wide science fair. He remembered how important hands-

on opportunities were for him when he was in school and he wanted to make

sure those opportunities were afforded to his students. The science fair was

a rousing success and all of the interest from the students and parents gave

Michael the fuel he needed to create an after-school science club.

He loves teaching but gets frustrated with many of the testing requirements


MICHAEL BRYANT


• How can we support more hands-on STEM opportunities

for students?

• How can we help foster the enthusiasm of young teachers and make sure

they have a voice in what happens in their classrooms?

• How can we attract and retain more STEM enthusiasts to the teaching

profession?

PERSONA 2

placed on students because he feels they get in the way of real education.

He finds the state’s legislature to be out of touch with what needs to happen

in the classroom to ensure students get the most engaging education

experience.

Eventually, Michael would love to pursue opportunities as a school

administrator. He even thinks about running for school board or possibly even

a state legislator to try to fix some of the challenges that he experiences.

Michael thinks teachers should have more of a voice in what happens in

their classrooms. He wants to make sure there are people in high places who

maintain the voice of learning enthusiasts.

Keyon Simpson and his younger

brother are raised primarily by a

single mom with the assistance of

his grandmother and Uncle Johnny.

Uncle Johnny is a father figure to

Keyon. He plays basketball with him;

helps him with his homework while

his mother worked second shift at

a local food processing plant; and

gives him humorous, yet honest

advice about the world. He taught

Keyon how to be a man in the

absence of his father who passed

away when Keyon was young.

When Uncle Johnny was involved

in a serious accident at work, he lost one of his legs. Keyon was afraid that

his uncle would never be the same. He watched him go through months

and months of surgeries and through physical therapy. Keyon, his mother

and his grandmother took turns looking after his uncle. After Uncle Johnny

progressed enough in his physical therapy, his doctors presented him with

the option of having a prosthetic leg to assist him with his mobility. The

prosthetic leg made a world of difference not only with his mobility but in his

confidence. Keyon saw Uncle Johnny come alive again and began to imagine

people, besides his uncle, having the same experiences. Keyon decided that

he wanted to help people feel the way his uncle felt.


KEYON SIMPSON


• What could Keyon’s school do to expose more students to STEM career

paths that are less traditional?

• What could Keyon and his family do to explore whether or not Purdue

University would be the best fit for him? What role could his school play in

that process?

• What can be done to anticipate the life and/or academic skills Keyon will

need for Purdue?

• If Keyon isn’t successful in getting into Purdue right away, how can a two-

year or local college prepare him to go eventually?

PERSONA 3

Keyon knew that he didn’t want to be a doctor or a physical therapist. He

conducted some research and found that a biomedical engineer helped to

construct the prosthesis that helped his uncle. He always heard about careers

as doctors and nurses but his own research revealed the occupation of

biomedical engineer for the first time ever!

Keyon, currently a sophomore at Withrow High School, has always excelled in

math and science. His school occasionally hosts a career day but it’s always

full of the same jobs. He’s never actually met a biomedical engineer and thinks

you have to be a genius to even take the required classes for that field. On

the outside, Keyon tells people he wants to go to Purdue University but deep

down inside, he’s not sure if it’s possible. He thinks that he will go to a local

community or two-year college because those colleges are more realistic for

“someone like him.”

Sara currently works as an Executive

Director for a regional foundation

that supports collective impact

backbones. She is well-liked and

connected. Her network spans the

nonprofit and business communities

and is fully bought-in on how

collective impact and changes lives.

Sara has noticed that many

organizations involved in collective

impact organizations have trouble

attracting lower income communities

to their services. They talk with their

clients and run their initiatives and

ideas by them before they are fully

scaled and funded. She is sure that they offer great services to equip people

with the tools they need to improve their lives. Sara doesn’t understand the

disconnect. She knows that the organizations genuinely care about people

and are making decisions in the best interest of those families.

In planning meetings, she and collective impact leaders discuss with

frustration this challenge. One of her colleagues expressed that they’ve done

all they can, and families need to take personal responsibility for not accepting

the support. Sara thinks the issue runs deeper; she’s had middle-class

colleagues of color share with her their harrowing tales of unfair treatment at

the hands of department store owners and police officers.


SARA RAHMAN


• How can we move beyond feedback to co-creation with community

members?

• How can Sara leverage her network of nonprofit organizations and the

business community to support more meaningful community engagement?

• How can a system support Sara in connecting authentically

with other community members?

PERSONA 4

In addition to serving on a number of non-profit boards, Sara is deeply

involved in the city’s multiple initiatives to reduce poverty. She led her

organization’s recent efforts to develop plans on how eradicate of poverty in

Cincinnati. Sara has a genuine desire to make Cincinnati a better place to live

for everyone and goes to work every day with a commitment to that mission.

Marcus’ son, James, is in 8th grade.

Up until this last year, James didn’t

do well in math and certainly didn’t

like it. He figured he would always

fail. Marcus openly expressed his

own disinterest in the subject and

got upset when he couldn’t help

James with his homework. James

stopped asking his dad to help to

avoid conflict.

Last Spring, Marcus enrolled in a

advanced manufacturing training

program where he was required to

do much more math than he had

imagined! But Marcus had a great

teacher and as he started to understand how the math he learned in class

applied to the operation of the machinery at a job, his interest in the subject

peaked. He surprised even himself on his abilities. Not to mention his teacher

provided him with some helpful websites that further supported his math

learning outside of the classroom.

This year, Marcus and James have started to do their math homework

together. As Marcus becomes more confident in his own Math abilities, he also

feels more comfortable helping and encouraging James. Marcus was even

able to share some of those online Math help tools with his son. By the end of

the year, James’ teacher Ms. Smith has noticed a significant difference in the


MARCUS + JAMES


• Even in the face of constant budget restraints, how can we continue to

provide teachers with all of the newest resources and technologies to best

assist the students?

• How can we prevent parents from passing on their disinterest in STEM

subjects to their children?

PERSONA 5

student’s enthusiasm and competency in math.

When she asked James about his newfound interest in the topic James merely

shrugs, “I don’t know. I guess I like doing Math with my dad. He’s really good

at it so I think it’s rubbing off on me.”


CHALLENGES/INGREDIENTS


CHALLENGESSTICK IN THE MUD

Local non-profi ts are stuck in competitive struggle

for resources.

NO MONEYWe lack sustainable funding to support full-time

staff for the initiative.

TEACHER TERROREducators don’t bring technology into class,

because they’re paralyzed by the rapid changes in

the STEM space.

STATIC NEEDLEWe’ve made the investments, but the needle hasn’t

moved; community is frustrated.

NO DATAOur initiative lacks detailed metrics on impact;

decisions are made on basis of opinion.

OUT OF TOUCHInitiative leadership lack real world experience;

they are out of touch with the classroom.

BUSINESS BLOCKThe business community doesn’t get behind the

initiative; blocking STEM investments.

CLUB CICollective Impact remains separate from STEM

due to rigid adherence to process.

KEEP DREAMINGWe fail to provide the connections and

resources needed by low-income students

to pursue STEM careers.

LACK OF DIVERSITYSTEM educators and role models remain mostly

male and white.

UNDEREXPOSUREStudents are not exposed to STEM early in their

school careers.

WHAT’S SUCCESS?There is a lack of understanding or standardization

for how to measure success in initiatives to move

needles in STEM space.

STEERING GAMEMany girls continue to be steered into

non-STEM professions.

EXPOSURE GAPThere is a lack of exposure for most students to

non-traditional STEM careers.

FOLLOW THE LEADERThere isn’t a clear leader in the STEM ecosystem.


INGREDIENTSPRO-COLLABORATION

MINDSETThere is a widely held interest in collaboration

ACTIVATED PARENTSQualifi ed and dedicated parent advocates abound

for STEM initiatives.

SEATS AT THE TABLE Community members, teachers, and students

should all have decision making roles.

ENLIGHTENED SELF-INTERESTNon-profi ts look past their immediate needs

and work toward a common goal.

BUSINESS BACKERSThe business community is eager to support!

STRONG LEADERA respected and powerful advocate exists who can

facilitate the process.

THE BOTTOM LINEThe economic case for STEM investment

is clear and widely understood.

FUNDING TOGETHERMajor regional funders all align on how to invest

in the STEM ecosystem..

OUTCOME ORIENTEDOur initiative set specifi c goals and we’re moving

against them..

GOING MAINSTREAMExamples of STEM success—role-models

for students—abound locally and in media.

TAILORED GUIDANCECustom pathway assessments for students

and their families based on their interest and

academic needs are available.

CULTURE OF INNOVATIONOur region and school system welcome and

expect creativity

STORYTELLINGOur STEM ecosystem excels at capturing and

telling stories.

BUILD ADVOCATESParents, teachers and community are armed

with information they need to discuss the

importance of STEM.

SUPPORT FOR TEACHERSWe have amazing teachers supported with

everything they need to reach students.

BOLD GOALSWe’ve identifi ed a clear set of aspirational

and inspirational goals for the STEM space.


OPPORTUNITYSPACES

HOW MIGHT WE honor community members as collaborators and co-creators in the messy work we do?

INSIGHTS

• Belief in seeking community buy-in and stories but not engaging community when things are messy, because “it’s

hard to invite people to something you can’t define.”

• People are most comfortable existing in ambiguity with people they can trust who tend to be people who look, think

and act like themselves.

• There has to be a willingness to get creative on how to engage with community.

• Some community members want to be used beyond speaking their truth to people in positions of power (i.e.

storytelling) and are offended when their involvement gets capped here.

HOW MIGHT WE create opportunities for system leaders to stay in touch with the day-to-day of STEM education?

INSIGHTS

• “Tutoring keeps me grounded in education.” It is easy to get out of touch with the day-to-day of working in a school.

We need to find ways that allow ecosystem leads to stay in touch.

• To become a STEM champion, with actual perspective on representation, people need to have ongoing experiences.

• “Education Systems leaders like to revise content, not make new content.” We need to make the case for change to

our system decision makers and give them a draft of what to do.


Opportunity Spaces

“Educations Systems

leaders like to revise

content, not make new

content.”

Opportunity Spaces

HOW MIGHT WE move beyond collective impact to a fully integrated collaboration?

INSIGHTS

• “CI doesn’t go far enough. It allows for shared ideas, convening as needed, and moving together. The Ecosystem

approach is biological; all the pieces are fully integrated.”

• STEM Ecosystems are fully integrated in that the continuum can only work if all players work together. Funders only

fund if the work is connected to the collective.

• An early stumbling block for many collective impacts is that they organize around topics when they should organize

around outcomes.

• Too many organizations are being collective impact when they don’t do the things that CI’s are supposed to do.

HOW MIGHT WE make more young students successful in math, regardless of their economic backgrounds?

INSIGHTS

• “Math is the greatest gatekeeper.” If a student isn’t proficient by 8th grade, it is likely too late to get them up to speed.

• “I’m tutoring good learners, but we don’t know how bright they are because they have been left behind.” Reported by

a tutor who is teaching math skills to students who are 4-5 years behind.

• Poverty, and the related high rates of mobility, is a central barrier to equal representation in STEM.

• “If they get a high school education, at least the door isn’t completely closed on them.” Low expectations don’t help

anyone pursue STEM careers.


“Math is the greatest

gatekeeper.”

Opportunity Spaces

HOW MIGHT WE integrate the development of life skills into students’ high school educational experience?

INSIGHTS

• In many communities, there is a narrative that only certain people are allowed to have dreams.

• For many cultures, disappointment is almost as eminent as success.

• There are many high school students already anticipating the stress of not having enough money to survive in college.

HOW MIGHT WE engage teachers as champions of STEM both in the classroom and the boardroom?

INSIGHTS

• “Too often we try to make decisions without teachers at the table.” Teachers control access to students for 7 hours a day

and we need their active participation to create change.

• “It is a struggle for teachers to not be afraid about what they would see in a maker-space and how to embed it in a

lesson. We need to change the confidence level of teachers. We need to give them prototypes and examples about

how to make this fun and meaningful to kids.” STEM represents rapidly changing fields, and it takes a great deal of

work to stay current.


“Too often we try

to make decisions

without teachers at the table.”

Opportunity Spaces

Opportunity Spaces

While the design team completed the HCD research and synthesis steps, a different team worked on the parallel

process of designing the Summit. The work of these two teams was integrated by individuals who were working in

both groups—ensuring that the research content was applicable to the Summit and that the Summit reflected the key

learnings from the research. For a detailed explanation of the Summit, please see the associated report.

THE NEXT LIVES HERE SUMMIT


Melody Barnes, Paul Born, Richard Harwood, Steve Savner, Stacey Stewart, & Martin Zanghi (2014). Roundtable on

Community Engagement and Collective Impact. Stanford Social Innovation Review.

Jeff Edmondson & Ben Hecht (2014). Defining Quality Collective Impact. Stanford Social Innovation Review.

John Kania, Fay Hanleybrown, & Jennifer Splansky Juster (2014). Essential Mindset Shifts for Collective Impact. Stanford

Social Innovation Review.

Fay Hanleybrown, John Kania, & Mark Kramer (2012). Channeling Change: Making Collective Impact Work. Stanford

Social Innovation Review.

Rich Harwood (2014). Putting Community in Collective Impact. Stanford Social Innovation Review.

Shiloh Turner, Kathy Merchant, John Kania, & Ellen Martin (2012). Understanding the Value of Backbone Organizations in

Collective Impact: Part 1. Stanford Social Innovation Review.


Appendix

Appendix

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