Human-Centered Design Project

Neighbors Together is in North Charleston, SC, and provides several services targeting social determinants of health, including food insecurity, homelessness and housing insecurity, economic mobility, and a limited health and wellness program. This project aimed to collect data and begin to design solutions that expand the current health and wellness services to provide more preventative and holistic care to meet the community's needs. The project also identified possible funding sources and provided a sustainability plan.

Project Objectives

Collect data regarding the health needs and social determinants of health of neighbors who utilize services at Neighbors Together.
Gather local data from other sources (Tri-county Community Health Needs Assessment, data from Hannah Noel-Bouchard’s past projects, Community Health Needs Assessment implemented through Charleston County Public Library, data from Fetter Health Care Network, etc.)
Conduct a review of the literature regarding best practices in caring for the health and well-being of vulnerable populations, specifically those who experience homelessness and housing insecurity.
Utilize human-centered design and design justice strategies to facilitate stakeholders in empathizing, identifying challenges, ideating solutions, prototyping, and testing to solve challenges faced at Neighbors Together.
Examine methods to scale and sustain solutions, including continued implementation and feedback and identifying and applying for possible funding sources to name a few.

Project Outcomes

Conducted Community Health Needs Assessment
Conducted personal interviews with Neighbors and Staff, journey mapping exercises, and affinity mapping exercises
Worked with stakeholders to identify a problem statement
Created accessible list of partnering organizations
Completed a literature review on best practices in caring for the health and wellbeing of vulnerable populations, specifically those who experience homelessness and housing insecurity
Created an "ideal monthly calendar" for health and wellness services at Neighbors Together
Identified possible funding sources to scale and sustain solutions
Presented project outcomes to Executive Director