Houston Endowment

Why do you feel connected to your community, like you belong inside its story? Most likely, its because of the arts.

The Texas Tribune invited our President and CEO, Elisa Villanueva Beard to speak on this concept during "What Art Builds," a panel discussion at its annual TribFest.

Erin Harkey, CEO of Americans for the Arts, and Octavio Quintanilla, poet and professor at Our Lady of the Lake University, joined the conversation, and together these leaders explored how creativity holds communities together and the impact of losing public investment and support for the arts.

Read more about their conversation at the link in the comments.

Data can help tell a story, but it’s not always the whole story.

That’s why in a recent human-centered design project, leaders turned to the community. It was there they captured deeper stories of residents’ lived experiences and were able to co-design solutions to help those individuals overcome barriers.

Get the who story in the latest episode of Upstream at the link in comments.

What happens when the people closest to an issue are also closest to the solutions?

A new playbook for nonprofit collaboration has the answer.

“With & For: How Centering Communities Created a New Playbook for Nonprofit Collaboration,” tells the story of the Greater Houston Citizenship Project—a two-year undertaking that invited community members to define the problem, share their lived experiences and co-design solutions—and offers a roadmap for applying human-centered design to other social challenges.

Explore the full report at the link in comments.

Human-centered design, a problem-solving process that puts people and their experiences at the center of decisions, is often associated with products like ergonomic chairs and child-friendly toothbrushes. But it can also be applied to social change, bringing together nonprofit organizations and community members to address a specific challenge.

On the latest episode of Upstream, program evaluator Lindsay Hanson reflects on how the Houston region’s network of nonprofits became stronger after a multi-year human-centered design initiative supported by Houston Endowment: the Greater Houston Citizenship Project.

Watch the full episode, With & For: How Human-Centered Design Is Addressing Citizenship Barriers, at the link in the comments.

Grassroots Solutions

Data can help tell a story, but it’s not always the whole story.

That’s why a multi-year initiative applying human-centered design to citizenship barriers began with conversations in five Houston-area neighborhoods. It was there that Kaneesha Allen and collaborators captured deeper stories of residents’ lived experiences and were able to co-design solutions to the persistent barriers encountered by lawful permanent residents.

Watch the latest episode of Upstream, With & For: How Human-Centered Design Is Addressing Citizenship Barriers, at the link in the comments.

Dalberg

“One of our core beliefs at the Foundation is that the people closest to the problems are really closest to the solutions.” — Gislaine Williams, program officer

On the latest episode of Upstream, join Williams for a journey through human-centered design, a methodology that brings community members together to define a problem and co-create solutions. It was the guiding force behind the Greater Houston Citizenship Project, a multi-year initiative addressing barriers lawful permanent residents face on the path to citizenship.

Watch the full episode, With & For: How Human-Centered Design Is Addressing Citizenship Barriers, at the link in the comments.