Charlie, James Sullivan, Vick, Regan, Griffin
The problem the RNBW (Resources Necessary in Building Wholeness) Design Lab team was looking to solve was the disconnect between young queer people and their peers in the workplace, and how they may feel less valued or unsafe with the lack of education surrounding LGBTQ+ issues. However, after ideating with Under the Table and Add the Words Idaho, the team found that the problem of a perceived lack of safe spaces for queer Idahoans was an issue they could tackle more readily. They had learned about a former project that Add The Words had been working on, which involved creating a database of queer friendly spaces and support groups. They decided to expand on the project by making it a free public resource. Their HMW is: How Might We create a database for queer Idahoans looking for support, knowing that there isn't a preexisting and accessible resource? After they had defined a How Might We statement they all were passionate to solve, they began going through sponsors of the Boise Pride Parade, local allied organizations, and businesses that advocate for queer issues. After they had a collection of places and resources, they started to code all of them into a system that allowed their end users to easily find the resources they needed. The team then implemented with their community partner and got the feedback necessary to finalize their code. Their community partner also gave them a resource to go a step further with their implementation and reach more people. The team’s end users were all excited about the product and commented on the multitude of uses for it. The final product boasts 180 lines of code and 28 resources around Idaho for community, health, legal aid, and more.
