Concepts were detailed to be actionable, providing key descriptions, research opportunities, and next steps.

Description

Actionable city service concepts for serving the latino population of Little Village in Chicago, IL.

Overview

Our research objective was to quickly familiarize ourselves with the Little Village population, with an emphasis on the experience of recent immigrants to Chicago, through direct contact and interviews with local residents and services. Our research was qualitative. It was used to derive insights for serving this population. Those learnings, key themes, and opportunities drove our exploration and refinement of city service concepts.

The concept evaluation phase allowed us to test our concepts with their stakeholders: frontline city service representatives and Little Village residents. We conducted a workshop with the city workers to introduce them to our concepts and objectives, soliciting feedback on feasibility and their expertise in serving this population.

With our resident population, we conducted interviews in groups of 2–4, likewise introducing them to our concepts, soliciting feedback and brainstorming alternatives. With both sets of stakeholders, we placed equal emphasis on positive and critical feedback for refining, or discarding, our concepts. We checked with both groups the feasibility, relevance, and preference among the concepts. The approved concepts were refined into actionable directives detailing the concept itself, the opportunity it leverages, and the steps needed to accomplish it.

Posters and worksheets were used as friendly, collaborative conversation starters during concept evaluation.

Workshops were conducted with both key stakeholders: city service representatives and Little Village residents.

We immersed ourselves in the community to understand their culture and recruit potential interview participants.