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Design Studio

Design Studio for Community Solutions


The Design Studio for Community Solutions (DSCS) is an initiative of Arizona State University’s Watts College of Public Service and Community Solutions that partners with local stakeholders to devise practical solutions to complex issues. Drawing upon ASU and community resources – and bringing research, student engagement and leadership to bear – DSCS (pronounced “discus”) serves as a vehicle to stimulate and activate co-generated solutions in our communities.

The Concept

Maryvale ribbon cutting

One Square Mile Initiative

The initial flagship project of the Design Studio for Community Solutions is The Maryvale One Square Mile Initiative. This project asks, and will answer, "what if social services, community development and leadership strategies were working off the same game plan? What might a Comprehensive Community Change Initiative in Maryvale look like?"

Read more about The Maryvale One Square Mile Initiative

Maryvale: COVID-19 Update & Resources

The Design Studio for Community Solutions (DSCS) is an initiative of Arizona State University’s Watts College of Public Service and Community Solutions that partners with local stakeholders to devise practical solutions to complex issues. DSCS serves as a vehicle to stimulate and activate co-generated solutions in our communities.

DSCS believes communities thrive when solutions to their challenges are generated from the ground up; that by working together, encouraging and augmenting local efforts and resources, we can produce lasting change.

We aim to engage ASU academic units and students and connect them to support civic leaders at all levels, including municipal and service organizations, community-based agencies and local coalitions. Understanding that neither problems nor their solutions follow jurisdictions or boundaries, DSCS offers a space where collaborators can develop and test transdisciplinary, creative solutions for specific community challenges.

When we say design, we mean...

  • DSCS operates with the following aspirations:
  • Amplify community voice
  • Develop enduring solutions
  • Leverage community assets
  • Improve residents’ lives
  • Seek achievable/attainable results

To generate solutions to complex issues, we have to account for the totality of factors that shape neighborhoods and communities. We view people in the context of their relationships with family, community services and their environment, and use that ecological model to better understand their experiences.

Community members don’t look at problems in silos and neither should we.

When we say studio, we mean...

We match ASU resources with community and business partners to conduct rapid experimentation. We develop, test and refine applied solutions, allowing us to be experimental, push boundaries and be inclusive while we pursue aspirations for stronger, more vibrant communities.

When we say community, we mean...

People with diverse characteristics connected by social, cultural or other common perspectives.

We believe the informed voice of the community should be central to any effort that is intended to solve communal problems. We believe the best collaborations “move at the speed of trust,” and we are committed to this approach.

When we say solutions, we mean...

Leveraging partnerships within ASU and the community, DSCS co-produces customized answers to local challenges that citizens and stakeholder organizations have prioritized.

Solutions may be micro or macro and involve a wide array of tactics, including strategic use of ASU students and programs, community coalition activation, visual mapping tools, research on specific issues, prototypes for physical and digital infrastructure challenges, health and wellbeing practices and more.

The referenced media source is missing and needs to be re-embedded.

“The best collaborations ‘move at the speed of trust.’ ”

Meet the Team 

The Design Studio for Community Solutions is a team of ASU faculty and students and also community champions, who live and work in Maryvale.

Erik Cole

Erik Cole, Director, Erik.E.Cole@asu.edu

Mariya Bahrenburg

Mariya Bahrenburg, Program Coordinator mbahrenb@asu.edu

Karo

Karolina Arredondo, Isaac Community Champion duran.karolina@icloud.com

Kim

Kimberly Medina Rios College Peer Advisor ASU Sophomore, Medical Microbiology kmedinar@asu.edu

Wendy

Wendy Ruiz Xicale College Peer Advisor ASU Sophomore, Business Management wruizxic@asu.edu

Allison Mullady

Allison Mullady, Senior Program Manager allison.mullady@asu.edu

Rosie Espinoza

Rosie Espinoza, Cartwright Community Champion roziee0514@gmail.com

Mona

Monaliza Hernandez College Peer Advisor ASU Sophomore, Nursing msherna7@asu.edu

Manny

Manuel Elizalde College Peer Advisor ASU Sophomore, Public Service and Public Policy melizal2@asu.edu

Community Outreach

The Design Studio team has taken part in a many community outreach engagements. During the Spring of 2021, the Design Studio team, with the Valley Interfaith Project, canvassed the Cartwright One Square Mile to inform residents of a COVID-19 vaccine location in their neighborhood, at St Vincent de Paul. Additionally, in the Summer/Fall of 2021, the Design Studio canvassed the neighborhood around Isaac Middle School to chat with residents, to hand out school supplies to children and to inform them of free internet available in their area, as a part of a digital equity project with ASU’s University Technology Office to connect the unconnected in the Isaac One Square Mile of Maryvale. The Design Studio also participates in Heart of Isaac Community Center’s Monthly Community Resources Days.

Community Outreach Brochure
Community Outreach Brochure

Maryvale Youth Provider Network

Starting in October of 2020, the Design Studio has helped run and facilitate a Maryvale Youth Provider Network. A group of youth providers convenes bi-monthly to discuss goals, challenges and successes and to share upcoming events and resources. At each meeting, a member has dedicated time to present their organization to the group and to get other groups involved in their work. These meetings have allowed for groups to stay interconnected and to support one another. Additionally, we have incorporated Collective Impact modeling with Ashely Dickerson, from FosterEd, into the meetings and updates from Kristi Eustice, from Morrison Institute for Public Policy, who is conducting a landscape analysis of youth providers in Maryvale.