Health Equity in Houston
How might user-centered design (UCD) be effectively used for Health Equity in Houston?
These visuals notes or sketchnotes in my personal journal capture some of ideas, themes, and methods for human-centered design (UCD) for community engagement, immigrant naturalization, and the intersection of climate and health.
Robert Fabricant & Tanvi Dhond of Dalberg shared lessons learned through a partnership with the Pima County Health Department focused on building health equity and literacy across communities in Tucson, Arizona, and previewed their work in Houston.
The Dalberg Design Team detailed how they have applied these lessons to their work with the Houston Endowment's civic engagement team since 2023 to help increase citizenship rates amongst Houston’s many diverse and immigrant communities through a collaborative, co-design approach.
They engaged and collaborated with members of the Houston community leading rapid ideation sessions, developing user archetypes, user stories, rapid prototyping, and gamification.
Specifically, they shared how they are assisting a coalition of leading funders both in the US and globally to assess the funding landscape related to climate health and to help shape some of the most impactful areas of investment.
I asked the presenters—who self-identify as "outsiders" from NYC and India— on what made leading such community engagement sessions in Houston unique.
Their experience was that Houstonians are remarkably invested in the success of Houstonians, in particular the newest arrivals to the city which is the first minority majority city in the USA.
They experienced an openness and willingness to quickly connect newcomers, and to work both within and across immigrant, ethnic, nonprofit, and business communities.
HOSTS
Shreela Sharma, PhD, RDN, LD of The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) School of Public Health
PRESENTERS
Robert Fabricant, Erin Barringer, Tanvi Dhond, and W. KaNeesha Allen of Dalberg, a global consulting firm dedicated to solving challenges through systemic change. https://www.dalberg.com
Gislaine Williams & Meghna Goswami of Houston Endowment, a nonpartisan, private foundation serving Houstonians.
