East Oakland Innovators
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The East Oakland Innovators (EOIs) were East Oakland residents who came together between May and December 2014 to explore and address key challenges in the Castlemont neighborhood (84th-92nd, MacArthur to Olive/Birch).
Grounded in the innovative process of Design Thinking, the group developed projects related to areas such as safety and violence, education, local economy, and community building with the support of the BBZ coaching team. Projects developed by the EOIs were driven by community assets and issues with an eye towards sustainable impact.
EOI Design Thinking Toolkits
- Overall Description: Created by Mariela Nevarez, our Resident Engagement Intern during Summer 2014, the EOI Design Thinking Toolkits provided overarching structure and tools used by the 2014 East Oakland Innovators in understanding, brainstorming around, and experimenting with ideas to impact priority issues in the Castlemont Neighborhood.
- Understanding Toolkit: These tools were compiled to support the “Understanding” Design Thinking phase, focusing on broadening and deepening the understanding of challenges and resources in the neighborhood in order to identify the right question to address. See the toolkit here.
- Ideation Toolkit: These tools were compiled to support the “Ideation” Design Thinking phase, in which the EOIs brainstormed lots of answers to their “How might we” questions and narrowed their focus to 1-3 ideas with which to experiment. See the toolkit here.
- Experimentation Toolkit: These tools were compiled to support the “Experimentation” Design Thinking phase, in which the EOIs tested out their 1-3 ideas in order to determine which small win idea to begin implementing. See the toolkit here.