EasyConnect: Hack for Social Good × Homeless Youths
Did you know November is National Homeless Youth Awareness Month?
I didn't until Pixie and Iziaih invited teams to chip away at challenges for youth experiencing homelessness at the Hack for Social Impact event last weekend. My team, who were 5 complete strangers, came together to tackle this challenge in 40 hours.
Our approach zoomed into the biggest pain point in the youths' journey interacting with agencies that often required them to relive their most traumatizing experiences. We focused on the compassionate, human aspect of the challenge without immediately jumping into a technical solution. Listening to interviews of the youths, considering the seams of their journey, and reconsidering a secure data-sharing system while being mindful of sensitive personal information.
During the hackathon, my design process came in clutch – from clarifying our problem statements, to mapping the youths’ journey, capturing team ideas, prioritizing project direction, ideating with GenAI tools such as Lovable and Claude, creating a 1-page summary, and to coaching team members’ presentations.
40 hours was too short to expand on our project more thoughtfully. I've already jotted down a few more pages of notes since then to continue to build for this very vulnerable population.
A quick 1-pager of our project
The prototype I passed to my team members after my Claude hit its max session capacity. You can also see it on GitHub.
Team photo: Gee-Wey, Iziaih, Richa, Pixie, Me, Steven
Many teams came together to work on the topic for youth experiencing homelessness
Some additional quick reflections:
It was my first hackathon 🎉 And glad to report the 4-5 initial strangers are now happy *FRIENDS*.
Claude has become my favorite GenAI "design" tool because it understood the technical assignment, contexts, AND brought in very thoughtful additional UI patterns based on my prompts.
I noticed I repeatedly refer to GenAI-produced UI mock-ups and flows as "sketches" to refocus on the core ideas – using the artifacts to closely evaluate if we were on the right track.
Never take having "technology" – e.g., 24/7 internet access, touchscreen devices – for granted. Recognize our privilege.
"Never design for us, without us." I'd love to interview and get youths experiencing various degrees of homelessness to give us feedback, so I can improve the current project to work better for what they need.
Technology aside, I still see this as a human and social issue, which means we must also reflect on the systemic structure, cultural nuances, and raise more awareness for what support could look like.
I remember a time I had to go to the ER and a nurse named Clara held my hand during a particularly painful procedure. The human warmth comforted me at my most vulnerable and lonely moment. I think about how I can bring the equivalent of Clara's warmth to the youths experiencing homelessness.
Left the hackathon touched, inspired, and hopeful. 💚