GID Lab facilitates Amara, HopeSparks Design Thinking Workshops

“Community IS the Recovery Plan,” was a three-month human centered design project undertaken by the Global Innovation and Design (GID) Lab from November 2025 through January 2026 for Amara and HopeSparks, sponsored by Greater Tacoma Community Foundation. The purpose was to bring together community partners and experts in social, human, and health services to collaborate to bridge gaps in direct service to children, youth, and families impacted by or at risk of being impacted by the child welfare system. The project included a two-phase design: 

• User Experience (UX) Research [November-December 2025]: which included empathy interviews with children and youth experiencing and impacted by the child welfare system. Interviews were conducted by Amara staff with training provided by the GID Lab on November 14, 2025;

• A Design Sprint which included three workshops [January 13, 15, and 23], taking around 21 participants through the entire design thinking cycle of need finding, problem definition, ideation, prototyping, and testing

User insights informed the workshops and cycles of design shifted from identifying problems to aligning existing resources, strengthening community-based supports, and designing pathways that prioritized prevention over reaction. Four prototypes emerged with two converging into a web-based platform that immediately moved into further development and testing.

“It's exciting to be at a point of creating a prototype of our best ideas and move the prototype to testing and create something that we can use--that our colleagues can use--beyond this workshop to help families," said Amara CEO Fahren Johnson.

GID Lab interns assisted throughout the process guided by lead facilitator Dr. Divya McMillin, Managing Director Alyce McNeil and Program Assistant Jack Cheung. They gained valuable experience of the design thinking process and deepening understanding and empathy for community issues. Interns will present their work at the Institute for Innovation and Global Engagement's Global Engagement Conference on May 20 and earn the Design Thinking Applied Project Digital Badge. The design thinking workshops demonstrated how community-led design can help reimagine complex systems by centering lived experience, honoring relationships, and building support that extends beyond formal system involvement.