Fresh Supply Launches “Connect D.O.T.S” Initiative for THE SUMMER PROGRAM Chicago 2023
June 5, 2023 10:00 CST - Fresh Supply launched "THE SUMMER PROGRAM," our justice-centered learning framework, during the Summer of 2022, and we were immediately blown away by its impact and potential. The innovative approaches to community engagement demonstrated by our youth participants was remarkable, and they even made history in the process—credited with launching the Garfield Park Community Hotline, the very first SMS community hotline designed and developed by community youth in the City of Chicago. And that's not all—they also became our inaugural graduating class of Digital Stewards at Fresh Supply!
Our program revolves around the principles of digital stewardship and digital equity, instilling in students the importance of communication as a fundamental human right and the necessity of community technologies that genuinely cater to the community's needs. We are thrilled to continue building upon last year's accomplishments with our 2023 edition of "THE SUMMER PROGRAM."
This time around, our focus lies in empowering community partners and organizations to seamlessly integrate community bulletins, polls, events, and other vital communications into the student-designed hotline. To achieve this, we've launched an exciting initiative called "Connect D.O.T.S" (Digital Outreach to Transform Safety) to ensure the communication channel remains fresh, culturally relevant, and highly accessible. Leveraging the power of the internet and SMS—the world's most widely used data service—we will disseminate a diverse range of engaging content, surveys, and community outreach tactics through the Garfield Park Community Hotline.
Pictured: Talei Thompson (Community Engagement Manager, City of Chicago/GPRWC) with students from THE SUMMER PROGRAM at the Garfield Park Community Hotline launch event. (Garfield Park Conservatory | July 23, 2022.)
Effective communication plays an absolutely critical role in fostering engagement and driving consistent community efforts towards safety. Unfortunately, traditional communication platforms and tools often fall short in terms of equity and accessibility, making it challenging to genuinely engage the community. Additionally, we can’t overlook the practices of major tech corporations and social media platforms, which frequently manipulate, mishandle, and even steal sensitive data and intellectual property. Our SMS community hotline confronts these issues head-on with a deliberate design that places data privacy, user choice, and, most importantly, the actual needs of our community at the forefront.
We’ve carefully selected four impactful community organizations currently serving the Garfield Park community to join our inaugural "Connect D.O.T.S" cohort, which includes notable participants like Breakthrough Urban Ministries and the Garfield Park Rite to Wellness Collaborative. Each week, our student participants will engage with a different organization within the "Connect D.O.T.S" initiative, learning, connecting, and collaborating on digital design practices to determine the most effective ways to integrate each organization into the Garfield Park Community Hotline. Their contributions to the platform will play a crucial role in fostering a safer Garfield Park and Chicago as a whole.
We believe that "THE SUMMER PROGRAM" introduces a groundbreaking approach to participatory learning that is not only culturally relevant but also rooted in justice.
By providing financial support to our program, you are not merely partnering with us to educate young people in Garfield Park and the surrounding areas on making their community safer—you are contributing to an organization that empowers them with the necessary tools, relationships, and confidence to shape their own destinies.
Our ultimate goal is to nurture a generation of leaders who possess the skills to tackle community challenges using innovative, culturally relevant, and justice-centered methods. By placing a strong emphasis on digital stewardship principles and community engagement, our program empowers young individuals to become digital leaders capable of effectively addressing the issues their communities face, all while harnessing the power of technology.
Without a doubt, we are confident that "THE SUMMER PROGRAM" 2023 will build upon the successes of the previous year and supply fresh solutions for creating a safer, healthier, and more connected Garfield Park community. With your support, we will "Connect D.O.T.S" by prioritizing digital stewardship principles, safeguarding user privacy, and empowering youth to become the leaders and change-makers our community desperately needs.
Jasmine Jones,
Co-Founder & Executive Director, Fresh Supply