Task Descriptions
Connecting people to their local politicians
Daryl’s already extremely high rent has been steadily increasing. The businesses around her that sustained her filled with people that she knew well have slowly been closing around her. She has been travelling further to get her groceries, do her hair, and do her laundry. These new places are often more expensive. She has also noticed the police in her area are getting more aggressive and more frequently drive through her neighborhood. The local schools in her area are getting shut down and she is worried about where people in her family are going to get their education. With all these buildings getting shut down in her community. None of these changes benefit her community and make it actively more difficult for her to survive. She knows many people who feel the same in her community, but the directions for contacting her local politicians are vague and outdated. She does not know anyway to organize within her community to effectuate change or at least let the local politicians know what they think of the recent changes in the community.
Easy New Task
Businesses notify local residents of community events
Joseph is the owner of a local sandwich shop in Brooklyn, and he wants people in the area to know that he plans to offer 25% off sandwiches on Fridays to help bring in more business. He used to just post these discounts outside of his storefront window, but he’s frustrated because people need to be walking by his store for the signs to be effective. The owner of a small and struggling business, he can’t afford to pay for additional advertisements on the radio or billboards, but he wants a way for more people to know about the deals he is offering.
Easy New Task
Notifying people about when new bills are being considered
Petra is an activist living in Detroit. She wants to be more involved in stopping gentrification in her community, but it feels like once she finds out about things, it’s always too late. She wants to get notifications whenever new bills about rezoning laws hit the desks of local politicians so she can begin taking action before they can be passed into law. Being able to see who is proposing what laws, and keep track of the voting history of different politicians allows her to be a more informed voter and to better advocate for the interests of her and her community.
Medium Existing (to some degree) Task
Tracking the history/development of buildings
Tyrell’s local corner store has been hollowed out recently and turned into a gourmet coffee shop. Now to get some basic supplies Tyrell has to travel much further than before to purchase goods that are not as cheap. Tyrell wants to be more knowledgeable about the businesses surrounding his area so that he may prepare to the best of his abilities for the next business that closes down in the worst case, or in the best case get enough support to keep the business open. However, finding this information turns out to be a herculean task. Searching between real estate brokers, local licensing authorities, property sales records, the Chamber of Commerce, and local officials is no easy task. It takes hours out of his day to even find anything concrete and when he does it is usually already too late.
Medium New Task
Informing community residents of government programs available in the area
Piper is the owner of a local authentic Hawaiian barbecue restaurant in Queens, and she has been having difficulty paying her business’s bills on time due to rapidly increasing rent. She doesn’t believe that there are any government programs available to help her manage her rent bills, so she feels helpless and is considering closing the business. She tried looking online for anything she could find, but her busy schedule and long hours don’t allow her to spend a lot of time scouring legislative bills for information. She feels sad about closing down because she’s built a loyal customer base, some of which is almost 25 years old, but even this loyalty isn’t enough to get her through these hard times. She wishes there were a way she could quickly find out whether there exist programs she could leverage to get her through to better days.
Difficult “Existing” (pretty new) Task
Geotagging art and ideas to local businesses
Gabriel is a writer living in Los Angeles. He likes to write poems and short stories about the places he visits everyday, to educate people about the importance of these businesses to him and his community. With gentrification a growing threat in his neighbourhood, he wants to spread his works with more people by posting them online. Each piece is geotagged to the business that inspired it, and even if these businesses are eventually pushed out, the building will still carry the significance it once held to the community.
Difficult New Task