COMMUNITY AND ENTREPRENEURIAL SYLLABUS
Sustainable South Bronx, Bronx, NY
Sustainable South Bronx (SSBx) had a vision that job and life skills could be taught to local high school students by focusing on sustainability and business basics through the lense of design. TYTHEdesign developed such a program that included an admission process, two full curricula and taught the after hours program entitled FABLAB.
SSBx, an environmental justice non profit organization in New York City’s South Bronx, recognized that the traditional teaching model was not resonating with many high school students in this under-serviced neighborhood. After intense brainstorming, TYTHEdesign set the goal of the program not to create designers or entrepreneurs but to allow students to learn transferable skills through design education that can be used in every aspect of their lives. Public Speaking, Time Management, Financial Planning, Problem Solving, Collaboration, Constructive Peer Criticism, Critical Thinking and Creativity were just a few of the new skills that were taught and reinforced through the program. The program educated and empowered the students to take the next steps in their future growth.
TYTHEdesign developed two 4-week curricula (36 lessons each): a community-driven program and an entrepreneurship program. The summer of 2011 was used to pilot the syllabus for both programs and to identify what worked well, what was missing and what was redundant. This process ensured that the curriculum was relevant and consistent with the vision of SSBx.
The Community-Driven program focused on designing for the community by using team building and group critiques and the value of understanding the needs and limitations of the community residents. The Entrepreneurship program encouraged the student to develop a sustainable product and then focus on the business implication of this product from planning and budgeting right up to putting the product on ETSY.com. Along the way, students were encouraged and supported to start thinking about possible jobs or pursuit of higher education. The programs supported their future needs by teaching resume building, presentation skills and interviewing etiquette.
At the end of the program, students were able to walk away with finished items or products along with the understanding that their ideas have value and they learned how to express those ideas. SSBx has scheduled to start the program officially in the Winter/Spring of 2012.
