The video is 33 minutes long, to make space for the students to tell their own stories. The initial commentary from Collaborators in Spanish and English (without subtitles) lasts for a little over 6 minutes.  We are deeply grateful to Self-portrait documentarist Llaima Sanfiorenzo and Boricua musician Luis Rodriguez (Cayenito) for their loving devotion to these kids and their voices.
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Stay tuned for more as the "processing" of the experience takes place: The Story as told by all of us, research publications, and a Guide for Educators on setting up projects like ACJ in your school.

ARS Guayanilla (January 2021) 

After a year of virtual instruction, teachers at a public school in southwestern Puerto Rico reached out for some coaching.  They had already learned about design thinking from CD-TIE when it was El Pueblo Unido Program, and they wanted to try it as a way of getting a group of seniors engaged again in school.  They put together a team of teachers and students, and together we prototyped and co-created a Designing Our Lives mini-course, two hours a day for eight days.  When they iterated and implemented it, nearly everyone showed up and stayed with it.  One student said, "I realized that I have been avoiding thinking about my future. Now I know that I can sort it out."

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RISE (2020-present)

I am proud to be working with RISE Network partners, to align university response to disaster and to promote community-based resilience and innovations in the face of climate change.  The keystone to the bridge we are building from research to practice is the networks' alliance with students and educators of all kinds--social workers, psychologists, university and school teachers, community center leaders...and the communities they inhabit.  To support them in the time of the earthquakes, DE4R donated four co-active workshops in February 2020, discussing the relationship between efficacy and resilience, and working together with participants to develop activities to teach and support youth and community efficacy.

 

 

 

 

 

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DE PR (2017-2019)

Working with Maria Christian, Miguel Davila, school leaders, teachers (and a student!) from nearby, DE4R (DesignEd4Resilience) developed a guide to help teachers and students come back to school after Maria.  Building back trust, self-confidence, and efficacy by validating teacher and student resourcefulness and collaborative and creative problem-solving, the guide laid the groundwork for PBL and design thinking habits of mind and skills, without requiring training, materials, or continuity.   Since then, DE4R meets regularly with members of the DE facilitating the progress of design thinking across the curriculum, and collaborating to support the efforts of El Pueblo Unido Program, Echar Pa'lante, and other groups envisioning  entrepreneurship & climate change innovation, youth-led educational change,  and community partnerships.  Together, we are forging a new educational and professional development system.   Please contact us if you would like to see the Jump Start Guide we created to help teachers and students after disaster.  There is a Spanish version available.  

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