Organization:Design for America

Overview

Founded in 2009  at Northwestern University's McCormick School of Engineering, Design for America (DFA) is an organization based on the idea that  people cannot innovate without believing in themselves. This principle defines their motivation behind working on a national level to build a network of students who actively create impact through team projects. Co-founder Dr. Liz Gerber has researched new methods of learning about human centered design called Extracurricular Design-Based Learning (EDBL). This method engages students, community members and partners to think about our biggest challenges that we face in Education, Health, Economy and Environment. 

 The organization's goal is to create a network of students working to solve social problems and make a significant impact in their community. Design for American student teams survey their local community and assess the challenges people face. Teams go through all steps of the design process from ideation to viable products. Design for America believes that every student has the ability to make an impact and through design and solving problems in the world around them. 

Purpose

Design for America's focus is to create student led design studios that find meaningful ways to create impact in their local communities. DAF has spread to 17 universities throughout the United States and continues to grow with 70 applications this past year. Looking at an individual studio level, students lead an organization on their campus called a studio. Studios are not necessarily physical space but more like a group that comes together to think, design, and innovate. Studios at different universities vary from an actual physical space on campus to class rooms where students can meet. The main idea is that students find projects and create an impact. DAF provides these entities the resources and training needed to be successful as nacient organization. 

From teaching design innovation, DAF hopes to give young adults the experience needed to be team players, purposeful learners, and leaders in every sense of the word. One important aspect is that Design for America has attempted to keep its student led grass roots atmostphere by using the same formula from Northwestern's studio to build new studios on campuses throughout the United States. 

Design_for_America

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7v6mrdC2lQ

Impact Achieved For Students and Campus

(Include images, where possible, and campuses involved)