What is a good life, as defined by people living in DTES? How do work and money fit into their versions of the good life, or not?
This was the starting point of our Quick Dive with Embers Eastside Works. It came at an opportune time – Eastside Works recently opened its doors and is still shaping its services and interactions. So, we went existential, asking questions like:
> For whom does Eastside Works exist?
> Which needs can/ should Eastside Works address?
> How might Eastside Works meet needs?
> What’s the big idea of work? How might we redefine it?
Our goal? To open up fresh ways of leveraging Eastside Works & neighboring businesses as resources for moving towards what matters most to folks living on the DTES.
We hit the streets by offering free lemonade and plants to start conversations with people and see who would be interested in deeper 1-to-1 conversations.At the same time, we visited and shadowed services and businesses in the space to get a sense of what’s on offer and available for folks.Spending a lot of time hanging out with folks using tools to learn abut constructs like meaning, purpose, work, money and everything else in between. At the same time, we also looked for opportunity spaces. What could we add, take away, tweak to start interactions that enable reflection, growth and human connection?With milk and cookies, we started conversations on the street again about the concept of work as pain and pleasure. We tested a few early ideas for new interventions and got feedback from folks about which ideas are attractive and which are lame.Playing back stories collected with community membrs
From two-weeks of ethnographic research, we wrote 20 stories, extracted 12 insights, identified 11 segments of people, and generated 40+ ideas to test the waters for further partnerships. Have a look at the summary in the document below.
