Project Overview

To capture the brief of ‘Designing for minimum wage in New York City’, designers Ziyun Qi, Oscar de la Hera Gomez and Isioma Iyamah created Project Dao - a free, alternative learning platform aimed at empowering the children of minimum wage earners with valuable, targeted education; as well as providing them a resource to enhance their employability and entrepreneurial potential, to help youth seek futures away from the low-income sphere. The name Project Dao derives from the Chinese philosophy 'Dao', which signifies 'way', 'path' or 'route', a concept that fit the team’s project goal.

Project Dao uses a gamified, digital platform to connect users to teams that are led by specialized, industry relevant mentors. These mentors customize the users’ journey by providing a series of digestive micro-objectives in the form of timed challenges such as workshops or achieving a specific grade. The skill building is visualized as a report card, which the student can later translate into a viable resume. This also allows Project Dao entry into an alternative employment marketplace, providing trusted partner companies with a strong employee pool. Additionally, because parental support is invaluable to a child's growth, Project Dao mentors send parents results and are encouraged to provide verbal and moral support to their child, further affirming their gains and successes. This system enables parents to progress along with their child, and gives them tangible evidence of their advancement.

Project Details

Designers Ziyun Qi, Oscar de la Hera Gomez and Isioma Iyamah created Project Dao - a free, alternative learning platform aimed at empowering the children of minimum wage earners with valuable, targeted education; as well as providing them a resource to enhance their employability and entrepreneurial potential. The name Project Dao derives from the Chinese philosophy 'Dao', which signifies the 'way', or ‘path’ to discovering inner fulfilment, a concept that fit the team’s project goal.

Project Dao uses a gamified, digital platform to connect users to teams that are led by specialized, industry relevant mentors. These mentors customize the users’ journey by providing a series of digestive micro-objectives in the form of timed challenges such as workshops or achieving a specific grade. The skill building is visualized as a report card, which the student can later translate into a viable resume. This also allows Project Dao entry into an alternative employment marketplace, providing trusted partner companies with a strong employee pool. Because parental support is invaluable to a child's growth, parents are sent results and encouraged to provide verbal and moral support to their child, further affirming their progress. This system enables parents to progress along with their child, offering advice and a supportive space.

Project Dao was inspired by a profound interview with a mother (Shivanna) of a minimum wage earning family, who informed the team of the difficulties they faced during their precipitous transition from the middle class to minimum wage sphere. During the interview, the team learned that her daughter Chloe, a bright and industrious 12-year old, helped the family make ends meet by taking small gigs such as app testing, bake sales and university workshops. Shivanna insisted that under financial strain, education becomes the fundamental factor to breaking through the minimum wage barrier.

From other interviews the team conducted, it was clear that many low wage workers dream of securing either a better job, or better pay, and want more for their children than they themselves have attained. The team generated the following insights:

Earning the minimum wage often precludes access to social and educational resources.

Minimum wages earners lack this access because they are busy trying to make ends meet on too small a budget.

Children from low wage families often do not attain a secondary education and are often unaware of alternate career paths.

The culmination of these insights amounted to what the team calls the ‘struggle cycle’. Project Dao gives participants an opportunity to break the cycle by ensuring that their learning and skill-building needs are met - through mentorship and community support.

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