The Tiger Challenge program hit their midsummer mark this week. The teams, advisors, program manager and guests gathered for check-in presentations from the cohort of social impact designers at the program's home base on the second floor of the Princeton Entrepreneurial Hub.
Among walls full of colorful sticky notes, white boards crammed with to-do lists and storyboards, and tables strewn with water bottles, laptops and balloons, the teams presented their mid-program progress. Lively question and answer sessions followed each presentation, and teams were open and eager to get feedback on how to move forward.
Downpour Detour is hoping to help mitigate climate crisis effects in Princeton. The team found that residents are overwhelmed by the frequent and severe storms wreaking havoc on this area. Although various existing resources help prepare citizens for these storms, residents are unaware of these programs or the scope of the problem. These environmental allies are looking into helping residents become better informed about climate issues and educated about the resources available.
Healing Arts, Expressive Parks is working to address mental wellness by promoting more community engagement with arts and nature. The team has been interviewing artists and working with a local outdoor art park, Grounds for Sculpture. These designers hope to build awareness, accessibility, and community around existing art communities to increase the audience's diversity and build a welcoming environment in existing art spaces in and around Princeton.
Microaggression | Social Impression is addressing the impact of Asian American Pacific Islanders (AAPI) racism. The team wants to bring attention to the cumulative damage and burden that AAPI individuals face over time from so-called "isolated incidents." They aim to address the problem by targeting well-intentioned people's ignorance of the cumulative effect of the racial assumptions of AAPI people with a two-prong approach: highlighting and validating the feelings of AAPI people from microaggressions and educating people to promote allyship.
Tiger Challenge is a Keller Center program that uses design thinking methodologies to help students address complex societal issues and build sustainable solutions.