Goal:
Help YMCA National recruit lifeguards in the face of waning applications
Solution:
Create a scholarship for high school students, target different applicant groups
Impact:
Multiple YMCA’s across the country were able to employ more lifeguards
!! National Emergency !! Lifeguard Applications are at a Critical Low!
Design for America UIUC (DFA) is here to help! DFA is a network of innovators using design thinking skills for local social impact both locally and nationally.
With a studio of over 40 students, we take on 5 projects each year to make the world a better place. Before I was president of this DFA UIUC (this work here), I was a team member working on this idea accelerator funded by the YMCA.
Research
Over the course of 16 weeks, our went through the human-centered design process to solve this national crisis culminating in a pitch at YMCA headquarters in Chicago, IL.
Guided by a simple mission statement, this was a research-heavy project with lots of interviews leading to two personas and great storytelling.
Our solution came in 3 parts: A rebrand of lifeguards, a scholarship, and an online application.
Our team during a brainstorming session
Most integral to the success of a project is an interdisciplinary team; being able to consider a problem from many different perspective always leads to more thoughtful solutions.
We had an illustrator, businesswoman, psychologist, ceramicist, and urbanist (me!).
By playing to our strengths and keeping an open mind, we had fascinating conversations with our interviewees and generated groundbreaking ideas and solutions.
Our first interviews consisted of lifeguards, pool managers, educators, and YMCA executives.
We asked questions about workplace culture, where they think lifeguards are going, and how they thought they could improve their facilities.
We were also lucky enough to have bi-weekly meetings with YMCA representatives. At right is a display of a few of our interviewees.
From these conversations, we gleaned two important learnings:
1. A strong work culture creates a welcoming environment for newcomers
“Because many of our staff come from the same schools, we have the added benefit of staff that spend time together away from work in multiple settings”
Ben N., Sherwood YMCA Associate Aquatic Director
2. Lifeguarding is costly and overwhelmingly white.
“Recognizing group inequalities is not racist, but it’s almost required in order to eliminate racism. Education is key.”
Andrea Miller, JD, Psychology Professor at UIUC
A slide from our presentation deck
Using this information, we created our mission statement that we call a “How Can We…”:
How can we create opportunities to diversify and strengthen the applicant pool of the YMCA aquatics programs?
To answer this question, meet
Maria and Eddie and see their journey.
Maria
Eddie
Same Old Title
No Official Online App Portal
Few Opportunities for Future Engagement
Enticing Rebrand
Easy Online Application
Great Opportunities with Scholarship
Finding the Job
These posters would be part of our rebranding prototype to spur more high schoolers to apply with appealing visuals.
Illustrations by team member Lauren Cox
Filling out the Application
Eddie and Maria BOTH get the job! But two years later…
Eddie has stayed because he found greater community in his newly accessible and rebranded role.
Applying the for Scholarship
When hit with financial burden, Eddie decides to stay and he receives the scholarship due to his dedication. Maria is looking for another job, has no scholarship, needs more money so she goes elsewhere
Details of the Scholarship:
The applicant must be a YMCA lifeguard for +2 years.
The YMCA and our team posited $1000 for the national scholarship with $500 runner-up prize.
These applications take a holistic approach and consider more than just GPA and the essay. This makes it a more accessible scholarship.
Applicants can apply for the national scholarship as well as one put on by their local YMCA.
In other words, YMCA can raise lifeguard retention with higher pay!
Eddie and Maria both graduate college!
And much later…
Being an AFR introduced him to skills that he would be using in his occupation. The strength behind the title and him being the recipient of the lifeguard scholarship helped open doors.
We were invited to give this pitch at the YMCA HQ in Chicago, IL in April 2019 with four other studios from across the country.
YMCA’s from Maine, North Carolina, Michigan, Illinois, Tennessee, Washington, and Florida were in attendance.
After each team gave their pitch to the audience, representatives from each YMCA sat down with us to ask questions and learn more about our pitches.
The Bristol, TE, and Clearwater, FL, YMCA’s ended up adopting some ideas from our pitch!
Our DFA team in a 1-1 session after our pitch
Our next steps included:
1. Co-creation with lifeguards and further testing our concepts.
2. Gauging individual YMCA scholarship contribution levels
3. “Aquatic First Responder” Google Form survey: AFR actually a successful title?
4. Further examination journey map. What are the extremes?
Here is a shot from our final pitch in Chicago!
Alastair Merrett 