Helena Volpe's Site

GLVSIF_LifeofImpact_Workshop_16 Nov 2020

1. Refine your systems stacks.
2. Based on your refined systems stacks, crystalize your response to four prompts for your semester-end presentations:

– #6 What is your business / operations / sustainability model?

We predict that our social venture will require 3-5 employees to run properly. Long-term, Mindfull will be bought out by a community organization that can sustain the daily operations. The first operation is general up-keep of the website and map. This is the most technical aspect of the operation as it will require an employee with web-design and coding skills to properly maintain the website. Specifically, this person will have to continuously improve the algorithm which filters the resources, improves the user experience, and ensure that the website is running smoothly, free of bugs. 

The second responsibility is media and marketing. This responsibility includes maintaining the social media platforms and creating new strategies to increase the utilization of the platform and decrease stigmatization. 

The third responsibility is maintaining the relationships with our mental health resources that are on the map. This responsibility also includes vetting resources who wish to be added to the map, and structuring a payment strategy with either the resources themselves or alternative stakeholders. These stakeholders include businesses that may be interested in using our platform to outsource their mental health needs.

– #7 What is your scale-up strategy? Explain with clear financial and social value projections.

In 3 years, the Lehigh Valley will be familiar with Mindfull. The community will know who we are and what we do. We will have gotten feedback from the community on our map and our network will have expanded to include more key partners. Our impact will be seen in an increase in the utilization of mental health resources. Then we can expand into other areas beyond the Lehigh Valley. Our scale up strategy will be to first identify the mental health resources in the area and identify the key players in the area. Our next step will be to connect with community organizations and leaders to understand the needs of the area and the most pressing mental health issues. Our next step will be to create the resource map for the area which includes the resources to best serve the community. Our next step would be to market and disseminate the map in an effective way, while continuing to share stories from this new area on our instagram and website. This four step process can be repeated and tailored for other areas as we expand further. 

– #8 What is your implementation plan? What is your “go to market” strategy? Please provide a specific timeline.

Our market strategy includes developing a website for the purposes of promoting our services. In addition, building a social media presence to expand our outreach. We have completed these goals and are now in the process of  creating content for both platforms. 

– #9 What does success look like for all the stakeholders? What are your metrics of success? How will you measure impact?

Our stakeholders are the community organization and mental health resources that we include in our map as well as the individuals that we are recommending these resources to. Success for the former is measured by how many people use their services and are positively impacted. Success for individuals will be measured by their ability to find resourcesthat target their needs. The resources also benefit from the added inflow of customers. By highlighting certain resources, the large number of users on the platform are exposed to a carefully curated list of resources which give the resources an edge in terms of marketing. The resources benefit from added exposure which translates to added business and profits. In terms of our success it is important that we are able to sustain long term relationships with the resources that are currently included on our map.

Nandini Yellamelli, Elisha Wilson, Helena Volpe, Fatima Mumtaz, Erik Glasthal, Madison Zaun

1. Develop the “system stack” for your project a la the examples done in class (see photos posted under Week #10)Scan Nov 8, 2021

3. For each of the systems principles discussed and described in the article, give one compelling example of how your project system describes or encapsulates that principle. Be specific!

• Interdependence – Each system in our project system depends on each other to be successful. For example, in order for our mental health resource map to reach Allentown residents, we must build connections with local community organizations and mental health facilities to market our map. In order to share stories on our website and social media, we must collect those stories, and that collection depends on the community connections we make and the quality of our mental health resource map. 
• Holism – The parts of our project system can only be understood in the relationship to the whole because individually they build on each other. Furthermore, individually they will not accomplish our goal of increasing utilization of mental health resources in Allentown. For example, having Allentown residents as our target population can not be understood until you realize that Allentown is a majority-minority community, and minority communities are more likely to underutilize mental health resources. 
• Multifinality
  • “Resource Index” – from the perspective of the customer base
  • “Promotional platform” – from the perspective of the resources
  • “Partnership builder”- for the resources and community organizations
  • “Two-sided platform” for niche resources and specific needs
  • “Destigmatizing publication” – for cultural barriers 
• Equifinality – Mindfull is able to achieve similar end goals through varied processes. In order to increase utilization of mental health services, we are using both the mental health resource map and the collection of stories. The mental health map demonstrates using a product to connect people to mental health resources, while sharing stories demonstrates using ideas, words, and personal experiences to reduce the stigma that surrounds mental health and encourage people to seek mental health resources. 
• Differentiation- The components of our system each work together to create a cohesive product that works towards improving the use of mental health resources. Individually, they serve distinct purposes to achieve this product. Our resource map identifies the mental health resources that are available in Allentown, and enables both us and community members to build relationships with these organizations. Collecting stories about COVID-19 helps us to support the purpose our venture serves, as well as the impact we will have. 
• Regulation- We have identified a standard set of questions to guide our interviews and provide consistent responses for each story that we share. In terms of vetting resources, we have carefully sifted through them and created a document that lists their demographics and organizes them by the services they provide.
• Abstraction- There are different levels of abstraction that make up our venture-
  • Lehigh University cares about making a positive impact on the surrounding Bethlehem/Allentown community.
  • Community organizations like Promise Neighborhoods and the Hispanic American Organization care about improving the mental health of the individuals with which they work.
  • Mental health facilities care about reaching populations that are less likely to seek treatment- low-income and/or people of color.
  • Our team cares about improving the utilization of existing mental health resources and reducing stigma surrounding mental health problems in Allentown/Bethlehem. 
  • Individuals care about the health of their friends/family, as well as their own, and may want to take steps toward improving their lifestyle. However, they may struggle with figuring out where to look and which facilities to trust.
• Leverage points- The main leverage points for our venture include our partnerships with organizations such as Promise Neighborhoods and Casa Guadalupe, which have an expansive network of connections to help us establish trust within the community. With trusted organizations backing our venture and resource map, we will be able to gain users and collect/share more mental health stories via social media. 

 

1. Story Elements
   1. 5 attention-getters
      1. Compelling statistic
      2. Camden, Allentown, and Reading have been identified as cities where COVID-19 vulnerability and poor mental health overlap – Allentown 61% f residents live in “highly COVID-vulnerable neighborhoods” with high rates of poor mental health
      3. According to one CDC report, which surveyed adults across the U.S. in late June of 2020, 31% of respondents reported symptoms of anxiety or depression, 13% reported having started or increased substance use, 26% reported stress-related symptoms, and 11% reported having serious thoughts of suicide in the past 30 days. These numbers are nearly double the rates we would have expected before the pandemic.
      4. How many people have mental health issues in pa or us
   2. Poll
      1. How many people here have experienced mental health issues?
      2. How many people are aware of the mental health resources available in your community?
   3. Rhetorical question?
      1. How important is mental health in the greater sense
2. The challenge (5 ways to frame problem)
   1. Mental health resources often remain unutilized by individuals that need them the most.
   2. Maybe talk about mental health stigma?
   3. Lack of access and/or lack of insurance are frequently cited as barriers to mental health resources/treatment
   4. Since there are so many different types of mental health resources, it is difficult to know where to start and who to trust, especially if your mental health issues are already severely impacting your quality of life/motivation.
   5. People often do not prioritize their mental health and receiving care because of family and work priorities.
3. The journey (short paragraph)
   1. We are creating a comprehensive map with information about various mental health facilities and resources specifically in the low-income communities of Allentown to facilitate the process of finding the right mental health resource. The map website will have a built-in questionnaire to direct people to resources that best meet their needs by factoring in age, race, ethnicity, gender, etc. In parallel to the construction of this map, we are interviewing blue-collar warehouse workers in Allentown in order to document the stories of essential workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using these interviews, we will be looking for common trends within each individual’s story to figure out how local mental health facilities and community organizations can better fit the needs of essential workers. We’re also going to share bits and pieces of people’s stories with their consent via social media to begin combating mental health stigmas that hold people back from seeking treatment. 
4. The battle (short paragraph about allies)
   1. With help from community organizations such as Promise Neighborhoods and Neighborhood Health Centers of the Lehigh Valley, and healthcare providers such as St. Luke’s and LVHN, we will connect low-income people of Allentown with mental health services. Through the use of our map and social media outreach, we will increase utilization of health care services and reduce the stigma of receiving mental health care. We will find out what are the major barriers to receiving healthcare that low-income workers face so that the community can better assist them. 
5. The change (3 diff ways to state solution/outcome/catharsis)
   1. Highlighting ways to increase the effectiveness of available resources
   2. We see an increased use of mental health services in Allentown
   3. People using our product

 

2. History of the future

1. What will the world look like if our project is successful?
   1. People, specifically low-income individuals, will have an easier time finding mental health resources that cater to their unique challenges and overall experiences. They will be knowledgeable of the services offered in their community and therefore more likely to seek care if they need it or recommend care to others in the community. In addition, people will feel more comfortable seeking treatment for mental health issues without fear of judgement by their family and friends. We want to teach people to prioritize their mental health like they would their physical health, getting regular checkups so that smaller issues don’t escalate into major problems/traumas. With regard to the lasting effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, essential workers who were forced to continue working and put the health of themselves and their families at risk will be given the appropriate resources to deal with the trauma/stress that resulted from this experience. Whether people find help in local community organizations or mental health professionals, they will be happier and healthier overall.
2. What will the world look like if our project is unsuccessful?
   1. If our project fails, the problem of mental health services being underserved to not only the people of Allentown, but throughout the United States will continue. This in turn perpetuates the mental health stigma within this country. When going through difficult situations, people will not seek out mental health care, but may turn to negative coping mechanisms or fall into a deeper depression. People will continue to deal with mental health issues without seeking professional help and thus, will not be getting the help that they need. If our project fails, the community health will decline and community members and community leaders will notice. Low-income people will feel the effects because they are not being sufficiently served and the status quo of underutilization of mental health care will persist.

Promise Neighborhoods

• Promise Neighborhoods should partner with us because their mission to promote consistent public health messaging, delivered by trusted community messengers aligns with our goal of increasing utilization of health care services. 
• Inputs: Provide valuable insight on the challenges faced by our target population and how to better reach them/unmet mental health needs- useful for map design and recruitment strategies for interviews. As a community organization, they are familiar with trusted mental health facilities, and can direct us to them. 
• Outputs: Promise Neighborhoods will receive a product to use to promote public health in the community, which is the map. Through our research, they will receive insight and knowledge about  how covid-19 affected warehouse workers in Allentown. 
• We will go about building the partnership by getting in contact with Dr. Hassan Bhatts and establishing a connection. 

Social entrepreneurship in mental health

• Social entrepreneurship in mental health should partner with us because their mission to close the gap between mental health needs and the resources that are available aligns with the work we are doing.
• Inputs: Provide valuable insight on research and information that backs up the quantitative research we are collecting.  
• Outputs: through our partnership, Social entrepreneurship in mental health will gain a variety of resources that can be shared with the community members they are in contact with.
• We will go about building the partnership by reaching out to them by email or phone, to communicate what our project is about and the benefits of collaborating with us.  

Hispanic American Organization

• They should partner with us because we are concerned with de-stigmatizing mental health issues within communities of color, increasing the utilization of mental health resources in Allentown (where there is a large hispanic population), and discovering how covid-19 affected the mental health of people of color. 
• Inputs: This is a trusted community organization that has an expansive network so they can connect us to people in Allentown for our interviews. They can also work with us to market the map.
• Outputs: In return, they will receive qualitative and quantitative data on how covid-19 has impacted hispanic communities and a way to increase the community’s use of mental health services. 
• We will go about building the partnership by reaching out by phone or email, or visiting their facility. We will inform them of our research and see if they have an interest in working with us. 

LaMega

• LaMega should partner with us because apart from spreading music, they are also active social participants in the community. They facilitate a variety of community services all with the goal to inform and empower Hispanics and beyond in the Lehigh valley. We are empowering underserved communities, which includes the Hispanic community. Our overall mission is to empower and inform; our goal aligns with theirs. When successful, our product and research will be an invaluable resource, and LaMega will surely find use for it. 
• LaMega will contribute to our project their vast network, and power of communication. They will invest their time, contacts, and reputation into our project. 
• What LaMega receives is another resource in their toolbox they can use to empower their listeners. If their goal is to see the improvement of their community, we can provide them with aid. 
• To build the partnership, we will either use our connections at Lehigh, or speak with them directly. After that it’s a matter of clearly expressing our intentions and the efficacy of our project and research. Connection building will start once we have our nearly perfect map and website. 

Hispanic Center

• They should partner with us because they are an influential community organization that understands the needs of the hispanic community in the Lehigh Valley. Improving the mental health of hispanic people goes along with their mission to improve the quality of lives of families by empowering them to become more self-sufficient, while promoting an intercultural understanding in the Lehigh Valley. 
• Inputs: This is a trusted community organization that has an expansive network so they can connect us to people in Allentown and Bethlehem for our interviews. They can also work with us to market the map.
• Outputs: In return, they will receive qualitative and quantitative data on how covid-19 has impacted hispanic communities and a way to increase the community’s use of mental health services. 
• We will go about building the partnership by using our connections with Carolina Hernandez and Henry Hernandez, both of whom are on the Board of Directors. With their support, we can establish a strong connection with the day-to-day workers of the Hispanic Center and the Board of Directors.

Lehigh Valley Social Impact Center

• This non-profit organization should partner with us because their identity as an “impact hub” includes providing members with resources, inspiration, and collaboration opportunities to achieve a common goal. They would be a great partner for us to help us achieve our goals in this project, but we can provide them with our project in which they can help us with. 
• Inputs: Their time, resources, research, and possibly even connections. 
• Outputs: In return, the organization would receive our data to help them towards other work on this subject as well as a validation for their organization. 
• To build this partnership, we will get into contact with them and try to propose our project to them as a possible collaboration opportunity. From there, we will work with them as best as we can to reach our goals and to create impact in the Lehigh Valley. 

Lehigh Valley Community Foundation:

• This foundation should collaborate with us, because our project aligns with their mission of providing funding for services that can assist in improving the quality of life in Lehigh Valley. –
• Inputs: financial resources, connections to other organizations, knowledge of the communities we are serving.  
• Outputs: The success of our venture would increase their impact within the lehigh valley 
• To build this partnership we would reach out to set up a meeting to present our project and why it should be funded by them. 

Lehigh University

• Lehigh University should partner with us because they support the Lehigh Valley Social Impact Fellowship in order to make a sustainable impact in the Lehigh Valley.  As an institution they strive to use research to serve the community, which is also a goal of our project. 
• Inputs: They contribute/invest money to fund our project, the platform and space to work, and their legitimacy and prestige as an organization to support our project. They also contribute connections with valuable professors and staff. 
• Outputs: In return, Lehigh would be able to benefit from the success of our project (reputation, branding, etc) and make a positive impact on the Lehigh Valley. 
• To build this partnership, we will continue to reach out to Lehigh professors for guidance and brand building. 

Allentown Health Bureau

• The Allentown Health Bureau should partner with us because their mission is to protect and promote the public’s health. We believe that mental health is inadequately served and thus, the mental health of those is not protected. We believe that by addressing this problem, we can get the Health Bureau to support us in protecting people of Allentown’s mental health. 
• Inputs: The Health Bureau will have data that will be valuable towards our project. They also will have information on the best data to collect to help us with our project. As they are a government agency, they can help to get our project out to the public and possibly to make enforceable changes that benefit the public’s mental well being. 
• Outputs: In return, we provide them with our data that we find, which may be helpful for them to understand the underserved mental health issues within people in Allentown. They have focused on the impact of Covid and we can bring more data on that to them through our auto-ethnographic research. 
• To build this partnership, we should try to get into contact with them but if this does not work initially, we may need to find a connection who has an established relationship with them already who can connect us. We will then share our project and the problem that we wish to reduce within Allentown. From there, we will work together, sharing our data and working to find the best solutions. 

St. Luke’s 

• St. Luke’s should partner with us because they strive to improve the overall health of the community, which we also strive to do by increasing utilization of mental health services by low-income groups and reducing stigmatization. 
• Inputs: Contribute their prestige and legitimacy as a large health network. They are a valuable partner for building our brand because they also want to promote utilization of mental health resources in the area (namely their mental health resources).
• Outputs: In return, they will receive qualitative and quantitative data on how covid-19 has impacted low-income communities, why mental health services are underutilized, and a product to help direct potential patients to their behavioral health services. The data we provide can be used to inform their Community Health Needs Assessment.
• We will go about building a partnership with them by reaching out to their Community Health Department and creating a connection by telling them about our project and our desire to partner with them.  

LVHN

• LVHN is a major health network that constantly utilizes data to improve their treatment of patients. Medicine is always developing and strategy is always evolving, which includes how resources are utilized and facilitated. Our goal is to connect underserved populations to the vast network of LVHN beyond physical health. They should partner with us because we want to ensure that people who need help are receiving help, and as a major health network, their goal is the same as ours.
• LVHN can contribute to us their resources. It is the primary contribution because our goal is to connect people to the LVHN facilities and programs that many people may not know exists. Additionally, they can provide data so we can target populations more effectively, and contacts, so we can continuously evolve our methodology.
• They receive our help in expanding their reach. As a hospital, the primary goal is to help people. Some people may not know they need help or how to receive help. We guide people to LVHN so that LVHN can in turn better people, and better the community.
• We will build the partnership by reaching out to our contacts at Lehigh who either worked for them, or are currently working with LVHN. Some professors are very involved with the public health sectors and beyond. Once we start their, we can articulate our service and expand our network within the hospital.

Organization types:

Multilateral Organizations

• The Mental Health & Psychosocial support network is a global platform for connecting people, networks, and organizations for sharing resources and building knowledge related to mental health and psychosocial support in emergency settings and situations of chronic hardship. Engagement with this organization would allow us to create connections with policymakers and researchers from low and middle income areas. We can learn how to better engage with the Lehigh Valley and use their knowledge to increase our reach and the effectiveness of our project. Connections would also increase our legitimacy and acquire social capital. Learning opportunities such as webinars and courses can inform us more about mental health challenges that low income groups face.
• Befrienders Worldwide is a global network of emotional support centers in 32 countries spanning 5 continents. Their goal is to improve access to information about suicide and emotional support services, which exactly aligns with the goal of our project. Their values also align with ours, because they believe in giving people the opportunity to explore feelings, and they stress the importance of being listened to without prejudice. Working with this organization, we could acquire reach and knowledge. We could use their reach to recruit people to interview and use our map. We could use their knowledge of listening skills to improve our interviews. Associating with a large, well-known organization such as this one would build our brand and improve our reputation within the Lehigh Valley. 

Government Agencies (Federal, State, Local): In the US or Abroad

• Allentown Health Bureau’s mission is to prevent disease and injury and to protect and promote the public’s health.The Bureau may be our best source for empirical data and understanding of government policies and programs for mental health issues that establish benchmarks for the prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation of mental disorders, and the promotion of mental health in the Allentown community. Furthermore, they can aid in the translation of our findings from the ethnographic interviews to better policies so that mental health facilities/communities better meet the needs of low-income/minority communities in Allentown. They can also aid in the dissemination of our resource map given their reach within Allentown.
• Pennsylvania Department of Health aims to promote healthy behaviors, prevent injury and disease, and to assure the safe delivery of quality health care for all people in Pennsylvania. Similar to the Allentown Health Bureau, the PA Dept of Health can provide us with primary data regarding government policies and programs for mental health issues. They can also aid in the translation of our findings from the ethnographic interviews to better policies so that mental health facilities/communities better meet the needs of low-income/minority communities across PA. They could also help us expand our operation beyond the Lehigh Valley in various PA counties/communities.

Nonprofits

• La Mega is a regional Latin radio station based in Allentown. However, they operate as an NGO because they seek to improve the latino community’s access to healthcare, improve health literacy, and advocate for public health officials who better represent their needs. The radio station could be a source for primary data regarding access to mental health resources and barriers in the community. Furthermore, they could aid in our marketing of the resource map specifically for the hispanic population of Allentown. We could also potentially work with them to create a segment where people share mental health stories to begin to combat stigma in the future.
• Promise Neighborhoods of the LV is a neighborhood-level education reform effort that relies on the collective action of community members, educational institutions, and nonprofits. Its primary goal is to reduce poverty through cradle to career social and educational interventions. As a trusted organization in Allentown and across the Lehigh Valley, our partnership with Promise Neighborhoods would help us gain the trust of community members, ultimately facilitating/expanding the reach of our venture. We can also better market our resource map with Promise Neighborhoods’ connections. The Promise Neighborhoods team also has valuable information about the challenges that minority/low-income communities go through, which will help us when developing strategies to recruit participants for our ethnographic interviews, as well as the design of the map. They can direct us to organizations with valuable mental health resources and help us share the stories that we collect with the community. 

Foundations

• Lehigh Valley Community Foundation is a collection of charitable funds with the goal of improving the quality of life in the Lehigh Valley. They know the landscape and needs of the community, and give grants to causes that will meet those needs. Obtaining a grant from them would increase our funding, so that we can reach more people in need of mental services and connect them with those services. There are multiple grants that award mental and behavioral health causes. The funding could be used to increase space for interviews or focus groups and build our brand in the community. 
• National Alliance on Mental Illness is the nation’s largest grassroots mental health organization which is dedicated to building better lives for Americans affected by mental illness. Partnering with NAMI would increase our legitimacy because they are a nationally recognized organization. We could acquire social capital from them and acquire knowledge about those most in need of mental health resources in the area. We could also use the events they hold as a way to increase our reach and make connections. 

Academia

• Lehigh University is a private research university that challenges their students to become leaders through academic rigor, an entrepreneurial mindset and collaborative opportunities. As Lehigh students, we can collaborate with the Lehigh University Counseling and Psychological Services to develop/implement strategies to better reach low-income/minority students at Lehigh and in the Allentown/Bethlehem community. This could be a follow-up project after we finish conducting our ethnographic research (participants aged 18-35) and designing our resource map to further expand our impact to students/children. We could also work with Professor Sirry Alang, who conducts research on how mental health issues are perceived. She has expertise in how race impacts mental health outcomes, as well as how mental disorders like depression can be measured in minority groups (ie. African Americans). Thus, her knowledge would be helpful in terms of learning what strategies can be implemented to combat mental health stigma and better connect minority/low-income groups to mental health resources that fit their needs.
• The Fierce Urgency of Now: Communities Conquering COVID (C3) is a research initiative at University of Michigan that is examining communication channels amongst African-American and Latino populations in addition to messaging to promote healthy choices. Their approaches include educational outreach, community-based participatory research, and developing and disseminating communication materials to address misinformation and mistrust around COVID-19, vaccine trials, and the vaccine. We can learn from their community engagement strategies to promote a healthier lifestyle as this research group is also focused on low-income/minority populations. Furthermore, if we want to expand our impact to other communities, we can add to/build on the mental health aspect of their work by implementing the strategies that we’ve been using/plan on using in Allentown/Bethlehem in the counties that they work with (ie. Wayne, Genesee, Kent, and Washtenaw).

Startups

• Yana: This is a startup based in Mexico that reduces the language barrier to mental health care and people who primarily speak Spanish can receive help in a safe and comfortable way. This could be helpful to partner with Yana in order to help communities in Allentown have this additional resource available to them. Their knowledge of barriers to mental healthcare could provide valuable insight into the design of the map so that even people who don’t understand english well/read can utilize it.
• Ayana Therapy is an online therapy startup based in Los Angeles, California. Specifically geared towards serving the needs of communities of color, they offer service across the 50 states. Their goal is to match patients with therapists who are truly able to understand the unique experience that comes with being a person of color, as a means to normalize seeking mental help when necessary. Working with Ayana Therapy could be a great opportunity for us to expand our outreach beyond Allentown, as well as offer local communities a therapy option that may be more accommodating to their lifestyles. 

Social Ventures

• Lehigh valley social impact center is a social venture that looks to help social entrepreneurs with getting their ideas that are made to benefit the community out there. It would be in our benefit to work with them as they would be able to connect us with other groups in the lehigh valley that are trying to create positive change in the community and they would be connected with other organizations already and would be super helpful in getting our name out there. According to their website they have 75 connections and social entrepreneurs they are working with so getting connected with this venture would be beneficial to many different aspects of our project. 
• Social entrepreneurship in mental health is an organization that is looking to find ways to battle inequality by studying how mental health and the lack of mental health care plays apart in the process. Because they are studying what we are trying to tackle, they can give us insights on the research and information alike behind the steps and quantitative research we are conducting. 

Think Tanks

• Brookings institution: This is an American research group founded in Washington D.C. Their focus is primarily researching the economic effects of a variety of different factors. Included in their research are very specific studies they have conducted regarding mental health and the effect Covid-19 has had on different populations. Through this think-tank, we can submit our ethnographic research, or perhaps use their research as a model for ours. We can also use the resources on their page to modify and adjust our methodology/approach. 

• Australia’s Mental Health Think Tank: This Think Tank works to improve the national response to mental health and to have a better mental health system and initially focused on the impact of Covid 19.This closely aligns with our project and we could potentially gain really valuable information from them as their research is conducted at a high level. 

K-12 System

• ASD: Part of our overarching goal is to reduce stigmatization of mental health by increasing access to resources. The ASD is a prime location to introduce our map/website to young students who may be struggling with mental health issues themselves or know someone who needs help, and do not have a way of getting that help to them. We could 
• PTA: By contacting the PTA, we are approaching the population through different means: the parents. We can use the parents to help spread the word of our product and educate them on the convenience and accessibility of our resources. They may be harder to get through because parents are less likely to be open to their children accessing mental health care; however, parents can also be a key ally in dispersing our resources, and possibly using it for themselves. 

Corporations

• Lehigh Valley Health Network is a nonprofit corporation that provides physical and mental health care services across the Lehigh Valley. We could use a partnership with LVHN to establish a history of collaboration for future project goals. We could also use their data on patient demographics and their community health needs assessment to understand better the mental health challenges facing low income communities. Connections with their Department of Community Health would be used for brand association and reaching more individuals and organizations in the Lehigh Valley to increase the scope of our project and make a more meaningful impact.
• St Luke’s University Health Network operates as a non-profit corporation that provides physical and mental health care services across the Lehigh Valley. Similarly to a partnership with LVHN, we could establish a history of collaboration. Working with St. Luke’s would give our project more legitimacy and social and political capital. We could also work with experts in the mental health field to increase our knowledge. St. Luke’s is established within the Lehigh Valley, so working with them would definitely increase our reach.

Consulting Firms

• L.E.K. Consulting-this could be a great partner with a lot of knowledge within mental health and the issues that persist within it. 
• Schaefer Consulting-This wide network of consulting can provide us with a lot of information as well as a partner that could help to guide our project along.

Partners on this blog post: Hannah Moss, Kayla Miller, Helena Volpe, Udita Agarwal

Ethical Decision Making

Step 1: Determine the facts in the situation – obtain all of the unbiased facts possible. Clearly state the ethical issue. 

• In a certain region of East Africa, the growth of ~35% of the children is stunted due to poor nutrition.
• Gruel, made of maize and bananas, is fed to the infants beginning at ~2 months of age until they are ~24 months of age.
• WHO recommends only breastfeeding till the child is 6 months old.
• HIV is highly prevalent in that region with low testing. 
•  The longer a mother breastfeeds when HIV+, the higher the chances are for the disease to be transmitted to the child.
• There is a grant to create a cooperative with the women in East Africa. This grant is meant to create a porridge made from locally grown produce that includes the necessary nutrients for the children in East Africa.
• The nutritious porridge is intended to wean children off of breast milk at about 6 months of age.
• ~500 women from three contiguous sub-locations have expressed interest in joining the cooperative, but they are skeptical of the porridge.
• Pesticides are used on the crops in the porridge and may be unhealthy for infants and young children.

Ethical Issue: How to provide the mothers with a low-cost and nutritious porridge for their children while addressing the issues associated with prolonged breastfeeding in a HIV/AID prevalent area, early introduction of foods, and the possibility of pesticides.  

Step 2: Define the Stakeholders – those with a vested interest in the outcome 

• Mothers in East Africa 
• Research team (us)
• Children from East Africa
• Donors (secondary)

Step 3: Assess the motivations of the Stakeholders 

• Mothers in East Africa (Primary) 
  • Personal: Feed their children the proper, healthy early-weaning foods. Protect them from pesticides and HIV.   
  • Professional: Make money to support themselves and their children. 
• Research team (us) (Primary) 
  • Professional: Create an ethical and sustainable solution to improve the nutrition of the children and improve the livelihoods of the women. Make the donors happy. Improve credentials in order to do similar projects in other parts of the world. 
  • Personal: Make a positive impact on the region 
• Children from East Africa
  • Personal: Have a nutritionally adequate diet and not contract HIV. 
• Cooperatives (Secondary) 
  • Protect children and their health 
• Donors (Secondary)
  • Personal: the donors may have a vested interest in the area or have a desire to improve the livelihoods of others. 
  • Professional: to help, teach, and aid the people in order to improve the nutritional status for children and those in the region and improve the livelihoods of rural households. Receive a return on their investment in the form of impact or publications.

Step 4: Formulate (at least three) alternative solutions – based on information available, using basic ethical core values as guide Approaches [1/2/3: repeat for every action] • Potential solution • 

• Potential solution: Educate: use members of the community to educate others on the lack of nutrients in the gruel and the health benefits of the porridge and the dangers of pesticides in many of the cash crops [through media (tv, radio) or word of mouth]. Also inform the population on the prevalence of HIV and the likelihood of passing the disease through breast milk.
  • Education on nutrition, pesticides 
  • Ethical Principle or code: virtue based because it is focused around adding knowledge and allows more personal authority with decisions. Self-determination. 
  • Pros: community members are receptive to rational, scientific reasoning. Education can be spread to other regions and be passed down to further generations. Allows women to make an informed decision with all the facts presented.
  • Cons: community members might get offended when hearing that the porridge that generations of their community has been consuming isn’t the best nutrition source. The women may not trust the source or content (they may be most likely to trust what they have seen themselves, not information from foreigners).  Will take many months, and we don’t have that time. 
• Potential solution: Product Sampling: offer the porridge to women for free in busy areas in order to create more dialogue on why others should invest and seek it out. This will be just the beginning until people begin to buy the product autonomously.
  • Ethical Principle or code: consequence based thinking because it will likely improve the lives of a lot of people and this is simply a good method of marketing. This solution is pretty economics based. Self-determination as well. 
  • Pros: Women are able to try and recommend the product based on their own opinions- which is better for the credibility of the product amongst those in the community. Women will not have to pay to try the product. 
  • Cons: Easy to run out of the product, and essentially waste it on those in the community who just take it for granted. Additionally, this can be expensive and time consuming. If the women do not like the porridge, we have to have a contingency plan. 
• Potential solution: Use part of the grant to come up with a cheap way to test pregnant women for HIV. Or require that each woman who wants to work in the cooperative get tested for HIV. 
  • Ethical Principle or code: consequence-based thinking
  • Pros: HIV+ women would know they’re HIV+ and they’d stop breastfeeding and pass the disease to their children – the problem would get tackled at the root.
  • Cons: low resources for HIV treatment. Since the grant would be used for testing, there wouldn’t be enough resources to treat the HIV+ women. Thus, the HIV+ women wouldn’t have any way to get treated. Women may not want to get tested because they do not want to change how they feed their children. 

Step 5: Seek additional assistance, as appropriate – engineering codes of ethics, previous cases, peers, reliance on personal experience, inner reflection 

• If the team decided to create tests for these women there will be additional assistance needed. Additionally, it could potentially be helpful for there to be assistance from other donors or organizations that specialize in creating demand for this issue. 

Step 6: Select the best course of action – that which satisfies the highest core ethical values. Explain reasoning and justify. Discuss your stance vis-a-vis other approaches discussed in the class. 

Product Sampling: offer the porridge to women for free in busy areas in order to create more dialogue on why others should invest and seek it out. This will be just the beginning until people begin to buy the product autonomously. If the women like the product, they may be less skeptical of it. The problem with this solution is that it doesn’t address the pesticide problem. Potentially, if there is enough demand for the product, we will address the problem by washing off as much of the pesticide residue as possible. However, if the women are very fond of the product, they may not care much about the residue. We also need to do more research into the possible negative effects of the pesticide residue on the children’s nutrition.  This course of action satisfies the highest core ethical values because it produces the greatest good overall and gives the women the opportunity to make an informed decision about what to feed their children. This is an example of self-determination. This is a strategy to build the market for the product and also educate the women on the potential benefits of the product. 

Product sampling is a better solution than simply educating the women because women are more likely to trust their own judgement and the product’s effect on their child than the judgement of foreigners. Product sampling is a better solution than combining the porridge with the gruel, which the women like, because it does not address the ethical issues. Using part of the grant to test women for HIV is an ambitious solution, but it is not feasible because the money needs to be used as the donors want it, and testing would take lots of money and would not benefit the cooperative. Moreover, if women test negative for HIV, they may just continue breast feeding their children and using the gruel, seeing no use for the porridge. If product sampling is implemented, women may have a positive view of the cooperative because they are getting the sample for free, and they may want to join the cooperative. Again, this is a strategy that can be combined with other solutions, mostly to build the market for the product and increase demands when the women understand the benefits of the product. 

Step 7: (If applicable) What are the implications of your solution on the venture. Explain the impact of your proposed solution on the venture’s technology, economic, social and environmental aspects.

• Technological: The cooperative will have to make the porridge, incurring technological costs, without the guarantee that the women will use it, like it, or buy it again. 
• Economic: Since the products are being offered for free, the venture will not be making any money. However, if the women like the product, they may want to be involved in the cooperative in the long term. Using locally grown crops  is more economically efficient than importing foreign crops.  
• Social: Our solution implies that the women will be trustworthy of the product being offered and would want to try it for their benefit. With time, the benefits of the porridge on the children’s nutrition will be realized, and the use of the porridge will become socially acceptable in the region and beyond. In the long term, building the market for the product will decrease the amount of children whose growth is stunted.
• Environmental: The use of pesticides is harmful to the environment. Our solution does not address the pesticide issue, but once the demand for the porridge is visible, we can explore options to not use pesticides in the crop-growing process. 

Grassroots Diplomacy

Step 1: Determine the facts in the situation – obtain all of the unbiased facts possible 

• Women work for roughly nine hours every day + earn KES 300 ($3)
• Women are given the opportunity to sell the produce on their own farms 
• Males are in charge of the financials for many households 
• The women’s hard-earned money is spent by males on frivolous things instead of on feeding the children
• Women aren’t necessarily opposed of males taking their money but they’re angered that it isn’t being used to feed their children

Step 2: Define the problem and the stakeholders – those with a vested interest in the outcome 

The problem: Help nutrition of children and the women in the community to become more financially independent  

• Mothers in East Africa 
• Research team (us)
• Children from East Africa
• WHO Organization 
• Donors 
• Males in the household (fathers, brothers, husbands) 

Step 3: Determine and distinguish between the personal and professional motivations of the stakeholders. 

• Mothers in East Africa: 
  • Personal: Feed their children the proper, healthy early-weaning foods.   
  • Professional: Make money to support themselves and their children. 
• Research team (us): 
  • Professional: Create an ethical and sustainable solution to improve the nutrition of the children and improve the livelihoods of the women. Make the donors happy. 
  • Personal: Make a positive impact on the region 
• Children from East Africa
  • Personal: Have a nutritionally adequate diet. 
• WHO Organization: 
  • Professional: Teach the women of Africa how to better the health of their children. Reduce the chance that a mother will transmit HIV to her baby through breast feeding. 
• Donors:
  • Personal: the donors may have a vested interest in the area or have a desire to improve the livelihoods of others. 
  • Professional: to help, teach, and aid the people in order to improve the nutritional status for children and those in the region and improve the livelihoods of rural households. Receive a return on their investment in the form of impact or publications.
• Males in the household (fathers, brothers, husbands) 
  • Personal: Using the money for “alcohol and frivolous things”
  • Professional: Controlling the financials of their family as they take on the stereotypical role as the commander in the family 

Step 4: Formulate (at least three) alternative solutions – based on information available, to have a win-win situation for your relationship and your venture. Approaches [1/2/3: repeat for every action] 

Potential Solution 1: Paid with food and/or items that they need, instead of money. The cooperative can have a center for commonly needed items and produce that the women can take (with limits) in return for working there. 

• How does it solve the problem?

• • Pros: Gives the men less incentive to take from the female of the house since the valuables gained are for the family’s use

• • Cons: Not enough food for certain family sizes, lack of resources to constantly be giving out? Will all women get the same products? The women may want to be paid with money so they can get very specific items. A black market may be created with the food and sold at a lower price. 

• How does it save face of those involved?

• • The men do not need to think they are being minimized because there is no money to be taken from the women
  • The women aren’t undermined when the men take their money

• Implications on relationships

• • Short-term: conflict regarding money taking is prevented. The women will be grateful to the cooperative that they can feed their children. 

• • Long-term: The women will be happy when they see the fruits of their labor helping their children. However, the women may feel undervalued because they are not receiving the money to buy what they want. The men may feel angry that they can no longer use the money for their desires. 

• Implications on the venture

• • Short-term: The cooperative will accomplish its goal of improving the nutrition of the children and the livelihoods of the families.   

• • Long-term: If there is no lack of produce and supply chains are created with suppliers of other necessary products to the co-op then there shouldn’t be long term issues with the venture but ideally there is a solution in which women keep their money.

Potential Solution 2: Weekly transportation to the market (right when women are paid)

• How does it solve the problem?

• • Pros: Ensures the money is used for food and family necessities, rather than taken 

• • Cons: Lack of accessibility to having transportation offered for these women, varying home locations can impact how travel is planned

• How does it save face of those involved?

• • Gives the women more autonomy in order to be able to allocate their earned money based on their needs 
  • Decreases the amount of power the men in the families can hold over the money 
  • Does not directly confront the men, which could embarrass them

• Implications on relationships

• • Short-term: Less of a power structure between the men and women because women can buy their own groceries. 

• • Long-term: hopefully women are more highly respected because they have the skills to make this co-op work and provide for their family.

• Implications on the venture

• • Short-term: Might have to supply transportation for the women to go to the market. 

• • Long-term: train the women to transport themselves so they only need to supply vehicles. This solution should make it easier to achieve the goals of the venture in the short and the long term. 

Potential Solution 3: Create a financial literacy workshop where the women learn how to set up a bank account and save their money. 

• How does it solve the problem? 

• • Pros: Only the women will be able to access their money, not the men. They can use the money to buy products for the children. The women will be able to learn financial literacy and hopefully have financial freedom one day. They can pass down that information to their children and other people in the community. 

• • Cons: Lack of resources for all of the women to have access to the banks, pushback from male community members who are against giving the women that financial freedom. Women may not believe the information if there is misinformation being spread by the men. This solution depends on the rules of the region: are women allowed to have bank accounts? 

• How does it save face of those involved?

• • Money is not being directly taken from women and the men aren’t being embarrassed/exposed since the money is automatically being turned into products

• Implications on relationships

• • Short-term: pushback from male members – they might try to prevent the women from attending these workshops. The workshop would give the women more confidence in their work and their earning potential. 

• • Long-term: women gain more autonomy and consequently feel more empowered in their relationships. With the newfound confidence, the women may be able to discuss the issue with the men and find an optimal solution for both parties. They can pass down that information to their children and other people in the community. 

• Implications on the venture

• • Short-term: The cooperative achieves its goals of improving the nutrition of the children and the livelihoods of the women when the women have control of their money. Cooperative is able to make an impact beyond their primary goal; they make an impact on the women’s education and future financial decisions. 

• • Long-term: Demand for financial literacy may increase, leading to more women joining the cooperative. Cooperative can create a relationship with banks in the area.  

Step 5: Seek additional assistance, as appropriate – previous cases, peers, reliance on personal experience, inner reflection 

• Organizations willing to implement these literacy workshops or aid with the transportation or planning that goes into these solutions 

Step 6: Select the best course of action – that solves the problem, saves face and has the best short term and long-term implications for your relationship and venture. Explain reasoning and discuss your solution vis-a-vis other approaches discussed in class. 

The best course of action is paying the women with cash while using the financial literacy workshops to establish a bank account and better know how to handle the money. By giving the women an equivalent opportunity to using EBT or WIC as a part of their salary (possibly $1) they will be able to independently spend the money they way they like and learn more about future finances. This solution solves the problem because if the women establish bank accounts, only they will be able to access the money they earn. The men will not take the money. In addition, using a method like EBT or WIC, their money will be converted into a concrete way to get food and other necessities for their children. This solution saves face for the men, because they are not publicly being called out for their actions. This solution saves for the women because their earnings are not being taken from them. Instead, this solution empowers the women to become financially literate and confident. Thus, maybe one day the women will talk to the men about an equal distribution of earnings. The solution saves face for the cooperative because their reputation within the community will be spared. Paying the women in cash and an EBT or WIC program, is the best solution for all the women. The women will be able to buy what they want with the money, or there will be less for the men to take. Simultaneously, there will still be funds for the women to buy food and other necessities. This solution provides both choice and improvement in nutrition for the children. The short-term and long-term implications are the most optimal because women gain more autonomy and consequently feel more empowered in their relationships. They can pass down that information to their children and other people in the community. Demand for financial literacy may increase, leading to more women joining the cooperative. Moreover, the cooperative can create a relationship with banks and markets in the area. The downside of our solution is that the real root of the problem is not solved, which is the men’s desire to take the money. In the long-term, the men may be upset when they can no longer buy the alcohol that they want. This potentially could lead to bad relations at home for the women. To solve this problem, the cooperative could bring the men to work with the women, so that the men see the hard work that the women are doing, and maybe they would not want to take the money anymore. Our approach is more effective than using the “money pot” strategy (wherein all the women put their earnings into one fund which is handled by one woman per week) to keep the women’s money, because it is difficult to prevent the chance that one woman will take the money when it is their turn to use it. Finally, our solution is more beneficial to the woman than paying the women only for food, because then the women cannot buy other necessities for their family. The women may not like the idea of not earning money, if money is culturally significant to them. They may also feel undervalued if their entire salary is just food. 

 Step 7: List the sequence of actions you will take to implement your solution.

1. Ask the women how they want to use their money, in order to gather information on what they would want instead of money, and what ratio of food to money they would like. 
2. Organize a feasible workshop to educate the women by collaboration with local banks and financial institutions.
3. Women set up bank accounts or other methods to keep track of their money.
4. Organize a list of food and products they would be able to receive from what they already grow and what would be covered by the EBT/WIC card.
5. When the time to be paid comes, the women receive the food ratio first, then the money, to ensure that the children are taken care of. 
6. Gain feedback on how effective the new implementations are to those in the community, ie. nutrition of the children and relationships with the men. 
7. Implement feedback to improve the solution.

Step 1: Determine the facts in the situation – obtain all of the unbiased facts possible

1. Jack is an American student who lived at a youth center in Kenya while working on a social venture. 
2. Jack’s job was to hand out gifts from an international donor organization to the children.
3. Jack had a previous emotional relationship with the kids since he worked very closely with them.
4. Jack will continue to work at the youth center for five months
5. Jack gave gifts to all of the kids but four of them
6. The kids who didn’t receive a gift got a black hat in a less ceremonious way.
7. All of the kids are under the age of 14. 
8. Jack did not say anything when the kids all thanked him for the gifts. 
9. The kids think Jack is the one who has gotten the gifts for them.
10. None of the kids were explicitly upset until Jack gave them black hats.
11. The staff members seemed dismissive of the situation. 
12. The staff is concerned that jack will become a “children’s rights activist”

 

The problem is that Jack feels morally obligated to treat the children better while being respectful of the staff who have more power over the success of Jack’s venture. 

 

Step 2: Define the problem and the stakeholders – those with a vested interest in the outcome  

1. The four children (primary)

Emotional investment, want to feel special like the other children, possibly don’t have the means to receive presents regularly; could possibly affect their self-esteem if they feel that Jack/youth center ppl don’t think they are “special” enough to get a proper gift; maybe want the same relationship with Jack (perceived) that the other kids have; don’t want to be identified as troublemakers by the staff at the youth center

1. Youth center staff (primary) 

They put in a lot of effort into planning and executing this event for the benefit of the children they serve; they don’t want to be disrespected/portrayed in a bad light; advocating for every individual child might be counterproductive for their operations/overall goals at the Youth Center; Jack is an outsider coming in and pointing out their flaws

1. Jack (primary)

Is emotionally invested in the welfare of the children as he has established deep pre-existing relationships with them; by not helping them, he risks his relationship with the kids vs. risking his relationship with the Youth Center staff, who may play a major role in the success of his venture. Also wants to try to address issue that staff members are not concerned about this; personal guilt

1. International donor organization (secondary stakeholder)

Reputation may be damaged if Jack blames them instead; by donating gifts they are obviously trying to have a positive impact.

1. All children that depend on the youth center (secondary stakeholder)

If the Youth center’s reputation is damaged/Jack complaints lead to an investigation, they may not be able to continue to support children in the community.

 

Step 3: Determine and distinguish between the personal and professional motivations of the stakeholders.

1. The four children
   1. They sense inequality because of the treatment that the other children received and would benefit from similar treatment. They want to be included. Their personal motivation is the desire to fit in and be given the same treatment as the other children. They don’t want to get in trouble with the staff.
2. Youth center staff
   1. Personal motivations – come from similar backgrounds as the children and likely know what it’s like to be left out/feel unwanted/undeserving
   2. Professional motivations – The staff want the youth center to maintain a good image and reputation. They want to be efficient. 
3. Jack 
   1. Personal motivations – he feels a sense of responsibility to make these children that he is emotionally invested in happy.  He also does not want to be at fault in the eyes of the children.
   2. Professional motivations – he doesn’t want to put strain on his relationship with the staff, who he will be working with for the next five months. He wants to maintain a good relationship with the staff and children. 

 

Step 4: Formulate (at least three) alternative solutions – based on information available, to have a win-win situation for your relationship and your venture.

1. Jack buys gifts for kids and takes blame so the Youth Center isn’t impacted. He asks that the Youth Center have a separate ceremony for the four children.
   1. This solution allows Jack to respect the Youth Center staff and not cause any problems. With the new gifts, the kids will feel recognized and equal. The kids will most likely feel better and Jack will not feel guilty. 
   2. Pros: makes them feel appreciated, repairs relationship with Jack
   3. Cons: Makes staff think lesser of Jack, gifts come out of pocket, can’t hold another ceremony → not a complete solution, these children will now have received two gifts, sets expectation that everyone is going to get a gift every year; sets precedent that Jack can get things for the center/kids (not good for him), potentially puts jack in a position of power over youth center staff in the eyes of the children. 
   4. It saves face for the Youth Center and the International Donor Organization. It does not save face for Jack. It saves face for the four children.
   5. Implications on relationships
      1. Short term: The Youth Center will be happy that Jack does not rock the boat. The left-out kids will most likely feel better when they receive new gifts from Jack. 
      2. Long term: Jack can save his political capital for a time when he needs to be a children’s activist. He will maintain his good reputation with the staff, which will make his time with the Youth Center easier. If the children are happy, a good relationship with the kids would help him in several ways during his five-month stay at the center. 
   6. Implications on the venture
      1. Short term: His social venture will be improved because he has a good relationship with the children and the staff. Jack may feel like his experience was dampened by the Youth Center’s reaction. Economically, Jack would have to spend money for the kids which may shrink his budget for the venture. 
      2. Long term: Jack is an American student living at a youth center in Kenya, so saving face for others is culturally important. He learns about the culture and how he can best respect it. 
2. Jack makes the hats seem special for the four kids
   1. This solution will make the children feel special and relieve the guilt from Jack. It is also a simple, cost-effective way to appease both the children and the Youth Center. 
   2. Pros: repairs kids’ relationship with Jack, cost-free, takes responsibility from Youth Center
   3. Cons: Sets a precedent that allows the Youth Center to forget the gifts; maybe doesn’t get to the root of the problem. 
   4. It saves face for the Youth Center, the International Donor Organization, and Jack. It also saves face for the four kids because they do not feel unequal or embarrassed. 
   5. Implications on relationships
      1. Short term: The Youth Center will be happy that Jack does not rock the boat. The left-out kids will most likely feel better when they get the special treatment that they felt they deserved. Fixes the immediate problem.
      2. Long term: Jack’s reputation with the Youth Center is spared. However, the staff may expect Jack to do the same in the future. If the children are happy, a good relationship with the kids would help him in several ways during his five-month stay at the center. 
   6. Implications on the venture:
      1. Short term: His social venture will be improved because he has a good relationship with the children and the staff. Jack has already made a social impact on the four children, aside from his main venture. Economically, there is no cost to Jack or the Youth Center. 
      2. Long term: Jack has learned how to save face in future situations. He learns about the culture and how he can best respect it. The 5 weeks of stay with the Youth Center will be more productive when Jack works closely with the staff and children. 
3. Jack takes responsibility for the mixup and apologizes to the kids, making sure that they understand that they are deserving of gifts. 
   1. This solution will save Jack’s reputation with the Youth Center and relieve some of his guilt. Apologizing to the children will make them understand that it was just a mistake and was not personal, showing the children how he cares about them. 
   2. Pros: The organization remains in good standing and even though Jack is blamed, he is a short term member of the organization. This solution is free and simple.
   3. Cons: The kids remain without recognition and a ceremony. The kids may not feel like an apology is enough, therefore their relationship may not ever be the same. 
   4. It saves face for the Youth Center and the International Donor Organization. It does not save face for the four kids because pointing out mistakes or bad memories in front of peers makes the students lose face. 
   5. Implications on relationships
      1. Short term: Jack will be in good graces with the Youth Center because he does not pursue further action. The children may feel better after Jack apologizes. Resolves Jack’s short term guilt.
      2. Long term: Jack can save his political capital for a time when he needs to be a children’s activist. He will maintain his good reputation with the staff, which will make his time with the Youth Center easier. If the children are happy, a good relationship with the kids would help him in several ways during his five-month stay at the center. If the children resent Jack for not making them feel special, he may have a harder stay at the center. Jack may still feel guilty in the long term, feeling like he did not do enough for the four children. 
   6. Implications on venture
      1. Short Term: His social venture will be improved because he has a good relationship with the children and the staff. If the children do not accept his apology, his time there could be negatively affected. Economically, there is no cost to Jack or the Youth Center. 
      2. Long term: Jack may still feel guilty in the long term, feeling like he did not do enough for the four children. This may affect his view on the social impact of his venture. 

Step 5: Seek additional assistance, as appropriate – previous cases, peers, reliance on personal experience, inner reflection

Step 6: Select the best course of action – that solves the problem, saves face and has the best short term and long-term implications for your relationship and venture. Explain reasoning and discuss your solution vis-a-vis other approaches discussed in class.

The best course of action is Jack makes the hats seem special for the four kids. This solution leads to a win-win situation for all stakeholders because it will relieve Jack of the guilt or responsibility he feels for the sadness of the children. The children will feel included, equal, and like Jack really cares about them when they are given the recognition that they deserve. The Youth Center will feel happy that Jack is not overreacting or acting like a “children’s activist.” The reputation of Jack will also be spared among the staff. They will see that Jack cares about the children but does not have intentions to expose or harm the Youth Center. Moreover, Jack can save his political capital for a time when he needs to be a children’s activist. Jack learns the importance of saving face and giving face in a different culture and knows how to handle these types of situations in the future. The only shortcoming of this solution is that it does not get to the root of the problem, that the Youth Center doesn’t seem to care that the children were left out. This problem can be remedied later, once Jack has ensured his excellent reputation and gained the respect of the staff members. Maybe once the venture is over, he can include the situation in his conclusions. This solution is better than Jack buying gifts for kids and taking blame because it does set the precedence that everyone is going to get a gift every year or that Jack will buy gifts for the kids. Instead of putting Jack in a position of power, the proposed solution makes Jack equal with the children, showing how the hat is cool to him and should be to them, too. This solution is better than Jack taking responsibility for the mistake and apologizing because it saves face for the children. Pointing out the mistake may make the Youth Center, the International Donor Organization, and the children lose face. In addition, if Jack makes the hats special for the kids, it will have more social impact on them than a simple apology. The Youth Center will see that Jack cares for the children. Thus, it is a win-win situation.

Step 7: List the sequence of actions you will take to implement your solution.

• Jack will gradually make the hats seem special for the kids through many strategies
  • He will compliment the kids whenever he sees them in the hats.
  • He will make it known how much he likes the hats, how cool he thinks they are.
  • He will wear a similar hat to make the children feel included and that the hats are good.
• Jack will be quick to give credit to the Youth Center and the International Donor Organization for the hats and the other gifts, thus giving face.
• Jack will laugh and smile at his own mistake but then let it go. He will move on without making a big deal or apologizing unnecessarily.
  • Saves face for Youth center, improves Jack’s reputation, and does not make the kids feel anymore left out.
• Jack will track the progress of the solution by noticing how the four kids act around him, how they talk about the hats, and how the staff members react to him making the kids feel special, and how his relationship with the children and the staff progress overall.

Step 1: Determine the facts in the situation – obtain all of the unbiased facts possible. Clearly state the ethical issue. 

• Ten researchers traveling to Lesotho
• Traveling for two weeks
• Several publications expected from this research
• Need locals to show them water sources/methods
• Lesotho is an LMIC
• The specific pathogen only exists in this region of Lesotho
• This research could lead to the development of chemical additives to treat the drinking water

The primary ethical issues are 1) whether to conduct the study and 2) whether to pay the community members for their work in enabling the research.

Step 2: Define the Stakeholders – those with a vested interest in the outcome 

1. Researchers
2. Community members
3. Residents of the region at large
4. Academic institutions or other funding organizations
5. National and regional government organizations
6. Water purifying companies / NGOs
7. Scientific community

Step 3: Assess the motivations of the Stakeholders 

1. Researchers (primary stakeholders)
   1. Academic interest: understand the lifecycle and characteristics of a specific pathogen
   2. Desire for publications and academic prestige
   3. Implications for future work (sharing knowledge with scientific community
   4. Altruism/humanitarianism (helping the community members)––Khanjan disagrees; the researchers are unlikely to be the same people developing the solution
2. Community members (primary stakeholders)
   1. Curiosity about the researchers and their work
   2. Hope for better living conditions (safe drinking water)
   3. Want the pathogen to be understood
   4. Desire to draw attention to the issue
   5. Desire for financial compensation
3. Residents of similar settings (the region at large; other places with related diseases)
   1. Hoping for better living conditions (safe drinking water)
   2. Possible transferability of results
   3. Safe drinking water makes real estate more appealing
4. Backing organizations, even if not funding (secondary stakeholders)
   1. Desire for prestige/reputation
   2. Stability and safety of researchers
5. Funding organizations (secondary stakeholders)
   1. Publications and prestige
   2. High-quality results
6. National or regional government organizations (secondary stakeholders)
   1. Possibility of improved public health
   2. Networking opportunities and personal or organizational prestige
   3. Improved view of country/region on the world stage
7. Water purifying companies / NGOs
   1. Using the results of the research to pursue their (financial) goals
   2. Being threatened by new innovations in their field
8. Scientific community (secondary stakeholders)
   1. Understand the lifecycle and characteristics of the pathogen
   2. Implications for future work
   3. Altruism (helping community members)

• Step 4: Formulate (at least three) alternative solutions – based on information available, using basic ethical core values as guide 

Considerations/thoughts:

• Ends could justify the means
• Determine what they want—maybe it’s not money. (Offering money could even be insulting in some contexts.)

1. 1. Approach 1: Pay the community members offering assistance
      1. Ethical Principle or code: Consequence-based thinking or duty-based thinking
      2. Pros:
         1. Recognizing the value that locals bring to the research
         2. Respecting locals’ time and efforts
      3. Cons:
         1. How to decide how to pay
         2. Expense
         3. Some cultures may be offended by a money offering
   2. Approach 2: Recruit community assistance as a volunteer opportunity
      1. Ethical Principle or code: Ethics of care 
      2. Pros:
         1. Find people with the right motivations to assist you
         2. You will not offend anyone by offering money
         3. Volunteering is rewarding to them and will create trust
      3. Cons
         1. Can be time-consuming to find volunteers
   3. Approach 3: Compensate in non-financial way
      1. Ethical Principle or code:  Duty-based thinking
      2. Pros
         1. Exercising appropriate virtue by recognizing locals’ value
         2. Non-financial compensation may be more valuable to locals
         3. May incur less expenses 
      3. Cons 
         1. What is honest or virtuous depends on social traditions, history, etc.
         2. Deciding what the compensation will be
         3. Money is the easier option
   4. Approach 4: Engage in dialogue with the community about what their motivations are and make a decision about how to compensate them based on their responses. (What matters is how they feel, not how you feel.)
      1. Ethical Principle or code: self-determination or ethics of care
      2. Pros: 
         1. Higher likelihood of a mutually beneficial outcome
         2. No assumptions about community member motivations
         3. Builds rapport and trust that might make the collaboration more productive
      3. Cons: 
         1. Takes longer
         2. People might not be honest (either out of fear of consequences or out of a desire to maximize profit/exploitation)
   5. Approach 5: Build local stakeholder relationships (academic institution, NGO, community-based organizations)
      1. Ethical Principle or code: Ethics of care
      2. Pros:
         1. Relationship with community members already established
         2. Local stakeholders can educate and share results with community members (update them)
      3. Cons:
         1. Stakeholders may have different motivations or desires for the research
         2. Not all academic institution, NGO, or community-based organizations are trusted by the community
   6. Approach 6: Map out Lesotho watersheds and study those close to residential communities
      1. Ethical Principle or code: Consequence-based thinking
      2. Pros:
         1. Won’t have to interact with community members or compensate them
      3. Cons: 
         1. Time and money spent traveling
         2. Lacking local insights about pathogen
         3. May miss certain water sources
         4. May be unable to locate water sources
         5. May have negative environmental impacts

• Step 5: Seek additional assistance, as appropriate – engineering codes of ethics, previous cases, peers, reliance on personal experience, inner reflection 

• Step 6: Select the best course of action – that which satisfies the highest core ethical values. Explain reasoning and justify. Discuss your stance vis-a-vis other approaches discussed in the class.

Approach 4: Engage in dialogue with the community about what their motivations are and make a decision about how to compensate them based on their responses

This decision is the best course of action in my opinion. This decision maximizes benefit for everyone involved because it allows the community members to share their ideas and opinions about their compensation. With that information, the researchers can make the most informed decision that will be mutually beneficial to everyone. Ethics of care is a better approach than consequence-based thinking or duty-based thinking because it responds to limitation of impersonal, objective rules. Once cannot assume that all the locals will want money because that is a “universal moral duty.” In this case study, the ethics are not impersonal because consequences matter and it is difficult to find universal principles within a diverse community. Engaging with the community minimizes the risk for everyone involved because it lessens the chance that the researchers will offend the locals’ culture, and make their research seem less like they are researching for their personal gain and then leaving, not giving back to the community. Engaging with the community also builds rapport and trust that might make the collaboration more productive. If the locals see that the researchers are exercising ethics of care by factoring in individuals’ needs and desires, they will be more likely to trust the researchers. Finally, this decision is better approach than virtue based thinking because virtues depend on context, and the answer of “What would a person of good moral character do?” Will vary around the world. If the researchers talk to the community and find out the right answer in that culture’s context, they are sure to maximize benefits and minimize risk for everyone involved.

•  Step 7: (If applicable) What are the implications of your solution on the venture. Explain the impact of your proposed solution on the venture’s technology, economic, social and environmental aspects.

The proposed solution requires more work on the end of the researchers than simply offering money to locals and seeing who will take the offer. It is possible that the researchers will not want to do this work because they want to focus on the technological aspects of the venture, such as testing the water and publishing their work. Spending more time on the tech side may increase technological efficiency, but the lack or cultural knowledge may degrade the environment and the relationship between the researchers and the locals. The proposed solution makes the locals happy with their choice of compensation, so they would be more likely to assist the researchers well and form a mutually-beneficial relationship with them. Thus, the researchers/research would have an excellent reputation, which positively impacts all the aspects of the project. Maybe the researchers can obtain further economic funding, or they can expand their researchers to other areas of the country or world. Moreover, the locals can ensure clean drinking water in the future. It is possible that the locals might not be honest about their motivations and desires in the dialogue either out of fear of consequences or out of a desire to maximize profit/exploitation. This consequence would affect all aspects of the venture because it may benefit a few locals but risk the majority. A relationship started on lies or false pretenses usually does not continue once the person gets what they want out of the situation. For example, if the researchers say that they care about the Lesotho community but really don’t, they are likely to never engage with the community again once their research is done. On the other hand, if the locals lie about their motivations, they will be unlikely to work with the researchers once they maximize profit. These consequences affect the economic and social aspects of the venture, because money can be spent that is not put to good use. It may be hard with this course of action to find a consensus about compensation. Although culture can be somewhat of a framework for general values, individuals have specific desires and beliefs. If the researchers aren’t able to satisfy everyone, and their discussion turns the community against each other or pits ones’ values against another’s’, it will damage the social aspect of the venture. The social aspect influences the technological, economic, and environmental aspects because the researchers need locals to get to the water sources. The environment may be damaged by drones or mishandling of the water if the locals are not there to help. And if the locals are there, they can use their traditional knowledge to ensure their environment is not damaged, and the research hopefully can help the locals access clean drinking water one day.

Covid-19 and Communities of Color Team

• Social science research
  • Significant milestones:
    • We have analyzed current research on COVID-19 and mental health broadly in the United States and specifically in Allentown. We have summarized the findings of background literature into a report/essay. 
  • The current state
    • In the current state, we believe we have a sufficient amount of information to start the next stage of our research which would be finishing the map and starting to conduct the interviews for our manuscript. 
  • Planned activities
    • We plan to expand our research of mental health in Allentown to demographics that we have not fully identified yet. For example, the LGBTQ+ community, Indigineous peoples, and Asians and Pacific Islanders. This research will help us have a more complete view of how COVID-19 has affected mental health in Allentown, and include the entire community in our findings.    
• Product design (map)
  • Significant milestones
    • We have completed the map in its initial phase. It includes all the mental health resources in Allentown and details on their services (address, cost, insurance, target population, etc).
  • The current state
    • The map has broadened our knowledge of the current state of mental health resources in Allentown. The map has become an important resource for our research and figuring out the scope of our project in the future. We have also found out that many offices are not offering services due to the pandemic. The map will help us create a network with Allentown. We can offer the product to organizations so that they will work with us. 
  • Planned activities
    • For the future of the map, we plan on taking it from its current state of map+ to map ++ with additional resources and information available on it as well, making it easier to utilise. We want to then be able to use this product to network with organizations within the Lehigh Valley. 
    • Create a second-phase map which includes more ethnicities and gender identities. We want the map to accurately reflect the mental health resources in Allentown and we want the map to be available to the Allentown community.
    • We are open to collaborating with the Allentown Health Bureau and networking with different organizations in order to make the map as accessible as possible.  
• Interviews 
  • Significant milestone 
    • Our most significant milestone for this step would be getting the IRB application started and filling out how we would want to conduct the study and any information associated with that.
  • Current state
    • We are trying to finish and submit the IRB application for review. Steps required for this would be finalizing who our primary investigator will be and getting advisors to check off on our application. 
  • Planned activities
    • Once the application is turned in and approved, we will begin autoethnographic interviews with people of color in Allentown. We estimate that we would need around 50-100 interviews to establish a well rounded database. We also estimate that these interviews will be at least 30 to 60 minutes in length and so conducting these interviews may be the big bulk assignment for this semester. 
• Developing manuscripts
  • Significant milestones: 
    • So far we have begun to comb through all of the research and information we have collected during the research phase of the spring and summer semesters in order to make a rough outline of what we’d want our manuscript to look like. 
  • Current state
    • The current state of the manuscript is that its rough outline has been made, and research on what other manuscripts including autoethnographic research has been done so as a group we are aware of what our final manuscript should look like. 
  • Planned activities
    • We plan on slowly filling in the research and interview quotes and data into the manuscript as the semester progresses. Potentially having one or two of our group members who are strong writers taking charge of this role would be most ideal. 
• Messaging and marketing
  • Significant milestones
    • We have met with many organizations and community leaders in the spring and summer to understand how COVID-19 is impacting Allentown and how organizations are addressing problems such as mental health, homelessness, and food insecurity. We have received guidance from our interviewees on our project. For example, Professor Ochs advised us to do autoethnographies, and Hasshan Batts from Promise Neighborhoods Community Outreach is willing to help us as our project continues. 
  • Current state
    • We are currently working on how we want to structure our manuscript and deciding what information is most relevant. We are also drawing from similar papers that have included autoethnographic interviews within their findings. 
  • Planned activities
    • We plan to broaden our network and get in touch with more organizations in Allentown, specifically the mental health facilities that we mapped out. We would like to offer our map to them so that people of color in Allentown have a resource to find mental health services. 
    • We plan to present our manuscript to conferences and government officials that have similar interests to us, like public health and local advocacy. We have to market our manuscript to conferences and community leaders once it is complete so that it can make an impact on the community and serve as a record of COVID-19’s impact on people of color.  

 

1. Identify two SPECIFIC funding sources for the design phase of your project and two SPECIFIC funding sources for the dissemination (implementation / distribution / commercialization) phase of your project. For each funding source, explain why this is a good fit for your project, and what SPECIFIC aspect of your project might the funding source support.

Design: 

1. The National Institute of Health is the largest publicly funded medical health research fund that awards grants to help build the research foundation that drives discovery. They have a new initiative- Community Engagement Alliance (CEAL) Against COVID Disparities that seeks to work with the communities hit hardest by COVID-19, which aligns with the goals of our project. Receiving grants is very competitive, and it would be an ideal funding source as they aid in finding public health solutions.
2. Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is philanthropically funded that not only rewards grants to bring change that will help people live healthier and more productive lives, we seek to understand the world’s inequities but also nativates grantees.

 

Dissemination: 

1. The Pennsylvania Department of Health issues Formula and Non-formula grants annually. The Formula grants are non-competitive and are issued in conjunction with grants awarded by the National Institute of Health. Their support could help in expanding our reach/data retrieval 

 

1. A second source of funding could be the Lehigh Valley health bureau as we are working to provide health literacy to the minority communities specifically within the Lehigh Valley and they are a smaller municipality that has its own entire health bureau and would have the funds available for that.

 

1. Identify five specific partnerships that you need to forge to advance your project forward with the ultimate goal of positively impacting Lehigh University AND ten other universities. Describe exactly how each partnership might help you achieve scale and why that entity might be willing to work with you.

Partnerships

1. Lehigh Valley Health Network 
2. Allentown Health Bureau 
   1. The Allentown Health Bureau was responsible for addressing and responding to the pandemic. The Bureau may be our best source for empirical data and understanding of government response. 
3. Pennsylvania Department of Health 
   1. The department of health contains data both locally and state-wide. Both data sets are invaluable to understanding how different areas with distinct demographics and economic sectors are responding to the pandemic. 
4. La Mega Allentown
   1. La mega is a regional Latin radio station based in Allentown. However, they operate as an NGO because they seek to improve the latino community’s access to healthcare, improve health literacy, and advocate for public health officials who better represent their needs. The radio station could be a source for primary data as well as suggestions to improve healthcare guidelines and standard operating procedures. 
5. Allentown Dioceses 
   1. The church is an effective way to gather survey data of minority communities most affected by the pandemic. Could be an excellent partnership for our field work. 

Potential University Partners

1. University of Pennsylvania 
2. University of Michigan
   1. https://michr.umich.edu/news/2020/12/14/u-m-receives-14m-in-nih-funding-to-expand-covid-19-outreach
3. Penn State University
4. Drexel University (Advancing Urban Health Initiative)
5. Carnegie Mellon University (CAUSE)
6. University of Pittsburgh (CSTI)
7. University of Texas (specifically UTHealth)
   1. https://www.uth.edu/news/story.htm?id=b1ef5333-a9ab-4e5e-9602-5075dd61a98e
8. University of North Carolina (ACCORD)
9. Temple University
10. Villanova University

 

All of the universities listed above currently have initiatives with goals similar to ours, and we could potentially collaborate with them.