“FAITH”
Finalist: Point of View
Creators: Sydney, Ashley, Janel, and Marely
Middle School Students from Mouse Design League (DIIT) @ MS 88
About this Project:
The police system needs to be restructured and reimagined in the United States. Police brutality has had a huge impact on our faith in the police. Police brutality rates have gone up drastically, and so has its attention. Police officers only need 672 hours of training while barbers need 1300 hours of training. The defunding of the police movement also plays a role, it has become a political issue, that is controversial, and we are not seeing any change.
So we designed Faith! An app that will work to not only uplift those who have been affected by police brutality, but to educate police officers and train them to be what every police officer should be, a gatekeeper of justice.
Faith will allow police officers to take courses on topics such as mental health and human rights, and it will guide them through ways to improve as a police officer. Faith will work to change the minds of police officers through our own creative learning tools. Our app will work by allowing police officers to take courses and exposing the police officers to the right training
So we designed Faith! An app that will work to not only uplift those who have been affected by police brutality, but to educate police officers and train them to be what every police officer should be, a gatekeeper of justice.
Faith will allow police officers to take courses on topics such as mental health and human rights, and it will guide them through ways to improve as a police officer. Faith will work to change the minds of police officers through our own creative learning tools. Our app will work by allowing police officers to take courses and exposing the police officers to the right training
Project Media
Images
Slides
Video
More About this Project
Our app will be used by police officers, and it will allow them to take courses on past, present, and future issues. Originally our app idea wasn’t to have police officers take courses but just simply educate everyone. But with feedback all of that became what Faith is now.
One issue that Faith addresses is mental health. Unfortunately, mental health is a huge issue in the black community, and since police officers aren’t properly trained to address people with mental issues, police brutality has had a huge impact on the black community. Police brutality has had a huge impact on the way we trust officers and we believe that by exposing officers to the right training, this will change the way they address situations and it will reduce police brutality. Not only that but the media has made police brutality seem so common but in reality it’s not.
We always knew that Faith had the potential to make a huge impact on so many people. We went through the app designing process step by step, and listened to people's personal views on police brutality, and taking these steps changed our app.
Faith isn’t the only police brutality app or app on Black Lives Matter for that matter. An app called “Stand Up To Racism” does include informational aspects but it doesn’t include features for police officers that we include.
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Feedback from the Judges:
Well done! What a great aspiration: To restore people’s FAITH and positive perceptions in police officers. Thank you for addressing an important challenge: improving education and training of police officers so they might better serve and protect people in the communities. Your video presentation was compelling and comprehensive - I learned a lot. I appreciate that you started with talking to police officers and teachers to understand their perspectives and identifying key issues and opportunities to improve. Your insights about the prevalence of mental health issues in Black communities and the lack of training for police officers around mental health illness and how it impacts people are really interesting and important connections. Your solution to reduce police brutality – an application to improve education and training for police officers – is a positive, proactive and hopefully sustainable one.
Continue to think about how you might involve police departments/officers, educators and mental health specialists in creating content for your application. I would also encourage you to consider other potential opportunities and benefits of your app. For examples:
-How might the app provide tailored or real-time content for police officers based on the community and/or situation?
- How might the app provide police officers the ability and opportunities to connect and share learning and tips that have helped them better understand and de-escalate situations?
Wonderful idea. Compelling presentation. I hope you continue to make progress on solving an important problem in our community.
Continue to think about how you might involve police departments/officers, educators and mental health specialists in creating content for your application. I would also encourage you to consider other potential opportunities and benefits of your app. For examples:
-How might the app provide tailored or real-time content for police officers based on the community and/or situation?
- How might the app provide police officers the ability and opportunities to connect and share learning and tips that have helped them better understand and de-escalate situations?
Wonderful idea. Compelling presentation. I hope you continue to make progress on solving an important problem in our community.
Wow! First of all, you all did a great job pitching this app! Your presentation very clearly defined a real problem, and told the story of how you identified that problem through interviews and research. You did a great job telling us about your design process, and how your idea changed over time, and then you presented a very thoughtful and well designed solution. I am impressed!
Your use of empathy and the human centered design process clearly shows through in your work. I appreciate the way you used facts and figures that from your research to help illustrate the problem (like the number of hours of training police get compared to barbers) and then designed your app in a way that would work to solve that problem.
The only constructive feedback I have is in the user interface of your mockup, I think the font and color scheme could be adjusted a little bit to make the words more readable (maybe a slightly higher color contrast between text and background color, or a simpler font choice for the smaller paragraphs) but those are small changes.
Overall this is a very well designed, well thought out app, and is a creative, empathetic solution to a real problem! Keep up the great work!
Your use of empathy and the human centered design process clearly shows through in your work. I appreciate the way you used facts and figures that from your research to help illustrate the problem (like the number of hours of training police get compared to barbers) and then designed your app in a way that would work to solve that problem.
The only constructive feedback I have is in the user interface of your mockup, I think the font and color scheme could be adjusted a little bit to make the words more readable (maybe a slightly higher color contrast between text and background color, or a simpler font choice for the smaller paragraphs) but those are small changes.
Overall this is a very well designed, well thought out app, and is a creative, empathetic solution to a real problem! Keep up the great work!
Fantastic project to tackle the very complicated and nuanced issue of police brutality and racism within law enforcement. I applaud you for approaching the target audience of the police force directly with "FAITH," to address the problem head-on. Now that the BLM movement has shed light on the continued realities of what BIPOC face, this app idea goes one step further in really making the change with the people who are the gatekeepers of justice and law enforcement. I like how thorough you were in researching different viewpoints and tailoring your project to take them into account. Fantastic job on identifying underlying problems like the lack of understanding of how to deal with communities that have mental health issues and facts like the number of hours of police training that is part of the root of the issue. As far as the mock up of the app itself, I would suggest using more color contrast with the background and the font colors to make the information more readable. But, overall I am very impressed with the amount of thought that went into this project and I really enjoyed articulate each of you were in the presentation! Keep up the good work. Stupendous!
Feedback from the Community:
👏 a Middle School Student from United States of America
I think this project was great. It shows a lot of things about what the police have done and make people aware of things.
inez 👏 a Middle School Student
My Team had similar idea to yours
Jeremiah 👏 a Middle School Student from Earth
It's cool
Bunny 👏 a Middle School Student from Ms.88
Wow! To think this came from our school made me very impressed. I remember seeing you present live and it was AMAZING! Love the work you've done and the thought you put into this.
<3 Bunny
<3 Bunny
susan 👏 a Middle School Student from nyc
good job
susan 👏 a Middle School Student from nyc
good job
👏 a Middle School Student
nice
Grace 👏 a Teacher and/or Educator from NYC DOE
You all did an amazing job on your app and should be really proud of yourselves! I wish we didn't need an app like this, but I am so glad that you are using technology to make the world a better place.
👏 a Middle School Student
Cool
anonymous 👏 a Middle School Student from new york
This app seems to be able to do so much against police brutality, it's so useful!
👏 a Middle School Student
good job
Joel 👏 a Middle School Student from nyc
This is really nice!
👏 a Middle School Student
This is a really great idea!! I think this could be super helpful overall and to lots of people just so they can feel more safe.
👏 a Middle School Student
I like this app a lot it can help a lot of people and cops be better.
👏 a Middle School Student from earth
I really like your project.
human 👏 a Middle School Student
great job!
Suhani 👏 a Middle School Student from ms 88
I think the presentation was really amazing and looked very thought out and planned, most projects on police brutality just educated the users on police brutality but its a big step up to educate those at the front of police brutality (officers) and it is a very innovative and creative idea. This shows how you can tackle an issue by going straight for the start of the issue (that being police taking advantage of their power). I really like this app idea a lot :)
👏 a Middle School Student
it's helpful.
👏 a Parent and/or Guardian
I love that you are thinking about a very tough issue and trying to humanize all people involved. Great work. Next steps? Meetings with NYPD?
shirley 👏 a Middle School Student from ms88
I loved this and to think this is from our school is crazy! There was so much thought put into this and im super proud of you guys!!
👏 a Middle School Student
Awesome presentation! This is terrific :)
👏 a Middle School Student
I really loved this project It talks about a real social issue that we should be focusing on.
👏 a Middle School Student
Smart!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Natalie734 👏 a Middle School Student from Middle school 88
I love everything about this app.
you guys did such an amazing job!!! 🤍🤍🤍🤍
you guys did such an amazing job!!! 🤍🤍🤍🤍
👏 a Middle School Student
This is an issue that is certainly not at the forefront when it comes to problems here in NYC. It is very refreshing to see not only this issue be addressed but to see it be addressed with the true passion and effort that was put into this project.
Caterina 👏 a Middle School Student
I love this so much. I've never seen an app quite like this. I think it's really important to spread awareness and information to educate people. Great job!
👏 a Middle School Student
I love how well organized your presentation was great job!
Angelica 👏 a Middle School Student from East New York
You guy did an amazing job with this !!
J 👏 a Middle School Student from Brooklyn NY
I loved teh topic, I think its a very important topic. I also liked how they included many images as well as words and information. Great project!
riri 👏 a High School Student
this is amazing!!
Frankie 👏 a Middle School Student
This is a great idea and it was well executed!
ms582 👏 a Middle School Student from new york cite
28i think that awesome and cool
Ivy :) 👏 a Middle School Student
This is a stunningly unique idea! Incorporating, rather than targeting, police officers into the healing process and development of society, is a valuable strategy. The thought put into the design and impact of the app, and the empathy brimming from the project is truly beautiful. Go Faith!
Dana 👏 a Middle School Student
This is a nice project!
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