Year: 2024
Partner School: University of Houston
Community Partner: Workshop Houston
Category: Youth Services
Problem: Workshop Houston seeks creative solutions to maximize their current spaces (which house their four shop spaces: The Beat Shop, the Style Shop, The Dance Shop, and The Media Shop) and make them more conducive to functionality and creativity. They are also seeking creative solutions to increase the number of students attending their programming. They currently have about 40 students a week in their after school programming, however, this is about 50% of their potential capacity. They face issues specifically around recruitment and transportation.
Solution: The winning team made a plan for allocating funds for repairs, upgrades, and new equipment within the workshop spaces. This was combined with an incredibly deft and extensive redesign of the Workshop Houston website. Since Workshop Houston was struggling to increase awareness of their offerings, the new brand identity and enticing website allowed the organization to show off their programming and bring in new participants. In order to help get the word out about the organization, the students proposed a collaboration with the ‘Valenti Integrated’ program at the University of Houston’s Valenti School of Communication in order to bring in more subsidized student-led marketing and communications support.