Social issues resulting from limited employment opportunities, high crime rates, and poverty affect us all. These circumstances are especially devastating to high-risk urban areas like the Frazier community in Dallas, Texas, where unemployment rates are tremendous, and a chance for economic recovery becomes less likely each day.
In an effort to bring lasting solutions to the Frazier community, FRI, a non-profit organization in Dallas, has developed the What Works Challenge, an idea management hub powered by Planview IdeaPlace innovation management software. By crowdsourcing ideas from around the world, FRI hopes to answer a crucial question: How can we create opportunities for living-wage jobs for hard-to-employ residents of high-risk urban communities?
The “What Works Challenge” and Why it Matters
The community of Frazier faces a number of difficulties, including:
- Significant income disparity between the residents of Frazier and those of Dallas/ the rest of Texas
- Over 40% of residents have been incarcerated
- Only 19% of parolees have received a high school diploma or equivalent education
- 65.5% of the adult population in the community is unemployed
- General societal neglect
The goal of this challenge is to discover executable ideas that will help get Frazier residents — and those in other similar urban areas — into living wage jobs. This inspiring video features interviews with many of the Frazier residents affected by these difficulties.
Crowdsourcing Ideas with Planview IdeaPlace
Planview IdeaPlace crowdsourcing software allows the team at FRI to reach out to myriad organizations for ideas on how to best help the residents of Frazier recover and thrive. Participants can submit their own solutions, discuss suggestions from others, collaborate on ideas they support, and vote on submissions they like. Planview IdeaPlace will allow decision-makers to identify the best ideas and predict their potential impact, enabling both long-lasting and breakthrough innovations as the crowd grows and more ideas are brought in.
