A policy platform for economic mobility
Though the federal and state policy debate tends to dominate national discourse, local governments can in fact have tremendous influence over the lives of their residents. The problem many local leaders face, however, is not knowing what, of the many possible social programs, will have the most impact on their constituents.
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Design, Development, Strategy, Analytics, and UX
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Social Impact
Driven to fix the economic mobility crisis, Results for America (RFA) connects city leaders to evidence-based programs and strategies they can leverage to create lasting change within their communities. Courtesy of the Economic Mobility Catalog (EMC), RFA can now publish and share those strategies online, significantly expanding the reach of its mission.
A collaborative effort between Happy Cog and RFA, the Economic Mobility Catalog houses 200 evidence-based interventions that have proven to accelerate change on a local level. Working closely with policy experts and prospective users, we helped RFA organize, structure, and connect a vast library of content stretching across education, youth development, justice, housing, and financial security.
The content and interface evolved as one, as reading habits we observed during testing influenced both what the content said and how it was presented.
Through in-depth external stakeholder interviews, we learned that many of the people who’d be using the site preferred to search policy information in terms of “I have an issue…” or “I’m looking for xyz outcome.” We created a dual navigation that allows the visitor to browse case studies based on criteria relevant to their circumstances. For example, a visitor can see how a similarly sized city with a similar constituency solved a similar problem.
Policy is a team effort that’s built together over time. Our design process was no different. It was iterative and co-creative with the RFA team. We tested our content and design with policymakers in municipal government to make incremental and useful improvements.
On the development side, we created a Craft CMS-powered back end that allows the client to manage all of these unique pieces of data. The client was interested in a very structured approach, so we used Craft CMS to define all the areas of the content and implemented an author experience that aligned with the content strategy and client expectations. By working closely with the client, we were able to find that fine line of “structured yet flexible” when it came to the CMS setup. As RFA is a nonprofit, we also set it up with a nonprofit Algolia plan to power the instant search of all its issues and outcomes.
Happy Cog was a terrific partner to us at Results for America. They brought a skilled, multi-faceted team to the creation of the Economic Mobility Catalog and were easy to work with throughout the process. We are so pleased with the end result.
That iterative design and testing was critical to the product’s ultimate success. By involving client experts and potential users from concept through completion, the product immediately found its target audience. We also effectively created a product that allows the client to showcase its data in an organized and structured manner that aligns with its audience. We made managing this data in a content management system easy, and presented this data in a visually appealing way.
To quote one chief of staff to an influential congressman: “The best presentation of this kind of information I have ever seen.” The EMC was a true labor of love, and we look forward to its continued growth.