Redesigning the Volunteer Experience: Civic Tech Atlanta

Tools + Skills: User Research, Design Thinking, UX Design, Service Design, Strategy​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Summary 

To help Civic Tech Atlanta (formerly Code for Atlanta) re-engage its volunteer base post-pandemic, we reimagined the end-to-end volunteer experience through user research, service design, and UX strategy. Insights from interviews revealed barriers to participation and confusion around project submission. As part of the leadership team, I co-led a strategic relaunch that included a refreshed website, a streamlined project proposal process, an onboarding video, and a redesigned in-person experience that empowered volunteers to jump in more easily and meaningfully contribute to civic tech projects aligned with the organization’s mission.​​​​​​​

The Challenge 

Civic Tech Atlanta (formerly Code for Atlanta) partners with local organizations and governments on civic-minded projects that make metro Atlanta more inclusive, diverse, equitable, and accessible. They had an engaged volunteer in-person community with a steady flow of community centered projects. With the move to virtual during the pandemic volunteer participation fell off and many of the projects proposed started to lose sight of the mission of the organization.

The Approach

After conducting interviews with project volunteers and members of the leadership team, it was found many volunteers found it difficult to get involved or didn’t understand the process to submit a project for consideration. As a part of the leadership and strategy team, we strategized a new path forward to reconnect the organization to its mission and make it easier for people to get involved. ​​​​​​​

The Outcome

We relaunched the chapter with a website refresh, an easier to use straightforward project proposal form, and an engaging in-person experience. The “Civic Tech 101” presentation that was typically done in-person for each hack night was summarized in a informative video for participants to review at their leisure. This dedicated more time towards working directly on projects at hack night.