Family Independence Initiative
The Family Independence Initiative (FII) provides direct investment to low-income families based on their “Initiative Score,” FII’s more holistic alternative to a traditional credit score. I was part of a team of Google.org Fellows that worked with FII to help families better understand how their Initiative Score is calculated and how they can actively improve it.
Background
FII’s mission is based on two principles: low-income families are resourceful and motivated to take initiative in their own lives and in their communities, and providing direct investment to these families accelerates their economic and social progress. To deliver on this mission, FII developed the Initiative Score, to codify the steps that families are taking to improve their lives and provide investments based on this initiative.
Families provide data to FII on a monthly basis about their economic and social activities – their financial changes, family accomplishments, community service, and more – which is used to compute their Initiative Score. Based on this score, families would receive direct investments on a regular cadence. However, we discovered that families were confused about how their Initiative Score was calculated and how that influenced the investments they would receive. Our team of Google.org Fellows worked with FII to build a new set of product experiences to clarify the components of the Initiative Score, what families could do to improve it, and how the score related to their investments.
Role
I worked on a team of 6 Google.org Fellows. I worked with our UX researcher, product manager and program manager to conduct foundational research, analyze and prioritize findings in a UX workshop, and determine our top priority focus. After narrowing down on our scope and final deliverable, I worked with our UX writer to drive the end-to-end design process – from ideation to iteration, usability testing and execution.
Skills
Design strategy
Design facilitation
Rapid prototyping
Interaction design
Visual design
Press
The Keyword: Google.org and FII collaborate to empower low-income families
The Bay State Banner: Program facilitates economic mobility
Family Independence Initiative: Announcing in Greater Boston: Trust and Invest Collaborative