Project Synergize

Across America, there are 5,225 distressed zipcodes; all of these communities are at risk of displacement when new investments flood into their neighborhood. How can these communities receive investments without being at risk of displacement? Our solution to this problem is a scalable web-based application that aims to de-risk major developments through community empowerment. 

Project Synergize is a community engagement platform that enables cities, real estate developers, and opportunity zone investors to de-risk their major developments. The core mission of this platform is to ensure that cities and developers engage communities during the pre-development phase of projects, and to promote community empowerment by ensuring that resident voices are heard.  

Our solution provides transparency to government or developer led revitalizations, promotes inclusive economic growth in distressed regions, and encourages community participation in designing the future of their neighborhood. 

In America, there are 5,225 zip codes that are identified as economically distressed. One in six Americans live in a distressed community which translates to 52 million Americans who are struggling with basic access to education, jobs, and housing. Too often, these areas are left behind with no option but to move to another distressed area causing displacement. With revitalizations or new investments these areas become drastically less affordable and recognizable to residents who lived there. 

Our team uncovered three core problems that lead to growing issue: (1) lack of transparency within governments planning revitalizations, (2) limited innovation and inclusion around civic engagement, and (3) no data collection around socio-economic needs in distressed communities. 

With displacement occurring in major cities across America, it is critical that a solution is designed inclusively to promote participation from every citizen. In addition, declining voting rates and trust have showcased that there is a growing divide between democratic institutions and their citizens. There must be a bridge built to promote transparency and interaction between these two parties, and other stakeholders who are a part of this process. 

Our product aims to empower the 52 million Americans living in distressed communities. With limited access to education, work, and housing residents living in these neighborhood also have little civic engagement and say in the future of their community.

The core mission of Project Synergize is to ensure that cities and developers engage communities during the pre-development phase of revitalizations, and to promote community empowerment by ensuring that resident voices are heard. This solution will de-risk these major initiatives by harnessing community needs data, visualizing this data on a dashboard, and encouraging engagement between cities, developers, and residents through a single platform. 

Project Synergize’s data is compiled through both public sources, as well as through community engagement experiences (our proprietary data). To collect this information, our technology stack goes through a series of phases for our multiple end-users to engage with. In BETA, these phases include: 

Outreach:

Our team hosts grassroots workshops and shares outreach materials with local organizations to educate and engage local residents.

Input

Through workshops and outreach materials we ask a series of questions aims to understand community member needs, sentiments, and values.

Harness

The SMS conversations are stored in our database as our proprietary community data. These data points are sorted and tagged with social impact metrics such as affordable housing, workforce development, education, or green spaces. None of the data we use is personal, demographic, or census based and have drafted and will uphold a strong privacy policy. 

Present

Our proprietary data is merged with public data to present insights our web-based platform, providing deep insights into community needs. 

Utilize

The data compiled is continuously updated to Project Synergize for registered users to utilize as information gathering and collaboration before they begin a revitalization project with the city. These data sources are compiled into the Community Needs Visualization, which is a tool for demonstrating local sentiment and socio-economic needs. 

Engage

In a final stage, an end-user can connect with local community stakeholders to discuss the community insights and work to collaborate to invest in a local need. 

This process engages community members directly and delivers their input to our end user so they can collaborate to solve problems at the local level.