STEAMcycle (STEAM = Science Technology Engineering Art Math)

Inspiration

We’ve worked with a number of nonprofit organizations that have provided resources in the areas of food, healthcare, and eviction prevention to underserved communities who have been experiencing significant difficulties in the midst of new challenges stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic. Many of these families have requested computers, laptops, or tablets for their students to be able to participate in the digital learning platforms that many schools have moved to due to COVID-19 restrictions. Unfortunately, many under-resourced schools are unable to provide those devices to their students, and smaller nonprofit organizations have found it challenging to source devices through corporate sponsorship programs. We know many members of the community have unused devices and are looking to help others in this time of crisis, so we were inspired to help facilitate this opportunity to do good.

What it does

1. STEAMcycle’s platform connects community members with local nonprofit organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area to re-purpose their unused tech devices to support under-resourced students (elementary to high school), giving them access to digital learning platforms and online educational resources. STEAMcycle stands for Science Technology Engineering Art and Math, combined with the concept of recycling/upcycling unused technology devices and putting them to good use.
2. Donors can complete a donation form for the technology devices they’d like to give.
3. Volunteers can sign up as drivers or technicians.
4. Volunteers can claim tickets/opportunities and access a profile page that shows the status of their open tickets.
5. Families can access additional resources on how to use/troubleshoot donated technology devices, online safety tips and practices, and other digital learning tools.

How I built it

1. Mid to Hi-fidelity wireframes were built on Figma for collaboration prior to shifting to Webflow
2. Logo designed on Sketch
3. Embedded Memberstack for donor and volunteer registration
4. Tidio chat tool for real-time contact

Challenges I ran into

1. Working collaboratively across different time zones was one of the biggest challenges, but also one of the biggest accomplishments.
2. Project scope was broad, and required discussion and compromise to refine what was feasible to build in 24 hours and what needed to be left for future iterations.

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

1. Handing off the project to our partners who were “awake” while some went to bed was seamless as everyone was on the same page. The person handing off the project made sure that the necessary information was handed to the person taking over.
2. Going through the whole process of software development from ideation, design and prototype development.

What I learned

1. We learned a lot about the social impact community, how donors react and interact with donation flows.
2. We learned how we can integrate various services with Webflow.
3. And the most important lesson was to learn and collaborate with a global team, with people working on opposite sides of the globe.

What's next for STEAMcycle

1. If you live in the San Francisco Bay Area, please go to http://www.steamcycle.org to learn how you can help support under-resourced students in your community.
2. If you live outside of the San Francisco Bay Area and are interested in bringing STEAMcycle to your community, please reach out to us via the website’s chat support - STEAMcycle is designed to empower grassroots community groups to support their local nonprofit organizations, and we’re happy to share a white-label version.

Built With

• figma
• memberstack
• sketch
• tidio
• webflow