4.5 Interviews

Jajean Rose-Burney (WNY Land Conservancy)

Jajean Rose-Burney from the Western New York (WNY) Land Conservancy helped us develop ideas as far as their community engagement and processes from their work. First, they suggested meeting with the community you are trying to plan and impact before the media makes them aware. By starting with traditional in-person methods, the community gets a more personal engagement experience. Surveying residents is also an impactful way to get a sense of how the community feels about and wants from the space, especially from a data standpoint. To gain momentum on the project, it’s recommended to do direct community improvement events, much like our own community event.

Jennifer McQuilkin (Former Studio Professor)

Jennifer McQuilkin gave beneficial insight into Human-Centered Design. Using this strategy, we conceived of the idea for user personas, which will be mentioned later in this report. Through developing user personas, we can begin to understand the needs of the community, define problems and barriers, ideate possible solutions, test solutions, and collect feedback. She was very helpful in fleshing out the different types of people who may be interacting with the community and the site, and how we can appeal and be inclusive towards them.

Meeting With the UHC

Meeting with our main stakeholders, the University Heights Collaborative was a crucial part of getting involved in the community engagement process for our site. Our meeting with the UHC consisted of interacting with Stephen Arlington, Mike Cartright, Linda Garlow, Candy Hayes, Dayna Overton-Burns, and Raymond Reichert in order to gain a wider perspective of the study area at hand.

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BARRIERS & PERSONAS