U-District Job Co-op: constructing a future vision for homeless young people and employment

Addressing the question, how might socio-technical systems help homeless young people to succeed broadly in employment, the purpose of this paper is to present a future vision, the U-District Job Co-op, where youth take on “mini-jobs” offered by neighborhood stakeholders.

Drawing on value sensitive design, design-based, and qualitative research methods, the Job Co-op is explicated by reporting on three linked studies.

First, based on empirical research with varied neighborhood stakeholders, barriers and possible solutions to employment for homeless young people are presented. Second, three design insights for shaping a solution space of socio-technical systems for job search are presented and used analytically to examine six existing systems. Third, findings from a co-design study in which homeless young people expressed their understandings for web-based job services explicate the vision of the Job Co-op.

This study offers a socio-technical approach, grounded in the neighborhood context, for supporting homeless young people in job search and related activities.

The studies reported in this paper demonstrate how methods for information system design can be used to generate and clarify opportunities for human benefit and for the development of socio-technical systems that account for human values.