CONNECTThe world's first Say Do Be" Good Social Networking App"
This project aims to build communities that focus on saying, doing, and being good. We hope to accomplish this by engaging residents through challenges, starting with giving students a challenge (such as #putasmile, #volunteer, etc), giving children a challenge to connect with the elderly (such as #chat #journal, etc). Residents can choose a challenge, complete it, and then take a photo or video and post it on the app.
In which areas of Los Angeles will you be directly working?
County of Los Angeles
City of Los Angeles
LAUSD (select only if you have a district-wide partnership or project)
What is the problem that you are seeking to address?
The problem that we are seeking to address is loneliness and mental health issues. New research reveals how social media platforms like Facebook can greatly affect our mental health. Excessive use of social media can fuel anxiety, depression, FOMO, and other mental health issues. Research shows that loneliness, living alone, and poor social connections are as unhealthy as smoking 15 cigarettes a day and worse than being obese. Lonely people are more likely to suffer from heart disease, dementia, depression, and increase the risk of death at any given time by a whopping 29%.
Describe the project, program, or initiative that this grant will support to address the problem identified.
This project will address loneliness and mental health issues by building social networking platform that focuses on real social connections and emotional supports. We want to enable people to discover new routines and change their habits for the better through simple challenges, such as laughing with another person, getting hugs, share a meal, take walks together, holding hands, join groups with a common interest, volunteer, work on a hobby, take a class, practice small talks with a stranger, meditate, read, etc.
In what stage of innovation is this project, program, or initiative?
Research (initial work to identify and understand the problem)
Approximately how many people will be impacted by this project, program, or initiative?
Direct Impact: 100,000
Indirect Impact: 200,000
Describe how Los Angeles County will be different if your work is successful.
The initial project will focus on local and only a few specific challenges. During the grant period, the project aims to have 100,000 challenges completed by residents. Given that in 2018, just over 64 percent of LA County adults reported receiving sufficient social and emotional support and this figure has remained consistent over the past decade. If we can only connect 100,000 out of over 600,000 LAUSD students with at least 100,000 seniors out of over 1.3 million seniors in LA County, this would at minimum increase the metric target by one percent. This would be a one-on-one direct impact since it will involve formal connections or partnerships between organizations. The vision of this project is to be a global challenges app that enables all citizens of the world to challenge one another to say, do and be good to themselves, their family and friends, strangers, and the environment.
What evidence do you have that this project, program, or initiative is or will be successful, and how will you define and measure success?
In its first year, success will be measured based on: 1. Website and app development completion 2. Secure partnerships with senior care providers, LAUSD and other organizations 3. 100,000 challenges completed by the end of the grant period in August 2021.
Which of the CONNECT metrics will you impact?
Social and emotional support
Volunteerism
Indicate any additional LA2050 goals your project will impact.
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