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Youths sit around a table discussing an issue during seminar. Projector screen is at front of room.
Participants created “empathy maps” to contextualize a young person’s decision to vape.

Through Boston Children's Hospital’s Determination of Need Community Health Initiatives, the Office of Community Health gives funding to several youth serving organizations. These organizations serve a variety of populations throughout Boston with varying missions.

The Office of Community Health partnered with SparkShare to provide an opportunity for leaders at some of our youth serving funded partners to participate in one of their workshops. SparkShare’s mission is to equip young people with the skills, tools, mindset, and connections they need to drive meaningful change in their communities. SparkShare believes in human-centered design to transform ideas into strategic action. This approach emphasizes thinking about who they are trying to impact, rather than what. Participants learned about design thinking principles and practiced four methods: persona building, empathy mapping, ecosystem mapping, and brainstorming. If you or your organization want to learn more or engage with SparkShare on a project, click here for more information.

"Youth are strong advocates for their communities and represent a bright future,” says Marisa Otis, Manager of Community Programs at Boston Children’s Hospital. “We are proud to invest in capacity building efforts for our youth partners and look forward to seeing their leadership in action.”

Boston Children’s was able to offer a SparkShare training to 20 of our youth serving partners. The training gave these leaders new tools to work with their youth to advocate and advance change in the communities they serve. Scroll on to see a series of photos from the training.

Participating organizations