This is not another training. This is where practice begins.
The Safe & Trusted Ecosystem Design Lab is HEY!'s collective response to a hard truth: our region has dozens of trainings available to adults who work with youth — and yet youth continue to report that they don't have safe adults in their lives, safe spaces to exist in, or adults who truly show up for them. More knowledge has not moved the needle. Something deeper must change.
Sessions complete
0
of 14 total
Hours logged
0
validated total: 112.5h
Relational work entries
0
documented
Stories captured
0
qualitative moments
Dataset
↺ Reload
restore 39 entries
Why this exists
Youth across Greater Cincinnati consistently report they don't have enough safe, trusted adults in their lives — and lack community spaces where they truly belong. Our region has dozens of trainings available. Youth are still saying the same things. More knowledge has not moved the needle. What's missing is practice, shared language, and organizational cultures built to actually support youth voice and leadership.
The gap we found
~100%
of adults say they're personally ready to listen to youth
40%
say their org is not ready to act on what youth say
1 in 3
adults unsure if they can speak openly at work
Source: HEY! Youth Program & Power Building Assessment, 2025 — nearly 70 C&C Working Group members
What we're building
Safe & Trusted Adult Training
A youth-led experience centered on observable behavior change — not a checklist, not a certificate. Written in youth language. Delivered by youth.
Safe Spaces Cohort Model
A long-term organizational journey — groups of orgs learning and shifting together, with youth at every stage. Not an event. A practice.
How this works
Practice→Learn→Fail→Adjust→Evolve→Share
This work is iterative by design. The Design Lab is not a one-time investment with a final deliverable. It is the start of a living infrastructure — one that gets better over time as organizations practice, reflect, and build the muscle of relational, youth-centered culture together.
Vision roadmap
Where we've been, where we are, where we're headed — pinch or scroll to zoom
Percentages exceed 100% because labor layers are not mutually exclusive. Relational work — transportation, youth coaching, emotional support — runs through every session type.
Recent entries
Last 5 logged activities
Design Lab session timeline
12-week arc from February through May 2026. Click any session to log notes or mark complete.
Complete Active / recent Upcoming
Activity log
Every hour of work on this project, named and documented.
◆
No activity logged yet. Start capturing your time.
Relational work ledger
The work that doesn't show up in agendas, meeting notes, or job descriptions — but makes everything else possible.
Transportation
Real-time Uber coordination, youth communication, last-minute crisis response — before and during sessions, without a system.
Youth emotional support
Reading the room, responding to crises, helping youth feel safe enough to participate and lead authentically.
Leader-as-participant
Synthesizing, leading, and holding the space while listed as a participant — doing the work others do on their breaks.
◆
Nothing logged yet. This is the place to name the relational, emotional, and connective work that holds everything together.
Story archive
Qualitative moments that show the work is landing — youth breakthroughs, adult mindset shifts, moments of real connection. These are the outcomes that can't be measured in tasks.
◆
No moments captured yet. What happened in the room that mattered?
Deliverable tracker
Phase 1 outputs and Design Lab deliverables. Click progress bar areas to update.
Add a deliverable or milestone
Track anything that needs to get done — formal deliverable, internal milestone, or open question.
Log activity
SME Lab sessionYouth Design LabTiER1 1:1 strategyC&C core leadershipC&C Working GroupYouth coachingPlanning and prepTransportationPost-session synthesisStakeholder comms
The foundational needs assessment that surfaced the realities, voices, and unmet needs that led to HEY!'s formation and the C&C working group's strategy.
The 10-year collaborative strategy — vision, mission, guiding principles, focus areas, and impact outcomes for youth mental well-being across the region.
Convert each PPTX to PDF, then upload to your GitHub repo (Qeiara/ConnectionAsPraxis). Once uploaded, the file lives at https://qeiara.github.io/ConnectionAsPraxis/filename.pdf — share that link with me and I'll activate the card in one update.
To convert PPTX to PDF: open in PowerPoint → File → Save As → PDF. Or open in Google Slides → File → Download → PDF.
