The South Design Research Studio bridges community with power and capital for meaningful impact. We're a bilingual storytelling and research collaborative supporting organizations designing programs, policies, and services for communities they're not embedded in across the U.S. South, Latin America, and the Caribbean.This is where we share stories, tools, and ideas for building more just, community-driven futures across The South. Join us.
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Borderless South: Our site is live + bilingual researchers wanted
Published about 1 month agoΒ β’Β 4 min read
Borderless South - Sep. '26 Edition
The South Design Research Studio is a collaborative research and storytelling agency. We focus on sharing stories and insights from diverse communities in the American South, Latin America, and the Caribbean to positively influence the design of community services, policies, and products. Here, we share tools, ideas, and moments of joy from those doing aligned work across the region.
Note from the Founder
Hey y'all β
There's so much going on across the U.S., Latin America, and the Caribbean. I've spent the last few months in Colombia, moving between feeling powerless about the state of things, not only here, but also in the U.S. and, soon after, energized by how fast people organize themselves when institutions don't. Every link I share that caught my eye this past month comes from that energizing side: whether it's sharing how a Houston foundation increased trust, capacity, and approved citizenship applications through co-design or an archive keeping decades of USAID cooperation work from disappearing in Colombia.
Also inside: The South has a website now (under "What's new.") and I'm looking to connect bilingual Spanish/English researchers to work (under Offers) β
With much love from my Southern heart, βKeara π§‘
Founder, The South Design Research Studio
What's new with The South?
β
The South website - The South is world wide web official π. We're excited to have a public home to share our vision and values and create a new channel for others to share with us as well. β π» Check us out at thesouthdr.comβ β
New brief published: Safe People, Safe Places, Safe Services - Last week, a brief I wrote with New America's New Practice Lab went live as part of Thriving Families, a 3-year project centering the lived experiences of families eligible in the design of social safety net programs in the U.S. β The brief highlighted the chasm between day-to-day family concerns about public safety and government response. It also offers insight on how you can move from hearing family stories to making family-centered policy and practice recommendations. β π Take a look at more of my thoughts on the process on LinkedIn.β
Things that caught my eye last month
ππΎ Work I'm following
βGreater Houston Citizenship Project: Applying Human-Centered Design to Address Citizenship Barriers β βIn 2023, Houston Endowment sought a deeper understanding of the barriers lawful permanent residents encountered navigating the citizenship process. They started with an observation: of the 360,000 eligible to naturalize, only 10 percent completed the process. Over a multi-year study, with co-design sessions engaging more than 500 community members across Greater Houston, they shaped new pilot programs. β I loved this one because it shows the moment co-design is really for: you've noticed something you don't understand, you know it's sensitive and complex, and you suspect people's experiences differ more than your data can show. Exercises like collaborative journey mapping got them context they couldn't have guessed at, and let community members correct them when they were wrong, something that never happens when you take research away and interpret it by yourself. β βCheck out more details about their process along with resources to bring the work to your community. β
βSynapsis β When USAID shut down, I went back to a site to read more about a community project and it simply wasn't there. Years of learning about what worked and what didn't, gone in the time it takes to take a page down. FundaciΓ³n Ideas para la Paz and Humanity United built this repository to recuperate the loss: over 1,500 files and 800 systematized documents from decades of cooperation work in Colombia. What makes it useful is that it holds not just the original documents, but also key findings to carry into whatever the future holds for multinational collaboration.
π€² Work I'm supporting
Justice by Design: A People's Constitution β In recognition of the Constitution's 250th anniversary, Justice by Design, led by Victor Udoewa, is assembling 20 qualitatively representative U.S. residents to collaboratively draft a People's Constitution; one that considers the needs and voices of people long left out of the original document. To make this a genuinely diverse and participatory process, the organization is fundraising to fairly compensate participants, so economic precarity isn't a barrier to being in the room. I'm proud to be one of the collaborators on this fundraiser, and I hope you'll support it as well! βπ Support the fundraiser ββ
Directorio Unificado de Capacidades β In response to the recent earthquakes that impacted Colombia, a collective of organizations is building a unified directory of startups, companies, foundations, and community organizations with solutions ready to deploy in health, logistics, shelter, infrastructure, economic reactivation, or risk management. Solutions included will be visible to donors, impact investors, and international cooperation agencies looking to channel resources where they're needed most. Closes September 15, 2026. β π» Applyβ π’ Share opportunity post on Linkedin ββ
πΆ Werk that makes me smile
βThis video β One thing that warmed my heart being in Colombia post-earthquake was seeing everyone come together. I love this clip of boys helping, bopping, and showing Black boy joy in the middle of a massive donation drive. Watch it, I promise you can't help but smile. β
βThis tribute to Super Sunday β Super Sunday is an annual gathering and street celebration in New Orleans featuring the city's Black Masking (Mardi Gras Indian) tribes. The photography here is beautiful and beautifully captures community, culture, and just a good time.
The South Asks & Offers
Asks
ππ½Feedback on the Listening-to-Action Assessmentβ I'd love for you to take 5 minutes to try the Listening-to-Action Assessment β a tool Claude and I built to help identify potential blind spots in social impact design research and community listening projects. If you give it a try, I'd love to hear what you think and whether it's useful.
Offers
β¨ Bilingual researcher/content designer rosterβ If you're a bilingual English/Spanish researcher or content designer interested in being on a roster to support projects centering family experiences to inform U.S. policy, let me know (reply to this email). I'm putting together a list to connect a client with people who can further support their work.
π Letβs stay in touch
If you are interested in working with us or learning more, feel free to book time on my calendar to chat or reply to this email. I'd love to hear from you!
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The South Design Research Studio bridges community with power and capital for meaningful impact. We're a bilingual storytelling and research collaborative supporting organizations designing programs, policies, and services for communities they're not embedded in across the U.S. South, Latin America, and the Caribbean.This is where we share stories, tools, and ideas for building more just, community-driven futures across The South. Join us.
Borderless South - Oct. '26 Edition The South Design Research Studio is a collaborative research and storytelling agency. We focus on sharing stories and insights from diverse communities in the American South, Latin America, and the Caribbean to positively influence the design of community services, policies, and products. Here, we share tools, ideas, and moments of joy from those doing aligned work across the region. Note from the Founder Hey y'all β Last week, I joined the βSocial Impact,...
The South Design Research Studio is a collaborative research and storytelling agency. We focus on sharing authentic stories and insights from diverse communities in the American South, Latin America, and the Caribbean to positively influence the design of community services, policies, and products. Here, we share tools and ideas from those doing aligned work across the region. Note from the Founder Over the past few months, Iβve been in conversation with leaders across the Caribbean, the U.S....
Borderless South Newsletter of The South Design Research StudioSharing stories of The South, reimagined by community Hi there β Itβs been a little while since Iβve written. Thank you for being here! Iβve been reflecting on what I want to bring to this virtual space and to this moment in time. I continue to be in that phase, but I wanted to start to share some things on my mind lately! π Whatβs shifting around us If you're reading this around the time that I first send it, you're witnessing...
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