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: Three things to do before Oct 15
Published 4 days ago • 4 min read
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 —
Last week, I joined the “Social Impact, Communities and Climate Justice” table at a Medellín Climate Week networking event built to deepen connections across the impact space throughout Colombia.
My takeaway was that we need more collaboration across public and private. Is that news? Not really.
But what was new for me was hearing how organizations are actually using co-creation right now — not just to respond to a large-scale national disaster, but to the social catastrophe that followed the USAID cuts. We talked about the need for private-sector funding, and then the harder part: getting funders to understand why you listen to community before you deploy a solution.
Someone described being hired as a project manager by a fund with plenty of money to give away solar panels to communities in Chocó that had lost electricity after the earthquake. When she found that people hadn’t been shown how to install them properly and the panels weren’t working in a lot of the homes, the fund wasn’t prepared to change the plan. It’s a tale as old as time in community work, but I thought it was a clear illustration of something that’s sometimes hard for funders to see: when you don’t have a plan to work with the community, you risk turning good intentions into clunky new burdens for people who are already carrying plenty. If lately it’s felt like money is the only true missing ingredient for change, don’t fall for it.” Take heart, working with communities to carve a new path forward is more important than ever.
With much love and encouragement from my Southern heart, Keara 🧡
Founder, The South Design Research Studio
What's new with The South?
Me, in conversation with social impact leaders in Medellín, Colombia
🍃A season of definition and redefinition. I closed out this year’s projects and I’m heading to Mexico City on retreat to sit with two questions: who am I building The South with, and who am I building it for in 2027?
I’ve started sketching the answer to the second one. The organizations I want to work with next year are small design and innovation firms and foundations based in the American South or Latin America. I'd love to work with organizations designing change in the following focus areas: family and community, education, public health, child development, community spaces, and wellness.
If that’s you, or you know someone it describes, reply and let me know.
Opportunities that caught my eye
What Changed for Good?— On October 15, Michelle Rising of Rising Solutions is moderating a panel with leaders from the International Safety Equipment Association, Rare, and Food for the Hungry on what actually changed in the social sector over the past 18 months and what isn’t going back. They will dig into the decisions these leaders made under pressure, the trade-offs they accepted, and how funding and operating models are being rebuilt right now.
I’m going because I’ve been watching the regional version of this play out. More than 84% of US assistance to Latin America and the Caribbean was eliminated, and local organizations here have been absorbing what disappeared ever since. I want to hear how leaders elsewhere are naming the shift.
Latin American Leadership Academy— LALA is looking for volunteer evaluators for a selection process simulation on October 22, part of their Employability Workshop. You’d run a mock interview and a simulated group dynamic with LALA youth, then give them constructive feedback. They send instructions, so you don’t need to have done this before. The first round of the workshop already helped dozens of LALíderes land jobs.
Three hours online, 6–9 PM Brasília time (5–8 PM ET, 4–7 PM Colombia). Simulations run in Portuguese, Spanish, and English, so bring whichever you’ve got.
Latinx Mental Health & Social Justice Symposium — Two days of conversations from across Latin America and the diaspora on mental health, migration, language, Indigenous knowledge, colonialism, education, identity, and belonging. Virtual, free, and open to the public, hosted by Antioch University’s Latinx Institute.
Dr. Clelia Rodríguez gives the keynote on Thursday the 15th: Roots Remember the Future: Political Listening, Neurodivergent Memory, and Ways of Surviving What Institutions Cannot Hold.
October is Creole Heritage Month — In Louisiana it goes back to the 1970s, created to uplift Creole culture and language. And in the Caribbean, Saint Lucia observes the whole month as Mwa Éwitaj Kwéyòl, building on International Creole Day, declared in 1983.
The South Asks & Offers
Asks
📣 Spread the word and donate - Justice by Design: A People's Constitution — The fundraiser is still on! 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!
✨ Join The South - Last month I put out a call for a roster with a specific client in mind. If you missed it, or you just know you’d want to be involved with The South in some form, reply and I’ll send you the ways we can stay connected. And as always, feel free to spread the word.
Offers
☕️ Strategy + Coffee - Around this time of year, most people start thinking about what they want to build for next year. If you're thinking through research or community engagement strategy for 2027, I’m happy to be a sounding board over coffee — virtual, or in person if we’re in the same city. Reply and tell me what you’re working on and we’ll find a time.
💌 Let’s stay in touch
If you are interested in working with us or learning more, feel free to reply to this email and let me know. 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 - 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 — There's so much going on across the...
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, I’ve 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 — It’s been a little while since I’ve written. Thank you for being here! I’ve 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! 🌍 What’s shifting around us If you're reading this around the time that I first send it, you're witnessing...
