Building Up San Diego Communities: How Build Up Teams Rebuilt Local Nonprofits
Featuring representatives from Girls Rising and TransFamily Support Services
What is Build Up?
Build Up is Design Co’s summer program where UCSD students are provided the opportunity to innovate real-world solutions by teaming up with local nonprofit organizations to refine their branding, redesign their website, or boost their exposure.
These nonprofits fall into 3 categories: LGBTQ+ Advocacy, Women’s Empowerment, and Refugee and Immigrant Relief. The program builds on our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiative, which strives to support BIPOC communities and give underrepresented design and marketing students greater opportunities to advance their skillset.
Expanding on our previous summer programs Power Up and Level Up, the Build Up Program consisted of:
- 33 student participants
- 16 mentors
- And 6 real clients
Teams of Web Builders, UX Designers, UX Researchers, Visual Designers, Marketing Strategists, and Content Strategists collaborated together under the mentorship of industry professionals to develop valuable skills and deliver long-term solutions to uplift their nonprofit organizations.
Meet the representatives of Girls Rising and TransFamily Support Services
Ashley Blanc — Girls Rising Execute Director
Girls Rising is a non-profit organization in San Diego that provides mentorship and career readiness support to historically-underserved girls and young women. The team created a website redesign and rebrand to increase Girls Rising’s local awareness and showcase the meaningful relationships that are forged within their inclusive network of female mentors.
How has your time in Build Up impacted your nonprofit?
“Our time with Build Up has impacted Girls Rising by showing us ways to broaden our reach in social media, brand awareness, and strategy. We were missing many important features and concepts that our team built into the website redesign that will help us broaden our reach through clarity, more donation opportunities, the structure of the program, and a more defined showcase of what we do in the community. Everything our Build Up team did for us will help us further our reach and serve more individuals.”
Do you have anything you want to say to your team?
“THANK YOU!!!!! We can’t thank you enough. The time and commitment you put into our organization are invaluable and we are so grateful!”
Any other final thoughts about your experience these past 10 weeks?
“It was amazing and we are so grateful to have been selected. Build Up has really made a huge impact on our organization and we recognize how fortunate we are to have been chosen to be part of this experience.”
Read Girls Rising’s team case study.
Aspen Everhart — TransFamily Support Services Director of Operations
TransFamily Support Services is a nonprofit that supports trans-youth and their families through the journey of gender. The team created an accessible website redesign in order to transform the online identity of the nonprofit and bring together trans and nonbinary communities.
How has your time in Build Up impacted your nonprofit?
“The new design looks great!”
Do you have anything you want to say to your team?
“It’s been great working with you all, I wish we had a bit a more time.”
Read TransFamily Support Services’ team case study.
Hear from 3 Builders working with Girls Rising, Karen Organization of San Diego, and TransFamily Support Services in this article.
Hear from 3 Builders working with La Chula Crew Foundation, Refugee Health Alliance, and North County LGBTQ Resource Center in this article.
Read about 3 of our design and marketing mentors’ experience in this article.
