National Convening of Leaders Curated by Social Impact Design Firm DC Design in Partnership with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

SAN FRANCISCO - Aug. 31, 2021 - PRLog -- Furthering its commitment to supporting veteran suicide prevention, the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) and the CDC Foundation tapped social-impact design firm DC Design to model and facilitate a nationwide convening of leaders. The convening was made possible in partnership with the CDC Foundation. It was created to build an ecosystem of support for veteran suicide prevention between three essential groups focused on this cause.

Facilitated by CEO Durell Coleman and Director of Operations Libby Johnson,  the DC Design convening brought together state and local public health officials, community-based veteran-serving organizations, and the private sector. This convening of organizations came together to catalyze state and community action and activate public-private partnerships that support an upstream approach to veteran suicide prevention.

Key moments from the DC Design Veteran Suicide Prevention convening included:

• Hearing from United States Surgeon General Vice Admiral Vivek Murthy and CDC Foundation President and CEO Dr. Judy Monroe in a Fireside Chat + Q&A moderated by DC Design Director of Operations Libby Johnson.
• Sharing of the first three stages of Design Thinking—empathy, define, and ideate—and how they can apply to work supporting veterans.
• Team-based activities to define, ideate, select and plan an idea for how organizations can collaborate to execute interventions aimed at veteran suicide prevention.
• Empathy interviews with leaders from various organizations to understand their challenges and strengths when collaborating on this topic.

At the close of the convening, participants walked away with new relationships and clearly defined options to foster cross-organizational engagement and guidance necessary to serve U.S. veterans better; they also recognized potential hindrances to reaching their goals. Attendees felt a renewed commitment to their work and better understand why veteran suicide prevention needs to be addressed on a larger scale.

Through this work, participants were able to understand the experiences of veterans as well as the experiences of the organizations that work with them, analyze challenges and opportunities, and envision solutions and future possibilities.

For more information on DC Design, click here.  For more information on the CDC Foundation,  here.

For more information on DC Design Founder Durell Coleman, click here. For interview requests, please send an email to adrienne@theipyagency.com

ABOUT DC DESIGN
DC Design is a social impact design firm with a mission to "Design lasting solutions that reduce systemic inequality in America and help people thrive. Using Human-Centered Design, their cross-disciplinary team engages key stakeholders affected by a problem, especially those who have been through that problem themselves, to develop solutions that are validated and long-lasting. DC Design partners with social impact entrepreneurs, governments, nonprofits, and companies to address complex social problems and teach them proven methods that work. In particular, DC Design works to reform America's criminal justice, foster care, education, healthcare, housing, and other social systems, so they work better for everyone, especially low-income people of color and those living in poverty."

This article is supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of a financial assistance award totaling $40,000 with 100 percent funded by CDC/HHS. The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by CDC/HHS, or the U.S. Government.