Laura Roberts – Worcester Community Project Center

May 12, 2022June 23, 2022 by Laura Roberts

Fostering Community Through Alumni Outreach: Design and Development of an Electronic Alumni Survey for the Latino Education Institute

Project Description While the Latino Education Institute (LEI) provide exceptional services to their students, the organization is relatively small and is currently investing in more insight in their programs via usage of a new internal database and solidifying communication from their alumni network. Our team has developed a system consisting of an alumni survey with…

May 11, 2022October 3, 2022 by Laura Roberts

Girls Inc. of Worcester: Developing an Outdoor STEM Curriculum for Camp Kinneywood

Project Description During this project, we researched and interviewed organizations to create environmental science STEM curriculum for Worcester Girls Inc. Camp Kinneywood summer camp. The team conducted focus groups and pilot studies to evaluate and assess the curriculum. They provided a binder containing all the lesson plans with activity instructions and information related to the…

March 17, 2022May 11, 2022 by Laura Roberts

Transitioning El Buen Samaritano to a Digital Data Collection Platform

Project Description Through our project, we aimed to facilitate and simplify the food distribution and data management process for the local food pantry, El Buen Samaritano. By implementing a technological solution, we hoped to improve the inventory system that the organization is currently using. Shifting from the current pen-and-paper system to a digital system, the…

January 19, 2022May 11, 2022 by Laura Roberts

Welcome NST: Integrating Technology

Project Description WelcomeNST is a refugee resettlement organization using a private co-sponsorship model. Our project used technology to improve communication and information storage at WelcomeNST. We conducted interviews with Slack experts and NST members and observed WelcomeNST’s Slack workspace. We found communication disconnects, decentralized knowledge and resources, and technology limitations. We investigated potential Slack add…

December 15, 2021May 11, 2022 by Laura Roberts

Worcester Regional Food Hub: Exploring Opportunities within the Nexudus System

Project Description Nexudus was implemented as a first stage in a bigger operations strategy for the Food Hub. The current project will identify and execute more potential for efficiency gains in the commercial kitchen at the Food Hub. The team will specifically look at the possibility of integrating some of the following processes into the…

July 29, 2021August 5, 2021 by Laura Roberts

Worcester Community Connections Coalition: Community Resource Guide

In C-term of 2021, a group of students collaborated with the Worcester Community Connections Coalition (WCCC) to digitize a popular resource directory called “the Blue Book”. Afterwards, a prototype website was created for the organization. Our project is a continuation of the previous project. For E-term of 2021, our team will collaborate with the WCCC…

June 29, 2021December 15, 2021 by Laura Roberts

Thrive Support and Advocacy: Designing a Food Pantry

Project Sponsor: Thrive Support and Advocacy Thrive Support & Advocacy, founded in Marlborough, MA, during the 1970s, is a non-profit organization dedicated to empowering, advocating for, and assisting youth and adults with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), developmental disabilities (DD), and intellectual disabilities (ID). Our sponsor’s mission is to help their audience and their families not…

June 22, 2021December 15, 2021 by Laura Roberts

Coalition for a Healthy Greater Worcester: Community Health Dashboard

For our Interactive Qualifying Project, our team worked with the Coalition for a Healthy Greater Worcester to develop an online dashboard that displays public health data in a user-friendly and engaging way. Project Sponsor: Coalition for a Healthy Greater Worcester The Coalition for a Healthy Greater Worcester is a local nonprofit focused on developing and…

June 22, 2021December 15, 2021 by Laura Roberts

DHHS: Access to Healthcare

Over 50% of Americans with mental health issues do not receive treatment for their conditions, and one key component of this statistic is bad access to healthcare. We are tasked with assessing the feasibility of improving and expanding an existing tool created to combat this issue in the Worcester area so that it reaches a…

June 22, 2021December 15, 2021 by Laura Roberts

Worcester DPW&P: Litter Tracking Method

Welcome to our project page! We are a group of students from WPI who worked with the Worcester Department of Public Works (DPW) sponsored by Jacquelyn Burmeister, the senior environmental analyst. Student Researchers: Kimberly Frary, Environmental engineering Justin Schoepke, Aerospace engineering Camren Smith, Biomedical engineering Thomas Sterrett, Mechanical engineering Our Project Goal and Objectives: The…