Building a Parent Support System Team :)
Diana Cepsyte
Founder, Village App - Optimized For The Single Parent, Open To All :))
Hi guys! So, right now I am trying to build-up a team to help me with the Support System thing that I am creating for single parents, and parents of all kinds, really. Initially it has started as an app called Village, and the app and the designs are still there and everything; however, after talking to some mentors, especially one who has created some 15 startups, some very successful, and who also knows the founders of Airbnb, his specific advice was to create an MVP of the app, a version that could be live, right now, helping parents build and have that support system - so right now what I do have is a survey, or a form, some 25 questions, that parents can complete, answer some questions about themselves and their live experiences, where they live, their kids' ages, etc., and using that info I try to find a parent-buddy, or a parent-friend for them, basically. So far I've matched a few pairings of parent-friends. You can find the survey here: https://976woorp4vt.typeform.com/MakeYourVillage
By training I'm a UX designer, which means that I've studied how to design apps and websites. And while doing research for this project I talked to MANY single parents, interviewing them and listening to their stories. And the one thing that they all told me time and time again was "I don't have a support system. If something happened to me, I don't know what would happen to my kids." So, I knew that I really wanted to solve for that, to find a solution to the support system problem, and my idea has always been to connect single parents to other single parents living around them, close enough for actual meets and play-dates and hangouts, and to just be there for one another easily because you live close enough for that kinda thing. Over time this has expanded to beyond single parents, because you could be a co-parent and legally have a spouse, but maybe they travel all the time, or you're a military spouse, or you're a stay at home dad, whatever your situation is, you could still use a parent-buddy, someone else who also has a baby, like you, or they also homeschool, like you, or maybe their spouse has also passed away not that long ago, like yours, and you could really use a friend, someone who lives close enough to get a cup of coffee with you once a week and who also gets you, because they're also a single dad, or a single mom, or they too have 5 kids, like you, haha..
Anyways, that is the background and the basis of it. I have done a ton of research on this, and I know exactly what needs to happen to take this forward right now, however, I really need help. And as of now I cannot afford to pay anyone, so it is a volunteer based thing.
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It doesn't matter what kind of background you have or what kind of experience you have, because if you want to help and believe in this mission, then your time and energy will have a big impact on the people that we're going to help - even just your thoughts and feedback and input is huge to begin with. However, more particularly if you have any kind of knowledge or experience with, social media stuff, marketing stuff, writing (haha), editing of content, design (websites and apps, and just in general), art and creative stuff, social good and impact of some kind, finding and looking for grants and scholarships, legal stuff/ lawyer stuff, project management stuff and people management stuff, leadership things, development and coding and engineering things, mapping things out, money and business things, how to do a successful kickstarter campaign: all of these and anything similar would be extremely, extremely helpful. Thank you!!!
Also, here is a link to a Facebook group that I've created for the team of this initiative - I call it "Village Core" (you are welcome to join and/ or just respond to this post and/ or message me directly). Yay!!! Here's Village Core FB group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/677727264347451