Dope
labs

Digital Organizing Power-building and Engagement Labs

POWERING MOVEMENTS THAT MATTER

POWERING

MOVEMENTS THAT MATTER

We help communities & clients Discover & Develop Dope ideas

Artist: Favianna rodriguez

Who we are: Dope Labs was founded to give underserved and underrepresented communities a voice in the products, places, and spaces that impact our everyday lives

What we do: Dope Labs builds power and self-determination by centering community voice and reimagining design innovation with the world’s most vulnerable populations (BIPOC, Disabled, Rural, LGBQTIA, etc.

How we work: We believe that everyday people are experts in our own communities….we lift up street wisdom and local knowledge through digital storytelling, diary studies, cyphers, participatory methodologies and technologies (Quant/Qual Surveys), that are by the people, with the people, and for the people

WHY WE DO WHAT WE DO

WE LISTEN. WE LEARN.

WE CARE.

WE INFLUENCE THE INFLUENCERS.
WE CONNECT DOTS.
WE GROW. WE THRIVE.
WE CLOSE GAPS.
WE OVERCOME OBSTACLES.
WE BREAK BARRIERS.
WE MAKE THE INVISIBLE, VISIBLE.
WE MAKE THE BARELY AUDIBLE, AUDIBLE.
We Respect Culture.
WE CHANGE NARRATIVES.
TRUTH BE TOLD, WITH COMMUNITY…WE CHANGE THE GAME
WE MOVE PEOPLE AND PLACES FROM MARGINS TO EPI-CENTER.
WE BUILD POWER.
WE BUILD WEALTH.
We Improve Health.
WE Fight 4 Justice.
We Love Resilient People and Places.
We Believe in Radical Healing.
We Embrace Street Wisdom.
We are People Powered.

who we are

First

We are re-imagining design innovation with BIPOC communities and other vulnerable populations. We challenge traditional design thinking by asking what if participatory co-design is led with vulnerable populations and responsive to real community needs. What if it isn’t top down but bottom up? To keep it real: we use emancipatory-participatory and liberatory methodologies, pedagogies & technologies to build power and self-determination aimed at increasing BIPOC design innovation, digital storytelling, local knowledge, street wisdom, art, activism, and community organizing with our world’s most vulnerable populations—including rural, disability, LGBQTIA communities and beyond.

Second

We help communities and clients discover & develop DOPE ideas by unlocking community-led, community powered, community driven research design conversations, cyphers, and surveys with BIPOC and other vulnerable populations in collaboration with communities, CBOs, companies, non-profits, universities, brands, agencies, and media. We infuse participatory co-design with principles of justice, diversity, equity, and inclusion (JEDI) to improve products, places, and spaces that everyday people use, love, and care about! We are experts in community-driven participatory co-design that is by the people, with the people, and for the people.

Third

Our experience stretches from grassroots to tree-tops, from startups to scale ups, from favelas to fortune 500 companies spanning industries – from tech to travel, health to housing, beauty to banking, food, transportation, education, innovation, art, culture, and beyond. We have a passion and purpose to partner with people and places who are committed to moving principles of justice, equity, diversity, inclusion and sustainability (JEDI’S) from theory to practice.

we are Dope labs.

our passion

Nothin' Bout Us
Without Us

our purpose

Participatory Design, Democratizing Data, and Building Power and Self Determination with the world’s most vulnerable populations through culturally and community responsive technologies, emancipatory methodologies, and community-led, community-powered, Bottom-Up Participatory Co-Design Innovation.

THE PATH TO

DOPE

IDEAS

We are Unapologetically
who we are…
so you can be unapologetically
who you want to be

our values

global reach

United States
Africa
South America
Central America
Carribbean Islands
Pacific Islands
Mexico
Middle East/Southwest Asia
India
Europe
Australia
New Zealand
And more…

global reach

United States
Africa
South America
Central America
Carribbean Islands
Pacific Islands
Mexico
Middle East/Southwest Asia
India
Europe
Australia
New Zealand
And more…