Quaranteam
In the first week of the world coming into awareness of the scope of covid-19, I brought together a small group of influential tech insiders to ask ourselves – “What can we do to make a meaningful difference in 48 hours?”
Hours later, we had co-founded and mobilized a global volunteer coalition dedicated to fostering human connection in a time of social distancing.
Over the course of the following days and months, our contributors tackled initiatives on the themes of social health, human connection, and building a strong civic fabric.
These efforts took many forms – convening leaders at tech companies, driving social media campaigns, publishing Op-Eds, supporting the development of new digital rituals for death, and amplifying the efforts of many covid-19 allies.
What I love about this project:
Facilitated collaborative idea sharing and project generation, both within the coalition and in support of a wider ecosystem of similar organizations.
Empowered people to stay at home voluntarily, in a moment of great uncertainty.
The emphasis on proactively forming social clusters for emotional and practical support during lockdown.
The profound experience of reaching out to our direct and extended networks and receiving a resounding “yes, how can I help” from the vast majority of people we connected with.
Our priorities were defined clearly upfront, which allowed a growing coalition to stay focused:
save lives immediately.
humanize the experience as we settled into our new circumstances.
rethink systemic aspects of how we live – from food to education to governance to our relationships.
Five badass female founders made this happen, in a short amount of time under incredible pressures.
Highlights:
Designed social media frames (in 25 languages) used by 15+ million people.
Social media frame used by Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg on her account on March 26, 2020.
Brought together prominent tech executives to strategize and collaborate on a response in March 2020.
Created a free do-it-yourself guide and slide templates to help anyone plan a meaningful virtual memorial.
Bringing onboard Yosi Sergant (Taskforce), an activist notable for commissioning the Obama hope poster.
Bringing onboard Emerson Spartz (Dose), notable for being the “king of viral media”.
Supporting the development of a “reopening playbook” from the city of Bolinas, California.
Inspiring the development of a Stanford course (taught by two of the co-founders), building on and sharing the learnings from this project.
Role: Founding Team / Year : 2020 / Keywords : covid-19, pandemic, volunteer coalition, decentralization, behaviour change / Collaborators : Too many to name!