Two goals shaped the research:

• Understand the process of getting and providing HSP services, to identify pain points and opportunities.
• Understand the relationships and interactions between stakeholders, providers, and customers, to find the challenges inside those experiences.

Our team completed 24 interviews to build context around the program and the individuals involved. By interviewing members of the state, the union, people with disabilities, and their providers, we saw the system from multiple viewpoints — learning about the Living Independently Philosophy, the program's struggles to support customers and providers, and the union's work to give people a voice.

With a deep understanding of the system and the people in it, we mapped the intricacies of every touchpoint in the program. The data revealed outdated processes, the relationships between entities, and strong perspectives grounded in the memories people shared.

With research complete, we invited members of the community to hear our findings and join a co-creation workshop. Parties that normally sit on opposite sides of the table sat at the same one — and the differences of opinion that surfaced became material for the work. The conversations addressed trust, relationship building, and implementation as we designed alternative solutions together.

We evaluated the co-created concepts against desirability, viability, and feasibility while working out the details to build them out. The final designs were shared with stakeholders through the current customer journey, system-level mapping, and a roadmap to implementation.