CAUSA JUSTA :: JUST CAUSE
A web platform to replace an in-person clinic focusing on tenant rights.
Product: Tenant Portal Website
Role: Product Manager
Causa Justa :: Just Cause is a nonprofit organization that provides tenant rights advocacy and information to tenants through the Housing Committee / Tenants’ Rights Clinic. At the time of the conception of this project, the organization was undergoing a restructuring of staff and programs and they concluded the Tenants’ Rights Clinic needed to transform into a web based platform that could complement and eventually replace its in-person counterpart.
Who's it for?
San Francisco and Oakland Tenants
The main audience for this product consists of immigrant, low-income, and working families in San Francisco and Oakland in California. For most folks, English is not their first language, a computer is not easily accessible, and there is a gap in digital literacy.
My Role
My role as a Product and Project Manager was to conduct user research, develop personas, create features based on their needs and research results, create wireframes and minimal designs, and work with a design and development firm to bring this project to completion and launch the website.
Moreover, I oversaw and liaised for the effective communication between the organization staff (mostly organizers) and their vision and the design firm of engineers and artists.
The Problem
CJJC no longer had the resources to staff the Clinic to effectively help the increasing number of tenants having issues with their landlords. They wanted to transform the Clinic experience into a web based platform that feels personal, is fast and flexible, and that offers specific help for each particular and potential tenant case.
Research
I began the project by designing surveys to get to the heart of the problem, assess the needs of the tenants, and ensure the proposed platform was indeed what was needed.
I interviewed administrators and staff to get their thoughts on the project and what they thought was the best way forward including any features they would find essential and helpful. I also surveyed clinic attendees (tenants) regarding their experience at the clinic from the moment they walk in to the moment they leave, pain points, their rating of different aspects of the clinic, their most common reasons for needing assistance, ideas for how to improve the clinic, their digital literacy levels, comfort with online platforms, and a series of other questions.
User Flow
The main part of the work involved collecting, analyzing, and condensing, and categorizing the wealth of information collectively held by the Clinic case managers. I categorized and broke down the information and created templates for each case, then worked with the organizers to fill in all relevant information for each category and case.
Features
Wireframes
I developed feature-rich wireframes and worked closely with the design firm to account for all the details, the functionality, and to ensure the desired user experience given the vast amount of resources, copy, and eventually pages involved.