Rules & FAQs

What is this Challenge about?
This Challenge is a competition between teams to identify a local problem and effectively convince others why this issue is worthy of attention and intervention.

What is the deadline for this Challenge?
We encourage teams to sign up by August 31, 2023, but will accept applications submitted after this. The final Problem Statement is to be submitted by October 31, 2023.

Who can apply?
At least one registered Chaffey College student must initiate the process, applying for a team to participate in the contest. The Chaffey College student must be registered in at least one course at Chaffey College during the Fall 2023 semester. Each team must consist of at least 2 participants. Other than the Chaffey College student, the rest of the team can belong to family, friends, other students, or any other member of the community.

The program is not available to district employees.

To Apply:
Click “Apply Now” above.  Please note that applicants can click “Save” at any time during the application process and can come back later to fill in the remaining portions of the form.

What do you do during this Challenge?
Once a team starts the application process, they are assigned to a SolveCC Faculty Team Coach who will help guide them through the following stages of the competition:

Step One: Research areas of interest
Step Two: Understand the scale of the problem

Step Three: Create a Problem Statement
Step Four: Interview people associated with the problem statement
Step Five: Create the final Problem statement and submit it.

What support do I have during this Challenge?
Each team will be assigned to a Faculty Team Coach who will help guide them through this Challenge. Each team will be invited to a collaboration group on Canvas where they can interact
with others, post questions and discuss issues with their Faculty Team Coach. Teams can join a SolveCC bi-weekly Zoom call where they can learn what others are doing and have their questions answered by the SolveCC administrators.

What does the final submission for the Challenge consist of?
The final submission is a Problem Statement narrative. Teams are encouraged to also submit a video but this is not a requirement. Details for what a Problem Statement narrative consists of are answered in the next FAQ.

Support for creating a video can be found by talking to Faculty Team Coaches or through this link:

Click here to view tips on how to record a video.

Here is more information on each step of the Challenge:

Step One: Research areas of interest.

This can be done in a variety of ways including:

• A review of current events
• Visit local government websites to see what issues are being discussed
• Attend a city council meeting to get more ideas
• Talk to different people in the community to find out what problems they are facing every day and reflect.
• Post problems on social media such as NextDoor or Facebook Group and ask for input. Read people’s posts to find out what issues are bothering them the most.
• Set up a brainstorming session with your friends/family to talk through everyone’s ideas.

Once you have identified an area of interest, you can explore this by accessing reliable sources of information such as:

• Online databases: Examples include JSTOR, Google Scholar, PubMed, EBSCO, and the Chaffey Library.
• News websites and magazines such as The New York Times, The Guardian, Times Magazine, National Geographic, etc.
• Government and NGO reports: Examples include the World Health Organization and local government websites.
• Reach out to local government representatives to get more information on the
  topic.

Step Two: Understand the Scale of the Problem
Work with your Faculty Team Coach to understand the scale of the problem and the important quantitative data that you will need to put together.

Step Three: Create a Problem Statement
Teams can use several methodologies in writing the problem statement such as:

The N-MIT methodology
Negative Consequence
Magnitude of Problem
Importance
Topic

Here is an example of using the N-MIT formula:
In our community, approximately 35% of residents (Magnitude) are not currently participating in recycling programs (Topic), leading to increased landfill use and environmental harm (Negative Consequence). Given the growing urgency to address environmental sustainability (Importance), it is critical to investigate and address the barriers to recycling participation.

Step Four: Interviews
Choose at least 3 people to interview about the problem statement. Ensure there is diversity within the interview group. Create questions or prompts for the interviews based on the following framework:

• Who is affected by this problem and how often does the problem occur?
• How long has the problem been going on and is it disrupting the
  community? In what ways is it disruptive?
• Is the issue perceived as a problem by the community at large? Why or why not?
• Is the problem limited to a specific geographic area or is it widespread beyond the community?

Step Five: Final Problem Statement
Build the Problem Statement around the following prompts:

• How did you identify this problem? 
• Who are those affected by this problem?
• How often does the problem occur?
• How long has the problem been going on and why?
• How is the problem disrupting the community?
• Is the issue perceived as a problem by the community at large?
• Is the problem limited to certain geographic areas? 
• Who are the Stakeholders, those wanting this problem to be fixed?