Amplify Org app for iPhone and iPad

The Intergenerational Change Initiative used an intergenerational, critical participatory action research approach combined with human-centered design to create a tool that could be used to drive municipal youth policy making and local action.

Our Origin Story

In 2016, The Intergenerational Change Initiative (ICI) partnered with the Young Hackers (a group of high school technologists) to engage in a human-centered design process with over 200 other NYC youth. Working in partnership with Leo Burd of MIT Media Lab, young people created the technical specs for Amplify and developed the first iteration of our annual youth survey.

The Intergenerational Change Initiative then worked with MOD-lab to develop our first version of Amplify. Our team of youth and adults weighed in on the all the design decisions and text for Amplify. Our amazing partners at Syllable worked in partnership with ICI members to create the terms and conditions, do user testing around the city and to revamp the Amplify design to get it where it is today.

Our Value Proposition

Connected ecosystem of use. Your survey will be featured in a larger community of surveys instead of siloed in the network to which you belong.

Gamified and incentivized. Young people have told us time and time again that we need to make the process of giving feedback fun...and we have! Users earn points for each survey they take that can be redeemed for prizes.

Data privacy. Your data is private and secure. No data will ever be sold according to our terms and conditions. This is our promise and commitment to young people in NYC that trust us.

Dissemination. Our partners will be able to share results with a broad audience of youth around the city as well as key operators in city government and activist circles.

Get reports and analysis. A team of youth and adult data scientists at CUNY SPS will work with partners to help unpack an in-depth analysis of your data.

Youth participatory action research. Your survey will be shaped with the guidance of our youth participatory action researchers who are trained by CUNY faculty and researchers. Our team will provide feedback to promote research integrity and fit for a youth population.