StepUP Platform
Converting 4.5 Hours of Daily Screen Time Into Civic Power
The Problem
Three structural barriers prevent Americans from transforming intention into action
The Exhausted Majority
190M Americans exhausted by endless polarization. 43% struggle to afford basics. People want change but feel powerless to act.
Confusion on Resources
Essential services exist but accessing them is overwhelming and confusing. People don't know where to find help or how to navigate systems.
Not Knowing Where to Start
No clear pathways from intention to action. Citizens can't connect problems to officials or find meaningful ways to engage.
Drag the slider to reveal the solution →
Sources: Pew Research Center (2024) - Political polarization trends; U.S. Census Bureau (2024) - Economic hardship data; Harvard Making Caring Common Project (2024) - Loneliness epidemic research; More in Common (2024) - Exhausted majority findings
Why Now
The perfect convergence of exhaustion, isolation, and opportunity
190M Exhausted
Americans seeking alternatives to endless polarization. 43% struggle to afford basics. People want change but feel powerless.
Loneliness Epidemic
Record isolation despite digital connectivity. 67% want to bridge differences but lack safe pathways to do so.
The Opening
Hunger for belonging and purpose. Local action unites across divides. Mobile infrastructure ready to channel attention toward civic good.
Sources: More in Common (2024) - Exhausted majority research; U.S. Census Bureau (2024) - Economic hardship statistics; Harvard Making Caring Common Project (2024) - Loneliness epidemic; Pew Research Center (2024) - Civic engagement trends; Listen First Coalition (2024) - Bridging survey data
The Solution: How StepUP Works
A comprehensive civic platform that makes engagement simple, accessible, and rewarding
Comprehensive framework connecting pathways, services, accountability, and momentum-building
How to Get Started
Select from 8 areas matching your interests
Discover local resources and support
Connect issues to officials
Start with 5-minute actions
Join neighborhood teams
Build streaks and create change
What Makes Us Different
- Bridging Focus: Designed to reduce divisiveness through shared local action
- Service Integration: Connect people to essential health and human services
- Clear Accountability: Link every issue to responsible officials and agencies
Three Levels of Engagement
- Learn: 5-minute daily actions—read, watch, understand
- Act: 15-30 minute actions—volunteer, attend, contribute
- Lead: Sustained involvement—organize, facilitate, build
The 8 Civic Pathways
105 focus areas covering every dimension of civic life
Explore Each Pathway (hover for focus areas)
🏛️ Governance, Rights & Democracy
Voting access, criminal justice reform, civil rights, government transparency, fair courts
20 Focus Areas:
- Civic Literacy & Education - Understanding how government, law, and democracy work
- Voting Access & Election Integrity - Ensuring everyone can vote and that elections are fair and secure
- Redistricting & Representation - How voting districts are drawn and how people are fairly represented
- Government Accountability & Transparency - Making sure government actions are open and leaders answer to the public
- Judicial Reform & Court Access - Improving the court system and ensuring justice is accessible to all
- Criminal Justice Reform - Changing the criminal justice system to be fairer and more equitable
- Policing & Public Safety - Reforming law enforcement and promoting safe communities
- Bail Reform & Pretrial Justice - Making pretrial processes and bail fair and not based on ability to pay
- Prison Reform & Incarceration Alternatives - Improving prison conditions and promoting alternatives to incarceration
- Reentry & Reintegration Support - Helping formerly incarcerated people return to society successfully
- Human Trafficking Prevention - Stopping human trafficking and supporting survivors
- Immigration, Asylum & Refugee Services - Supporting immigrants, refugees, and those seeking asylum
- Civil Rights & Anti-Discrimination Policy - Protecting people from discrimination and upholding equal rights
- Freedom of Speech & Expression - Defending the right to express ideas and opinions
- Data Privacy & Digital Rights - Protecting personal information and digital freedoms
- Indigenous Rights & Sovereignty - Respecting Indigenous peoples' rights, land, and self-determination
- Media Literacy & Disinformation Response - Teaching how to spot misinformation and understand media
- Child Protection & Family Justice - Preventing child abuse and supporting family safety and justice
- Elder Abuse Prevention & Elder Rights - Protecting older adults from abuse and supporting their rights
- Pandemic Response & Public Health Emergencies - Preparing for and responding to health crises and pandemics
💰 Basic Needs & Economic Security
Affordable housing, food security, living wage, worker rights, job training
18 Focus Areas:
- Affordable Housing - Ensuring housing is available and affordable to all
- Tenant Rights & Eviction Protection - Protecting renters and preventing unfair evictions
- Homelessness Response & Prevention - Helping people avoid and recover from homelessness
- Homeownership & Wealth Building - Expanding access to owning homes and building assets
- Food Security & Hunger Relief - Ensuring everyone has access to enough healthy food
- Food Justice & Sustainable Food Systems - Promoting fair, sustainable, and culturally relevant food systems
- Public Benefits Access (SNAP, WIC, TANF, SSI) - Helping people access essential public assistance programs
- Living Wage & Job Access - Advocating for fair pay and job opportunities
- Worker Rights & Fair Labor - Protecting workers' rights and promoting fair labor practices
- Universal Basic Income / Guaranteed Income - Ensuring everyone has a minimum level of income
- Small Business & Cooperative Development - Supporting local businesses and worker-owned enterprises
- Creative Economy & Cultural Workforce - Promoting jobs and growth in the arts and creative sectors
- Financial Literacy & Asset Building - Teaching money management and ways to build wealth
- Predatory Lending & Debt Justice - Fighting unfair loans and supporting fair debt practices
- Tax Equity & Public Investment - Ensuring fair tax systems and wise public spending
- Transportation Access & Equity - Improving transportation so everyone can get where they need
- Mobility Justice - Making streets and transit safe and accessible for all
- Rural Equity & Community Access - Ensuring rural communities have equal access to resources
🏥 Health, Wellness & Care
Universal healthcare, mental health, addiction recovery, disability justice, elder care
15 Focus Areas:
- Universal Healthcare Access - Ensuring everyone can get affordable health care
- Community Health & Preventive Care - Promoting wellness and preventing illness at the community level
- Mental Health & Emotional Wellness - Supporting mental health and emotional well-being
- Trauma-Informed Care & Healing Justice - Approaching care and justice with sensitivity to trauma
- Addiction Recovery & Harm Reduction - Helping people recover from addiction and reducing harm
- Substance Use Prevention - Preventing substance misuse before it starts
- Reproductive Health & Rights - Protecting access to reproductive healthcare and choice
- Disability Justice & Accessibility - Advancing rights and inclusion for people with disabilities
- Elder Care & Aging in Place - Supporting older adults to live well in their communities
- Maternal & Infant Health Equity - Ensuring mothers and babies have healthy outcomes
- Youth Wellness & Support Services - Providing health and support for children and youth
- Veteran Transition & Support Services - Helping veterans adapt to civilian life and thrive
- Family Stabilization & Parenting Support - Supporting family stability and effective parenting
- Long-Term Disaster Recovery & Resilience - Rebuilding and supporting communities after disasters
- Intergenerational Programs & Lifelong Learning - Connecting people across generations for mutual benefit
🎓 Education & Opportunity
K-12 equity, higher education access, workforce training, digital equity
13 Focus Areas:
- Early Childhood Development - Supporting healthy learning and growth for young children
- K–12 Public School Equity - Making public schools fair and high-quality for all
- Culturally Responsive Curriculum - Teaching that reflects diverse cultures and experiences
- School Discipline Reform - Improving discipline policies to be fair and supportive
- Higher Education Access & Affordability - Making college and university accessible and affordable
- Student Debt Relief & Financial Aid Reform - Reducing student debt and improving financial aid
- Adult Education & Literacy - Providing learning opportunities for adults
- Workforce Training & Upskilling - Helping people gain skills for today's jobs
- Career & Technical Education (CTE) - Offering practical, career-oriented education
- Internships, Apprenticeships & Fellowships - Giving hands-on work experiences for learners
- Digital Equity & Internet Access - Ensuring everyone can access and use the internet
- Digital Literacy & Online Safety - Teaching safe and effective use of digital tools
- STEM Education & Science Advocacy - Promoting science, technology, engineering, and math learning
🌍 Environment & Infrastructure
Climate justice, clean energy, clean water, sustainable transit, conservation
12 Focus Areas:
- Climate Justice & Environmental Resilience - Ensuring communities can respond to and recover from climate change
- Clean Energy Access & Sustainability - Expanding clean energy options and promoting sustainability
- Urban Greening & Green Infrastructure - Adding green spaces and eco-friendly infrastructure in cities
- Environmental Health & Pollution Prevention - Reducing pollution and its impact on health
- Clean Water & Sanitation Access - Ensuring everyone has safe water and sanitation
- Air Quality & Industrial Regulation - Improving air quality and regulating polluters
- Disaster Preparedness & Emergency Response - Getting communities ready for and able to respond to disasters
- Infrastructure Investment & Equity - Investing in fair and effective public infrastructure
- Land Use, Zoning & Development Justice - Making land use decisions that are fair and benefit all
- Urban Farming - Growing food and supporting agriculture in cities
- Animal Welfare, Protection & Advocacy - Protecting animals and promoting their well-being
- Frontline Community Environmental Justice - Fighting for environmental rights in the most impacted communities
🤝 Community, Culture & Belonging
Bridging divides, arts & culture, youth leadership, civic dialogue, public space
14 Focus Areas:
- Bridging Across Difference - Building connections across lines of difference
- Race, Class, and Social Equity - Advancing fairness across racial, class, and social divides
- Faith & Interfaith Collaboration - Working together across religious backgrounds
- Veteran & Military Family Engagement - Supporting veterans and military families in civic life
- Civic Dialogue & Depolarization - Encouraging open, respectful conversations
- Arts, Culture & Creative Expression - Promoting creativity, arts, and cultural engagement
- Storytelling & Narrative Power - Using stories to inspire and unite people
- Youth Leadership & Voice - Supporting young people as leaders and changemakers
- LGBTQIA+ Rights & Inclusion - Advancing rights and inclusion for LGBTQIA+ people
- Gender Equity & Safety - Ensuring fairness and safety for all genders
- Language Access & Multilingual Services - Providing resources and services in multiple languages
- Neighborhood Resilience & Identity - Building strong, unique, and adaptable neighborhoods
- Public Space & Community Design - Creating welcoming, accessible, and useful public spaces
- Civic Rituals, Holidays & Public Memorials - Uniting communities through shared celebrations and remembrances
⚖️ Systems Change & Structural Power
Root causes of poverty, policy advocacy, community wealth, restorative justice
13 Focus Areas:
- Root Causes of Poverty - Addressing the deeper reasons for poverty
- Power-Sharing & Participatory Governance - Giving more people a voice in decision-making
- Collective Impact & Network Organizing - Coordinating groups for greater community results
- Policy Advocacy & Campaigns - Organizing to change laws and public policies
- Data Equity & Community Mapping - Using data fairly to understand and address needs
- Public-Private Partnership Design - Working across sectors for public good
- Philanthropy Transformation - Making charitable giving more just and effective
- Institutional Culture Change - Changing organizations to be more just and equitable
- Community Wealth Building - Helping communities build and keep wealth
- Narrative Strategy for Systems Change - Shaping stories to support big-picture change
- Restorative & Transformative Justice - Repairing harm and creating fairer systems
- Cross-Sector Civic Innovation - Innovating across fields to solve public challenges
- Reparations, Truth & Reconciliation - Addressing historical wrongs and fostering healing
🔗 Cross-Cutting Themes
Intersectionality, trauma-informed approaches, systems thinking, civic imagination
8 Diagonal & Structural Themes:
- Intersectionality - Understanding how identities and systems overlap
- Belonging & Inclusion - Designing for everyone to feel valued and included
- Systems Thinking - Looking at the big picture and how things connect
- Trauma-Informed Engagement - Centering healing and awareness of trauma in all work
- Civic Imagination - Envisioning a better, shared future together
- Science, Technology & Civic Innovation - Advancing change using science and technology
- Intergenerational Collaboration - Bringing people of all ages together for mutual learning
- Rural-Urban Collaboration - Building connections and equity between rural and urban areas
"This is a great tool you're building. We're in really dark times right now, and I think this is a great answer that needs to be applied on a massive scale... Please keep going with this project."
Success Metrics
Clear measures from engagement to impact to belonging
⚡ Engagement Metrics
- Daily/Monthly Active Users: How often people return
- Time-to-Step: Days from signup to first action
- Streak maintenance: Consecutive days engaged
- 30-day activation: Users completing 5+ actions in first month
🎯 Impact Metrics
- Local action %: Actions taken in user's zip code
- Belonging score: Do users feel more connected to community?
- Resources activated: Service connections made
- Referral rate: Organic growth through user networks
Leadership & Partners
Experienced civic infrastructure builders and trusted organizations
David A. Brown
Nonprofit founder who help create Houston's Artist District from the ground up. 2025–2026 Catalyst Fellow with the Democracy & Belonging Forum at UC Berkeley's Othering & Belonging Institute. American Leadership Forum Class XXXIII Sr. Fellow, Houston Business Journal 40 Under 40 honoree. Read his story →
David's proven track record: From selling his pickup truck to founding Spacetaker, opening Houston's first artist resource center, to leading the cultural arts district designation
SPACETAKER Accomplishments
💰 Economic Impact for Artists
Early WHAM figures documented real, growing sales for local creatives—unusual transparency at the time and evidence that service-org programming could be directly income-positive.
🔧 Field Infrastructure
From the first online Artist Registry and aggregated cultural listings to practical workshops and mixers, Spacetaker tackled the "plumbing" of a creative economy—skills, data, audience, and collisions.
🏢 Place-Based Arts Ecosystem
Occupying and activating Winter Street Studios linked Spacetaker's work to the longer arc of Houston's First Ward/Arts District, aligning with the city's broader move toward clustered creative districts.
"At Spacetaker/Fresh Arts we proved that when you pair practical training with real pathways, people thrive. The Change Lab applies that model to civic life, helping neighbors build skills, plug into effective channels, and speak so decision-makers listen."
Board of Directors
Community Partners
"We're excited to fiscally sponsor The Change Lab as they bring StepUP to life! The platform is designed to make civic engagement more accessible and approachable, showing people that even the smallest actions can make a meaningful difference in our communities."
Investment Opportunities & Roadmap
Choose your investment level. Track transparent outcomes.
3-year commitment. Supports core operations, quarterly impact reports with data dashboard access.
Fund 10 gatherings. Impact: 250 face-to-face connections, 3 new neighborhood teams formed.
Support 1 of 105 areas. Impact: 15 partnerships, 200 volunteers mobilized, 5,000 reached.
Complete pathway programming. Impact: 50+ partners, 1,000+ users, 10,000+ actions.
Create 20 civic courses. Impact: 2,000 trained, 80% retention, open-source curriculum.
Full platform build + service integration. 25K Houston users Year 1, 100K actions tracked.
18-Month Roadmap
Build (Q1-Q2 2026)
Raise $350K, finalize MVP specs, onboard 5 founding partners, launch Houston pilot with 500 early users.
Test & Refine (Q2-Q3 2026)
A/B test engagement features, refine based on user feedback. Target: 30% weekly activation rate, NPS >40.
Scale (Q3 2026-Q2 2027)
Expand to 10 Texas cities, publish replication playbook. Target: 10K active users, 50K civic actions logged.
Join Us
We're raising $350K for our Houston pilot and Texas expansion.
Help us convert screen time into civic action for 25,000 people.
David A. Brown, Founder
2025–2026 Catalyst Fellow
Democracy & Belonging Forum, UC Berkeley
THE CHANGE LAB, Inc. is fiscally sponsored by Impact Hub Houston