What We've Been Up To
Since our last newsletter on April 8th, Mediumize has continued to have a large impact on not only Detroit's Metropolitan area but also in many other regions. Our mission statements have continued to solidify and our three-pronged approach to combating COVID-19 has been finalized: volunteer-based essential errand runs, technology assistance, and communal activism.
Our essential errand runs service has continued to expand to many more regions; through our learn more page, under "I Need Help," the 46 cities where volunteers have signed-up to help can be found. Our expansion since our last newsletter can largely be accredited to publicity from WXYZ, the Jewish Press, the Metro Times, WOMC, and even from being in the chyron on Good Morning America. Although we have not received requests from each city, we are prepared to help more people!
Our tech assistance branch, where volunteers help users utilize online services like Instacart or Kroger Clicklist, has still not received much traction. Because of this, we are partnering with other organizations and businesses to add more functionality, with future plans of services such as tutoring or care calls.
We have been very active with our third branch, communal activism, since our last newsletter. The first initiative we have been taking has been to create care packages for essential workers; above is a picture of one we put together for the Bloomfield fire departments in partnership with a local non-profit. We have also been assembling homemade masks, in partnership with yet another local non-profit, which will be donated to grocery store workers and homeless shelters. If you would like to help us in our efforts, please respond to this email and consult the tutorial we have put together. Lastly, we have been compiling resources through our blog and have been posting them on Medium to reach a larger audience. For example, one of our stories was "Adjusted Store Hours for Safer Shopping." If you would like to compile resources for Mediumize or write a story through our platform, respond to this email.
On top of further developing our three services, Mediumize has been drastically improved through SEO and website design. Search engine optimization has enabled Mediumize to be the first website indexed under "Mediumize" on Google, despite other meanings for the word. We have also drastically improved the user-friendliness of the website by making changes to design and spreading out the pages. Check it out!
