Design for Extreme Affordability

Design for Extreme Affordability Design for Extreme Affordability is a two-quarter, graduate-level project course at Stanford

08/28/2026

23 years. 800+ alumni. 350M+ lives touched. 💛

We are sharing the bittersweet news that Design for Extreme Affordability will officially conclude its formal course programming and sunset in Fall 2026.

While this legendary 23-year journey at Stanford is coming to a close, we are choosing to celebrate this incredible legacy with the same heart, magic, and community energy that built it.

Here are a few reflections from our leadership team as we step into this final chapter together:

✨ From Manasa:

"Your willingness to work on the most complex problems with integrity, an abundance of care, and a sincere dedication to building WITH, not for, communities continues to make me hopeful about the world we can create."

✨ From Stuart:

"What gives me hope is remembering the many moments of ambiguity, insight, struggle, breakthrough, and delivery of impact shared with all of you. Celebrate the growth and continue seeking opportunities to impact our world."

✨ From Naita:

"Our legacy lives on in the living, breathing network of humans who lead with heart."

Co-Create the Finale With Us 🌿
Extreme has always been built on community and radical collaboration. Our legacy lives in all of you, and we invite you to help us shape this final chapter.

Here is how you can get involved:

Share Your Story: Drop a tribute or favorite memory https://www.tribute.co/extreme/

Join Our Convenings: Stay tuned for details on our Fall gathering spaces!

Thank you for 23 years of dedication, energy, and impact. Let's celebrate everything we've built together!

08/27/2026

✨ Throwback to Extreme 2026! ✨

As we look back on the multi-year journey of Extreme Costa Rica, we’re spotlighting the incredible student projects from our 2026 cohort! 🌿🇨🇷

These solutions are a powerful demonstration of what happens when heart-centered design meets deeper community partnerships. After co-designing right alongside communities who live these challenges every day, our student teams created hyper-local innovations that will continue to spark lasting, systemic impact.

Ready to see how local ingenuity ripples across the globe? Dive into our 6-part project showcase below! 👇🎬

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Post 6 of 6: Team Sé Siwä - Reclaiming Ancestral Knowledge Through Games 🏹

Expanding design beyond transactional utility creates space to honor spiritual wellbeing, living ecosystems, and ancestral heritage. True community resilience preserves the soul of a culture while equipping future generations to thrive on their own terms.

Traditional Indigenous games in Costa Rica embody centuries of ecological wisdom, physical mastery, and community identity, yet face erosion under modern social pressures. To safeguard this living history, Extreme student Team Sé Siwä (Ian, Jaime and Thu) co-designed a participatory framework built alongside Bribri and Cabecar communities to celebrate, revitalize, and sustain the traditional Indigenous Games of Costa Rica. By transforming cultural preservation into active community engagement, this initiative helps to restore deep ancestral pride, protects indigenous knowledge, and unites youth with elders through revitalized traditions.

🎥 Watch the full video to experience the power of community-led cultural preservation!



In partnership with Sé Siwä Ecolodge and Spiritual Center

08/27/2026

✨ Throwback to Extreme 2026! ✨

As we look back on the multi-year journey of Extreme Costa Rica, we’re spotlighting the incredible student projects from our 2026 cohort! 🌿🇨🇷

These solutions are a powerful demonstration of what happens when heart-centered design meets deeper community partnerships. After co-designing right alongside communities who live these challenges every day, our student teams created hyper-local innovations that will continue to spark lasting, systemic impact.

Ready to see how local ingenuity ripples across the globe? Dive into our 6-part project showcase below! 👇🎬

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Post 5 of 6: Team UPeace - EntreVecinos: Building Resilient Communities from the Ground Up 🏡

Solving deeply entrenched neighborhood challenges requires shifting from standalone efforts toward relationship-centered networks built on trust, mutual aid, and shared ownership.

Urban isolation and rapid economic shifts are rapidly eroding neighborhood bonds, leaving households disconnected during everyday challenges and crises. To rebuild these essential social ties, Extreme student Team EntreVecinos (Akansha, Ariana, Camille and Mara), partnered with UPeace to create EntreVecinos—a relationship-centered engagement framework designed to connect neighbors and facilitate hyper-local mutual aid and support. By transforming isolated households into an interconnected, resilient collective, this initiative establishes an enduring legacy of community stewardship capable of driving sustainable change for generations to come.

🎥 Click the video to see how EntreVecinos is rebuilding community trust from the ground up!

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In partnership with

08/26/2026

✨ Throwback to Extreme 2026! ✨

As we look back on the multi-year journey of Extreme Costa Rica, we’re spotlighting the incredible student projects from our 2026 cohort! 🌿🇨🇷

These solutions are a powerful demonstration of what happens when heart-centered design meets deeper community partnerships. After co-designing right alongside communities who live these challenges every day, our student teams created hyper-local innovations that will continue to spark lasting, systemic impact.

Ready to see how local ingenuity ripples across the globe? Dive into our 6-part project showcase below! 👇🎬
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Post 4 of 6: Team Partir con Dignidad - Carebridger: Honoring the Unsung Heroes of Caregiving 🤲

Heart-centered design shifts our focus from simply creating tools for people to cultivating deep relationships, with communities, that uphold human dignity and support emotional wellbeing. Family caregivers across Costa Rica devote endless hours to supporting loved ones, yet frequently face overwhelming administrative friction trying to navigate complex systems for basic support. To humanize this journey, Extreme student team Partir con Dignidad (Andy, Paloma and Parker) partnered with Fundación Partir con Dignidad to create Carebridger—an intuitive system designed to match caregivers directly with the financial, medical, and social benefits they are entitled to receive through already existing government programs. By removing bureaucratic strain and restoring peace of mind, Carebridger honors caregiving as a vital, highly valued pillar of societal wellbeing.

🎥 Watch their solution video to see how Carebridger connects families to critical support!



In partnership with Fundación Partir con Dignidad

08/26/2026

✨ Throwback to Extreme 2026! ✨

As we look back on the multi-year journey of Extreme Costa Rica, we’re spotlighting the incredible student projects from our 2026 cohort! 🌿🇨🇷

These solutions are a powerful demonstration of what happens when heart-centered design meets deeper community partnerships. After co-designing right alongside communities who live these challenges every day, our student teams created hyper-local innovations that will continue to spark lasting, systemic impact.

Ready to see how local ingenuity ripples across the globe? Dive into our 6-part project showcase below! 👇🎬

Post 3 of 6: Team Semillas de Nosara - Cultivating Collective Youth Leadership 🌱

Solving systemic global challenges requires moving past isolated interventions and moving toward building resilient systems rooted in shared stewardship.
In Nosara, local community organizations, schools, and youth leaders tend to operate in silos—missing valuable opportunities to pool resources, connect the dots, and build lasting civic strength together. To bridge these efforts, student Team Nosara Civic Association (Aranza, Grant and Lindsay) co-designed Semillas de Nosara, an open collaborative partnership network directly linking the Nosara Civic Association (NCA), the local high school, and the Nosara Youth Council. By breaking down barriers and establishing a radical collaboration framework, this initiative empowers local youth to collectively steward Nosara’s social and environmental future.

🎥 Check out the video to see this youth-driven coalition in action!


In partnership with & Asociación Cívica de Nosara

08/26/2026

✨ Throwback to Extreme 2026! ✨

As we look back on the multi-year journey of Extreme Costa Rica, we’re spotlighting the incredible student projects from our 2026 cohort! 🌿🇨🇷

These solutions are a powerful demonstration of what happens when heart-centered design meets deeper community partnerships. After co-designing right alongside community who live these challenges every day, our student teams created hyper-local innovations that will continue to spark lasting, systemic impact.

Ready to see how local ingenuity ripples across the globe? Dive into our 6-part project showcase below! 👇🎬

Post 2 of 6: Team IRCA Casa Abierta
VistAbierta: Connecting LGBTQI+ Migrants to Essential Support Faster 🏳️‍🌈

The most resilient solutions aren't designed in top-down isolation—they are cultivated locally by those closest to the challenge.

LGBTQI+ migrants arriving in Costa Rica bring vital contributions to their new communities, yet currently take an average of four years to find IRCA Casa Abierta, an essential organization offering safety, community services, and work readiness support. To bridge this critical gap, Team IRCA Casa Abierta (Anjali, Kathy, and Ryley) co-designed VistAbierta—a strategic framework that expands IRCA’s partnership network and digital presence across the country. By connecting migrants to life-saving resources in months rather than years, this hyper-local solution establishes a replicable framework for migrant support networks worldwide.

🎥 Press play to watch how VistAbierta builds faster, safer pathways to community support!



In partnership with Instituto Sobre Refugio lgbtiq para Centroamerica IRCA CASABIERTA

08/25/2026

✨ Throwback to Extreme 2026! ✨

As we look back on the multi-year journey of Extreme Costa Rica, we’re spotlighting the incredible student projects from our 2026 cohort! 🌿🇨🇷

These solutions are a powerful demonstration of what happens when heart-centered design meets deeper community partnerships. After co-designing right alongside community members who live these challenges every day, our student teams created hyper-local innovations that continue to spark lasting, systemic impact.

Ready to see how local ingenuity ripples across the globe? Dive into our 6-part project showcase below! 👇🎬

Post 1 of 6: Team Fogón Futuro
Preserving Tradition, Nurturing the Future 🌿

As Costa Rica’s population ages, irreplaceable ancestral knowledge in local gastronomy and agronomy risks being lost. To tackle this challenge, Team Fogón Futuro (Alex, Alin, Leo, and Sonia) partnered with Parque La Libertad to create Pejibaye—an intergenerational learning program pairing elder mentors with youth for hands-on gardening, plant guide creation, and digital storytelling. Co-designed with a heart-centered approach that honors cultural dignity, this initiative preserves Costa Rica’s rich biodiversity while restoring deep, cross-generational connections and community pride.

🎥 Watch their full solution video to see heart-centered design in action!



In partnership with &

08/25/2026

As the Stanford campus begins to come alive with students this back-to-school period, let’s take a moment to look back at the magic of Extreme 2026. ✨

In the first half of 2026, students were just beginning their journey into social impact. From late-night prototyping to codesigning with our partners, our 2026 cohort brought incredible heart, grit, and creativity to the heart work of Extreme Affordability.

Extreme 2026 was a masterclass in relational trust, radical humility, and showing what it truly means to build with communities rather than for them. For our teaching team, watching this cohort lean into ambiguity, support one another through every pivot, and lead with such deep care was a powerful reminder of why we do this work!

From our Teaching Team co-lead, Manasa Yeturu, "Extreme has the power of really moving from transactional to transformative, moving from human-centered to heart-centered..."

Watch a recap of the Extreme Expo 2026 for a walk down memory lane! 💛

06/30/2026

For three incredible years, our projects were deeply embedded across Costa Rica, moving from transactional relationships to transformational ones! As this system-shifting journey wrapped up in this month, our hearts continue to flow with gratitude. We want to continue to uplift the incredible collective WE that made it all possible:

✨ To our Students: Thank you for the grit, empathy, and heart you poured into this work. You didn't just design; you listened and showed up fully.

🇨🇷 To our Partners & Co-Educators: Thank you for your trust, your wisdom, and for welcoming us so warmly into your communities. This impact truly belonged to you.

🙌 To our Coaches: Thank you for your endless dedication, midnight brainstorming sessions, and for holding the space for our teams to thrive.

You all proved that when business, design, and radical empathy intersected, real-world impact happened. Thank you for bringing so much love and spark to this journey. 🇨🇷✨



06/06/2026

The joyful energy last night was unmatched... 🇨🇷✨

¡Gracias!

What an absolute masterpiece of a day and night at Extreme Expo. From the heartwarming Extreme Synthesis Panel to the final conversations at the student expo, your energy, vision, and passion for Extreme was transformational! It was incredibly inspiring to see the friendly faces and hugs all evening—from alums to future students to dedicated staff and leadership across the d.school and GSB.
You are the architects of our culture, and you made all the hard work behind the scenes worth it.

Thank you for sharing your time, space, and creative energies with us. Let's take this momentum forward into the next iteration of Extreme!

Stay inspired, keep disrupting, and ¡Pura Vida!

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