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DNDA25 Project Excellence

The Sapna Rannaghor (Dream Kitchen) Cookbook Project

Sapna Rannaghor Collective members hold copies of their Cookbooks on their last day of ESOL class of the semester

Sapna Rannaghor Collective members hold copies of their Cookbooks on their last day of ESOL class of the semester A page of the Sapna Rannaghor cookbook featuring Sheule’s Shutki Shira recipe in 3 ways – English, Bangla, and Bangla in English transliteration to ensure learning opportunities for both English and Bangla. The common words to learn are highlighted in red. Firoza, a codesigner shares her recipe for the traditional dish – Pitha, featuring edits by Priyanka. Interestingly at the top of the page, you’ll notice the learning process around the date nomenclature between South Asia and USA, which members are still adapting to. Members review each other’s practice sheets from the previous week. From not engaging in practice to discussing and sharing responses, members depict a growing interest in the activities

New York City is a vibrant mosaic with over 800 languages being spoken, yet immigrant communities face significant language barriers as they navigate social, economic, and cultural life, with impacts reaching far beyond basic communication translating into lost benefits, reduced incomes, and worsening feelings of loneliness and mental health challenges.

The isolation caused by language gaps creates intense pressure on immigrants to learn English quickly. Many immigrant adult learners enter English classes hoping to overcome these challenges, but struggle to balance busy domestic and economic responsibilities, leading to low engagement, slow learning, and high dropout rates. Instead of focusing solely on what holds learners back, this project shifts focus to the incredible strengths learners already bring. For many Bangladeshi immigrant women in the Bronx, NYC, the Bangla language and food are vibrant cultural touchstones, a source of confidence, innovation, and history passed down through generations.

The Sapna Rannaghor Cookbook Project, co-designed in the English for Speakers of Other Language (ESOL) classes at Sapna NYC with emergent bilingual Bangladeshi immigrant women, centers these cultural assets and native Bangla language skills, using food and recipes as vehicles for building English proficiency and community. This scaffolded, strength-based learning approach emerged as a bilingual community cookbook with higher engagement and renewed pride among participants, demonstrating how care-driven, community-led design can transform adult education while honoring the fullness of immigrant identities.

Group Members

  • 01. Co-designers
    Tahmina, Monzura, Niju, Bibi Mariom, Firoja, Sheule, Kowser, Shahinara, Shalufa, Shuratan, Sufia, Nadira. A collective of 13 Bangladeshi immigrant mothers (referenced here by their first names) who are homemakers and attending English for Speakers of Other Language (ESOL) classes at Sapna NYC. This is their first project engaging with any design thinking frameworks. They participated in the activities, shaped the designs, and developed recipes through the course of a year. The recipes represent the community’s cultural histories from across regions of Bangladesh. Through this process of building the Sapna Rannaghor cookbook, they are not just co-designers but also cookbook authors.
  • 02. Educator
    Priyanka is an educator and community worker at Sapna NYC, a community organization transforming communities in the Bronx. Priyanka is the lead instructor of the English classes and is the facilitation and monitoring lead on this project set among beginner learners. Priyanka identified challenges with retention, attendance, and enrollment and set the questions for the collective.
  • 03. Case Manager
    Shanaz is a case manager and community worker at Sapna NYC. Shanaz engages deeply with the community and supports Priyanka with managing the classes where there are students of different literacy levels within the same class. Shanaz was once a student at the ESOL classes and is a now a staff member at Sapna NYC currently supporting with survey and data collection projects.
  • 04. Facilitator
    Susanti Vijaykumar is a graduate student from the MFA Design for Social Innovation program with a background in behavioral science. Susanti is the project manager and facilitator on this project, who established the collective and moderates co-design sessions with the community members.
  • 05. Visual Designer
    Ananya Roche, is a designer based in India. Ananya helped identify the visual identity for the cookbook and was part of multiple iterations to ensure that the graphic identity of the cookbook mirrored the community design process.

Country

USA Flag USA
New York City

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