About SILC
The Statewide Independent Living Council of Alaska (SILC) is a consumer-controlled nonprofit established in 1993, with members appointed by the Governor. SILC promotes independent living philosophy statewide, providing support and technical assistance to Alaska's network of Centers for Independent Living. Through programs like the Youth Leadership Forum (YLF), SILC helps youth and young adults ages 14–24 with disabilities develop self-determination, leadership skills, and actionable life goals.
The Challenge
Scaling Person-Centered Planning
At the heart of SILC's youth programs is person-centered planning—a structured process where facilitators guide participants through a biographical interview exploring their likes, strengths, hopes, concerns, and opportunities, then help them translate those insights into SMART goals across five life areas. It's deeply personal work that changes lives.
The traditional process used giant sticky notes on a wall with big markers. Facilitators worked one-on-one with participants, doing double duty as both guide and scribe. Workshops required a minimum of two days, and a single facilitator could realistically handle about three participants at once. When one participant needed intensive help, the others fell by the wayside.
The result: many participants left workshops without actual SMART goals. The documentation burden meant facilitators spent more time writing than connecting, and the process couldn't scale to meet demand from schools and partner organizations across the state.
Unique Considerations
The Approach
SILC needed more than a chatbot—they needed a tool that could replicate the warmth and structure of a skilled human facilitator while freeing real facilitators to focus on what they do best: connecting with participants on a personal level.
Delve Group designed a two-phase AI workflow that mirrors the existing facilitation process. In the first phase, an AI assistant conducts a biographical interview across five discovery areas, gathering the participant's story through supportive, conversational dialogue. In the second phase, a separate goals assistant receives that biography as context and collaboratively develops SMART goals across five life categories—drawing connections between what the participant shared about their interests, strengths, and aspirations.
A critical design decision was the choice of Anthropic's Claude model over alternatives. Working with a vulnerable population—youth with disabilities, some with mental health conditions—required an AI model built with safety as a core priority. Claude's API ensures participant data is not retained for model training, and the model's design philosophy emphasizes careful, supportive interactions.
The AI handles the interview and documentation. Facilitators focus on the human connection.
This division of labor is the key insight. The AI is exceptionally good at asking one question at a time, listening, organizing responses, and structuring goals into the proper SMART format. The facilitator is free to supervise multiple participants simultaneously—stepping in when someone needs a nudge in the right direction or a moment of personal encouragement.
The Solution
Delve Group built a web-based planning assistant that guides participants through the complete person-centered planning process, from biographical discovery through SMART goal development, with real-time facilitator oversight and automatic document generation.
AI-Guided Planning
Two-phase conversational AI guides participants through biographical discovery and SMART goal development. Responses stream in real-time with a supportive, encouraging tone. Participants choose between detailed or concise response styles.
Facilitator Dashboard
Real-time progress monitoring across all participants with live updates as biography sections and goals are completed. Facilitators see who needs help and who's progressing independently.
Automatic Documentation
Completed plans are automatically generated as formatted Word documents. Goals are saved progressively throughout the conversation, ensuring no work is lost.
Technical Approach
The system uses a structured two-phase AI workflow with tool-based data persistence, ensuring the AI doesn't just generate text but actively saves structured data at every step:
Biographical Interview
AI facilitator guides participants through five discovery areas using open-ended questions, saving each section via tool calls as it's completed
Context-Aware Goal Development
A second AI assistant receives the completed biography and helps develop SMART goals, drawing connections between the participant's story and each life area
Real-Time Facilitator Oversight
Live dashboard tracks progress as participants work, enabling facilitators to supervise many participants while stepping in where human judgment matters
The Results
Immediate Impact
Triple the Capacity
Facilitators went from managing 3 participants at once to comfortably handling 7–8, effectively tripling reach without adding staff.
Half the Time
Workshops that previously required a minimum of two days can now be completed in a single day.
Dramatically Better Goals
Every participant left with actual SMART goals—complete with action steps, resources, and timelines—a stark improvement over the pen-and-paper process.
Less Stress, More Connection
Lead facilitator called it "the least stressful goal setting I have ever participated in," freeing facilitators to focus on meaningful engagement.
Operational Benefits
"With the AI assistant, I can comfortably facilitate around 7–8 participants at once, roughly triple what was feasible with our old pen-and-paper process."
Mica A. Stewart
Youth Program Coordinator, SILC
Why Delve Group
Mission-Aligned Technology
Building AI tools that directly help people—not just making processes faster, but expanding who can be served.
Safety-First AI
Deliberate model selection prioritizing participant safety, with no data retention for training and privacy by design.
Iterative Refinement
Pilot deployments, facilitator feedback loops, and continuous improvement driven by real workshop outcomes.
Alaska Expertise
Understanding the unique constraints of serving a statewide population across remote communities and varied school environments.
Project Details
Timeline
Feb - May 2025
Industry
Disability Services / Nonprofit
Location
Statewide, Alaska
Tech Stack
Claude, Azure
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