Shifting Toward Community-Led Innovation in Local Government
Ashley Cortez
Design Lead, NYC Mayor’s Office for Economic Opportunity, Service Design Studio
Devika Menon
Service Design Strategist, City of Philadelphia
Nidhi Singh Rathore
Assistant Professor of Design, Corcoran School of Arts & Design at George Washington University
Danita J. Reese
Service Design Strategist, City of Philadelphia
Mari Nakano
Director of Design, NYC Mayor’s Office for Economic Opportunity, Service Design Studio
Summary
This session is a panel discussion about what community-centered design looks like in local government. We’ll talk about why it’s important to collaborate with communities, the conditions that are required to practice community-centered design, and what it looks like in action.
Key Insights
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Community-centered design requires shifting decision-making power from traditional policymakers to residents and frontline staff.
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Emotional capacity and vulnerability within design teams are critical to authentic community engagement.
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Government bureaucracy and unrealistic timelines often inhibit true community-centered processes.
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Trauma-informed design practices help teams navigate discomfort inherent in community-centered work.
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Embedding city staff within project teams balances perspectives and facilitates collaboration.
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Transparency in communication is a key ally in building trust with communities.
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Sustained relationships and iterative engagement improve equity in community participation.
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Initiatives like Montgomery County’s Design by People reverse traditional innovation hierarchies by involving residents as innovation architects.
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Community members, unlike government staff, show up with full and complex needs that require holistic responses.
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Creating safe spaces for government colleagues to express candidly requires time, relationship-building, and emotional support.
Notable Quotes
"We seek to decentralize ourselves as designers and recenter ourselves as facilitators who draw on the expertise in the room."
"Community-centered design flips the traditional script to give design power to those most impacted by policies and services."
"Engaging communities means letting go of attachment to our own ideas as designers."
"There must be time to learn a community's history with government and time to build relationships to do this work well."
"Discomfort is literally part and parcel of the design process and a core practice for trauma-informed practitioners."
"Transparency will protect you in your community-centered design work when nothing else can."
"Residents show up with their full selves, wanting solutions for multiple needs, not just the narrow project scope."
"Removing my position as a designer means creating space for residents and staff to do the real work and magic."
"We practice soft landings in meetings—taking extra time to check in with people beyond just the work agenda."
"People will remember how you make them feel, not what you say, especially when they are going through trauma."
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