Justin Entzminger
Innovation Practice Director, Bloomberg Center for Public Innovation at Johns Hopkins University
Terrance Smith
Bloomberg Public Innovation Fellow, Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg Center For Public Innovation
Tracy M. Colunga
Civic Engagement Director, Bloomberg Center for Public Innovation at Johns Hopkins University
Mai-Ling Garcia
Digital Practice Director, Bloomberg Center for Public Innovation
Summary
The role of innovator and civic designer is often one that pushes for change, sees things through a different lens. However, people with marginalized identities are often challenged to be seen, heard, and make an impact in work places. We will chat about our challenges as innovators in homogeneous spaces, but also tactics and tools we can use to help diverse groups of people be champions of change in civic spaces. This session will unpack the ways in which our hidden biases can minimize the contributions of designers and how we can uplift groups of people as champions of change.
Key Insights
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City Halls are typically risk-averse, making design innovation especially risky for professionals of color.
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Credentialing and highlighting wins can help mitigate risk penalties for designers in public sectors.
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Tracy benefited from political backing by Mayor Garcia, which legitimized her authority and helped diversify the city workforce.
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Hiring designers who reflect community demographics improves user-centered design outcomes and trust.
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Oakland’s design league valued lived experience and non-traditional resumes to break bureaucratic barriers.
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Community engagement needs to go beyond informational outreach to authentic listening and trust-building.
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Tools like mirror.com allow communities to see their collective voice and foster participation.
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Flexible physical spaces and reconfigured meeting environments enable better collaboration and divergent thinking.
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Intentional recruitment from local neighborhoods and HBCUs created diverse and effective public sector innovation teams.
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International adoption of user-centered design, as in Guatemala City, requires tropicalizing training to local languages and customs.
Notable Quotes
"City Hall is a risk-averse place and professionals of color are disincentivized to take risks in their career."
"Failure is welcomed not just as a standard practice but because designers themselves face penalties for risk."
"I was this young black guy with long hair in a sea of gray and blue suits; proving authority was essential."
"Mayor Garcia took a chance on me, which gave me authority to try new things as chief Innovation officer."
"Hiring designers who look like the community makes design resonate better with those we serve."
"Valuing lived experience means recognizing expertise beyond formal job titles or degrees."
"In City Hall, Post-its and whiteboards mark momentum and conversations differently than traditional documents."
"Using Post-it notes gives everyone an equal voice and prevents dominant voices from taking over community sessions."
"We recruited locally and at HBCUs to ensure our innovation teams reflected the community's diversity."
"To tropicalize our user-centered design work in Guatemala means adapting it a la tortres — doing it our way."
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