The Challenge: NYC Mayor's Office of M/WBE and Workforce Development want to build a more resilient and fair economy for all New York City's workers, entrepreneurs, and communities.  They asked, what role could a collaborative of community-based intermediary organizations play to generate a shared vision and innovations for a more equitable economy in NYC?  

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The Idea: It was important to elevate the leadership of intermediary organizations in the innovation process. We used a prototyping process as a way to encourage creativity and learning, while opening up space for the intermediary organizations to iterate and evolve the ideas as the City's funding priorities and criteria for resourcing the ideas shifted. 

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The Design: I knew it was critical to build time into the process to align around definitions of "equity" before any generating potential innovations. Additionally, the client needed a process that would accommodate shifting directives from their office. I addressed these needs by creating a flexible innovation process that had space for both the intermediaries and our client to bring in new ideas/approaches.  I framed and designed the workshops as opportunities to learn about the needs and interests of the intermediary organizations while also validating and build alignment around the client’s strategic priorities. Workshops were heavy on the post-its to emphasize idea generation, not perfection.  

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The Result: ​Over two workshops, we generated seven concept prototypes (for new programs or practices), each representing collective thinking and commitment to advancing ideas in support of a vision for a more equitable economy. At this point, at least two have been generated interest from funders and stakeholders to develop them further. More important to me is that the workshops created an opportunity for intermediaries, who have a deep understanding of the workers and small businesses in their communities, to drive the conversation and create the priorities for how NYC's businesses can increase economic opportunity for all NYC residents. 

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Sample Work: We developed "light personas" to identify gaps and "storyboards" to flesh out new concepts. I created a prototype canvas to capture the key elements of a new concept and a prototype testing packet. To help intermediaries organizations from all over the city continue to find ways to collaborate after the workshops, I created an ecosystem map.