WE
PEOPLE HAVE BEEN DIVIDED Systemic challenges today, like inequalities in housing, education, criminal justice and health are far from separate issues. These challenges are rooted in a deep and entangled history of policies, practices and processes that remain unrevealed and misunderstood. Inclusive collaboration is disrupted by these underlying designs. As new forces begin to transform cities and towns, decisions about new projects and plans are therefore often made ‘in the dark’ when it comes to fundamental questions about our communities: how did we get here, and what does that mean for where we are going?
AND
Redlining Maps interactive exhibit and living archive
Entangled histories co-created timeline and curriculum
PEOPLE HAVE BEEN DEVALUED These entangled crises mean that inequalities persist in people’s ability to access fundamental human needs. This devaluing also means that people are prevented from adding their value to co-creating a thriving and sustainable community. All of society suffers. Devaluing affects everyone, not just those who are most disadvantaged by it, and takes all of us to transform. Without understanding the systems and experiences of this deep history of devaluing, we are stymied in our ability to successfully address them, leading to a focus on fulfilling needs without also cogenerating new value.
BUT
EVERYONE IS VALUABLE Seeing everyone as valuable requires us to break down the labels and barriers that otherwise silo our work within one community or another, rather than building bridges and blurring dividing lines. Shared value is what brings everyone to the table as collaborators who need each other to realize their own unique role and knowledge within a larger WE. When we create spaces to realize how everyone valuable, we can begin to unleash new value that has the potential to create thriving and sustainable places and economies: producing larger returns to society and the bottom line.
BECAUSE
Alternative housing model design workshop
Collaborative capacity building and cooperation session
WE ARE VALUABLE TO EACH OTHER Our differences are what make us valuable to each other. Different perspectives and capacities are needed on every project. But we are often socialized to devalue these differences. We can act in selfinterested ways that assume a zero-sum situation and breed mistrust. Without the trust we need to work together, shared value is disrupted and new value that can be transformative for thriving places will not materialize. Learning how to cooperate and communicate is an opportunity.
WHEN
WE COGENERATE SHARED VALUE When we can collaborate with trust, we are on our way to cogenerating shared value. But we need design capacities to cocreate the systems, businesses, initiatives and projects that maximize this value creation. Design thinking confronts our deepest crises with a positive and solutions-oriented methodology for inventing what comes next. With robust processes we can co-design how we are valuable to each other and begin designing the WE.
THAT
Urban Starzz social impact business Community planning for a Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy
Groundswell PA community & environmental rights initiative
TRANSFORMS NEIGHBORHOODS INSTITUTIONS BUSINESSES ORGANIZATIONS NETWORKS GOVERNMENTS SYSTEMS
SO THIS IS WHAT WE DO CONSULTING TO GROW SHARED VALUE
we bring perspective, collaboration and design thinking to diverse organizations Design and planning
Implementation to evaluation frameworks
Collaborative skill building and workshops
EQUITY ECOSYSTEMS
we generate connections that leverage a larger ecosystem of social change
WeConnect Social Impact platform
Interconnected Curriculums
Knowledge commons as a living archive
FROM ENGAGED COMMUNITIES TO INVESTMENT READY PROJECTS we take complex, multi-stakeholder projects from vision into reality Community engagement tool kit
Shared value business and hybrid modeling
Technical assistance and project management
USING
OUR PROCESS 3Cs PROCESS we add perspective, collaborative capacity and design thinking to diverse organizations Cooperation healthy collaboration
Co-creation strategic design
Co-production impactful outcomes
How do we co-create a new ecosystem of shared value projects, business and institutions in a community?
3
Resources come in, process advances
2 Bring people together, build foundation for process
1 embedded in and connected to a growing ecosystem of social change-makers, impact investors and creative experts
Resources generated, process replicates itself