National
Innovation
Service
A public benefit corporation that partnered with goverment to design equitable public systems from 2019-2022
America’s public systems are built on a structurally racist foundation and disproportionately fail to support communities of color
Racial inequities produced and amplified by public systems are a product of design
Government systems are designed from the top down and change based on the priorities and expertise of those in power
People who have direct experience of problems are typically excluded from the design of systemic solutions
Experiential knowledge of what is and isn’t working in a system is rarely valued or used in governmental decision-making
So we built an agency to create public systems that are racially equitable, by centering the needs of marginalized communities
The premise was simple:
Marginalized communities know what they need from the government and their expertise should drive change in public systems
Systems redesigned around their needs will be more effective at meeting the needs of everyone in our communities
Over the last three years we’ve worked with over 30 partners across 10 municipalities on racial equity centered systems design projects
We honed an approach to equitable systems transformation that engaged over 4,000 people in the codesign of new system-level infrastructure
We explicitly partnered with people who have direct experience with these systems as both clients and frontline service providers
Our work didn’t just focus on the siloed redesign of policies, services, technologies, or governance, but instead considered through a racial equity lens how those parts of a system could work together to better meet communities' needs
The goal of our work was to build
the capacity of communities to design
and implement equitable systems
in an ongoing way
Beyond training or technical assistance, we worked hard to ensure that the stakeholders engaged in projects were invited into a codesign process and equipped with tools for ongoing system maintenance and iteration
We designed a new government agency to manage the homelessness crisis in Seattle and King County that is governed by people who have experienced homelessness.
More about the project
We developed a new framework for assessing community safety in NYC that was designed by communities who experience high levels of crime and violence.
More about the project
We built a continuous quality improvement process for antiracist policy in the child welfare system.
More about the project
Explore our other project work here
Our next chapter
In 2022, our team made a collective choice to discontinue our work at the National Innovation Service.
The goal of NIS was to develop and pilot ways of working with government and to demonstrate that it’s possible to build equitable infrastructure in partnership with marginalized communities.
Our intent was always to be facilitators of design and action, and to build the capacity of institutions to sustainably change themselves.
Collectively our team is taking what we’ve learned here into new ventures, leadership positions in government agencies and private institutions, and our own individual consultancies.
Stay in touch with the team
In 2019, we launched the National Innovation Service to address one of the most persistent challenges in government:
Developed by:
© 2022. National Innovation Service.
Too often, this results in services, programs, and policies that fail to meet the needs of communities of color
And to implement infrastructure that ensures that the experiences and expertise of marginalized communities are integrated into the way that government works
Projects
Team