Enhancing Small Business Resiliency for Local Economic Development in Brooklyn, NY

The Local Development Corporation of East New York and SBS sought to promote small business preparedness in the face of rezoning measures in East New York, Brooklyn. Our team developed participatory design methods and engagement strategies to capture local business owners needs. We designed a suite of tools that made information and services more accessible, developed a campaign that showcased the small business community, and activated neighborhoods spaces.

Context

How can design engage different communities and foster new forms of collaboration for sustained business growth? East New York is facing development pressures and possible small business displacement due to city rezonings and new investments. The region is home to a diversity of small business owners that promote clusters of economic outputs, and foster neighborhood and civic pride. Yet multiple factors affect small businesses’ opportunities that need to be understood to reduce future hardships.

Approach

Our approach was to use design research methods following three steps: collect information about the business owner experience, generate new insights, and scope out high impact interventions to support small business resilience. To gather necessary information we used behavioral mapping, touchtone tours, interviews, and directed storytelling to capture information from a cross section of business owners. After synthesizing our new information, we pinpointed four user personas and distilled five crucial types of support services for marketing, workforce development and recruitment, property leasing and tenant rights, and business growth. Our insights enabled us to scope out tools to increase awareness of upcoming re-zoning, improve access to existing services and programs, and support business owner’s voices to unite and advocate for mutual needs surrounding individual and neighborhood economic development.

Outcome

We designed fifteen tools and engagement events that enabled local development corporations to get vital information into the hands of small business owners. This information sharing encouraged different advocacy groups to collaborate on mutual goals for small business owners’ needs. Our  “We Mean Business” Campaign included new branding that showcased business owner’s stories, and workshops to connect business owners with legal and marketing experts. We developed a SMS platform for business owners to receive updates from local organizations about services, and implemented placemaking efforts that transformed several blocks near Atlantic Avenue, BK into a call to action for small business owners to unite and organize. Through these capacity building efforts an ambassadorship was formed, and has become the basis of a new business association for East New York.

Building Neighborhood Partnerships and a Community Health Campaign on the Lower East Side, Manhattan

Two Bridges Neighborhood Council (TBNC) sought to increase positive health outcomes of residents and build a coalition of community partners for mutual long-term health goals. Through the Healthy Neighborhood Fund (New York State Health Foundation), TBNC aimed to improve access to affordable and fresh food, safe and walkable streets, and active community spaces throughout Two Bridges, Manhattan. Our team facilitated a workshop series to align community partners, build an action plan, and execute an engagement campaign to foster awareness about existing services and mobilize ongoing participation among residents, businesses, and local organizations.

Context

How might you align different organizations to implement an action plan and create a campaign to engage multi-lingual residents (in English, Spanish and Chinese) in neighborhood health programming? TBNC sought to create a unified and culturally relevant community engagement plan with partnering organizations for its Healthy Neighborhoods Fund Initiative.  Many residents live on fixed incomes and face negative health outcomes due to the environmental factors living near FDR drive and New York’s East River, yet there is a strong network of community organizations and historical landmarks that benefit residents.

Approach

Our team facilitated a workshop series with Two Bridges Neighborhood Council and partnering organizations to define project goals, obtain consensus from all stakeholders, and pinpoint existing resources to expand project outcomes. We developed a workshop series for coalition building across neighborhood organizations and to define the partnership’s mission, activities, and partners. In tandem with partners we developed our design scope and goals.  Using desired project outcomes, we developed a research framework to learn about existing perceptions of health and wellbeing from diverse sample of population to develop activities and graphic language for campaign. After gathering information from residents to design the campaign, we hosted focus groups to refine the brand and confirm a suite of activities for the campaign.

Outcome

We developed #2BHealthy, an 18 month outreach campaign to foster health awareness, mobilize community involvement, and connect residerns to programs that encourage healthy eating, physical activity and the use of open spaces. Digital and Print Campaign assets connected residents to programming, and a detailed implementation strategy guided the client to use communication tools and collaborate on an ongoing basis with supporting partners for a comprehensive neighborhood health initiative.

Activating Public Space for Data Collection and New Social Interactions across Brooklyn’s Neighborhoods

The Brooklyn Public Library needed to capture new data and engage residents and visitors across Brooklyn neighborhoods to inform its existing programming, understand community perceptions, and promote library use among diverse library goers. Our Team designed and fabricated a public installation that transformed the traditional likert-scale survey into an interactive tool that visualized real time data collection and sparked constructive dialogue between library staff and participants.  

Context

How might we improve survey collection, while activating underutilized spaces and fostering improved engagement among an organization and its users? Brooklyn Public Library (BPL)  wanted to learn how to enhance its programming and events, and get out in the street to talk with residents across Brooklyn. With BPL we selected libraries around Kensington, Fort Greene, and Grand Army Plaza to capture new information and engage with a range of people.

Approach

We identified conventional data collection methods (likert scale and scatter plot) and translated them into an interactive installation that elicited participant interest, using tactile engagement methods, to take surveys. Participants answered questions by weaving and pinning answers across a grid. As participants answered likert scale questions, staff members chartered answers on a clipboard that we later collated and analyzed into user-friendly one-page reporting briefs. The installation animated sidewalks and underutilized open space using “out of the ordinary” techniques that invited people to respond to a series of community-related prompts and talk with library staff in a new environment.

Outcome

Our team designed, fabricated, and launched a mobile public installation with likert questions that could be interchanged for site specific questions. Participants were drawn to interact with the structure and build on existing data.  Library staff were able connected with participants to hear stories and opinions not ready accessible within the library and staff’s daily tasks. Our work exceeded community outreach goals for data collection, reaching over 130 participants within the first launch and over 500 participants total. Within several hours we were able to collect information that would take days to collect using traditional outreach methods. We created a compelling reporting system to communicate and highlight collated data for the client and a broader audience to read, using digestible data visualizations and infographics that illustrate findings for more responsive neighborhood programming and amenities.

Engaging Building Owners For Increased Energy and Water Efficiency Retrofits in NYC

The New York City Mayor’s Office of Sustainability needed to conduct market research to understand small and mid-size multifamily building owner’s barriers and motivators for energy and water efficiency retrofits. Our team developed a grassroots approach to identify building owner segments, pinpoint their challenges, and create calls to action for people to engage in the city program. Based on our findings, we created marketing materials and messaging that resonated with owners to augment Community Retrofit NYC.

Context

How might we engage building owners that have not responded to traditional energy efficiency marketing and programming? Community Retrofit NYC supports communities in scaling up sustainability projects in small and mid-size multifamily buildings to help lower buildings’ utility costs, preserve affordable housing, and improve the quality of life for residents. Yet segments of their target population were difficult to reach or unresponsive to previous outreach.

Approach

Our team developed a multi-phased methodology to review successful marketing programs and analyze building owner data. We conducted interviews with building owners, property managers, and community groups to gauge current program perceptions and survey prospective users on messaging and marketing collateral. The results of our research will inform Community Retrofit NYC future outreach strategies to building owners.

Outcome

Our market research helped understand gaps and opportunities to engage an overlooked segment of building owners in NYC. The targeted messaging we prototyped and developed addressed the values and perceptions of building owner segments and we were able to pinpoint four user personas for the city program. This study is considered the first in the country to focus on the crucial yet underrepresent sector of small to mid-sized building owners.

Activating Public Space for Environmental Awareness and New Social Interactions in Gowanus, BK

Alloy Development wanted to collaborate with Gowanus Canal Conservancy to promote environmental stewardship and highlight the stories and history of Gowanus, Brooklyn to engage residents and businesses around positive environmental transformations of the neighborhood. We developed and executed a strategy to transform a vacant site into a pop-up nursery and event space, while connecting nearby streets with blue dumpsters to deploy public installations. The network of dumpsters promoted awareness around stormwater runoff and green infrastructure initiatives in the area.

Context

How might we inform pedestrians about environmental issues and initiatives, create call to actions to reduce water consumption, and enliven the neighborhood with programming for new social engagement? New York City was investing in green and grey infrastructure to reduce combined sewage overflow (CSO) into the Gowanus Canal, one of America’s most polluted waterways. The Canal sits in a dense region of developed land used by businesses and residents that annually dump 377 million gallons of CSO into the Canal. Sewage overflow causes health problems and flooding that the City is reducing through new water management services and programs - rain gardens, bioswales, sewage tanks. These projects will positively impact sewage problems, but won’t solve the entire problem. Citizens have to engage and work towards solutions too.

Approach

We conducted brainstorming sessions to develop programing that supports the Gowanus Canal Conservancy (GCC) work alongside city initiatives. Our team examined the GCC’s mission and long term goals to design a dynamic concept and program that educates and strengthens community relationships with businesses and users in the area. We developed the 2,000 Gallon Project (#2KGP), in collaboration with Alloy, to reimage commercial dumpsters as visual statements about retaining stormwater and sewage overflow. Dumpsters hold 2000 gallons of water, the same amount of water that new green infrastructure can capture from rain and water overflow. We deployed dumpsters throughout the area, enabling pedestrians to explore the neighborhood using a self guided walking tour and scavenger hunt to find more dumpsters.

Outcome

We developed pop-up programming and a communication roll-out throughout the neighborhood and delivered seven self guided audio tours, inviting people to discover other #2KGP dumpsters. Participants used QR codes to learn about stormwater managements critical role in cleaning the Gowanus Canal and improving public health for the region through fun storytelling.  Digital and audio tours shared information about stormwater management and the history of Gowanus Canal. The tours led people to the nursery and stewardship center (formally a vacant lot) for community events to supplement the Gowanus Canal Conservancy’s existing public programming.

New Engagement Tools for Economic Development, Coalition Building, and Cultural Patrimony in Downtown Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

The Municipality of Rio de Janeiro had begun investing in public space improvements and supporting creative industries around Praça Tiradentes.  Our team developed a graphic novella, exhibition, and workshop series to promote cultural industries in around Praça Tiradentes, one of the oldest and historically significant public spaces in Rio de Janeiro. I translated research of Social Networks Matter into a storytelling platform that highlighted the importance of local economies to build new relationships among creative industries and local businesses, while informing cultural programming.

Context

How might we lower communication barriers and promote entrepreneurialism among different cultural groups and businesses? The downtown area surrounding Praça Tiradentes, a hub for culture and commerce in Rio, has suffered neglect during the second half of the 20th Century. There has been a growing interest in real estate and supporting public space programming and design to promote the area. Yet local industries and cultural groups need to be integrated into revitalization plans and public space programming for economic development initiatives.

Approach

I spearheaded and designed an initiative that translated research into digital and print outreach tools to engage local stakeholders to co-design public space and cultural programming for local entrepreneurship. I translated research findings into a storyline of characters (“cronicas”) that highlight local economies and the exchange of information to engage local actors around the ways their products, creativity, and business interactions stimulate the local economies in the area. In collaboration with Studio-X Rio, we looked at best methods to promote the plaza and stimulate programming that enhances and highlights the area’s existing cultural and economic activities.

Outcome

I conceptualized and directed the development a culturally responsive communications campaign and exhibition using local stories to engage entrepreneurs and cultural organizations around available resources and to foster new relationships. Our team convened a coalition of cultural and economic agents–city stakeholders, SEBREA (Brazilian micro-financing institution), artists, and businesses to co-design public space and cultural programming for local entrepreneurship.

Mapping Social Networks of Small Businesses and Creative Industries in Downtown Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

The City of Rio de Janeiro sought to promote its historic downtown’s cultural patrimony alongside a series of redevelopment measures to encourage use of public space, enhance cultural activities, and support local economic development. I mapped social and financial networks of small businesses and organizations to uncover creative clusters and supplementary economies that support the economic ecosystem of the area. I pinpointed conditions to support organizations’ abilities to thrive amid new redevelopment practices in the region.

Context

How might a network of local organizations inform and develop the area’s cultural economy and inform distribution of government resources? The City of Rio de Janeiro was investing in its Central Business District’s historical neighborhood, around Praça Tiradentes, to improve public space and economic development. While the region had been traditionally underserviced, it houses a diversity of businesses and cultural activities. These clusters support the local economies, creative innovation and information sharing for business owners and different creative industries.  

Approach

I designed a methodology and data collection tool to gather organizational information to understand financing structures, economic and cultural outputs, and information sharing of organizations. Using ethnographic interviews and observational mapping,my work uncovered lived experiences, day to day business operations, and central themes to business owners, staff, and cultural organizations in formal and informal economies. I coded and mapped data using social network analysis to uncover kinship relationships, specifically to detect patterns in organizations’ relationships and how these patterns form economic clusters.

Outcome

I generated a network map of stakeholders, pinpointing clusters of primary and secondary economies that inform the social and cultural ecosystem of the downtown region. This map highlighted central community leaders and financing structures that support local businesses and creative industries. I translated my research findings into a set of recommendations and strategies to support the municipal planning agency and  the cultural programing for the downtown historic core. Using research findings, I obtained a additional funding to execute the project As Crônicas Tiradentes.

Designing a Community Engagement Strategy to inform Resiliency Efforts and Green Infrastructure on Manhattan’s Lower East Side

The NYC Community Garden Coalition was awarded a $500,000 Community Development Block Grant for Disaster Recovery from the New York State Governor's Office of Storm Recovery (GOSR). The purpose of the grant was to develop a feasibility study and a Master Plan to address climate change vulnerabilities and implement green infrastructures in 47 gardens within the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Our team designed an engagement strategy to capture gardener needs that supported architectural and engineering design for increased environmental permeability and stormwater infrastructure.

Context

How might we develop applied resiliency strategies with community members for environmental education and long-term use of green infrastructure? NYC Community Gardens Coalition (NYC CGC) needed to identify the needs, challenges, and opportunities for 47 community gardens vulnerable to storm surge and flooding. The region was one of the hardest hit areas from Superstorm Sandy due to tidal surges in highly dense areas of housing and businesses. NYC CGC sought to incorporate sustainability and resiliency strategies into the patchwork of gardens to support the day to day use and needs of the surrounding community, while mitigating catastrophic events.

Approach

Our approach was to combine human centered and participatory design tactics alongside landscape architecture and engineering strategies. We developed a research methodology and workshop series to collect community information about governing structures, daily use, and environmental capabilities of each garden. The community-centered process solicited input to evaluate needs and priorities of gardeners, informing the application of green design, engineering strategies, and ecological indicators.  After gathering several waves of information from site visits, workshops, and gaming techniques, we identified and mapped a list of sustainability and resilience strategies for all 47 gardens in our toolkit.

Outcome

Our Gardens Rising Feasibility Study outlined an action plan and proposed projects for each garden that were identified during our engagement process. We piloted an information sharing system to support each garden’s governing structure and packaged a digital tool to crowd map garden information. The web platform enables people to share information in real time, collect feedback from gardeners, and support the transparency and exchange of information across a network of diverse neighbors and gardeners. Gardens Rising Feasibility Study received the American Society of Landscape Architect (ASLA) NY merit award.

Creative Placemaking in Lower Manhattan’s Financial District

The Downtown Alliance needed to animate a series of underutilized privately owned public spaces along Water Street, a heavily trafficked corridor, to inspire a work/play neighborhood that extended stay time, drove commercial activity, and appealed to a range of employees in Lower Manhattan. We implemented design research to develop and execute public programming and a neighborhood branding strategy for an ongoing summer programming series that activated open space and promoted new forms of social interaction.

Context

How can you shift perceptions of Water Street from a lackluster business corridor to series of connected spaces that stimulates new activities and social interactions?  The Downtown Alliance BID needed to improve connectivity of a series of underutilized privately-owned public spaces (POPS), promote commercial activity in the area, and extend employee and resident stay time around the Water Street Corridor.

Approach

Our team developed a summer programming series and district brand to activate space and transform the corridor into a social destination to cultivate new forms of social engagement and attract new businesses into the area. We used design research, behavioral mapping, interviews,and participant observations to understand current use of open space and perceptions of the area. By mapping a series of local assets and uncovering people’s beliefs systems and cultural affiliations with the area, we developed a responsive brand identity and executed ongoing public programming.  

Outcome

Our work turned nine underutilized open spaces into active community spaces. We drove participation by using gaming techniques and a wayfinding system that blended physical branding with digital technology to guide people to activated sites. The creation and launching of the corridor branding helped market ongoing summer programming series. In addition to this brand, we develiverd a digital platform to aggregate events and market Game On! Campaign throughout NYC. Our client survey reported 100% exclusively positive response to brand and programing (398 respondents), and the client desired to extend programming for future years. Program engaged desired demographics (77% worked on Water St.; 48% work in TAMI industries- technology, advertising, media and information sectors). Programming is ongoing and has been extended for five consecutive years.

Planning for Public Art and Creative Placemaking in Downtown Greensboro, NC

ArtsGreensboro was developing a Downtown Artscape Plan for the Elm Street Corridor in Greensboro, North Carolina to accompany the City of Greensboro’s Downtown Master Streetscape Plan. Our team collaborated in a workshop and open forum series with city officials, artists, and residents about the role of public art to support economic and urban development. We brainstormed an art informed plan to harness local businesses and organizations, and improved wayfinding to promote cultural connectivity and walkability in the historic downtown region.

Context

How can arts & cultural planning support a city’s urban planning efforts and goals for its broader health? The downtown core of Greensboro, NC faced vacancy and lack of spatial cohesion to connect different regions of the area for daily use, travel, and exploration. Rich architectural assets, short walking distances, and pockets of existing creative activities in the area could serve as a launch point to expand existing local efforts into unified and cohesive strategies, executed in phases, with the city, local organizations, and supplemental funding sources.

Approach

Our team worked with diverse public stakeholders to map locations with the greatest opportunity for public art interventions. We shared case studies and precedents to utilize placemaking practices and lean urbanism interventions with local artists and organizations to support coordinated decision making, while activating spaces with new art and activities. By evaluating sites and surrounding use patterns at downtown locations, we outlined effective ways to allocate funding for cohesive and engaging public art projects.

Outcome

Our team outlined specific opportunities to implement lean urbanism tactics to spark interest among other local organizations, build momentum  within the City, and garner support for larger arts based public realm projects. We developed a suite of strategies to support governance structures, commissioning public art teams to streamline decision making and assist in project production. We produced asset-based placemaking maps to harness a vibrant art scene and stimulate cultural events tailored to local needs and activities. These maps where site specific to the neighborhood scale and to a diversity of approaches with local stakeholders.

Transforming an Underutilized Corridor into an Economic and Urban Hub in Eastern Brooklyn

The New York City Department of City Planning (DCP) with the Urban Land Institute’s New York District Council (ULI New York) convened experts and community leaders to develop a process for large-scale and, mixed- use development surrounding the Broadway Junction subway station. Our team of experts performed technical assistance to synthesize and analyze objectives and sustainable strategies for new employment, and retail and housing opportunities in the surrounding communities.

Context

How do you promote mixed-use development to activate a neglected urban corridor for it to support city and regional sustainable development initiatives? Broadway Junction is a 20 block area characterized by elevated infrastructure and underutilized parcels of land, resulting in dangerous pedestrian intersections and poor vehicular flows. Zoning for light manufacturing discourages development, promotes vacant lots, and disincentivizes street and business activity.

Approach

We facilitated a process to discuss and document strategies for zoning, public access, infrastructure, and reuse. DCP’s Brooklyn office and panel experts toured the region and conducted a land assessment of challenges and opportunities. Panelists interviewed diverse community stakeholders and city council representatives to understand issues and dynamics for positive outcomes. Using interviews and site visits, ULI hosted an intensive charette to document information and distill insights for a long term growth plan that integrated short, mid, and long-term steps to support the work of DCP and community organizations.

Outcome

Our team developed a report and action plan with 13 recommendations, expressed in increments of time, to achieve an overarching regional vision. Through the facilitation and synthesis of plans, interviews, site visits, and discussions, we outlined clear goals to conduct appropriate re-zoning and property assemblages to connect transit and mixed-use development. In proposing these goals, we highlighted how re-zoning practices would enable the redesign of public space for improved sense of place, and would leverage existing mass transit infrastructure to support sustainable economic growth.

Creating Waste Management Solutions for Entrepreneurialism and Public Health in West Africa

Dechets a L’Or needed to showcase their service offerings and highlight the scalability of sustainable waste management services in small to mid sized cities for job creation and positive public health outcomes across West Africa. Our team designed and launched a digital interface, brand identity, and mapping of waste-to-energy process for a social enterprise to expand its fundraising efforts. We highlighted sustainable waste management services and showcased an innovative business model that turns waste into energy.

Context

How might we map a new waste collection and processing system that encourages local economic development and public health outcomes?  Sub-Saharan cities are growing and so is their waste. When untreated waste is openly disposed onto streets it creates pollutants, contaminates water systems, and creates unnecessary health hazards. Functional waste systems that integrate households, communities, and enterprises into a reliable and safe waste collection model is necessary to address pollutants and promote employment and public awareness.  

Approach

Our team built the brand identity, messaging, and communication collateral (print and digital) to showcase a new business model and launch a public awareness campaign to meet the client’s fundraising goals for its pilot phase. We facilitated client workshops to pinpoint short term organizational goals and mapped long term growth to scale Dechets a l’Or business model to target audiences, funders, government, users, and a workforce. Afterwards, we built a roadmap to help the client achieve simultaneous goals within its budget and timeline.

Outcome

We distilled waste management issues, a new value chain for waste collection and processing, and the waste-to-energy system to recycle waste and create new products utilizing anaerobic digestion technology. Having mapped the value chain, we developed user-friendly materials to highlight the management system and the products that would be created from recycled materials.  Additionally, we designed an organizational growth and service model for a user-focused experience and a clear call to action to promote engagement with client’s business model and digital strategy (video, website, social media).

Storytelling that Challenges Stereotypes and Myths in Barra da Tijuca, Brazil

Barra da Tijuca, a region in the state of Rio de Janeiro Brazil, has undergone rapid and scattered urbanization over the past decade leading up to the Olympics and World Cup.  Yet there is a lack of urbanist accounts about how these changes have shaped the experiences, needs, and desires of the residents that live in these diverse and complex ecosystems. Pitching and developing a storytelling concept, I designed a book to highlight the stories of nine people from diverse regions of Barra da Tijuca for professionals working on architecture, urban design, and planning projects in the region.

Context

How might we challenge perceptions of existing places and people in a region facing rapid and new development? For many resident in Barra da Tijuca, the region is characterized as sprawling towers and suburban development alongside a strip of highway, abandoned lakes and ponds, and hills cloaked with informal towns and neighborhoods. Founders of Faiscas, a non-profit art and architecture collective, was working with urbanists to reimagine what new development and programming could be launched to support the existing social, economic and physical structures of different regions of Barra da Tijuca.  

Approach

I designed a storytelling platform to interview residents and discuss four topics: nature, transportation, cultural amenities, and safety. These topics were selected because of their ubiquity, and the comfort for residents to engage in fluid conversations and relate their experiences to other people living in diverse regions of the area. I documented interviews and explorations through photography and transcribed, edited, and translated Portuguese conversations into narrative. Afterwards, I developed the layout and graphic design of book to ensure people and their stories were the central focus.  

Outcome

My collaborators at Faiscas, produced that book of nine stories that document different regions and residents of Barra da Tijuca. The book was utilized in architecture and design studios to spark the imagination of urbanists and support their understanding and research of people that live in the region. The text was published in a compilation showcased in Rio de Janeiro and New York City.  

Storytelling to Celebrate Organizational Growth and Economic Impact in New Jersey

New Jersey Community Capital (NJCC) wanted to showcase its long history of creating quality housing, educational facilities, and meaningful employment throughout New Jersey. Our team developed a two part installation to visualize NJCC’s financial investments for social and economic benefits across neighborhoods.We also crowdsourced partners and investors support across New Jersey’s neighborhoods.   

Context

How might we document a community development corporation’s rich history of investment and knowledge sharing for New Jersey residents and workers? We fabricated an installation that celebrates 27 years of organizational impact for its Silver Jubilee Gala. It told the stories of the people positively affected by NJCC,and narrated how investments have been used over the years to share how a growing network of collaborators look towards a successful future.

Approach

Our team aggregated and analyzed NJCC data, and catalogued the organization’s history to share compelling data-driven stories that chronicled NJCC’s growth. We humanized data by intersecting photos and storylines of people that directly benefited from NJCC’s work. These visual arrangements invited visitors to play with a timeline, organizing stories around historical moments. By using a large structure to walk around and engage with different stations, we created a gathering hub for people to learn from each other’s experiences with NJCC.

Outcome

Our work helped strengthen people’s existing connections to NJCC, and promoted a sense of pride in people for their contributions to education, financial, and social investments across New Jersey. We showed milestones and impact for NJCC, and crafted narratives that allowed people to feel a collective sense of belonging through their shared experiences, ideas, and missions.

Rethinking Community Building and Mental Health in New York City

The NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) sought to develop a program to promote mental health awareness and stigma reduction using a community driven process.  I was hired to design, launch, and operationalize the NYCMAP program, ensuring it aligned with the Bureau of Mental Health’s goals. To create a program that interests placemaking, community development and mental health, I developed a framework utilizing arts-based practices, community engagement events, and person centered recovery practices to support mental health peers and engage residents and community groups across neighborhoods. I direct and manage all program operations and service delivery, while implementing large scale public art throughout New York City’s five boroughs.

Learn more about each mural.

Context

How can community-mural making engage various people in constructive mental health conversations and support awareness around mental health and community-based topics? 1 in 5 New Yorkers experiences a mental health condition in a given year; it touches us all or our family and friends. Yet mental health and mental illness are, oftentimes, misunderstood or not discussed. These stigmas may hold people back from seeking support and recognizing multiple factors that affect health and wellness. These conversations are rarely discussed in community spaces or harnessed to collectively develop something for a neighborhood.   

Approach

I used concepts of the design process to develop a program that is responsive to different neighborhoods and culturally relevant topics, while raising mental health awareness and executing public art. To execute the NYCMAP program, I cultivate project teams within neighborhoods. We specifically partner with behavioral health service providers to anchor the program in a community, and then onboard muralists and mental health peer specialists to facilitate the program’s activity plans. We host workshops and public events in the Discover Phase to develop the mural theme, support peers’ recovery, and foster additional community partnerships. We continue the workshop series and launch more public events in the Design Phase, using participatory design methods that build on the previous phase to create mural imagery, learn about mental health services, and help reduce mental health stigmas. Once mural designs are approved by community members we begin mural production in the Deploy Phase. Here we print and paint panels of canvas (polytab) at large community painting events and at different community spaces before installing the large works of art in prominent and impactful neighborhood spaces.

Outcome

I successfully developed and launched the NYC Mural Arts Program across the City. The program has supported partnering service providers to help expand their community relationships and has engaged over 900 people throughout the process. I have placed murals ranging from 2,000-4,000 square feet on complex facilities ranging from walls 60 feet above elevated metro lines to the Lincoln Tunnel Bridge. I oversee up to 35 personnel and vendors during a mural season. I directed the development of the prominent brand identity and marketing, and I manage all operational production and planning, and promote cross agency collaboration. In our second year, we obtained additional funding and support from the Laurie Tisch Illumination Fund (LTIF) to develop the NYCMAP manual for a future evaluation study. I guided and edited the manual and developed an evaluation tool to track shifts in program participants’ attitudes about mental illness and awareness of mental health topics.

Promoting arts and creative practices that support our cities and communities

The Arts and Culture Committee brings together urbanists, artists, and other interested groups to discuss and learn how arts and culture can support economic, social, environmental, and quality of life goals in the New York Metro Region. I co-founded and co-chair this group with the aim to provide education, strategy, and guidance to its members and a broader audience, while incorporating arts and culture into policy and development initiatives. Through our programming we look to engage a wider set of participants in planning and land use decisions. We push to highlight and support existing community assets across the region.

Below see a snapshot of programming developed for New York Metro Region.

Living Los Sures: Place, Cultural Heritage, and Gentrification

In Collaboration with the Urban Design Committee, we hosted an interactive walking tour, filming of the 1984 documentary “Living Los Sures,” and Q+A with tour guides to explore the topics of sustainable community planning and the ways local stories are a tool to understand the challenges and opportunities to support a place and its residents.

Planning for New York City’s Arts and Culture Master Plan

Following the lead of cities like Houston, Denver, and Chicago, the New York City Council approved and Mayor de Blasio signed into law a requirement to develop a comprehensive, city-wide cultural plan. Panelists discussed their work developing cultural plans, the purpose of launching city-wide cultural plans, and if and when a city should think about launching a cultural plan.

Freshkills Park: Cultivating Arts into an Organization's Framework

Freshkills Park is slated to become the largest park development in NYC since the 19th century, transforming a former landfill into a 2,200-acre public park on Staten Island. This inaugural salon conversation explored the process used to activate and reclaim underutilized land for recreational park use, and learn how stakeholders from patrons and artists to city administrations shaped goals for the master plan, park operations, and public space programming.

Crafting Public Art and Space

Public Art Projects have the capacity to engage a range of community members, but the methods and reasonings behind engagement practices vary. During this Tete-a-Tete artists and planners presented and shared work to engage diverse groups in local and international settings through innovative public art projects and share insights into how the arts can contribute to successful public spaces.  

The Art of Public Safety: 100 Gates Project

Security gates are a necessary evil in New York City. Roll-down gates provide vital protection for businesses against vandalism, but they can also deter foot traffic and impose a sense of danger. Since 2014, the 100 Gates Project at the Lower East Side Partnership has been working to transform roll-down security gates into original, engaging works of art. The local Business Improvement District and artists shared how creative partnerships can stimulate neighborhood improvements and they share their successes and challenges.

Melissa McGill’s Constellation and Bannerman Island Boat Tour

Bannerman Island, a mysterious island 50 miles north of NYC in the Hudson River, houses the ruins of an eccentric arms dealer’s turn of the 20th century castle. The public art piece, Constellation, transforms the castle ruins and island into a light installation that highlights the interconnection between the present, the past, and nature. Planners, artists, preservationists, and enthusiasts of the whimsical came together to tour the island, and learn about the story behind Constellation, the challenges for the historic preservation of the island, and the funding mechanisms to launch a public work of art at such a large scale.

Daring in the Digital: Implementing Technologies in the Public Realm

Apps, interactive kiosks, live maps, and other web and smartphone technologies have altered how citizens relate to the public realm. These advances have made it easier than ever to engage citizens and solicit feedback for planning efforts. Yet many of these efforts receive short-lived success or become a blip in a widening landscape of digital tools. Conference panelists discussed what makes technologies ‘successful’ and NYC startups shared their work,  PechaKucha style. All participants provided learning lessons from their own projects for virtually engaging with the public realm.

Shaping Transformation Policies through Mural Arts

Traffic safety is a cornerstone to community health and mobility. In conjunction with the Transportation Committee, the Arts and Culture Sub-committee invited artists, city agencies, and nonprofits to discuss how the mural “Not One More Death” sparked the NYC Department of Transportation to develop traffic calming measures in Gowanus, Brooklyn. This project set in motion a new focus on building safer streets throughout the City, eventually leading to the launch of the Mayor’s Vision Zero initiative. Participants discussed how projects like this demonstrate how public art, when combined with effective community organizing, can directly and positively impact the urban environment.