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const junkData = [{"title":["Stories by NYC Opportunity on Medium"],"description":["Stories by NYC Opportunity on Medium"],"link":["https://medium.com/@nycopportunity?source=rss-862e083d049d------2"],"image":[{"url":["https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/fit/c/150/150/1*CqAMY6M5PeJ5nBOc8MKcvA.png"],"title":["Stories by NYC Opportunity on Medium"],"link":["https://medium.com/@nycopportunity?source=rss-862e083d049d------2"]}],"generator":["Medium"],"lastBuildDate":["Thu, 07 Mar 2019 16:18:33 GMT"],"atom:link":[{"$":{"href":"https://medium.com/feed/@nycopportunity","rel":"self","type":"application/rss+xml"}},{"$":{"href":"http://medium.superfeedr.com","rel":"hub"}}],"webMaster":["yourfriends@medium.com"],"item":[{"title":["Pathways Pipeline 3: Field Log"],"link":["https://civicservicedesign.com/pathways-pipeline-3-field-log-5fa6c0b2de3d?source=rss-862e083d049d------2"],"guid":[{"_":"https://medium.com/p/5fa6c0b2de3d","$":{"isPermaLink":"false"}}],"category":["design-thinking","service-design","prototyping","human-centered-design","codesign"],"dc:creator":["NYC Opportunity"],"pubDate":["Thu, 07 Mar 2019 16:07:59 GMT"],"atom:updated":["2019-03-07T16:11:47.561Z"],"content:encoded":["<h3>Field Log 3: Pathways Pipeline</h3><figure><img alt=\"\" src=\"https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*q75t5HlGas6RbeRDOP3KAQ.png\" /></figure><p><em>Is this your first Field Log? Be sure to check out </em><a href=\"https://civicservicedesign.com/field-log-pathways-pipeline-d327fb001612\"><em>Week 1</em></a><em> and </em><a href=\"https://civicservicedesign.com/field-log-2-pathways-pipeline-c089534b6fba\"><em>Week 2</em></a><em> before diving into Week 3!</em></p><p>Last week, our testing teams went out to conduct the third week of prototyping concepts to improve the process of matching families to ACS Prevention services.</p><p>Our family testing team headed out to Good Shepherd, one of ACS’ contracted providers offering Prevention services to families. Our team got to drop by a resource fair that Good Shepherd was hosting for the families they serve in their Red Hook, Brooklyn center.</p><p>Our integration team went back to co-design with the Referral Management team at ACS, who they <a href=\"https://civicservicedesign.com/field-log-2-pathways-pipeline-c089534b6fba\">worked with last week</a>, to further explore the information Referral Consultants need to make a good service match for a family.</p><h3>Family Testing</h3><p>In our research, we heard that the information available to families about the different types of programs and providers could feel unclear, inconsistent, and difficult to access. Often, causing families to sign up for services without understanding how the services can support them, or what the providers require of them to participate.</p><p>Drawing on this insight, this week we tested ways for ACS and providers to better communicate with families. The concepts we shared with families explained the different components of Prevention services in a variety of ways in order to test what information resonates most with families, as well as what formats are most useful or accessible to them. The five concepts we shared with families included:</p><ol><li><strong>Visualized Process:</strong> An illustrated timeline that outlines the Prevention process and how it connects with a family’s existing ACS case.</li><li><strong>Talking Point Categories:</strong> The team took the information commonly used to explain Prevention (often communicated ad hoc and by voice) and visually grouped and standardized it into themed talking points.</li><li><strong>Family Preference Worksheet:</strong> A document for families to collect personal and family needs, goals, and preferences for services.</li><li><strong>Provider &amp; Case Planner Profiles:</strong> Information about providers and their staff grouped into clear profiles to help families get to know their provider and compare with others.</li><li><strong>In-Person Support:</strong> A go-to place for families to get questions answered about ACS and family support services.</li></ol><figure><img alt=\"\" src=\"https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*-3_8tbEXZfSS6eNktmqMww.jpeg\" /><figcaption>Good Shepherd Services Red Hook office on our rainy testing Thursday.</figcaption></figure><p>Unfortunately for us, a big snowstorm started right before the resource fair, leading to a low turnout at the event. We were not able to get these ideas in front of as many families as we had hoped, but this did not stop us from getting some useful feedback on the concepts and directions families were most interested in.</p><p>This week, our team learned the importance of explaining Prevention in ways that resonate with a family’s long-term goals, but also their day to day lives. Instead of long bullet point lists of services, families want to know how Prevention fits into their hectic schedules, and how they will be supported in achieving the goals that matter to them.</p><p>Our team also spent time at St. Vincent’s HeartShare in Bensonhurst to learn from families with experience in prevention and case planners. We created two activities to explore what info families need from providers and what they want providers to know about their families. We heard that parents first and foremost want basic information about providers, like the location and contact numbers. We also heard the importance of details that show the human, caring side of services. From their perspective, families want to share the challenges they face, like how to pay for a child’s dream of becoming a vet.</p><h3>Integration Testing</h3><p>Our integration team headed back to test with the Referral Management team again this week. While initially we had hoped to share a “future state” blueprint for the service matching process, the team pivoted to focus more on the concept of the “ideal match” between families and providers. We made this decision because our last session with the Referral Management team focused on envisioning a new future for the service matching process, but we all found it challenging to think beyond constraints like limited technology, roll out time, interdepartmental coordination, etc. So this week, we tried to flip our approach from focusing on an ambiguous future to thinking very tactfully about improving the current system. With this new perspective, we came back to the Referral Management team with a more specific ask: Design an ideal match for potential users.</p><figure><img alt=\"\" src=\"https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*HyEseZtHI4gQNueW3mc_fg.jpeg\" /><figcaption><em>Materials for designing an ideal Prevention match, including a magic wand that eliminates system constraints!</em></figcaption></figure><p>Using a few parent personas that we developed from discussions with over 42 parents and teens utilizing Prevention services, we asked Referral Consultant staff to describe the ideal Prevention experience for each person. This conversation led to a series of insights about the types of information the Consultants need from families to match them to a provider, and who they’d like to hear it from.</p><p><em>This post is a part of a recurring series about the Designing for Opportunity: Pathways to Prevention project’s research with users and front-line staff. For more information about the process that guides Studio projects, please read more about our </em><a href=\"https://civicservicedesign.com/tools-tactics/home\"><em>Civic Service Design Tools + Tactics</em></a><em>.</em></p><figure><img alt=\"\" src=\"https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/proxy/1*q0k5vKc7XZqiUsUdZ1SbRw.png\" /><figcaption>We thank our Founding Partner Citi Community Development for generous support. We are grateful for the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City’s partnership.</figcaption></figure><img src=\"https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&referrerSource=full_rss&postId=5fa6c0b2de3d\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\"><hr><p><a href=\"https://civicservicedesign.com/pathways-pipeline-3-field-log-5fa6c0b2de3d\">Pathways Pipeline 3: Field Log</a> was originally published in <a href=\"https://civicservicedesign.com\">Civic Service Design Tools + Tactics</a> on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.</p>"]},{"title":["A Major Congressional Report on Reducing Child Poverty Endorses NYC Opportunity’s WorkAdvance"],"link":["https://medium.com/nyc-opportunity/a-major-congressional-report-on-reducing-child-poverty-endorses-nyc-opportunitys-workadvance-d04f9c32c956?source=rss-862e083d049d------2"],"guid":[{"_":"https://medium.com/p/d04f9c32c956","$":{"isPermaLink":"false"}}],"category":["workforce-development","government","new-york","poverty","economics"],"dc:creator":["NYC Opportunity"],"pubDate":["Tue, 05 Mar 2019 16:50:26 GMT"],"atom:updated":["2019-03-05T16:50:26.848Z"],"content:encoded":["<figure><img alt=\"\" src=\"https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*ULyf6Fty3pbKKvYBPx8lZQ.png\" /><figcaption>WorkAdvance: MDRC</figcaption></figure><p>Congress has released a major new report on how to reduce child poverty and one of its main recommendations is scaling up <a href=\"https://www1.nyc.gov/site/opportunity/portfolio/employment.page\"><strong>WorkAdvance</strong></a>, a NYC Opportunity program that it calls “perhaps the leading example of the new ‘sectoral ‘ training approach” to workforce development.</p><p>Congress commissioned the report in 2015 as part of a bipartisan funding agreement, at the urging of progressive House members. It asked the National Academy of Sciences to gather a group of experts to produce a report that made a non-partisan, evidence-based assessment of the most promising methods of cutting child poverty in half in 10 years. The result is <a href=\"https://www.nap.edu/catalog/25246/a-roadmap-to-reducing-child-poverty\"><strong><em>A Roadmap to Reducing Childhood Poverty</em></strong></a><strong> (2019)</strong>.</p><p>In a section entitled “<a href=\"https://www.nap.edu/read/25246/chapter/7#132\"><strong>Scaling Up the WorkAdvance Program</strong></a>” the report states:</p><blockquote>WorkAdvance is perhaps the leading example of the new ‘sectoral’ training approach, in which program staff work closely with employers to place disadvantaged individuals with moderate job skills into training programs for specific sectors that have a strong demand for local workers.</blockquote><p>The report also highlights an evaluation of the program done by NYC Opportunity with MDRC, studying the model across three cities. The report notes that a “random-assignment evaluation of WorkAdvance showed that it increased work and earnings across most of its sites.”</p><p><em>A Roadmap to Reducing Childhood Poverty</em>, produced by a committee of leading poverty experts from academia, think tanks, and non-profit organizations, also recommends an increased Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), a higher minimum wage, and a fully refundable Child Care Tax Credit, among other initiatives.</p><p>Read more about the <a href=\"https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2019/2/28/18243690/child-poverty-expert-study-child-allowance-national-academy\">report</a></p><p>Read <a href=\"https://www.nap.edu/catalog/25246/a-roadmap-to-reducing-child-poverty\"><em>A Roadmap to Reducing Childhood Poverty</em></a> (Full Report)</p><p>To learn more about WorkAdvance, view an <a href=\"https://www.mdrc.org/publication/workadvance-promising-sector-focused-strategy\">explanatory infographic from MDRC</a></p><img src=\"https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&referrerSource=full_rss&postId=d04f9c32c956\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\"><hr><p><a href=\"https://medium.com/nyc-opportunity/a-major-congressional-report-on-reducing-child-poverty-endorses-nyc-opportunitys-workadvance-d04f9c32c956\">A Major Congressional Report on Reducing Child Poverty Endorses NYC Opportunity’s WorkAdvance</a> was originally published in <a href=\"https://medium.com/nyc-opportunity\">NYC Opportunity</a> on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.</p>"]},{"title":["NYC Design Champion: Felipe Flores"],"link":["https://civicservicedesign.com/nyc-design-champion-felipe-flores-efcda1240b65?source=rss-862e083d049d------2"],"guid":[{"_":"https://medium.com/p/efcda1240b65","$":{"isPermaLink":"false"}}],"category":["public-sector-innovation","government-innovation","service-design","new-york-city","design"],"dc:creator":["NYC Opportunity"],"pubDate":["Mon, 04 Mar 2019 16:58:45 GMT"],"atom:updated":["2019-03-05T16:54:49.889Z"],"content:encoded":["<p>Associate Director of User Experience, NYC Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications (DoITT)</p><figure><img alt=\"\" src=\"https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*Tb9qMT6o7mo0lM5owHF-HQ.png\" /><figcaption>Felipe Flores</figcaption></figure><h4><strong>What is your current role? What was your pathway to get where you are today?</strong></h4><p>I’m the Associate Director of User Experience at the Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications (DoITT). The User Experience (UX) team is part of DoITT’s <a href=\"https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/doitt/html/govlabstudio/index.html\">Gov Lab &amp; Studio</a>, which includes our Web Operations, Analyst and Solution Quality and Solution Design teams. The UX team provides design services to City and mayoral agencies who wish to partner with us. We offer visual design, interaction design, web development, and human-centered design services. Our unofficial mantra- <strong>design that delivers</strong>- embodies our mission to deliver design that is intuitive and functional. In order to do this, we take a human-centered design (HCD) approach with our project teams and agency partners. This approach is collaborative and empowers our project teams and agency partners to be part of the design process. Most importantly, it helps the team create empathy for the people for whom we’re designing. It’s a mindset and a methodology to discover, define, imagine and deliver innovative technology solutions within City government.</p><p>I joined DoITT about 6 years ago. I spent my first year and a half as a mobile developer for the 311 mobile team. The <a href=\"https://www1.nyc.gov/connect/mobile-applications.page\">311 mobile app </a>is the native mobile application for 311, the City’s non-emergency service for providing the public quick access to all New York City government services and information. About 24K New Yorkers use the app per day. One of my first development contributions was the parking notification system which notifies users when alternate side parking is in effect. I also developed the year round parking calendar which you can add to your personal calendar or view on a daily basis within the app. It’s a simple solution that hopefully saves people from unwanted parking tickets!</p><p>I joined the UX team after that, switching hats from a full-time developer to a full-time designer. I embraced this role and felt I was exactly where I needed to be in my career. After this switch, I led the redesign effort for the next iteration of the 311 mobile app. It was a great opportunity to update the UI/UX design and apply HCD to address customer feedback. We gathered customer feedback from the mobile app feedback form and from customer surveys conducted by 311’s Customer Experience (CX) team. From this feedback we learned that customers need a more seamless experience between the mobile app and other 311 digital channels because people want to make service requests quickly to solve their issue, it doesn’t necessarily matter what medium they use. If the mobile app doesn’t have the service they’re looking for we needed to design ways to help them continue their search on other channels. We also learned that we needed to design better feedback mechanisms to let our customers know their requests are being serviced in a timely manner or we risk making them feel that “the City is not listening,” quoting some feedback we received. We launched the new design in August 2017. Since then we’ve seen an increase of half a million active mobile users. Our work doesn’t stop there and we hope to keep building on what we’ve learned.</p><h4><strong>In one sentence, how would you describe service design to one of your colleagues?</strong></h4><p>Human-centered design embodies the same principles as Service Design- design with the feedback from the people that use your product or service. In my own words, I describe the discipline as a methodology to solve complex problems by using empathy for the people that use DoITT’s products and services.</p><figure><img alt=\"\" src=\"https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*9CmDT7bmvLwsBQBmByYiQQ.jpeg\" /><figcaption>Felipe leading a Journey Mapping workshop at our February Civic Design Forum.</figcaption></figure><h4><strong>What initially sparked your interest in service design?</strong></h4><p>As a developer, I was well versed in design books by Donald Norman, Edward Tufte, Alan Cooper and John Maeda but I didn’t know how to connect the dots of a using a design process to create digital products. As luck or fate had it, there was a team at DoITT undergoing human-centered design training with a NYC based design firm. I was not part of that training, but I was on a project that utilized an HCD approach to develop Emergency Management’s first mobile app “Ready NYC”. Ready NYC is Emergency Management’s education campaign to help New Yorker’s understand the importance of being prepared for all types of emergencies. Emergency Management was looking to expand that campaign into a digital experience. After I saw how HCD was applied in understanding the behaviors and motivation for being prepared during an emergency and how that transformed into a minimal viable product, my interest was sparked and I knew I wanted to do this full-time. When I moved to the UX team I was able to devote time to learning HCD. Through osmosis, help from my colleagues, lots of reading, engaging with a community of design thinkers, and trial and error, I am now one of the lead HCD practitioners at DoITT.</p><h4><strong>What benefits have you seen from integrating design into your work?</strong></h4><p>It’s important to create an environment where creativity, openness and collaboration is the norm. This level of transparency builds trust with teams because it’s inclusive and helps people break out of their work silos. It allows teams more room to see the big picture and be more invested in what they’re doing. Building trust with your team creates a culture of confidence, which in turn allows staff to feel empowered to try new things instead of always looking to you for the answers or sticking to what they know. This approach has helped create strong relationships with our agency partners and the teams I work with. A core part of the HCD process is creating solutions WITH users rather than FOR them.</p><h4><strong>Did you face any challenges integrating design into your work? How did you overcome them?</strong></h4><p>The biggest challenge I face integrating design into my work is in helping others expand their conception of what design is. Most see it as solely the colors, layout and interfaces of digital products. This is an aspect of design, but it is my job to help them see that design is also about how something works and that there is a process behind it. I do this by conducting simple HCD exercises at the start of a project. We do exercises to help our teams clearly define the problem the project is solving, as well as ask ourselves why this problem is worth solving. If we can’t get past that first question, then we do some further exploration through workshops. I feel this pragmatic reflection of what we’re trying to accomplish, and for who, begins to show the larger picture of what it is to design something and the amount of thought that goes behind it.</p><h4><strong>What’s one interesting thing you learned about design since working with the Service Design Studio?</strong></h4><p>Staff at the Service Design Studio are excellent partners and peers. They’ve been a great support when I’ve needed to talk about the challenges of doing service design related work in the City. As our team sizes are comparable, we’ve talked a lot on how to maximize impact within our resource constraints. I appreciate the efforts they make to be accessible to anyone through their Office Hours and have enjoyed working with them to engage the design community within the City through the quarterly Civic Design Forum we help co-host.</p><figure><img alt=\"\" src=\"https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*EZKxGUD3cJPkRXWsAYeBlw.jpeg\" /><figcaption>Felipe’s team walking City agency staff through a current state journey of one of their digital products.</figcaption></figure><h4><strong>What advice would you give to other public servants who are interested in bringing design into their work?</strong></h4><p>Our world is designed for us. As public servants, we are responsible for designing products and services that impact the residents of NYC. If you want to bring a design mindset to your work it’s important to take risks, make mistakes along the way, and experiment with ideas through prototyping. Also, look at the everyday products you use and ask yourself how you might improve the design and experience. That will train your eye to see like a designer. You don’t have to go to the finest design school to learn this mindset, there are plenty of great writers on the subject and plenty of people within government to talk to, like me. And last, start small but start somewhere!</p><h4>About the Design Champion Series</h4><p>This series broadcasts the efforts of government employees striving to improve the way city programs are designed, delivered, and evaluated. These Design Champions are tackling complex problems in new ways and we could all learn from how they work.</p><p><em>This post is a part of the Service Design Studio at the NYC Mayor’s Office for Economic Opportunity. The Studio works to make city services more accessible and effective for low-income New Yorkers. To learn more about our work, visit our </em><a href=\"http://nyc.gov/opportunity\"><em>website</em></a><em>.</em></p><figure><img alt=\"\" src=\"https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/proxy/1*q0k5vKc7XZqiUsUdZ1SbRw.png\" /><figcaption>We thank our Founding Partner Citi Community Development for generous support. We are grateful for the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City’s partnership.</figcaption></figure><img src=\"https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&referrerSource=full_rss&postId=efcda1240b65\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\"><hr><p><a href=\"https://civicservicedesign.com/nyc-design-champion-felipe-flores-efcda1240b65\">NYC Design Champion: Felipe Flores</a> was originally published in <a href=\"https://civicservicedesign.com\">Civic Service Design Tools + Tactics</a> on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.</p>"]},{"title":["Field Log 2 : Pathways Pipeline"],"link":["https://civicservicedesign.com/field-log-2-pathways-pipeline-c089534b6fba?source=rss-862e083d049d------2"],"guid":[{"_":"https://medium.com/p/c089534b6fba","$":{"isPermaLink":"false"}}],"category":["service-design","codesign","design-innovation","new-york-city","child-welfare"],"dc:creator":["NYC Opportunity"],"pubDate":["Tue, 19 Feb 2019 14:58:20 GMT"],"atom:updated":["2019-02-19T14:58:20.429Z"],"content:encoded":["<h3>Field Log 2 : Pathways Pipeline</h3><p><em>Designing family-centered pathways to prevention services at the Administration for Children’s Services</em></p><figure><img alt=\"\" src=\"https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*Yb2eL_SkSrJ4rJPKmbJDrw.png\" /></figure><p>With about 200 different <a href=\"https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www1.nyc.gov/site/acs/child-welfare/preventive-services.page&amp;sa=D&amp;ust=1550591246776000\">ACS Prevention</a> programs serving over 44,000 children, there are more than a few moving pieces to get parents connected to the services they need to keep their families safe and thriving. Due to the complexity of the system that matches parents and children with Prevention service providers, families currently have very little say in which providers they are assigned to and what services they end up receiving. The ultimate goal of the Pathways to Prevention project is to amplify families’ voice in this matching process.</p><p>Focused on the “moments” in the Prevention service journey that we <a href=\"https://www.google.com/url?q=https://civicservicedesign.com/field-log-pathways-pipeline-d327fb001612&amp;sa=D&amp;ust=1550591246777000\">outlined in our last field log,</a> we are testing enhancements to the matching process that empower families to choose, or at least having a say in, the services they receive and the people they work with.</p><p>The hypothesis guiding our <a href=\"https://www.google.com/url?q=https://civicservicedesign.com/try-things-out-7018a96c323b&amp;sa=D&amp;ust=1550591246778000\">Trying Things Out</a>, or prototyping and testing phase, each week is as follows:</p><ul><li><strong>First, help families better understand what Prevention entails. </strong>Understanding the choices families are making is foundational to having ownership over the process.</li><li><strong>Second, encourage families to share personal goals and indicate preferences. </strong>This increases family ownership of the process, and helps staff narrow down a list of relevant programs.</li><li><strong>Third, provide families with the right information and environment to select a program or provider that works best for them. </strong>This step involves presenting key information about Prevention providers so families can make an informed choices.</li></ul><p>And while the goal of the Pathways project is to prioritize family needs, we know that whatever we design has to be balanced with what ACS and their contracted service providers can actually operationalize. So we split up our testing into two different work streams:</p><ul><li><strong>Family Testing: </strong>Understanding what families actually want and need when choosing services. The methodology behind this work stream is simple- we go out and ask families how these services could be better for them!</li><li><strong>Integration Testing:</strong> Understanding what’s possible for ACS to take on in the short and long-term by examining: Stakeholder roles, process changes, data and technology needs, and what it takes to measure outcomes and evaluate their impacts.</li></ul><p>Below, we have recapped what these two testing work streams were up to last week!</p><figure><img alt=\"\" src=\"https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*oe31dTGA0koZ_9kuOALP3w.jpeg\" /><figcaption>A sample of the parents we tested some enhancements to the process of selecting Prevention services with last week.</figcaption></figure><h3><strong>Family Testing</strong></h3><p>This week we got to spend time with some pretty remarkable young parents. The goal was to understand what information parents look for when selecting services for their families. Through a series of creative activities we asked parents:</p><ul><li>What goals do you have for your family (experiences and opportunities)?</li><li>What Prevention offerings are most valuable and interesting to you?</li><li>What would you want to know about Prevention providers in order to select the best one for your family?</li></ul><p>Reflecting on this session, a big takeaway for the team was the importance of presenting services in ways that connect to families’ real world experiences and goals. Our design concepts should aim to build an understanding of what a family is trying to achieve, then connect them to services that help them achieve that goal.</p><blockquote>As one parent said: we need to<strong> “understand why [a family is where they are], what they can do, and how they want to change before telling them what services they have, or what they need to do. You can’t make anyone change.”</strong></blockquote><figure><img alt=\"\" src=\"https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*fNO1eoTQGFGlNb8QSHGHzw.jpeg\" /><figcaption>Artifacts showcasing what types of support parents may be looking for from Prevention services.</figcaption></figure><h3><strong>Integration Testing</strong></h3><p>This week, we met with the ACS Referral Management team from the Division of Prevention Services. This team is on the front line of the service matching process, and connects families to service providers. Currently, they operate with very limited tech support. The team currently uses a set of databases developed for ACS 20 years ago, and supplements them by emails and manually updated Excel sheets to consider and match each family to a program.</p><p>We started this session by asking the Referral Management team to design how their day-to-day work might change through different ‘family choice’ scenarios, all of which included increased automation and updated technology. It was challenging in the session to zoom out and envision a path forward to a more streamlined system. One of the team members summed up what was both our biggest challenge and success from the day when she said, “Don’t be afraid to think about a different world!”</p><p>This insight has lead the Pathways team to develop a “future state” service blueprint to visualize the possibilities that emerged from our research and testing to help the Referral team concretely see what an optimized matching system could look like. We are bringing this blueprint back to the team this week to elicit deeper and more targeted feedback.</p><h3>Lesson of the Week</h3><p>Markus Kessler, the ACS Design Lead on the Pathways project team, helped lead the integration testing session. His biggest learning from the week: <strong>Staff need encouragement and assurance from leadership to think beyond their day-to-day.</strong></p><figure><img alt=\"\" src=\"https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/418/1*0f1fy3aEeOJuBsliiBtATA.png\" /></figure><h4>“ACS leadership is really good at having conversations about the future of Prevention services, we do this all the time, but including operational staff is not something we do as often as we should. As we start to do more co-design with all levels of staff we need to make sure they feel comfortable thinking “big” and understand that their leadership is behind them!”</h4><p><em>This post is a part of a recurring series about the Designing for Opportunity: Pathways to Prevention project’s research with users and front-line staff. For more information about the process that guides Studio projects, please read more about our </em><a href=\"https://civicservicedesign.com/tools-tactics/home\"><em>Civic Service Design Tools + Tactics</em></a><em>.</em></p><figure><img alt=\"\" src=\"https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/proxy/1*q0k5vKc7XZqiUsUdZ1SbRw.png\" /><figcaption>We thank our Founding Partner Citi Community Development for generous support. We are grateful for the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City’s partnership.</figcaption></figure><img src=\"https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&referrerSource=full_rss&postId=c089534b6fba\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\"><hr><p><a href=\"https://civicservicedesign.com/field-log-2-pathways-pipeline-c089534b6fba\">Field Log 2 : Pathways Pipeline</a> was originally published in <a href=\"https://civicservicedesign.com\">Civic Service Design Tools + Tactics</a> on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.</p>"]},{"title":["Just Released: Neighborhood Policing Evaluation One-Pager"],"link":["https://medium.com/nyc-opportunity/just-released-neighborhood-policing-evaluation-one-pager-6067e8e66fcb?source=rss-862e083d049d------2"],"guid":[{"_":"https://medium.com/p/6067e8e66fcb","$":{"isPermaLink":"false"}}],"category":["police","government","evaluation","new-york-city","community-engagement"],"dc:creator":["NYC Opportunity"],"pubDate":["Wed, 06 Feb 2019 15:48:34 GMT"],"atom:updated":["2019-02-06T15:48:34.396Z"],"content:encoded":["<figure><img alt=\"\" src=\"https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*iDET0UGXD1peGEx12RmwEg.png\" /><figcaption>Neighborhood Policing</figcaption></figure><p>Today, the RAND Corporation (RAND) released a <a href=\"https://www.rand.org/pubs/corporate_pubs/CP919-2019-01.html\">one-pager</a> summarizing details of a newly launched evaluation of <a href=\"https://www1.nyc.gov/site/nypd/bureaus/patrol/neighborhood-coordination-officers.page\">Neighborhood Policing</a> — an initiative of the New York City Police Department (NYPD) designed to improve communication and collaboration between community residents and police officers while continuing to enhance the NYPD’s crime-fighting capabilities.</p><p>The <a href=\"https://www1.nyc.gov/site/opportunity/index.page\">Mayor’s Office for Economic Opportunity (NYC Opportunity)</a> regularly partners with City agencies and other Mayoral offices to assist with evaluations of key citywide Mayoral initiatives, which are conducted by one of NYC Opportunity’s eight contracted independent evaluation firms. RAND’s evaluation of Neighborhood Policing is the newest example of this ongoing work. Additional NYC Opportunity projects conducted in support of City agency partners have included evaluations of <a href=\"https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/opportunity/pdf/evidence/prek_for_all_RQ2_final_Report.pdf\">Pre-K for All</a>, <a href=\"https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/idnyc/downloads/pdf/idnyc_report_full.pdf\">IDNYC</a>, and <a href=\"https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/opportunity/pdf/Comm_Schools_2017.pdf\">Community Schools</a>.</p><p>For this evaluation, RAND — a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization — will examine whether Neighborhood Policing has achieved its goals of reducing crime, improving New Yorkers’ trust in the NYPD, and increasing NYPD’s collaboration both with the community and within the agency itself. The findings of the evaluation will be used to refine and make improvements to Neighborhood Policing.</p><p><em>For more information, please see the </em><a href=\"https://www.rand.org/pubs/corporate_pubs/CP919-2019-01.html\"><em>one-page summary of the evaluation</em></a><em> on RAND’s website.</em></p><p><em>For more examples of NYC Opportunity’s evaluations, please visit https://www1.nyc.gov/site/opportunity/reports/evaluations.page</em></p><img src=\"https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&referrerSource=full_rss&postId=6067e8e66fcb\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\"><hr><p><a href=\"https://medium.com/nyc-opportunity/just-released-neighborhood-policing-evaluation-one-pager-6067e8e66fcb\">Just Released: Neighborhood Policing Evaluation One-Pager</a> was originally published in <a href=\"https://medium.com/nyc-opportunity\">NYC Opportunity</a> on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.</p>"]},{"title":["Field Log: Pathways Pipeline"],"link":["https://civicservicedesign.com/field-log-pathways-pipeline-d327fb001612?source=rss-862e083d049d------2"],"guid":[{"_":"https://medium.com/p/d327fb001612","$":{"isPermaLink":"false"}}],"category":["public-sector-innovation","design-thinking","service-design","new-york-city","child-welfare"],"dc:creator":["NYC Opportunity"],"pubDate":["Tue, 05 Feb 2019 17:59:24 GMT"],"atom:updated":["2019-02-19T14:56:30.120Z"],"content:encoded":["<p><em>Designing family-centered pathways to prevention services at the Administration for Children’s Services</em></p><figure><img alt=\"\" src=\"https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*UiLk-6zBqOHjvsPv_4bcJQ.png\" /></figure><p>Welcome to the first of our Field Logs designed to catalog and share the <a href=\"https://www1.nyc.gov/site/opportunity/news/032/mayor-s-office-economic-opportunity-s-designing-opportunity-initiative-winner#/0\">Designing for Opportunity: Pathways to Prevention</a> project.</p><p>Since May 2018, the Administration for Children’s Services’ (ACS) Community Based Strategies team has been working with the Studio team on the Pathways to Prevention project to identify a more dignified and accessible pathway into the agency’s <a href=\"https://www1.nyc.gov/site/acs/child-welfare/preventive-services.page\">prevention services.</a> Typically, families enter prevention services after undergoing an opaque process to match them with one of several providers contracted by ACS. These services are sometimes voluntary, and sometimes court-ordered. Our teams are working together to bring the voices of the families using these services, and the staff members who design and deliver them, together to co-design enhancements to this service matching process.</p><p>Eight months into this project, the team has conducted discovery research and co-design sessions with a wide range of stakeholders and are ready to head out and prototype, or test, these ideas with the people they impact.</p><p><strong>And…We are testing every week!</strong></p><p>Each Thursday in February and March the Pathways team will meet with families, prevention provider staff, and Child Protection Specialists at ACS to test <em>a lot </em>of prototypes designed to answer the project’s guiding question: <strong>how might we provide parents with opportunities to make informed choices about key parts their prevention experience?</strong></p><p>Our designs will be focused on making enhancements to the following Prevention moments:</p><figure><img alt=\"\" src=\"https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/699/1*p1u4X8fsVQlUCLuV6Ry6Ow.png\" /></figure><h3>Co-Design Workshop</h3><figure><img alt=\"\" src=\"https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*cMwlphiv6CACl-R5uMTmDw.jpeg\" /><figcaption>Co-Design workshop in January at the Association to Benefit Children</figcaption></figure><p>This month, the team conducted a co-design session with six parents receiving prevention services at the <a href=\"https://www.a-b-c.org/\">Association to Benefit Children</a>, an ACS contracted service provider in Harlem. Many thanks to Eri Noguchi and her team for helping us coordinate this session!</p><p>We engaged parents in two hands-on activities: Using collage as a medium to portray their ideal prevention Case Planner, and playing a card game to elicit and ask families how they might describe prevention services to a friend. For context, Case Planners are the primary touch points for families enrolled in prevention services. Case Planners help families navigate the activities and classes that comprise the services designed to help parents safely keep their children at home. The relationship between the Case Planner and the family is a key determinant of how effective these services are for families.</p><p>During the card game, we used a set of user personas that represent the wide variety of families we met through our discovery research.</p><p>Both of these activities gave the team insight into what information families are looking for when being introduced to Prevention. Next week, we will explore concepts that explain the value of Prevention to families in different ways.</p><h3>Lesson of the Week</h3><p>Our Service Design Fellow, Ryan Hansz, helped lead the design of this session with families. His biggest learning from the week: <strong>Prevention services are not one size fits all, and we should tailor how families learn about them to meet their diverse needs.</strong></p><figure><img alt=\"\" src=\"https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/800/1*PTgsMVMnNPD4bI0AXxlZ0w.jpeg\" /></figure><h4>“With the diversity of cases, family situations, and personal goals I see the need for information on Prevention to be personalized to the individual. I wonder how we might design materials that meet each family’s unique situation?”</h4><p><em>This post is a part of a recurring series about the Designing for Opportunity: Pathways to Prevention project’s research with users and front-line staff. For more information about the process that guides Studio projects, please read more about our </em><a href=\"https://civicservicedesign.com/tools-tactics/home\"><em>Civic Service Design Tools + Tactics</em></a><em>.</em></p><figure><img alt=\"\" src=\"https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/proxy/1*q0k5vKc7XZqiUsUdZ1SbRw.png\" /><figcaption>We thank our Founding Partner Citi Community Development for generous support. We are grateful for the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City’s partnership.</figcaption></figure><img src=\"https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&referrerSource=full_rss&postId=d327fb001612\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\"><hr><p><a href=\"https://civicservicedesign.com/field-log-pathways-pipeline-d327fb001612\">Field Log: Pathways Pipeline</a> was originally published in <a href=\"https://civicservicedesign.com\">Civic Service Design Tools + Tactics</a> on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.</p>"]},{"title":["Worker Connect: A Critical Tool for the City’s Frontline Workers"],"link":["https://medium.com/nyc-opportunity/worker-connect-a-critical-tool-for-the-citys-frontline-workers-6efc8d28c604?source=rss-862e083d049d------2"],"guid":[{"_":"https://medium.com/p/6efc8d28c604","$":{"isPermaLink":"false"}}],"category":["government","evidence","evaluation","economics","poverty-reduction"],"dc:creator":["NYC Opportunity"],"pubDate":["Tue, 29 Jan 2019 20:01:10 GMT"],"atom:updated":["2019-01-29T20:01:10.355Z"],"content:encoded":["<figure><img alt=\"\" src=\"https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1000/1*d0s0I0S2tp6DMTshbGOW0Q.jpeg\" /></figure><p><em>A dementia-addled woman enters a Bronx emergency room. Unable to communicate with her effectively, hospital staff struggle to confirm her identity. Her assigned social worker, confronted with this challenge, logs into Worker Connect and enters the little information she can gather about the woman from their interaction. Figuring that this may not be the first time the woman has been in need of assistance, the social worker hopes a quick search in Worker Connect might provide clues to identify the woman. Within minutes of her search, the social worker is able to confirm the woman’s name, contact her next of kin and set a service plan in motion to provide appropriate care while eagerly awaiting the arrival of several relieved family members.</em></p><p>Each day caseworkers across New York City assist thousands of residents in need of City services and public benefits. To do so, workers must often collect information and documentation from prospective and existing clients to determine their eligibility for these assistance programs. Sometimes this information may be missing, inaccessible, or stored across separate agency client information systems that do not communicate with one another. For some of the City’s most vulnerable, missing data and documentation can be a critical barrier to getting the help they need.</p><p>Worker Connect, a digital tool operated by the <a href=\"https://www1.nyc.gov/site/opportunity/index.page\">Mayor’s Office for Economic Opportunity</a> (NYC Opportunity), is designed to help caseworkers overcome these information hurdles. The Worker Connect system communicates securely with several other City agency systems. If a client has received, or is receiving, services from one of these agencies, Worker Connect can provide a consolidated snapshot of program and household data from those systems on a single screen. It can also retrieve copies of documents that may have been used previously to verify eligibility for other program benefits. Using this information, the City’s network of social workers and care providers can expedite the process of connecting individuals and families with income assistance, emergency shelter, employment opportunities, health services, and other help.</p><p>While the tool promotes data sharing and information transparency among City agencies, access to this information is governed by strict legal and regulatory guidelines. Worker Connect operates in accordance with all applicable laws and regulations and user access is vetted through a rigorous legal review process. NYC Opportunity is strongly committed to only allowing data to be shared in ways that respect and protect client privacy. To this end, the system operates with policies, procedures and technologies designed to maintain and protect data confidentiality. Worker Connect users’ access to the system is strictly controlled, so they are only able to see data approved for their agency or department.</p><p>With Worker Connect, New York City has been able to make tremendous strides towards breaking down information silos and empowering caseworkers with better information to help their clients. The City’s long-term vision is to leverage tools like Worker Connect to establish a client-centric, holistic approach to human services administration and benefits access, using an exchange of relevant data to link clients with services and information across programs.</p><p>To learn more, read about the Worker Connect tool <a href=\"https://www1.nyc.gov/site/opportunity/portfolio/worker-connect.page\"><strong>here</strong></a>.</p><figure><img alt=\"\" src=\"https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/500/1*vA8btXecwE86fpYOYIkoJw.png\" /></figure><img src=\"https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&referrerSource=full_rss&postId=6efc8d28c604\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\"><hr><p><a href=\"https://medium.com/nyc-opportunity/worker-connect-a-critical-tool-for-the-citys-frontline-workers-6efc8d28c604\">Worker Connect: A Critical Tool for the City’s Frontline Workers</a> was originally published in <a href=\"https://medium.com/nyc-opportunity\">NYC Opportunity</a> on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.</p>"]},{"title":["NYC Design Champion: Lulu Mickelson"],"link":["https://civicservicedesign.com/nyc-design-champion-lulu-mickelson-c9ea8350a408?source=rss-862e083d049d------2"],"guid":[{"_":"https://medium.com/p/c9ea8350a408","$":{"isPermaLink":"false"}}],"category":["government","innovation","design","design-process","public-sector-innovation"],"dc:creator":["NYC Opportunity"],"pubDate":["Tue, 15 Jan 2019 16:20:11 GMT"],"atom:updated":["2019-01-15T16:20:11.438Z"],"content:encoded":["<p>Fair Housing Engagement Manager at NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development</p><figure><img alt=\"\" src=\"https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*IY9f8CdaNtj7gH4shrJPfQ.jpeg\" /><figcaption>Lulu Mickelson at a <em>WE NYC event hosted by the NYC Department of Small Business Services. As a part of this initiative, Lulu met with 1,500+ women business owners to introduce services that could address the entrepreneurship gender gap in NYC.</em></figcaption></figure><h4><strong>What is your current role?</strong></h4><p>I support the City of New York’s <a href=\"http://nyc.gov/WhereWeLive\">Where We Live NYC</a> initiative to confront segregation, fight discrimination, and build more just and inclusive neighborhoods. As a Fair Housing Engagement Manager at the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) , it’s my job to meaningfully engage New Yorkers and ensure their lived experiences shape the next generation of fair housing policy for our city.</p><p>Fair housing matters because not all New Yorkers have equal access to the opportunities our city has to offer due to historic and present day injustices like segregation and discrimination, which especially impact communities of color. Through Where We Live NYC, we are deepening the City’s understanding of what disparities look like in different communities and what the City can do to help.</p><p>In this work, I think of myself as an “intrapreneur” — innovating from inside an institution to make it more inclusive and responsive.</p><p>My pathway has included the opportunity to serve as the first-ever Community Engagement Designer at the NYC Department of Small Business Services (SBS), support staff and grantee engagement at the Rockefeller Foundation, and — for the last 14 months and counting — launch and implement Where We Live NYC’s engagement strategy at the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD).</p><figure><img alt=\"\" src=\"https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*YFNdo75-uQ1I4St18BIHNA.jpeg\" /><figcaption><em>Better understanding the unique housing needs faced by New Yorkers with disabilities from members of the Fair Housing Stakeholder Group — part of the Where We Live NYC process.</em></figcaption></figure><h4><strong>In one sentence, how would you describe service design to one of your colleagues?</strong></h4><p>Service design is a problem solving approach that helps public servants listen, iterate, and implement policies and services collaboratively with communities to ensure our government works better for the people we serve.</p><h4><strong>What initially sparked your interest in service design?</strong></h4><p>I was first introduced to the concept of design-thinking by <a href=\"http://designforamerica.com/\">Design for America</a> — an organization that partners community groups with students to develop user-centered products and services that address local need. As an young organizer, I launched one of the first Design for America chapters on my college campus to provide a collaborative alternative to top-down community service programming that seemed to reinforce the town-gown divide.</p><p>I have used design-thinking in my work ever since. It challenges me to operate with curiosity and radical empathy, constantly checking my privileges and assumptions to work toward people-centered solutions.</p><figure><img alt=\"\" src=\"https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*uYbqpk5QBPBEbHL_eZ0lBw.jpeg\" /><figcaption><em>Design for America trains young people in design-thinking and shifts the paradigm around college community service — I still go back as an alumni to support the studio.</em></figcaption></figure><h4><strong>How have you been incorporating service design Tools + Tactics into your work?</strong></h4><p>Sometimes, concrete service design tactics like <a href=\"https://civicservicedesign.com/connect-the-dots-mapping-the-user-journey-8ec1c4d66bc0\">journey mapping</a> and user personas can be helpful tools to frame problems and improve solutions. At SBS, we created a set of small business owner archetypes that helps us better understand the range of New Yorkers we serve — from an immigrant salon owner, to a restaurateur opening her fifth location.</p><p>Other times, service design is as basic as translating materials from wonky government speak to language that is compelling and accessible. As part of Where We Live NYC, we lead Community Conversations to learn from residents in a focus group-style setting, and we never ask: “What barriers do you face when it comes to housing choice?” Instead, we have a conversation with questions like: “Why do you live where you live? Do you want to stay or move into another neighborhood? What might make it challenging for you to stay or to move?”</p><figure><img alt=\"\" src=\"https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*_UmhB8W3g58hjlbHKBdILA.jpeg\" /><figcaption><em>An interactive discussion with members of the Fair Housing Stakeholder Group — a body of 150+ advocates, service providers, and community leaders who we’ve invited to give input throughout the Where We Live NYC process.</em></figcaption></figure><p>Being effective service designers means talking like people and not bureaucrats. The Service Design Studio has a great example of people-centered language with their <a href=\"https://civicservicedesign.com/talk-to-people-talking-to-people-one-on-one-88cebfd6979\">plain language participant consent forms</a>, which we use in the Community Conversations instead of asking residents to sign some intimidating legal document.</p><h4><strong>What benefits have you seen from integrating design into your work?</strong></h4><p>When I was at SBS, we connected with 1,500+ women entrepreneurs across the five boroughs to launch <a href=\"https://we.nyc/\">WE NYC</a> and address the entrepreneurship gap in New York City. Based on the insights we gathered, SBS launched an innovative slate of economic development services that included leadership courses, city-backed crowdfunding, and an unconventional model for peer mentorship.</p><p>Moreover, the women engaged in in our process felt ownership over the effort and stayed involved — sharing programs with friends and family, and serving as mentors. In fact, a talented woman entrepreneur, who had participated in WE NYC’s initial engagement, was hired to lead the initiative for the City of New York — inspired to put her business on hold and serve other women from inside government. Now, that’s inclusive local government designed by and for residents!</p><iframe src=\"https://cdn.embedly.com/widgets/media.html?src=https%3A%2F%2Fplayer.vimeo.com%2Fvideo%2F156649266%3Fapp_id%3D122963&amp;dntp=1&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fvimeo.com%2F156649266&amp;image=https%3A%2F%2Fi.vimeocdn.com%2Fvideo%2F557724108_640.jpg&amp;key=a19fcc184b9711e1b4764040d3dc5c07&amp;type=text%2Fhtml&amp;schema=vimeo\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><a href=\"https://medium.com/media/2f8391163764b4ea68100e4d4c4b086a/href\">https://medium.com/media/2f8391163764b4ea68100e4d4c4b086a/href</a></iframe><h4><strong>Did you face any challenges integrating design into your work? How did you overcome them?</strong></h4><p>Where We Live NYC includes 60+ Community Conversations with residents, a stakeholder group of 150+ organizations, large public workshops, and interactive digital tools designed to spark dialogue about race, place, and housing choice. That’s a whole lot to manage!</p><p>Like Where We Live NYC, the design process is often a big upfront investment of time and resources — so it’s critical that leadership is clear on why it’s valuable and how it fits into the rest of your team’s workflow.</p><figure><img alt=\"\" src=\"https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*TcuMKDQFuZfi3g0FKkEKHQ.jpeg\" /><figcaption><em>A Where We Live NYC activity designed to spark discussion among New Yorkers about neighborhood choice and why they live where they live — we’re leading 60+ of these Community Conversations across the five boroughs to learn more about the fair housing challenges faced by different populations in our city.</em></figcaption></figure><p>For Where We Live NYC, we did a bunch of upfront planning to clarify how our qualitative data-gathering would help fill in the City’s knowledge gaps. We’ve also been thoughtfully coordinating our efforts with ongoing quantitative analysis and our collaboration with 25+ different government partners. Shoutout to our partners at Hester Street and the team within HPD for making this all possible.</p><p>Even in the best-case scenarios, fitting design-thinking into government’s business-as-usual protocol is an ongoing challenge that takes active management — and lots of patience!</p><h4><strong>What’s one interesting thing you learned about design since working with the Service Design Studio?</strong></h4><p>The folks at the Service Design Studio have mastered the art of process-sharing — providing behind-the-scenes overviews of their projects on forums like Medium, which help other public servants understand and replicate their approach. I specifically love their <a href=\"https://medium.com/nyc-opportunity/how-were-building-great-digital-products-inside-government-fd1c110a5a6\">how-to for creating digital products in government</a>.</p><p>The Service Design Studio’s commitment to sharing and transparency inspired us to provide blog updates throughout the Where We Live NYC process, the first of which was recently published to share <a href=\"https://medium.com/@NYCHousing/learning-from-the-citys-fair-housing-stakeholder-group-b34c44d39f23\">what we’re learning from the Fair Housing Stakeholder Group</a>.</p><h4><strong>What advice would you give to other public servants who are interested in bringing design into their work?</strong></h4><p>Doing thoughtful design in the public sector means learning from residents and communities that have often been left out of government investment and decision-making. As we engage folks, it’s critical to acknowledge this challenging history and mistrust in order to build healthy partnerships moving forward.</p><p>I would encourage public servants to partner with local organizations that have deep connections to community and the cultural competency to connect with diverse New Yorkers. I also suggest investing in racial justice and anti-bias training for staff to ensure that our work is helping to dismantle, and not repeat, government’s past mistakes.</p><h4>About the Design Champion Series</h4><p>This series broadcasts the efforts of government employees striving to improve the way city programs are designed, delivered, and evaluated. These Design Champions are tackling complex problems in new ways and we could all learn from how they work.</p><p><em>This post is a part of the Service Design Studio at the NYC Mayor’s Office for Economic Opportunity. The Studio works to make city services more accessible and effective for low-income New Yorkers. To learn more about our work, visit our </em><a href=\"http://nyc.gov/opportunity\"><em>website</em></a><em>.</em></p><figure><img alt=\"\" src=\"https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/proxy/1*q0k5vKc7XZqiUsUdZ1SbRw.png\" /><figcaption>We thank our Founding Partner Citi Community Development for generous support. We are grateful for the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City’s partnership.</figcaption></figure><img src=\"https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&referrerSource=full_rss&postId=c9ea8350a408\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\"><hr><p><a href=\"https://civicservicedesign.com/nyc-design-champion-lulu-mickelson-c9ea8350a408\">NYC Design Champion: Lulu Mickelson</a> was originally published in <a href=\"https://civicservicedesign.com\">Civic Service Design Tools + Tactics</a> on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.</p>"]},{"title":["We’re Hiring!"],"link":["https://civicservicedesign.com/were-hiring-e80e0ed207bf?source=rss-862e083d049d------2"],"guid":[{"_":"https://medium.com/p/e80e0ed207bf","$":{"isPermaLink":"false"}}],"category":["graphic-design","jobs","fellowship","apprenticeship","design"],"dc:creator":["NYC Opportunity"],"pubDate":["Wed, 09 Jan 2019 16:18:18 GMT"],"atom:updated":["2019-01-09T16:18:18.345Z"],"content:encoded":["<figure><img alt=\"\" src=\"https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*6kjoWdbSnp4qw3-tSUhdPg.png\" /></figure><p>The Service Design Studio is looking for a <a href=\"http://buildwithnyc.github.io/graphicdesignfellow.html\">Graphic Design Fellow</a> and a <a href=\"http://buildwithnyc.github.io/graphicdesignapprentice.html\">Graphic Design Apprentice</a>. Bring your visual design skills to our team for the chance to work on projects with real world impact!</p><p>The wider NYC Opportunity team is looking for emerging talent in engineering and product management, data policy and analytics. Browse all opportunities on buildwithnyc.github.io.</p><p>Applications are due by February 1, 2019 at 11:59pm.</p><p><em>This post is a part of the Service Design Studio at the NYC Mayor’s Office for Economic Opportunity. The Studio works to make city services more accessible and effective for low-income New Yorkers. To learn more about our work, visit our </em><a href=\"http://nyc.gov/opportunity\"><em>website</em></a><em>.</em></p><figure><img alt=\"\" src=\"https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/proxy/1*q0k5vKc7XZqiUsUdZ1SbRw.png\" /><figcaption>We thank our Founding Partner Citi Community Development for generous support. We are grateful for the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City’s partnership.</figcaption></figure><img src=\"https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&referrerSource=full_rss&postId=e80e0ed207bf\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\"><hr><p><a href=\"https://civicservicedesign.com/were-hiring-e80e0ed207bf\">We’re Hiring!</a> was originally published in <a href=\"https://civicservicedesign.com\">Civic Service Design Tools + Tactics</a> on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.</p>"]},{"title":["Advance and Earn Program Concept Paper Released for Comments"],"link":["https://medium.com/nyc-opportunity/advance-and-earn-program-concept-paper-released-for-comments-c47735ed6f93?source=rss-862e083d049d------2"],"guid":[{"_":"https://medium.com/p/c47735ed6f93","$":{"isPermaLink":"false"}}],"category":["government","new-york","education","services","employment"],"dc:creator":["NYC Opportunity"],"pubDate":["Tue, 08 Jan 2019 15:40:55 GMT"],"atom:updated":["2019-01-08T15:40:55.799Z"],"content:encoded":["<figure><img alt=\"\" src=\"https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*D3O86L2K48RNt0JW-_ocag.png\" /><figcaption>NYC Department of Youth and Community Development</figcaption></figure><p>The Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD) in partnership with the Mayor’s Office for Economic Opportunity and the NYC Young Men’s Initiative has issued a Concept Paper for <strong>Advance &amp; Earn </strong>— a new employment and education program for opportunity youth — young people who are not in school and not working — in NYC ages 16–24.</p><p>Advance and Earn will offer NYC opportunity youth of different skill levels a continuum of services from literacy instruction through advanced training and assistance with job placement or college enrollment. Participants will also receive support services tailored to their individual needs. The goals of the program are to achieve improved educational and employment outcomes, and ultimately to improve the career trajectories of opportunity youth.</p><p>The design of Advance &amp; Earn is based on lessons learned from implementing and evaluating our Young Adult Internship Program (now known as Intern &amp; Earn) and Young Adult Literacy models as well as insights collected from stakeholder feedback sessions conducted following the recommendations of the Nonprofit Resiliency Committee as laid out in our <a href=\"https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/nonprofits/downloads/pdf/20180101_Guide_to_Collaborative_Communication_FINAL.pdf\">Guide to Collaborative Communication with Human Services Providers</a>.</p><blockquote>For more information download the <a href=\"https://www1.nyc.gov/site/dycd/involved/funding-and-support/contracting-concept-papers.page\">Concept Paper</a>. We encourage those interested in this program to send comments to <a href=\"mailto:CP@dycd.nyc.gov\">CP@dycd.nyc.gov</a> by <strong>January 14, 2019</strong>. Comments received will assist with developing a request for proposals.</blockquote><img src=\"https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&referrerSource=full_rss&postId=c47735ed6f93\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\"><hr><p><a href=\"https://medium.com/nyc-opportunity/advance-and-earn-program-concept-paper-released-for-comments-c47735ed6f93\">Advance and Earn Program Concept Paper Released for Comments</a> was originally published in <a href=\"https://medium.com/nyc-opportunity\">NYC Opportunity</a> on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.</p>"]}]}]

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