 Thank you so much for joining. I know it is Friday afternoon and it has been a long week and everyone is probably Tired and full of ideas and inspiration and whatnot from the past two days So I really appreciate you all making the time and space to be here for this session I want to start with just a little bit of a check-in and for folks that are here Just type into your jack to the chat box. How is your heart today? How is your heart right now? Start with the check-in Don't think folks are using the chat function or maybe I just can't see it But in any case, please, please do check in with yourself I know there is a lot going on in our families and our communities and our work And in the world right now. And so I hope in this session we can really connect our personal reflections over the last year and in the present moment And what is going on in the world and in our work for smarter and equitable cities so I want to just talk a little bit about To today's session and what we are going to be covering. So my name is panthea lee I am the executive director of reboot And also affiliated with a few other organizations including people powered the laundromat project The rsa and the center for science and imagination at arizona state university And i'm really excited to be guiding you all through the session today And I think this one is going to be a little bit different In terms of how we typically think about strategy and about impact I know you have a lot of content sessions already really focused on the technical content and ideas and following Linear ways of thinking and this I want to offer is also a content session, but perhaps in a slightly different way Because I think you know theory and intellect and and intellectualization is helpful But only to an extent It can also be a distancing technique And too much of it can actually be toxic or lead us down path that perhaps are not that helpful for what we're trying to accomplish Because it can pull us away from the concrete And fundamental and in two series of increasing abstraction Abstraction that is only accessible to those with inside knowledge Of the technical topics that we're talking about with advanced degrees And so in this session, we are really going to be talking about strategy and impact in perhaps different ways Just a bit of a bit of context on myself so that you can understand where I'm coming from So I was born in taiwan my family immigrated to canada when I was six And I've been in the us now for about 12 years And I came to the us because so much of my work was in the majority world or you know What we commonly known as global south developing nations And I came to the us because I recognize that so many of the decisions the ideas the innovations here Had so much impact on my communities in the rest of the world And so I really wanted to be here and see how it all happened as it were Um and you know once I arrived here I recognize that there's a lot of issues and a lot of challenges that um very much sort of Spoke to my heart um in the communities that I found myself in and so my my work today Is a mix of global and domestic work here And I often find myself nowadays as a facilitator and a mediator working at the intersection of community groups of activists and of governments um and really looking at issues of open government technology smart cities and I and I and I purchased this work as I would say a critical friend I speak tech But I also think a lot about the human factors the interpersonal factors the trust factors That enable or hinder us from being able to advance the promise and the visions that we all strive for and I'm currently Based on muncie linape land. Um, which is also currently known as brooklyn new york And so for this session, I invite you to turn off your emails and sort of join us um in this conversation and to open your mind and heart Uh for the next I guess hour or so. You're invited to take what resonates with you and leave the rest. Um And despite hoppin, I'm not super familiar with this, but I'm going to be keeping an eye on the chat And also um and let me know if there's any issues with viewing the slides I think this is the only presentation format that where I can see both Um so apologies um so first I'd like just for us to start with about five minutes of grounding actually There's been a lot of you know buzzing ideas and frameworks and things that we want to do and to do lists and emails And I want us to put that aside for a minute so if it Feels comfortable for you. I'd like you to actually sit back And find a comfortable seat that you can sit in and be well in in the next uh five minutes And if it feels safe and accessible to you to first I invite you to close your eyes And to put your feet on the ground And to sit back And to feel your tailbone grounded To the chair or to the seat Wherever you are And I invite you to find your breath I'd like you to breathe in deeply through your nose And exhale through your mouth Focusing on the sound of your breath and the bodily sensations of breathing And I invite you to stay with that to notice and to use your breathing to Focus you and to help you slow down your body Because there's nothing you need to think up for the next few minutes No emails no schedules no errands You're just here For both for folks that are just joining us We're doing a little bit of grounding and so I invite you to find a comfortable seat for a few minutes and close your eyes In through the nose And out through the mouth Now imagine that you are a tree You are standing in an open field with the sun shining down upon you You are tall strong and solid You are old and wise Now I want you to bring awareness to your spine and to your back And notice how strong and straight it is This is your core And this is the backbone of your tree I want you to also bring awareness to your feet And to notice them in contact with the ground They are firmly anchored to the ground Now imagine strong roots extending from the bottom of your feet And pushing down through the surface of the floor Reaching down through the building to the earth Going down beneath the soil And feel these roots extending down down down deeper into the work earth Winding around the rocks And pushing through the many layers of cool dark earth Your roots are growing and spreading Downward and outward And you're feeling yourself anchored very solidly to the ground by this extensive root system Your roots eventually reach the core of the earth and wrap around its core Now with each exhale, I want you to push excess or unwanted energy down Out of your feet and through these roots roots into the the surrounding soil And feel the tension and the stress draining from your jaw Your shoulders your chest your legs In all the areas of your body And notice how the earth is receptive And simply absorbs all of this for you Feel how the earth receives your energy And feel grateful and lighter as you begin to clear Now I want us to take a deep breath And start reversing this process We are now going to re replenish the energy we have discharged down And think about drawing the earth's grounding energy upwards As you sit straighter and feel yourself Getting taller and taller and the earth's life energy coursing through you Reaching up through your roots into your legs Through your core and up into your head and into the trees branches now reaching out of your head and towards the sky And towards the bright warm sun And feel how good that feels And now take in the earth's energy through your spine And up towards the sky And as you now breathe imagine with each breath That through the branches and through the roots you are absorbing white light You're feeling the nutrients of our earth and of our sky Being absorbed and slowing down your own internal root system your nervous system Till it reaches the trunk of your body And we'll just send a few breaths feeling this earthly energy Wash over us Feel the sun shining down on our tree body And know that with each ray of sunshine and earth energy where we are receiving It's giving us the ability to to create our own energy within us And now step back from yourself And witness yourself and witness the tree And see how you are one with the earth and one with the sky Solid and steady and expansive And just take a mental note of how you feel right now And if there's anything that you want to carry forward into the next hour as we have this conversation Please take one last deep breath In through your nose And out through your mouth And open your eyes gently Check in with the room Check in with how you are And thank you for Giving yourself to that exercise right now So Thank you So the session is A little strange is in that Thank you, Anthony and I can now I I found the chat so sorry for missing your responses earlier, but it's nice to see the range of Feelings and emotions that everyone's sort of bringing in to this Friday midday or afternoon depending on where you are The session is a little bit strange in that I cannot see you all but you can see me and usually I like to run these in ways that I can see everybody And so If you would like to join the conversation at any time Please I think you can raise your hand in the hoppin platform and One of my colleagues will be able to bring you in through the back end And so this is intended to be a workshop not a presentation But so let's let's do what we can through the chat and also through the format to bring folks in Um, and so first I'd like to start with a check in on a series of questions just to Check in with one another and how we are entering this topic So, um my colleagues are going to put together three pools for us right now um around these questions and For us to be able to respond Very happy that folks are being grounded and relaxed um, so The first question I want us the first of three questions. I would like us to think about Is how would we characterize? How would you characterize your mental and emotional health and well-being? Since the start of the pandemic and through today So let's just wait for a minute Oh, I think the polls are ready. So if you just click over to the poll Let's um And just reflect on this question. How would you characterize your mental and emotional health? Since the start of the pandemic through today Hope I can see the responses now. Okay So no one's feeling fantastic um We have a small intimate group today. So, you know, I think Some folks are feeling good some bad. Um, and yes, please do put on all three polls um Thank you grace. Um, and then we yeah, so no one's feeling fantastic and we're sort of uh neutral. I don't know. It's all a lot Bearing on sort of bad terrible. Um, so it's a spread the second question is How would you characterize actually and just on the first question would folks be able to um in the chat Just to type in Why you selected the answer that that that you selected? What is impacting your mental and emotional health? Feel free to come on camera if you would like to speak What is impacting your mental emotional health? Servicing needs Could you speak a little bit more about that? Is it Jay Jaytonia Feel free to come on Video if you would like or I'll interpret that as perhaps we are all having a lot of different folks needs that we need to service and attend to So many challenges. I think we're all facing through learning about all the experiences and grief and trauma and burdens that we're carrying in trying to understand what we can do about these as humans as family members as employees as community members um, you know, gosh, um all my Empathy and solidarity with working mothers. It's been so challenging and difficult to stay on track with everything Shifting in our world While we tend to our loved ones and our families and absolutely The the racial and the gender disparities through the pandemic has been I think devastating And very brightly upsetting for many. Um, and Jaytonia, would you like to? Yes, join us In sharing your experience You hear me. I'm fooling around with my settings. Yeah Can you hear me? Yes, we can. Okay Yeah, um, I mean it was a systemically underserved area Uh, that was further stress tested by COVID And so it just pretty much deepened some chasms. So, um the Needs were already there. They're just more of them and While there are infusions of of cash and services Trying to rapidly deploy those But it's a it's it's a good stress not a bad stress, but it's a little stressful I mean good stress not bad stress, but it's still absolutely stressful. Thank you for for sharing that um and for joining It was good to see you Yeah, so we're all grappling with it. Um, and then I guess just related then to um what I I I hope you're I'm pronouncing your name correctly. Jay. Jay. Tonya was saying the second poll question is How would you characterize your satisfaction with work since the start of the pandemic through today? How would you characterize Yeah, keeping up with constant change and working to balance emotional availability and service demands So hard. Um, so the second question is how would you characterize your satisfaction with work? um And if folks want to also put in the chat or want to come on um to speak to this So it's a mix of it's mix of good and bad what I'm seeing more good Um, okay, that's fantastic And while you're at it feel free to also um, just answer the third question How easy or difficult have you found it to set strategy and drive impact in this period? I mean basically for folks it seems like, you know, so work actually people have had relatively good work satisfaction But at the same time have also found it difficult and challenging to set strategy and impact. Okay, some folks I would loved whoever is uh, straightforward and seamless That has not been my experience. And so I'm very happy for you and also happy for um other folks that are that are really Yeah, finding energy and motivation and inspiration at this moment But I think for most folks here it seems to have been challenging in a struggle. Um about it so I'm going to keep an eye on the chat, but you know, I think what has been challenging is coming out sort of, um in the chat and in and if I were to Characterize it seems like it's been a lot of you know folks We love our purpose and those that we serve Um, but yeah connecting and synchronizing the work is a challenge. Um, many of us have big demands We're seeing openings for greater justice and equity and infusion of resources and whatnot But also we have family and friends and community to attend to and it's also difficult to understand how to pivot um, and how to um work in this moment both with the pandemic as I think with the Um, reckonings we're having as a society. Um, and I think that there's a lot of Um, there's certainly a lot of need and perhaps not enough resources and not enough knowing how to Bring communities together to tackle them effectively um and so the the the inquiries and invitations I want us to process over the next, um 45 minutes or so is how do we process the collective grief and turmoil of the last year I think Herman was talking about um You know organizing a zoom memorial for a close friend and I'm very sorry to hear about your friend and There's so much I think grief and trauma that we're all caring and processing But haven't necessarily had space to release How do we set strategies then when also so much still seems unpredictable? With the delta variant now and I think a lot of talk around With a lot of talk around long crises and this is just the first in a series of shocks We are going to experience. What does that mean for how we set strategy when so much is in flux And then I think a question that many of us are grappling with is how do we evolve our Understanding of what impact is to be able to incorporate what we have learned about power And privilege and equity and justice in the last year, you know, these concepts are not new And at the same time, I think the conversations that have erupted rightly in the country and in the world in the last year have Have really sort of led to some sort of hard reckonings In our workplaces and our communities around how we best Serve these values with the structures and systems that we have that aren't always Don't always rebalance power acknowledge privilege drive equity as much as we can and I just want to raise up. I'm not sure how many folks were at the last smart city summit in 2019 But I noted that when I was looking through the summary from that session or from that gathering There were many key barriers and and unresolved questions that I heard time and again with governments international agencies community groups And these seem to still be from and and these still seem present with us two years later And these are a lot of questions around trust. How do we build trust with users and communities? There's lack of internal trust within city government Stakeholder's lack procedural trust What is fair and what? What can enable or break trust as we're piloting trying new things? and whatnot And I think that these questions of trust Are very much top of mind for certainly the communities that I work with As an organizer as a facilitator as a practitioner And I think in the last year the mass uprisings and protests that we've seen Have pointed to actually a lack of trust from citizens In institutions of power whether they be sort of large NGOs We're seeing a reckoning in the nonprofit sector in government and whatnot And so what does that mean for how we set strategy moving forward? And I want to acknowledge this and then also just offer some observations to To From what I have seen in the last year that I think can help us Ground how we think about strategy and pivoting and trust building in such an uncertain time So for the next little bit, I'll be going through a bit more sort of presentation style But I will also be keeping an eye on the chat So please So I think the question that I want us to start with is What happens when everything breaks down? Because that's certainly what it felt like in the last year And I want to start by pointing us to this Quote from Avondati Roy the writer which many of you may have seen last year because it started getting quoted everywhere She wrote this fantastic piece called the pandemic as a portal in the financial times and One of the last closing lines was historically pandemics have forced humans to break with the past and imagine their world anew This one is no different. It is a portal a gateway between one world and the next And I think at the time many of us look to history look to the present and really seized this as a rallying cry It really sees pandemic as a portal You know the Spanish flu brah about socialized medicine Not in the u.s. That in much of the world and early last or sort of about in about mid Mid spring and summer last year. We saw a lot of these headlines You know, we were suddenly housing the homeless We were giving refugees rights. We were We were adopting doughnut economic environmentally sustainable models of development and growth And I think many of us thought that this would carry forward, you know And these policies that lead to a more just and equitable world would carry forward And I think the jury is still out on whether or not these these reforms Will will hold and that's something I want to make space and time for But I want to just ground this in a concrete experience first and which is bring you to my community of bedside here in In what's currently known as brooklyn new york. It is a really vibrant wonderful community We are known for our famous summer block parties And I acknowledge, you know, I am a settler colonizer on this land and a gentrifier In this neighborhood something i'm actively, you know, working to understand how I can best support the community that I find myself in and now love And at the start of covet our numbers here were bad We were not doing very well We're sort of the central part of brooklyn that you might see here and the numbers weren't the worst But they were they were pretty bad And it was a time when I was speaking with city agencies with nonprofits with un agencies around what we do both here In brooklyn and also around the world and a lot of the meetings that I was in like I'm sure many of meetings that you were in We're not moving at the rate that and at the type at the scale and type of conversation that I thought was necessary to To address this rapidly exploding crisis And so at the time I started organizing with a community here Um and the group that sprung up started by a brilliant writer um named sarah mathews is called bedstuy strong And sarah went out put some um put some flyers all around uh bedstuy set up a website Set up a slap group and within about a week. There were maybe a thousand folks that had signed on um And you know, this is a mutual aid effort that we have like many we have seen All around the country in your communities and cities as well But I want to point to something around bedstuy strong that I think is really remarkable Very quickly, um this mutual aid group set up one of the most sophisticated Ticket tracking and crm systems that I have seen and I've worked on a lot of uh public and civic programs And if you you know, um, I've I've blurred out the parts that are um, you know, personally identifiable information or sensitive But really just to give you a sense of the back end that was built within I think like two weeks time So this is um the system to deal with neighbor food and medicines and supply requests And um for those that are oops for those that are interested. This is the back end This is the back end that was put together. So you can see that it was really sort of um cobbled together from a series of you know accessible um tech platforms, um, you know commercial tech platforms that we're all familiar with and The community um did this work, you know, uh through we just um took a break And um, but you know really hard core did this work for about a year And it was really remarkable to see because you can take a look at some of the stats right here Over in about a year. They're about 6,000 neighbors that signed up to help their neighbors Delivered groceries medicines essential supplies to about 10 of the population here in bedstie Largely focusing on the elderly Folks that are financially struggling and the immunocompromised We raised over one million dollars for the community fund from about a thousand individuals and while it started with food delivery and sort of food services for those Sort of struggling it led to other campaigns around community cleanups clothing swaps election support booking vaccine appointments And letter writing to community members that were imprisoned. And so it's really sort of spawned into this incredible effort And this is of course not just here in bedstie. It's happening all over the country in the world I know there are folks here from charlotte From philadelphia From miami, and I think we're seeing all these examples of communities coming together Um and around the world. Uh, this is I was talking to an amazing group from chile You know, these are groups in the philippines and folks were just coming together in times of crisis to help one another And love that jaitanya also worked on a similar effort, right? We've all been you know We all wear our professional hats, but then there are also all these community efforts That we are engaged in or know about or benefiting from And what really struck me at this time and you know for reference my background is as an ethnographer But what was what would struck me at this time? It was really the contrast to what I was seeing quote-unquote at the top was incredibly stark Because my nights and weekends work was you know, taking phone calls dropping up groceries whatnot and my nine to five was with um, you know different government agencies different international agencies and It was really challenging because I think amongst the highest levels of government We were seeing denial blame And willingness to face the facts and willingness to accept science In competent responses early on we saw you know, basically the hunger games of ppp unfolding across the country And what that means is it really handicaps? civil service and partners And I saw a really you know, you would hope in times of crisis like with mutual aid Folks would band together and do the right thing and what I ended up seeing and to be curious about your experience as well Is that internal politics deepened? Existing fragilities were highlighted and exacerbated and there became almost an even deeper mistrust Of outsiders or what folks would refer to as amateur change makers and an unwillingness to open up and collaborate And I thought that this was really dangerous because mistrust goes both ways and it's a self-reinforcing loop And this is one of the key themes of the 2019 smart cities smart cities lab And I think it has even deepened as we know this year and you know the consequences of that are massive as we're now seeing around our political debates around vaccines and masks and conspiracy theories and whatnot and these are things that you know as You know civil servants as practitioners We have to grapple with And I saw basically sort of this tension between what in government and in big institutions We also see often you know describe as old power values and then new power values Emerging in movement organizations in community groups whatnot. This is from Jeremy hymens and Henry tims their new power book, which is fantastic and just for a moment here all this is a Table that I made last year when I was observing the differences between the The government and the institution program the institutional sort of program that I was part of and supporting And then the community efforts that I was part of and supporting and I'm not going to go through this entire Table here, but I do think that there are I but I think it's interesting to note that the operational orientation is very different We spend a lot of time assessing and then planning and commissioning studies and trying to find the data and then doing and I think There are good and right questions right now being asked about is the data valid What are the biases? What you know, um is is the basis upon which we're making decisions the valid ones or do they actually exacerbate in In equities And we're producing a lot of briefings and data models and papers and whatnot Well, the community orgs that I saw were you know mobilizing very quickly to meet essential needs and this is not blanket across the board But I did see in terms of approach to collaborating with one another You know, I think in governments. I saw a lot of fear I saw a lot of well, we want we know we need support. We can't do last mile outreach We need different types of resources. But what if they see how messy we are behind the scenes? Um and I think um, and so I think I I found a lot of this really challenging And as did the community groups that I saw because um, you know, certainly in a lot of smaller community efforts You know, I would say well, hey, I know foundations that are providing support or I know, you know Folks in government that could help us with this or that or the other and it was immediately kind of no We do not trust institutions. We do not trust governments. We are going to do this ourselves. Um And this is obviously a problematic dynamic because each is good at a different thing And it's led folks. Um, this is orio collo a really, you know, well known inspiring activists and philanthropists, um in In in in kenya, um who tweeted last year. What is a government? And these were the types of responses that she got organized violence An amorphous body resulting from coalescing interests The strongest most organized gang in a territory a business and do we even need one? Now as someone who works with governments, this is obviously very distressing to me, but it recalls, um, this famous line from reagan The most terrifying words in the english language are I am from the government and I am here to help And I think what the pandemic has forced us to do in this era of massive uncertainty is really challenge our notions of yet what a government is And where do some of our assumptions around how they should be structured what their role is their relation in Their their role in relation to community where it comes from And I think a lot of our modern notions, um really come, uh, you know, I think in political theory We traced it back to thomas hobs writing the leviathan. Um after the english civil war Where he basically assumed that left to our own devices Men would descend upon a war of man upon man and therefore we need government to um prevent us from falling into our worst, you know, kind of beastly instincts and to provide the infrastructure and the the the resources to to um for us to live sort of healthy productive satisfying lives And this now I think the infrastructure that we've seen is I I think there's good questions about what government is good at and should be doing in what it is not And um, and I think also these justifications have been used for state overreach Authoritarianism whatnot, but that's perhaps a separate conversation Because I think that what the pandemic did show is Human nature is not vile and terrible. We're actually really altruistic and want to help each other This book by rebecca solnett last year. I think sold incredibly well A paradise built in hell. I believe it was written a few years ago. I'm not sure if folks have read it, but she basically surveys A history of disasters and how communities respond And she shows through through history that you know left her own devices We are caring and loving and altruistic and want to help one another and we can be nimble and fast and quick and resourceful in ways that government cannot Because of you know, the very nature of the systems and infrastructure that we have set up for a good reason um, and so I want to come back then to this question of trust and of collaboration in strategy setting The strategist or the emergent strategist adrin marie brown who's brilliant Has you know has a saying trust the people and they become trustworthy And last year and even today I see a lot of fear of opening up and fear of working with community groups and And because also we we we we do get a lot of criticism. Um, I think You know, we talk about let's bring startup culture here. Let's fail fast and fail forward. Well In government, that's really hard. You can't take taxpayer dollars and fail forward in this media environment So I get it the stakes are high that makes it really impossible to open up And at the same time, I think we have to we have to find ways to do it and and and I and I really want to talk about what that looks like because There's such great value in the do assess plan What we can learn from communities and how fast they move and how they set strategy Based on they have the ability to fail they have the ability to try and then can we take Their lessons and planning into what we do and sort of help scale up these efforts or help learn from these efforts I think that's going to be an essential part about how we continue to respond to these compounding long crises And these shocks that are going to continue to be with us And so that begs the question of what does all of us mean for our shared future? And I think in so much of my work in Open government civic tech smart cities. I think, you know, we've talked about wanting to understand communities and citizens through the lens of empathy You know being trained in design. I was taught that empathy is the deal and all if we just you know Empathy if we just develop empathy that begets good solutions But I think what we have seen um, so yeah, Rand workshops, whatnot, you know Figuring out how do we do ethnography? Create personas like this and then design services and products that can serve these folks But the art historian arena de suza had um, I heard her talk once and it completely changed my view on empathy She says I don't want to wait for people to develop empathy for me until I am treated as a full human being Because the politics based on empathy imagines justice as something to be bestowed by newly enlightened individuals On other lesser individuals and communities A politics of empathy allows those called upon to be empathetic to remain in a position of supremacy doling out justice as a matter of kindness And when I heard her say that something really clicked for me because I realized that In many cases the folks that I was asking to be empathetic Came from certain backgrounds were of certain life experience that were very different From the folks and no matter that the folks that they were serving, you know We talk about marginalized communities historically oppressed communities But the folks that I was working with were not from these backgrounds and I can make all the user personas And curing haze and systems diagrams and whatnot that I that that I want But it's really hard to it's near impossible to sort of really be in someone's shoes in that way and So, you know What do we do then? Empathy will not save us We need structural justice in a different way And I think that requires grappling with history and power and context and ethics and equity All things that we typically avoid in the civic tech space that we avoid in strategy and technical planning sessions And I think this is why so many folks from Marginalized communities from historically oppressed communities are kind of done They're saying, you know, we're done with the effectiveness and the efficiency and the reform Because the problem with reform is that reforms have often rendered the institutions themselves more permanent And so in the last year we've seen people are tired Taking matters into their own hands mistrusting government And I don't think this is tenable. Um, I think I think I I have participated in these activities and these protests and these marches And I Deeply understand where the frustration and anger comes from and at the same time. I think that we need to Seize the opportunities presented by the pandemic by a People pandemic as a portal and think about systems change and how we actually Bring all of us together to do so Now systems change requires all of us But the kind of rules that we have typically assigned ourselves And assigned others I think are too idealistic and they're simplistic and even naive, you know, we say Governments are going to create policies and deliver service to serve the people companies will then sort of produce goods And services and activists are just here sort of protesting The artists are just, you know, over there imagining it doesn't really sort of tie to what it is that we're doing And I think we need to be much more integrated and we also need to evolve our roles Um, and I think we have to change ourselves. So companies yes produce goods and services But although what does it mean to do it in ethical equitable inclusive sustainable ways for governments? You know, how do we project against harmful biases? That are in our data in our technology and how do we protect against correcting interests? And for activists, I would offer, you know, yes, we need to protest unjust systems But we also need to help define paths to dismantling them Call out culture and cancel culture right now started for good reasons But I think is is is is really challenging our notions and our ability to come together and work together And I get it. It's really hard Um, you know, we have all these questions. How do we bring the right actors to the table? How do we overcome mistrust and fear and inertia? What does it mean to agree on a common vision when we all come from such different backgrounds? And how do we move from past talk and into action? Um These are all right questions to be asking and yet it is essential because we are all good at different things Um, you know, the companies that we belong to the governments We work for we have great powers of production and distribution capacity We have resources scale and durability that my small mutual aid group many of those sort of organizing collectives You know, we do not have that But I think activists are able to bring a moral clarity and and and encourage Is not always welcome in the institutions that we work with we we have to we have to soft pedal often what we say we have to Cloak it in um technocratic language artists can bring radical imaginations and push us to think bigger and I think there are ways that we need to Harness all of these as we set strategy and redefine impact for ourselves. So it's not just Set by those with power that you know really are looking at, you know companies how do companies assess Impacting value. I mean profits we can argue, you know triple bottom line and all that but at the end of the day It is profit governments are often looking at a number of people served And I know there's much more new ones to that and you know, but we are often in counting exercises And so how do we actually harness the power of all of these? Superpowers in setting strategy and driving impact And I don't think it's utopian My country where I come from not to you know beat on it, but but think taiwan has done a really incredible job You know, we can talk about that in discussion if it's helpful taiwan has done a really incredible job but also through covet but also because we are Internationally, we don't have support. We can't rely on the international system Through obviously geopolitics with china And so we had to really just lean on ourselves and find ways to work together And I think that you know, we recognize that so many of the systems and structures that we've inherited Enable and sustain injustice inequity and oppression and they were designed and we know that and we're having that reckoning right now But futures that honor and protect justice equity and liberation can also be designed And I think the way to think about it is co-creation is often thought about as throw a bunch of people into a room And magic happens and that is so not the case We know that because there are power dynamics at play. We um often, you know to get communities Four communities to have attention for their issues resources We often ask them to perform their trauma in ways that then re traumatize them Um, and so we cannot just throw a bunch of people together And expect, you know strategy to happen I think we need to think about who should be asking what question at what point in time And I don't know about you but for me I want to be looking to our artists to our poets to our activists to answer the questions of what our futures should look like And then I want to work with academics and grassroots groups that are already doing pioneering work in generous agile and creative ways To define paths, you know, whether operational paths legislative fiscal administrative To realize this vision And then I think the role of governments and and and and and companies should be, you know, to set policies And organize markets to realize this future leveraging what we're really good at and not necessarily letting the the shackles of bureaucracy Constrain our imaginations and not being able to sort of set the most courageous Equitable inclusive visions that we can And so I offer this just as a way to think about what our role is because, you know And and and how we work with groups in different ways And so What I want to then Offer now is just a bit of a discussion for us around these four questions You know, what are the fundamental assumptions or biases in our space? And I know folks come from slightly different but adjacent background that we must challenge What is getting us what is getting in the way of us being able to examine and challenge and reframe these Assumptions or biases whether it's about our role about whether and how we work with communities around trust What is the role that I as an individual can play from where I am today to fight for more meaningful impact and progress? And finally how and where can I challenge notions of impact and urgency? So my work serves the scale and the complexity of the challenges that we face because I I get it You know oftentimes we have this mandate We are sort of in our box here doing what we can but I think that we can also think about our work in our life Taking a portfolio approach, you know What is the 10% that is going to be more radical more courageous more putting the envelope? What is the 50% that's experimental and new but relatively safe and what's that, you know However, you want to think about it, but where and how are there these strategic lever leverage points? to do more Disoriented work and also more collaborative work to leverage and harness the strengths of the communities that we work with so These are some observations and reflections that I have had and I have some backup slides if we want to talk through these but for now I would just focus on these questions and invite You all to Type in the chat or really I would love for folks to come on the screen I think we can have more than one person at a time, but to You know think about whatever landed for you what resonates with you and bring your own reflections That resonated what didn't Are there questions we want to ask of each other? Okay Can everyone hear me? Yes All right. Yeah, I thought this was very good. So just a brief Background, I mean, I'm not in the media world, but I I do consuming a lot. So one of my nonprofit boards Is like art space projects. So we're based here in Minneapolis We are the nation's largest developer affordable level workspace for artists We're in 26 states. We have 800 million dollars in real estate. Okay So so what we so I mean, you know affordability obviously in the arts world is going to be always like an issue But we're helping The artist and we're working with, you know city local In state, you know, you know governmental agencies as well as housing authorities, you know The whole 260 degrees of housing to make it work. So So I think that's one and it's been around this organization's been around for like 25 years. So It's a way to like keep affordability for the creative still You know Actions still going Thanks for that. That's really fascinating. Um, what's the name of the organization again? I think I missed that Oh, so it's called art space projects, Inc and And it's based in Minneapolis Okay, fantastic. Thank you for sharing that. Um, and I'd be curious, you know, how are you all of them thinking about? setting strategy or, you know impact in this time and because I also um what I find fascinating about You know, I'm no expert in housing But a lot of my friends that work on housing and land issues. I'm seeing some really exciting conversations right now around More and more mainstream than I've seen on issues of land back And reparations and looking at those sort of bigger, you know, things that might seem out of Impossible right now, but I think we're we're starting to have these conversations, you know, you see city councils debating it Yeah, here's what you're seeing right quickly. I would say one thing is we we are doing more work on reservations now Uh, which is very like it's a very tricky thing because you have you know titled to land etc etc and but more More of the reservations are coming up to do housing or like to do Buildings or or facilities where they need to congregate and home, you know, and like half April um, the second thing is we are, um There's an increasing demand for what is called work workforce housing So basically working affordable spaces for people who are working and it's Similar to what the artists have but there's a work first need for affordable housing So we're starting to move in that direction as well Okay, fantastic. Thank you so much and thank you for for your work. Well, well, thank you Yeah, um, I wanted to um and feel free to stay on um if other folks want to jump Video no, no, please I'm always like, why don't we all jump on because I can't see I also don't know if folks want to um, so feel free to stay on or jump off as you as you like But I just wanted to touch on the question from um arena I hope i'm pronouncing that correctly. Um, which is I appreciate what you said about not just throwing people room with existing power dynamics Um, have you seen different methods or modalities or effective at disrupting this aspect? Yeah, uh, so I'm a I'm a facilitator need eater With an ethnography and there's a design background. So I think a lot about sort of human dynamics and power dynamics And um, I'll offer a few ideas. Um, and then you know, happy to also take it offline as well But basically, you know, what I often see is when we come into our room together We often are coming with our titles and our organizations And you know, these are very clear way that we're signaling power and distance And whatnot like, you know from the get-go and I often just out of at a very sort of basic in a very basic way Don't want any of that. I just want your name. I don't want to know who else you are and you know What fancy things that you do and I think so that's just one way. Um, I often I'd like to know who everybody is. Um, which is not always possible if you're like, let's say it's a 200 person gathering But I'd like to know sort of who folks are What the interest are because everyone you're not co-creating On a blank slate everyone's coming in with their agenda their bias their whatnot And so I like to sort of understand what the politics and the mindsets are for folks coming in and where they're trying to go On that chessboard, you know So sort of as a facilitator map out the chessboard for myself Before everyone is coming in and then to be able to, um Uh for folks, especially that that are bringing their experts Are living experts bring lived experience? Um or come from backgrounds that you know can tend to be More challenging to talk about more emotional to talk about I try and do that work for them and so at the outside of the of a gathering for example, I might Show slides or take a survey or whatnot so that they don't have to stand up in front of a room of folks And be like these are these are my challenges. These are my problems What not but still to center their experience and to center the challenges in a way that is undeniable We can't look away And that I think is powerful and affirming And then I think some of it is just Facilitation around who you call on to speak how you you know Who you call on to speak um how you frame and guide exercises I find Visual exercises or different ways of engaging is much often better than just having folks talk Because let's face it nowadays workshop participation is a skill You have to know how to like write on the post it say the thing in a 10 You know 15 second soundbites so that everyone gets it and many folks are not used to that um ethnographic studies show of people coming to like community board meetings and whatnot folks from um less privileged socioeconomic backgrounds um From backgrounds um where you know where they're uh Like racialized people they tend to um sometimes they'll go And then they'll actually walk away less civically engaged They won't go back because they realize the space is not for me The way that these people talk the way that these people present And so I think there's yeah, there's a bunch of things that those are some that come to mind I'm not sure if you want to add anything. It's nice to see your face Yeah, yeah, thank you. Um No, I think all of those things I agree with and I've seen versions of attempts at that Like successes at that and then that's not present at all So I think all of those things are important and then I think the thing I've seen the most and is the biggest challenge is you see that behavior like constantly surfacing As a facilitator and it probably takes a long time to get that skill where you can start to reroute the Behavior and continually create that equalizing Conversation, it's it just it's an ongoing thing and such an important aspect to this Absolutely, and I think you know, I'm not sure how many folks here tend to facilitate as well I think you have to do a lot of like Well, you know to be able to show up as a facilitator in that way. Um I know for me like my own Experiences, um, I tend to I had to like really confront how I interact with You know like men that are older that are white that look a certain way You know based on sort of my background and my upbringing And how I was sort of culturally conditioned And I need to like learn how to like stand my ground For folks that are you know in in in traditional positions of power So that was certainly something that I needed to grapple with and so yeah I think it's I think it's really hard as a facilitator in all sorts of ways. Yeah Thank you. Yeah, I agree Yeah, um that really resonates. Hi. Hi there, Susie. Thanks for joining us Oh, yeah, I wanted to say quickly so I have My background is um having Done, you know, you know Facilitation and then hiring facilitation People I mean I worked at nor was Wells Fargo 24 years of corporate market research So I hired a lot of people right and we worked in a lot of different areas But I'm also a lot of different boards all over the place. So I think that's really It's really important to that that the skills that we bring to those meetings Are really good and important because I think people need In organizations need to you know have this ability to have someone facilitate Making sure that they're on the right track and then what are you going to do in terms of Thank you, Herman. Yeah, sure. You're welcome Susie hi done Susie did did you want to share a a reflection a question a challenge? I just had one question that I put in the chat about you know, where do we find this this kind of updated facilitation training because It's changed dramatically over a relatively short period of time and I feel like more and more I work with a non-profit organization and we're being asked to facilitate these kind of conversations because we're often sort of in the middle Um, so wondering how we can do a good job of that and where we might find those resources That's a great question. Um, you know, I'm constantly trying to like Challenge my own assumptions and beliefs and like, you know rescale and unlearn and relearn and all that You know, I would say groups that I've found helpful just a few that come to mind and I can drop these in the chat as well I've actually gone back to mediation training and so there is a mediation mediators without borders. I think offers some training but I've also been doing work with the social justice mediation institute run by liya wing and Deepika maria and generative somatics also offers training but from like an embodied perspective How do we embody justice and how do we, you know, um, work with folks from very different backgrounds? So generative somatics Um, I haven't done their trainings, but I think they've um, they've been um, I I really admire the work and I hope to do a training with them And then I I also know the wildfire project. I'm not sure if they offer trainings. Um, but they, um Not sure if they offer trainings, but They're a group that I've heard great things about too in terms of how they facilitate and guide organizations through these Messy questions at the intersection of like institutional impact and also like personal growth Um, because I think in so many of our organizations or movements or whatnot We're not dealing with the personal stuff and the conflict that is sort of impacting us from like Resolving conflict successfully and you know, um and moving forward and I think um as I've been part of You know, I'm like a circle of mediators. Um, that's thinking about how to challenge white supremacy culture You know, like one of the characteristics is conflict avoidance. And I think we're all, you know, whatever race you are We all suffer from that, you know, so what does it mean to then we scale and challenge whatnot? so, um, those are some that come to mind and then Uh, my my organization reboot. We also do um training and support for folks that are doing more Co co-creation work how do you bring people from very disciplined very different disciplines and backgrounds? So that comes to mind and I think Jennifer had mentioned um deep canvassing I I know this might be the type of facilitation, but um There's a great organization called movement school and also momentum But movement school came out of the justice democrats And I think yeah, they um, they would be sort of, you know, my go-tos in terms of, you know, deep canvassing organizing work and Yeah, so I I hope that was helpful and thanks Jennifer You know, I would think the other important part And the title of the presentation is also demonstrating impact That's really also critical. I mean the end user whoever you serve would want to know What's the impact people who who like fund you Who like give you money They're gonna want to know as well Well, just quickly on that and then um, thank you Herman quickly on that And then I want to move to dawn or others feel free to jump in but something I think I'm noticing now too is um Philanthropies having a reckoning You know, um around I think that I'm not sure there's night folks here, but You know, um one of the nonprofits that I um that I'm on the board of we just got um, we were thrilled to be able to get um Mackenzie scott's generous support And you know the modality um and the way that she sort of, you know Provided that support kind of just opened up our imagination You know, we're an arts organization that centers BIPOC voices and works with artists and communities make change So the type of support that she gave and kind of the impact indicators I trust you You know, and I think um, there's an administrator a former administrator of usa's andrew nazios Who when reflecting on his agency, I think after he retired, um, it said, you know, something to I'm going to bungle it But something to the effect that the most transformative change is often the least measurable And like, you know, and the least measure or the most minute change is what we tend to like track and measure, you know And he described usa's as a bean counting agency basically by the end of his tenure Um, and so I think that there's all good conversations right now. We're having that monitoring evaluation learning whatnot. Um But yeah, I think uh I think I think the reckoning is uh, is interesting. I'm interested to see where we can head out. Um, don Thank you for joining us. I'm really enjoying this conversation a lot. Um, and I'm still sort of struck and really from those Quotes you put up about how people feel about government And just really realizing like 50 years of discrediting government has really worked and that it's like the last place that young people look to for structural change Um, and I think it's really ultimately the only place that real structural change is going to happen. Um, and that's part of our task is to like Change that conversation about what government can do and who it belongs to and um, what what the whole public realm means Absolutely. Yeah, I think um, absolutely I think there's rules have been trash public housing public. I mean everything right, right, right That like philanthropy is going to come in and save all of that. Um, I think it's part of that reckoning you're talking about of like they've had 50 years to do it and it's not really working Right, and also like why is there so much money in there? And how does that We're asking all the questions Avoiding structural change in a big way Right, and now as we have, you know, um, I think I read something like Bezos in like a day or two makes the entire budget. He's like Profit is like the entire budget of the city of Philadelphia Or something like annual budget in like a day or two and I just like that kind of like blew my mind Like watching them like go to space and like cowboy hats or like Um, but but to this, you know, I think that I think there's really interesting. Yeah, I think We've done so much work to discredit government and I also think like, you know, you look at our media systems now Um, and just all the yelling at like I really feel for public servants You know and you want to try things and it's really difficult and everyone's yelling at you and um, so You know Adrienne Marie Brown who I mentioned she also wrote this great recent book. We will not cancel us Um, and I thought it was it's a tiny booklet. It's fantastic. Um, but I think there's great groups also I'm sure you all are familiar with them too. Some of them might be night grantees or partners. Um, but I think like, um Code for america, of course does like the sort of, you know Embedding within government. Um, I think fuse core, you know, I think it's like Folks that are trying to re-engage people and saying government is a place that you need to work Or like, you know, we need to invest in government. We need to you know, um I think justice democrats. I think their model is really interesting, you know bringing, um Uh, you know electing people that are actually representative of their constituents. Um, you know into congress I think, you know aoc was their most sort of, you know, kind of like Most well known super progressive win, but you know, now it's a quarry bush. Jamal bowman. Um, and I think that But here's the thing too. I think something that we need to think about too is Yeah, but then how do we change the the like structures and the bureaucracies and the sort of The the like the culture issues that you know, there's so many things that we need to tackle to make government An attractive place to work rather than just a tour of duty that you do on a fellowship Right. Um, and I think for many peers, I know that's how many folks think of it and You know, the reason that that mutual aid example why that system was so good I realized that Many of the folks that were building these they were engineers and they were data scientists And there were folks at private corporations that we could not afford to hire in government They stood that up in a week and it was so sophisticated and worked so well. Um, but Yeah, we would struggle to get and keep that kind of talent in government as well. And so, um, You know, this is not my area of deep expertise, but um, yeah, I I totally hear what you're saying and I would I would also briefly say that People have to also get more involved with the government In terms of learning about the government, particularly from the artist side The community activist side now I've served on panels for the any national downward for the arts for like over 12 years I mean, so And I just recently served on two panels for the cares act I mean, it's really gut-wrenching as we know. I mean, this is really serious, but I think artists And i'm a artist myself a curator, etc The ones who I talked to but they really don't want to like knock on the door of Going to the state or the federal, you know, the date they think that somehow that's not their job And um, but it is their jobs. It's like everybody's job. It's hard So I think we have to get Um, sort of more facile at how do we Communicate the people that it is your job to knock on the door of government and to give them feedback right, right Absolutely And we for a long time told people, you know, I think what's um as an immigrant here I think what's always been kind of crazy to me about america is the amount of energy and money spent during election cycles Where everyone like educates themselves and gets involved and then as soon as it's over it's like The energy dissipates and you're like, where how can I find you all to do other things that I need? You know, um, so I absolutely agree and I think also like The media system here um and everywhere now, but you know, I think we told people for a long time The government is joining like, you know, democracy your rigidity as a citizen is to show up every before you can vote Um, and then other than that you pay attention to the kardashians or radon angelina or whatever like we got it We're good, you know and um, so I'm fascinated Herman with your like arts and cultural organizing background because I'm like, how do we actually um, How do we change that narrative? um, and uh, yeah, how do we change that narrative? How do you get people engaged in a different way and how do we build that cultural momentum? Poor civic engagement, so yeah, you're very welcome And I think you know forums like this that the night the you know foundation offering like a like is really important Yeah, yeah, absolutely We lost your video panthea Oh, can you see me? No I'm not sure what's happening. Um, but I also think actually our time is probably up Um, I think I think you'll have a few minutes until um the last closing session. Um, so Okay, well, thank you Well, thank you so much for joining for your um insights and contributions. I really appreciate it and yeah Thank you for joining. All right, you know a great session Thank you All right