GLOBAL INNOVATION AND DESIGN LAB TACKLES GLOBAL, NATIONAL ISSUES

PUBLIC HEALTH - SEATTLE KING COUNTY

On October 30 and 31, 12 managers from Public Health - Seattle & King County (PHSKC) worked through the design cycle with the GID Lab team across three workshops, to develop tools to set its Policy Codesign Food Access pilot project.

The codesign pilot project will focus on policy development addressing food access and food security to King County’s most under resourced communities. PHSKC most recent Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) showed that, although food insecurity rates are stable, racial, ethnic, and gender disparities increased over the last five years. Public Health Community Navigators also named food access as a strategy to address the impact of racism on the health of their communities. With the CHNA and community data in hands, the managers needed training in design thinking to move policy to action. Held at the Chinook Building in downtown Seattle, the sessions were filled with laughter and the joy of discovery as participants embraced the beginner's mindset and created inspiring solutions to a range of needs. Insights from empathy interviews, and rapid rounds of ideation, prototyping, and testing, deepened their understanding of the process, each other, and above all, themselves and their own tolerance of ambiguity, failure, risk, and vulnerability.

"I would definitely recommend GID LAB training to others who are embarking on policy co-design work and are new to design thinking."—Policy Project Manager Francesca Holme, MPH

The three workshops were facilitated by Dr. Divya McMillin and Drew Bamford, CEO of Studio Bamford. Assisting from the GID Lab were Program Coordinator Maria Babko, and Interns Jack Cheung, Anuvir Dhaliwal, and Maria Villa.

TACOMA PIERCE COUNTY CHAMBER

On July 2 and July 29, Tacoma Pierce County Chamber of Commerce (TPCC) CEO Andrea Reay and members of her leadership team engaged in an exciting design journey with UW Tacoma's Global Innovation and Design (GID) Lab. The purpose was to revitalize team operations within new post-pandemic work-life considerations to better deliver mission and services.

Facilitated by GID Lab's lead facilitator Dr. Divya McMillin and Drew Bamford, CEO of Studio Bamford, the TPCC team drafted its point of entry, "How might we have a shared agreement on the ‘why’ of our work to increase productivity and belonging at TPCC?" Rounds of ideation and prototyping followed the abductive model of reasoning which places value as the first step to problem-solving.

The final convergent prototype of a connected, dynamic, and fluid model of operations centered the internal staff team as problem solvers, with all else feeding and driving that energy, so the Chamber could deliver on its high overarching purpose: to make the South Sound the most equitable, inclusive, and thriving place to do business in Washington State.

Assisting with the workshops were Jessika Gill, GID Lab Design Assistant, and Bronwyn Clarke of Clarke Research LLC and graduate of the Global Honors Program.

MILGARD WOMEN'S INITIATIVE

"When women lead..." was the inspiring point of entry for members of the Milgard Women's Initiative (MWI) Advisory Council in their workshops with the Global Innovation and Design Lab on May 28 (virtual) and August 12 (in-person). The purpose was to design a conference that centered the experience of women in the South Sound, particularly those in leadership.
 

With few spaces for women to come together in leadership, especially those from underrepresented groups, MWI aimed to host an inclusive and celebratory conference, using human-centered design in its planning, promotion, and execution. The August 12 in-person workshop was an inspiring and dynamic three-hour session through the design thinking components of empathy, problem definition, ideation, prototyping, and testing. 

The group diverged from one beginning question to 19 design challenges, which converged into 12 challenges and further into one redefined design challenge which questioned whether the conference format was the right one to begin with! From this redefined challenge, MWI members brainstormed 151 ideas to eventually converge on one prototype per main idea. Prototypes reflected the priorities of multigenerational learning and inclusive spaces for networking and converged under a dynamic name for the conference: When Women Lead: Communities Thrive. 

The workshops were facilitated by Dr. Divya McMillin and supported by GID Lab Design Assistant Jessika Gill and Amanda Figueroa, Associate Vice Chancellor for Social Mobility.