Note from the Creator

Engageville is a design proposal for the collaboration between the engagement office from the City of Gainesville and the MxD Graphic Design program. The aim of this project was inspired by the initial research work of Design for Equity and Equitable Engagement, thanks to the collaboration with Dr. Anne Wolf Community Engagement Manager, City of Gainesville, and the MxD cohort. Engageville is designed based on the participatory principles explored.

After previously conducted research and proposed a game design in the midst of the pandemic. I decided to continue working with the proposed solution to elaborate a high-resolution prototype that could be tested. Engageville is an ongoing project that has been tested by city employees. It’s also currently being used by a group of students from the College of Central Florida to create a website inspired by community initiatives.

I hope to continue improving this idea until it reaches the young community that inspired this co-design project.

Design for Equity and Equitable Engagement

My role as a co-researcher in the collaboration between the City of Gainesville engagement office and the MxD Design & Visual Communications Master’s program. I explored heritage, attended civic events and community engagement events centered around race, gentrification, and community development in Alachua. This collaboration uses design to explore how I might co-design better futures for individuals and communities in Alachua County, with particular emphasis on assisting POC communities.

The goal is to research, identify, communicate, and co-design solutions to foster equity, inclusion, and equitable engagement in Gainesville and Alachua County, Florida.

Primary Field Research

Community Builders Workshops

Community Builder workshop is a horizontal process within the City of Gainesville employees to engage and alight in a shared framework. This effort seeks new ways to ensure that the decisions taken by their office are within the values of inclusion and equity. The collaboration between all the different departments aim to unify a shared sense of purpose whole discovering new methods for them to achieve this goal. During this workshop the participants were asked to write down on a post-it notes describing “What are they doing well?”, and “What could they do better?” Overall the meeting has consistent participation from people involved, dialogs about their concerns and efforts are discussed and later read-out-loud.

Building the Foundations of a More Equitable Gainesville

This event was hosted by the city of Gainesville, with the Race and equity office and commissioner Gail Johnson. This workshop included a conversation between Gail and Kimberlee Archie, director of the Office of Equity & Inclusion in Asheville, NC. and a social cognition exercise that aimed to help people identify feelings and thoughts that may exist outside of conscious awareness. During the discussion the two leaders speak about their governments entities utilizing the Government Alliance on Race and Equity (GARE) racial equity framework.

The GARE approach offers material like toolkits and other resources that address policies, practices, programs, and budgets. The initiative offers a perspective that puts engagement at the front of the process making human center decisions in both a product and a process like the The Placemaking Process. Accountability and engagement are at the front of the messages from the commissioner Gail who also talked about efforts taken by the city in relation to equity and the current directions of actions with the comprehensive plan and census.

Community Development Corporation in the Duval Neighborhood in East Gainesville

The Neighborhood Revitalization Coalition is an initiative from the Greater Duval Neighbors Associations leaders Carla Lewis Miles and her husband Andrew. Carla is a leader in their community, she has put herself in a power position by being involved in housing advocacy, she works as Neighborhood Revitalization Coordinator for Alachua Habitat for Humanity and is the secretary of the GDNA in the C. The NRC meeting was led by Carla and the housing department representative who reviewed a housing plan draft document approved by the City Commission. The meeting included staff from the City of Gainesville from the development and engagement office, police department and other leaders from the GDNA, UF rationalization, Community Wealth and a few more leaders from the same partnerships.

Meeting with youth, parents, business owners, non-profits, and other neighbors, Anne Wolf, City Staff, NHDC, Mary Catherine Alford, Anna Prizzia, Nancy Daren, Habitat for humanity Scott Winzeler, facilitating Carla Lewis and his husband Andrew Miles with the presence of outeastyouth.com. OEYSS is a mentoring and empowerment program run through the Greater Duval Neighborhood Association, benefiting local youth grades 5-12 who give their perspectives about their community.

Interviews

John John

As a Service Design Strategist of the Strategic Initiatives team at the City of Gainesville, John John assists in various stages of product and service development, user experience, business strategy, and information visualization to address complex social and organizational challenges. The Strategic Initiatives team is an interdisciplinary team of administrators, analysts, designers, and developers, who work with the general public to find new ways to enhance the experiences of the people, communities, and organizations that interact with the City of Gainesville, his current project is working in the engagement and promotion for the City Hall meetings.

Dr. Olysha Magruder and Tyler Foerst

Talking about gentrification with Dr. Olysha Magruder (2018 candidate for Florida state senate) and Tyler Foerst. The MxD MFA cohorts used semi-structured interviews with local leaders. Dr. Olysha and Tyler shared their experience advocating for gentrification and local government. As a community as international students this was so important for our/my perspective about the collaboration with the city.

Conclusion

Engageville board-game uses the engagement core values included in the Engagement toolkit. The game includes concepts to promote self-awareness, while trust building is the base principle of the game. Engageville is based on local identifiers and real events related to the city’s structure. Using serious game/gameful design, the project’s purpose is to provide a tabletop exercise that will serve as a tool for facilitators to engage with younger audiences. The game will allow participants to feel included and will also serve as a guide to spark difficult conversations using relatable scenarios.