Designed by Community:
Harlem Youth Entrepreneurship
Project Duration:
January to July 2026
Funders:
Civic Engagement Commission
NYC Mayor’s Office for Economic Opportunity
Affiliated Organizations:
Service Design Studio
Cambio Labs
Team
Lyndsey Richardson, Studio Director
Anupama Krishnan, Studio Fellow
Jennell Thomas, Studio Fellow
Richard Dacalos, Cambio Labs
Edwin Mauricio, Cambio Labs
My Role
Program Manager
Facilitator
Curriculum Development
Material Production (Design Research, Communications, & Graphics)
Art Direction
Wins At a Glance
First-of-its-kind interagency collaboration to increase participatory practices in City government.
80 Harlem Residents engaged through workshops, surveys, and interviews.
87% of Harlem Residents engaged in research were interested in keeping in touch (increased community buy-in)
$3,340 in research incentives distributed to Harlem.
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What is Designed by Community?
Program Background
Designed by Community (DxC)* is a fellowship from the Service Design Studio at the NYC Mayor’s Office for Economic Opportunity. Under the DxC program, the Studio partners with one community-based organization to hire 6 fellows (residents who have deep roots in the community).
We train these fellows in Service Design research methods and work with them for six months. Fellows lead community research and ultimately co-design a program.
*DxC is a participatory action research program.
In The People’s Money June 2025, residents of Manhattan voted for a youth entrepreneurship program. The project was described as an opportunity to support young Harlemites in developing their entrepreneurial skills.
We partnered with Cambio Labs, a community-based organization with experience in entrepreneurship programs. With Cambio, we hired 5 Fellows with strong connections to Harlem to lead research and, ultimately, design a program model.
Why Harlem Entrepreneurship?
Cohort Background
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Where did this project come from?
City Partnership Background
Every year, New Yorkers vote on how part of the city’s budget is spent. Through The People’s Money, the Civic Engagement Commission’s annual citywide participatory budgeting initiative, New Yorkers decide which projects receive public funding to be implemented in their community.
New Yorkers vote on what projects get funded, but not what the projects would look like in practice. This is where the Studio saw an opportunity to extend community decision-making into how programs are implemented with Designed by Community.
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“How might we energize Harlem youth to expand their entrepreneurial mindset while building relationships that foster collaboration and enrich the Harlem community?”
Highlights — By Project Phase
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STAGE 0: PARTNER SELECTION
I managed the Request for Information (RFI) process.
I collaborated closely with the Civic Engagement Commission to align our scoring process. Ultimately, I developed the application, criteria, and tools that City agencies would use to select a partnering community-based organization.
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STAGE 1: SET THE STAGE
I shaped a Service Design Curriculum.
I offered guidance on crafting a How Might We… research question, research goals, and a stakeholder map. All things that ultimately led them to build a solid foundation for the project.
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STAGE 2: TALK TO PEOPLE
I led production on research materials
Consent forms, facilitator guides, pay protocols, research trackers, workshop materials… you name it. By building a strong operational backend, we allowed fellows to fully focus on conducting research activities.
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STAGE 3: CONNECT THE DOTS
I lead collective synthesis activities.
I organized a synthesis process for our team of 10 people. This included creating activity materials, planning for breakouts, and facilitating the group. (This was really hard, but fun to figure out!)
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STAGE 4: CONNECT THE DOTS
I synthesized data.
Given the scale of data we received, Fellows couldn’t review all of the data directly. During synthesis, I provided unbiased summaries. I offered the fellows quantitative data points, ultimately saving our team time while still retaining community-voice.
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STAGE 5: PLAN THINGS OUT
I translated ideas from synthesis into a visual program model.
Initially, our team of 10~ all had varying ideas for the program. I created this visual so our team could build consensus and understand how parts of the program could work together.
Journey Map of Entrepreneurship
Visual depiction of an entrepreneur’s journey, used during workshops to visualize how young entreprenuers feel about certain steps of the journey
Visualizing a Program Model: Before & After
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Hear from the team!
Written
words from the team…
Watch…
"The intergenerational community that was built is something that can not be found in any other space."
"Through DxC, I got a rare, valuable glimpse: watching the women-led team at the Studio, carry out work with real skill and care. It solidified the important role of service design for me, not as a set of tools applied from the outside, but as a discipline that has to be earned in relationship with the people and systems it's meant to serve.”
“[The Studio had a] diligence to get things done, but also graceful flexibility when we had to shift the timeline, [this] spoke to their heart to truly serve the communities they work with through DxC.”