desigNYC invites its design and nonprofit community to present work in progress projects along with a selection of NYC’s best sister organizations that will showcase the work they do in the field of social innovation by design.

desigNYC work in progress
• Introduction about desigNYC by Wendy Goodman
•  “EmpathiCITY, Making our City Together” presentation/introduction about an exhibit co-curated by Laetitia Wolff activating the UNESCO Creative Cities of Design network for the 8th Saint-Etienne International Design Biennale
• desigNYC 2012 – Steve Hoffman of d/b/a design build. An interior renovation project for LESPFCU, a community bank serving low-income residents of the East Village – work almost done!
• desigNYC 2013 – Sara Matiz of MAD, Matiz Architecture & Design. A new seed library connected to an educational garden at the Weeksville Heritage Center, Central Brooklyn – work in progress.
• desigNYC 2013 – Farzana Gandhi, FG Design Studio and Pablo Delcan with Anusha Venkataraman of El Puente. A prototype Botanica cart to collect alternative health practices, South Williamsburg – work in progress.

Empathy and Education
• L’orangerie – presented by Laurent Hainaut/R’Pure, founder
• Design Ignites Change – presented by Ansley Whipple, manager
• Public Policy Lab – presented by Chelsea Mauldin, executive director

Empathy and the Environment
• Design Trust for Public Space – presented by fellow designer Kaja Kühl, who will mention her involvement in the 2013 desigNYC CLIMB project
• Van Alen institute – presented by Jeff Byles, director of research
• Transportation Alternatives – presented by Noah Budnick, deputy director

SPEAKERS BIOS
desigNYC teams
Wendy Goodman is a desigNYC board member and the design editor of New York magazine.
Laetitia Wolff is a design advocate, curator and strategist, desigNYC’s executive director.
Lower East Side People’s Federal Credit Union team:
Steve Hoffman is the co-founder, with Chris Marcoux, of d/b/a designbuild, a small, collaborative studio in NYC specialized in design-built environments.

Weeksville Heritage Center team:
Sara Matiz is co-founder and principal with Juan Matiz, of MAD studio, a boutique interdisciplinary design and architecture shop in NYC.
El Puente team:
Farzana Gandhi is principal of FG Design Studio and Assistant Professor of Architecture, New York Institute of Technology.
Pablo Delcan is a book designer at Pantheon Books and practices graphic arts, hand-lettering and chalking for special projects.
Anusha Venkataraman is director of the Green Light District initiative at El Puente, who specializes in managing community arts and design projects.

Empathy and Education
L’Orangerie/Laurent Hainaut is a founding member and partner of Raison Pure Paris and founder and creative director of Raison Pure NYC. In 2012, Laurent co-founded L’Orangerie, a foundation dedicated to helping inner city high school students discover design and craftsmanship.
Design Ignite Change/Ansley Whipple is Programs Director for Worldstudio’s social initiatives, through which she oversees the Design Ignites Change program.
Public Policy Lab/Chelsea Mauldin is executive director of the Public Policy Lab, a nonprofit that works with public agencies to identify service-design challenges, then assembles teams that translate complex policy considerations into pragmatic, replicable solutions.

Empathy and Environment
Design Trust for Public Space/Kaja Kühl is a fellow for DTPS’s Five Borough Farm program, Phase II, and the founder of youarethecity, a research, design and planning practice interested in creating dialogue about the urban environment.
Van Alen Institute/ Jeff Byles is the Institute’s Director of Research. Deeply engaged in public design and its role as a catalyst for cultural innovation, Jeff draws on fifteen years of experience as an author, editor, architecture journalist, and urban thinker.
Noah Budnick is the Deputy Director of Transportation Alternatives. He oversees T.A.’s political strategies to improve and increase walking, biking and public transit in New York City.

Special thanks to our friends Odile Hainaut and Claire Pijoulat, co-founders of Wanted, our colleagues at NYCXDESIGN.
Special thanks to Château d’Esclans for their generous donation of delicious rosé wine.
Seats are limited, RSVP here !

Realized in order to activate the UNESCO creative cities of design network, which Saint-Etienne joined in 2010, EmpathiCITY explores the general biennale theme, “empathy or the experience of the other”, to reveal the transformative power of design as a tool for social cohesion in the urban context. EmpathiCITY is an invitation to the 11 cities of design, members of the network–including Buenos Aires, Berlin, Montreal, Nagoya, Kobe, Shenzhen, Seoul, Shanghai, Saint-Etienne, Graz and Beijing–to create a special project or to present results of actions developed in a collaborative framework. In partnership with non-profit organizations, community associations, municipal agencies, designers conceive interventions to improve the quality of urban life while fostering social bonds. “This process of community design is not often integrated in the public policies of the cities of the UNESCO network, which, for some, have barely started to appreciate the potential of their creative economy,” explains Josyane Franc, co-curator of the project and director of international affairs at the Cité du design, in charge of the UNESCO dossier.

To address empathy in the city means to recognize the circumstances wherein these empathic design approaches can flourish: natural disasters, civil disparities, social crisis, but also to explore our relation to nature in our urban environment. It was critical to the commissioners to put forward the project as a federative process for the 11 cities of the network, the project as a collaborative and iterative method, which democratizes design by the involvement of associations, residents, and particularly of certain populations generally not concerned by design. EmpathiCITY is inspired by the European programme “Human Cities”, which the Cité du design is part of, and by the “expoTENtial” model, a series of urban interventions initiated in 2011 in New York by Laetitia Wolff, who is co-curator of EmpathiCITY and director of desigNYC, a platform for social innovation by design. “Including desigNYC’s recent initiative, “Recharging Communities” was meant to provide an additional point of inspiration for the UNESCO cities, who are just starting to devise modes of engagement with their own design communities,” Wolff explains.

The projects presented in the exhibition attempt to demonstrate the potential of the designer as an empathic mediator between citizens, communities and municipal governments. “We encouraged the designers to focus on a participative design model, lever of social cohesion, and not to fall in the pure creative gesture,” explains Laetitia Wolff. “This engaged and collaborative approach is also a way to make the communities gain responsibility for themselves, in making a city together, more humanly connected,” she adds.

With Adrien Rovero’s scenography inspired by the public bench, the exhibition setup in the building H of the Manufacture, captured the cities’s diverse identities, through lively and disparate portraits, in addition to featuring project case studies and a selection of products which allude to the notion of empathy while celebrating the various designers and industries of the 11 cities of the UNESCO network.

On Thursday, March 14, 2013 the EmpathiCITY symposium, open to the public, allowed the sharing of experiences among city members of the network, while opening the dialog to other relevant international practionners of community-based design, in order to stimulate the debate of Making our City Together. The colloquium took place at the Museum of Modern Art of Saint-Etienne.

http://www.biennale-design.com/saint-etienne/2013/fr/colloques-conferences/

For any further information about the 11 cities projects, visit empathiCITY on our Facebook page: Saint-Etienne créative design.
Visuals: downloadable online: http://www.citedudesign.com/fr/presse/
EmpathiCITY special edition of the Agenda Stéphanois city guide: free, available in newspaper kiosks, on the Manufacture site and throughout the city, in PDF version on Facebook, and online.

New York, May 1, 2013 – The International Interior Design Association New York Chapter (www.iidany.org), and desigNYC (www.designyc.org), a nonprofit organization whose mission is to improve the lives of New Yorkers through the power of design, present IMPACT NY 2013, a new initiative that enables the local design community to help build a better New York, by offering their time and talent on a pro bono basis through an annual competition. “We recognize how good design can improve communities and IIDA NY looks forward to working with desigNYC on IMPACT NY 2013,” says Hans Galutera, “as a way to strengthen the local design community’s collective commitment to helping nonprofits.”

IMPACT NY 2013 kicks off with a competition that calls for thoughtful design concepts for a continuing care and drug rehabilitation treatment center, managed by Palladia (www.palladiainc.org), one of the largest non-profit multi-service agencies in New York City. This approximately 1,200-square-foot outpatient facility is on the second floor in a pre-war building and the organization is currently looking for a solution that will improve client engagement while also supporting the staff and their work. The competition is open to interior designers, architects, and allied design industry professionals, as well as design students. Deadline for submissions is Friday, May 24, 2013, 5:00 p.m. EST. Details can be found online at http://iidany.org/events/impact-ny/

The collaboration between IIDA and desigNYC is a mutually beneficial one: for four years, desigNYC has successfully matched nonprofits with designers, but it has become increasingly challenging to see some of the designs for built environment projects implemented and realized. “As a do-tank, we want to make sure our projects get built,” says Laetitia Wolff, desigNYC’s executive director, and our collaboration with IIDA NY will help us meet our goal.” Now, the organization gains access to IIDA NY’s extensive professional practice, relationships with manufacturers and contract businesses, as well as the expertise of its vast membership.

In turn, IIDA NY aligns itself with an organization with roots in the local nonprofit community and one that can provide a vehicle to channel philanthropic efforts of their membership. As partners, the two organizations will work to highlight the value of pro bono work, strengthen the local design community’s collective commitment, and see the competition’s winning design for Palladia realized. “We are delighted to collaborate with desigNYC and IIDA NY,” says Mark Hurwitz, president and CEO of Palladia, ”because we know the winning design can really improve our clients’ engagement in our program and their overall quality of life.”

A panel of industry professionals including Sally Bernstein, assistant vice president, capital planning and development for Palladia; Joan Blumenfeld, global interior design director, Perkins+Will (and an IIDA NY member); Madeline Burke-Vigeland, principal, Gensler (and one of the founding members of desigNYC); Susan S. Szenasy, editor-in-chief, Metropolis; and Victoria Milne, director of creative services at the New York City department of design and construction, will be the competition jury. Submissions will be judged on the basis of their suitability to the project challenge, approach to pro bono design, thoughtful design concept, and feasibility of the concept for implementation.

The winning design concept will be announced at a benefit for desigNYC, scheduled for June 26, 2013 at Common Ground’s Prince George Ballroom. In addition, the winner will receive a one-year membership to IIDA and have the opportunity to sit on the IMPACT NY 2014 jury.

About IIDA NY
The IIDA New York Chapter (IIDA NY) is a professional networking and educational association of more than 550 Members in ten specialty Forums. IIDA NY provides our Members with the resources to reach expertise, knowledge and contacts. Networking events allow professionals and industry members to connect on more personal terms that encourage trust, collaboration, and innovation. Our Chapter is proud to have been recognized as IIDA Large Chapter of the Year in 2011, 2008, 2001 and 2000. http://iidany.org/events/impact-ny/

About desigNYC
desigNYC’s mission is to improve the lives of New Yorkers through the power of design. desigNYC is a platform that connects talented designers interested in civic engagement with extraordinary nonprofits serving the public good. Our goal is to amplify the work of community organizations through design. Our focus is local. Our approach is multi-disciplinary. Our process is participatory and community-centric. desigNYC is a 501(c) 3 charitable volunteer-based organization, incubated at ESI Design, and led by executive director Laetitia Wolff. www.desigNYC.org

About Palladia
With close to 30 programs in 25 locations, Palladia, Inc. (www.palladiainc.org) offers a variety of services that help struggling New Yorkers build safer, stronger and better lives. Since its founding in 1970, Palladia has been nationally recognized for its innovative service delivery in supportive housing, behavioral health programs, HIV case management programs, homeless and domestic violence shelters, alternative to incarceration programs. Palladia helps change lives affected by addiction, homelessness, mental illness, domestic violence and trauma by providing innovative programming, compassionate care and expert solutions to critical social problems. www.palladiainc.org

desigNYC interactive program
Interactive workshops and talks will be offered throughout the day of Saturday, May 4, from 11AM- 6PM to festival attendees in the following formats:
1- Sexy Brief Workshop
The workshop will help prepare festival goers to be better communicators, better-prepared clients to a designer, and train them to frame their problem through the process of writing their own clear design brief. This workshop will encourage individuals to participate with a specific community project, neighborhood association or cause they’d like to work with in mind.

2- Project Showcase 
Presentations by designers and nonprofit leaders, every other hour, will provide an in-depth tour of a project, from start to finish with an emphasis on process. Emphasis will be placed on description of process, engagement of community, deliverables, hurdles and outcomes.
Both programs will be moderated by executive director Laetitia Wolff.

HOUR BY HOUR PROGRAM
11AM: festival opens
12 noon: design presentation by Steve Hoffman of d/b/a build on the LESPFCU project, a community bank in the East Village serving low-income neighbors and artists
1PM: workshop by Annie Nguyen, interactive designer and researcher at Hot Studio
2PM: design presentation
3PM: workshop by Jackie Cooksey, design researcher, Parsons School for Design
4PM: design presentation by architect Michael Piper of DUB_studios and executive director Bob Zuckerman of the Lower East Side Business improvement District on the Daylife festival and pushcart project
5PM: workshop by Shai Rao, creative strategy consultant
6PM: festival closes

Workshop leaders include
Jackie Cooksey, design researcher, Parsons School for Design
Annie Nguyen, interactive designer/researcher, Hot Studio
Shai Rao, strategy consultant
Laetitia Wolff, executive director, desigNYC

desigNYC is looking for a dynamic, self-starter, design-savvy, visual and well-spoken, to help create and implement an outreach and messaging strategy across multiple platforms to engage multiple audiences–the desigNYC community, New Yorkers, the media and the general public.
The position will involve updating and creating content for outreach based on desigNYC’s activities, including:
• social media posts (Twitter, Facebook updates)
• blog posts in other sites and on www.desigNYC.org
• newsletters and press releases (using our Emma mailing system)
• website (WordPress backend)
• photo editing
• special design projects

Writing is an essential component, but the content should be greatly enhanced with a variety of media such as graphics, photographs, videos, animations, infographics, etc. (some of these exist, but some would need to be created, resized, edited). Experience with social media, WordPress and strong writing skills are a must; additional beneficial skills would include graphic design, editing, basic web design, project management and attention to detail.

Technical skills
WordPress CMS website management
Photoshop, INDD, AI,
Social media: Twitter; Facebook, Vimeo, Flkr, EventBrite, etc.

Schedule
We are open to starting early May/June 1^st, 2013, 1-2 days a week.

Please send your resume, a cover letter and one writing/design sample, to executive director Laetitia Wolff, lwolff@desigNYC.org. Email subject: Summer Internship 2013

2013 desigNYC Lab Participants
Milk Not Jails, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, is a volunteer group composed of prison justice activists, farmers, artists, and the formerly incarcerated, that strives to end upstate communities’ dependency on local prison economics and, instead, invest in an alternative agricultural economy.
First Street Green, Lower East Side, Manhattan, works toward creating a permanent cultural park in the space that was host to the 2011 BMW Guggenheim Lab and offers in the meantime, a wide range of programming.
Sustainable South Bronx, Hunts Point, The Bronx, provides a collaborative model that addresses environmental, economic, and social concerns through green job training, community greening programs, and environmental education for the South Bronx and other under-served urban communities.

This workshop was developed in collaboration with 2012 jury members, strategists and designers, including: Michelle Mullineaux of ESI Design and co-founder of desigNYC, Roman Luba of Publicis Kaplan Thaler, Chelsea Mauldin of Public Policy Lab, Andrea Kahn of desigNCONTENT, David Kohler of OTTO, Shai Rao, consultant Annie Nguyen and Jennifer Kilian of HOT studio.