2023 Ventures Showcase Recap

On May 24, our CityBridge community came together for our 2023 Ventures Showcase, the culminating event for our 2022-2023 Design Residency: Ventures cohort. Over the past nine months, our Residents received customized curriculum, coaching, connections, and capital that supported accelerated the design and implementation of their education ventures. 

Throughout the program, these passionate individuals worked tirelessly to reimagine the future of education and to push their vision forward. This work was on display during the Showcase as our entrepreneurs pitched their ventures to a panel of expert judges. 

Our 2022-2023 Residents:

• Tia Bell, The T.R.I.G.G.E.R Project. The T.R.I.G.G.E.R. Project is a non-profit focused on addressing root causes that create a culture of violence among our city’s youth.
• Laurel Djoukeng, Sparc. Sparc is a social network that connects college students/professionals with job opportunities, employer recruiting events, and networking opportunities.
• Noah Dougherty and Dan Englender, Relevant Learner. Relevant Learner connects students with locally and culturally relevant content by sourcing diverse and empowering content from expert community institutions and making it simple for educators to find, personalize, and share that content with students.
• Vanessa Douyon, The Polyglot Tot. The Polyglot Tot provides at-home tools to help caregivers pass their heritage language on to their kids, focusing on ages birth to three, when most language development happens, and where resources are at their slimmest.

Please join us in congratulating our entrepreneurs for all they have accomplished this year. We are grateful for the unwavering commitment of Tia, Laurel, Noah, Dan, and Vanessa and the collective impact they will make on DC’s education system.

We are also grateful to Riley Jones, IV, for his leadership and to our esteemed judges: Troy Duffie, Dr. Omolara Fatiregun, and Isaiah Walker.

Innovator Spotlight: Dr. Paris Gasque

Paris Gasque, Ph.D., is CEO at Heru Foundation, Incorporated. She is a 2022 Design Fellow.

What is the project that brought you to CityBridge?

Heru Foundation is committed to strengthening schools’ multi-tiered system of supports (MTSS) by providing professional development to school personnel that will enable students who have traditionally been underserved to thrive academically, socially, and emotionally.

Why is that project important to you?

Schools are struggling to meet the needs of all students, especially students with disabilities. These students are the most vulnerable and are often marginalized and disenfranchised. The Heru Team aims to prepare ALL students—regardless of their race, disability, family income, or circumstance—for success outside of the classroom. By providing responsive and authentic professional development, our team can equip school personnel with skills and resources to increase overall student achievement.

What prompted you to apply to CityBridge’s fellowship? What were you hoping to gain from participating?

The CityBridge philosophy to create equitable and transformative educational design opportunities that aim to improve life outcomes for all students and families aligns with Heru Foundation’s vision: Success for all, by Any Means Necessary.

What was the most impactful aspect of Fellowship? What was your biggest takeaway?

Coaching sessions, brainstorming with other Fellows, and networking were the most impactful aspects of CityBridge’s Design Fellowship. The CityBridge approach enabled us to streamline our “big idea” into manageable components that led to an evidence-based design without losing the essence of our desired intention. 

What are your next steps for you and/or your project?

In our re-imagined future, students with disabilities have experiences in schools that foster a sense of community, compassion, and creativity, with leaders and teachers prepared to provide these experiences. Through our multitude of offerings, Heru Foundation will continue providing relevant professional development locally and nationally to ensure all students are successful by any means necessary.

What piece of professional advice would you give CityBridge alumni and education entrepreneurs? 

Trust the process, maintain an open heart and an open mind, and always remember your “why.”

Innovator Spotlight: Rodney D. Parker

Rodney D. Parker is a second grade teacher at Ludlow-Taylor Elementary. He is a 2022 Design Fellow.

What is the project that brought you to CityBridge?

The project that brought me to Citybridge was a closer look at helping Black and Brown students who struggle with math see themselves as mathematicians.

Why is that project important to you?

This project was super important to me because, as a Black male teacher, I want students to see a reflection of themselves and know that they can achieve high levels of academics. We have many great examples of successful math and science professionals in African American history. I want to be an influence in the classroom. One that sees and affirms them throughout their formative year of education.

What prompted you to apply to CityBridge’s fellowship? What were you hoping to gain from participating?

Our school administrator approached me about creating a space to specifically look at math intervention to help Black and Brown students. I hope to unlock new levels of math learning for the students and myself as a math educator.

What was the most impactful aspect of Fellowship? What was your biggest takeaway?

CityBridge provided an open space for our team to explore possibilities when you have the resources and a process that leads to solving a problem. CityBridge created a place where my team could make mistakes, reflect, and build on a process that can be used repeatedly to approach any problem-solving situation.

What are your next steps for you and/or your project?

We are in the process of doing a book study to focus on thinking and what a thinking math classroom looks and sounds like. This is important because what we think “thinking” is is sometimes just us asking students to follow directions the way we presented them, essentially mimicking.

What piece of professional advice would you give CityBridge alumni and education entrepreneurs? 

I would say you can never go wrong with trying to move toward greatness. Even a wrong decision is a decision to make a difference. Engage in the process and stay encouraged. It is easy to get discouraged when doing heavy work, but it is all worth it. The coaches, especially Kim, and the team will remind you that you are not alone and you can do it.

Founder Spotlight: Lanette Dailey-Reese

Lanette Dailey-Reese is Executive Director of Capital Experience Lab. She is an alumna of CityBridge’s 2019 Summer Design Studio, led by Caroline Hill, and a 2020 Resident. 

What was the project that brought you to CityBridge?

The CapX team was in search of an ED to lead the organization through the charter application process. CityBridge’s was our first funder and support the piloting of CapX.

Why is that project important to you?

This project is important to me because it is the school model I want for my daughter. It is an approach to learning that I wish I had as a young person. I value the disruption to inequitable approaches to learning for under represented students. The world as a classroom can not be reserved for communities with economic means to access real-world learning. At CapX we are cultivating student engagement with the world so they can make meaning and lead change in the world.

What was the most impactful or meaningful part of participating in CityBridge Programming? 

CityBridge provides an open space for designers to explore what’s possible when the constraints of the world seem too large to overcome. CityBridge creates a place where designers can build supportive partnerships and friendships during the most challenging stages of the work.

How has your experience with CityBridge influenced or helped you in your life and career? 

Participating in CityBridge programming expanded my understanding of the complexity of the DC education ecosystem. Being surrounded by other passionate and talented designers has been a constant motivation for my work at CapX Lab. While [our participation in] the CityBridge school incubator has come to an end, the partnership and support has not ended. The connection to CapX Lab has endured and grown.

What are you up to now? 

We are currently in partnership with Friendship Public Charter School at Blow-Pierce Middle School. Students and teachers use DC museums and research and cultural centers as classrooms through community-based learning experiences. The experiences are aligned to the FPCS curriculum to deepen the connection between the classroom and the world around them. CapX Lab is preparing to launch our learning and design programming for teachers, leaders, and school teams across the city. We are committed to expanding the number of students learning in spaces beyond the classroom.  

What piece of professional advice would you give CityBridge alumni and education entrepreneurs? 

I would tell them to stay engaged and connected. It is very easy to keep our heads down and into the work. The support and connection to other designers will remind you that you are not alone.  

INNOVATOR SPOTLIGHT: JALEESA HALL

Jaleesa Hall is Founder & CEO of Raising a Village and a 2021 Design Fellowship participant.

What was the most impactful or meaningful part of participating in CityBridge Programming?
The most meaningful part of participating in the Design Fellowship was having the ability to journey alongside other social entrepreneurs to bring about scalable solutions. Every month we were able to share our experiences and learnings in order to help each other succeed.

How has your experience with CityBridge influenced or helped you in your life and career?
My experience with CityBridge has helped me find a community of educators, entrepreneurs, and leaders who I can build relationships with and find support. In addition, through the coaching CityBridge provides, our organization was able to redesign our education program to ensure that we are serving as a direct response to the needs of our partners as well as fulfilling our organizational mission. Lastly, CityBridge has also provided much needed funding to Raising A Village to continue to test and scale our programs.

What are you up to now?
Since my participation in the CityBridge Design Fellowship, Raising A Village Foundation has expanded to 10 locations across DC by implementing our education initiative, Driven 2 Succeed, in various schools and shelters. Also, I have been able to focus more on building organizational infrastructure including the hiring of part-time/full-time staff, fundraising, and planning the launch of other programs that will be housed under the Raising A Village Foundation. Also, due to my recent appearance as a panelist at DC Startup Week with CityBridge, I have been invited to speak at other events and even podcasts!

What piece of professional advice would you give CityBridge alumni and education entrepreneurs?
As an entrepreneur, it is easy to feel like you always have to be on the run and that everything that comes across your desk is an emergency (and it probably is). However, I have learned the importance of taking a pause to reflect and rework my ideas. You can do this through fellowships, coaching, or your own planning. No matter how you do it, by giving yourself the chance to think, not only will you be more intentional about the work you do, but so will your business and its aims.

Fill in the blanks: “Before I participated in CityBridge programming I used to think _______. After participating in CityBridge programming, I now think __________.”
Before I participated in CityBridge programming I used to think I had to do it alone. After participating in CityBridge programming, I now think it is important to create an ecosystem of support.

What’s Next? Pivoting with CapX

The Capital Experience Lab, or CapX, was born from the problem that students were set up to be passive learners in a city that was designed for active, deep learning. Why have students learn solely from a textbook when you can arrange weekly trips to cultural institutions like the Smithsonian, Library of Congress, the NIH, and so many more special places? Throughout the past five years, the CapX team has been creating day-long to summer-long pilots, building their academic and student support model along the way, while serving over 300 students in the process. They’ve garnered national attention and established deep relationships with local parents and community leaders. 

We at CityBridge quickly jumped on board to support their efforts, led by Lanette Dailey-Reese and Alison Gillmeister. We supported their charter school application, firmly convinced that CapX needed to be a school. Over and over again, parents are telling us they want more active, engaging experiences for their children. Some of the city’s most competitive schools are expeditionary learning schools that prioritize projects and hands-on, active learning. The CityBridge team was undeniably disappointed when CapX’s charter application was denied due to concerns about demand, but we were so incredibly proud of the work that Lanette, Alison, and the entire CapX team accomplished over the years. 

I’ll never forget my next meeting with Lanette and the CapX team—a true demonstration of head and heart. As usual, they started with a glows and grows protocol from the charter application process, wanting to document every piece of feedback they received. We spent a half hour at the whiteboard just listing the feedback, categorizing the data points, and creating space for the open questions. The CapX is a team of learners; everything is about learning—including disappointing news like this. We then pivoted to heart—creating space to reflect, provide shout-outs, emote, and talk about the people who needed to get some extra special support in the coming days. And we ended the coaching check-in with an open-ended question: “What’s next?”

Moving forward, I knew CapX had a few different options ahead of them: wait and apply again to the PCSB next year, pursue a nonprofit after-school program for students, build a teacher professional development program, or try and launch their school within an existing school. As their coach, I knew I had to ask them the right questions to help guide them in their decision-making process: 

• How do we stay true to our vision and core values?
• How do we assess the team’s capacity for each of these different pathways?
• How do we co-design this new phase of building with the founding team?

I knew I had to play a slightly different role in coaching the CapX team through this transition point. First, I wanted to frame and open the space for their team to grapple with the decisions ahead of them, laying all of the pros and cons on the table in a way that made it exciting. In many ways, this juncture was like their early days at CapX—deciding on their theory of change and mission/vision. I also wanted to balance head and heart—appealing to both a strong project plan and also reminding their team of the powerful vision they had for students in DC. 

CALL OUT: A theory of change is a process and a product for strategic planning and thinking. In our Incubator Toolkit we offer a simple graphic organizer for teams to write down the causal links between the actions they take and the outcomes they’re aiming for.

The team ultimately decided to move forward with a school within an existing school model and found a perfect partner with Friendship Public Charter School. One of Friendship’s middle schools—Blow Pierce Middle School—welcomed CapX as a school partner to provide an additional program for families to choose from. In August 2022, CapX will open its doors to 60 6th graders at Blow Pierce Middle School, working to ensure that their students are thriving and experiencing the best of DC’s cultural institutions through their classes. 

In reflecting on my coaching this year, I learned the power of embracing obstacles as opportunities. The CapX team continued to demonstrate that they were laser focused on their student outcomes—and didn’t let implementation barriers like charter authorization stop them from writing their version of the future for hundreds of children in DC for years to come. Sometimes, when we’re feeling stuck and defeated, we should gather our supporters, go to a white board, and start remembering why we started in the first place.

This post is a part of The Rewind, our month-long highlight reel sharing what we’ve learned and spotlighting the leaders and ideas we’ve supported from 2020-2022.

The Power of Reflective Moments

When I started working with Felicia Owo-Grant and Ayinde Spradley in fall 2021, they wanted to go big. From our first coaching conversations as part of CityBridge’s Design Fellowship program, they made clear that their ultimate aim was to build an in-house professional learning institute to support educators across the entire 16-school network of Friendship Public Charter Schools. 

The challenge they framed early on was that—for all the strengths of the professional development offered to leaders of Friendship schools—principals and academy directors (the Friendship term for assistant principals) did not have a way to get continuous leadership development and professional learning. 

My desire in coaching teams is to help them make big, transformational changes, so it feels counterintuitive, maybe even wrong, for me to look at seasoned leaders like Owo-Grant and Spradley and say, “I want you to start small.” But in Design Fellowship, starting small is one of many strategies to help teams learn about and reshape complex challenges in public education. 

By pausing to reflect on what they knew about how to meet the needs of leaders at their schools, a pathway came into focus for Owo-Grant and Spradley. This pathway still leads to the institute they imagine—the “Friendship Learning Lab” for leadership and professional development. But the forks, curves, and crossroads along that winding track are reflective moments that generated significant learning for this team. “I used to think that we would not be able to identify an area small enough to pilot,” Owo-Grant wrote at the end of the second Design Fellowship workshop in October. “Now I see the benefit in narrowing the focus and how it can yield better understanding for even initiatives with large, lofty goals.”

My learning, as a designer of the Fellowship program itself, is that reflective moments generate the insights designers need to better understand the challenge, the experience of stakeholders in their community, and the next best step on their pathway to a potential solution.

CALL OUT: Our team at CityBridge has refined a set of tools, workshop sessions, and coaching strategies over the course of multiple years to support educators and teams in redesigning public education. As part of our commitment to sharing that work more widely, we are presenting a first version of our “Incubator Toolkit,” which is designed to help teams go from a first hunch about an education challenge to those critical reflective moments that come after implementation of a pilot test.

H4: REFLECTIVE MOMENT #1: WHAT DO OUR COLLEAGUES REALLY WANT?

With their long-term vision for a Friendship Learning Lab in mind, Owo-Grant and Spradley started where we encourage all Design Fellowship teams to begin: by talking with those closest to the problem. While they had hunches and anecdotal data about the gaps in professional learning for Friendship leaders, particularly academy directors, their empathy interviews and survey research crystalized how those leaders experienced the challenge.

As they sifted through their interview and survey data, Owo-Grant and Spradley had an important reflective moment. For all the technical and adaptive skills these leaders wanted to learn, they also wanted to be able to show up as their full, authentic, and vulnerable selves in leadership development environments. For a group of rising and established school leaders, nearly all of whom are Black, it was the need for a safe space to feel like they could take risks and talk about their own biases—where it was okay to not be an expert and to admit to missteps—that was important. By using empathy research tools and pausing to reflect, Owo-Grant and Spradley crystalized an important insight that shaped the piloting work that followed.

CALL OUT: The empathy interview tools included in our Toolkit foreground two equityXdesign principles: designing at the margins, by connecting with those who have been excluded from a community; and starting with yourself to unpack the biases, power, and perspectives you bring to any interview.

H4: REFLECTIVE MOMENT #2: WHAT DO WE NEED TO TEST?

In their theory of change, Owo-Grant and Spradley identified a “home-grown learning institute” as their long-term goal. The theory of change also included a list of preconditions that would need to be true in order to enable the success of what would eventually become the “Friendship Learning Lab” and another layer of “inputs” necessary to realize those conditions.

I got to engage in several heady and jargon-filled conversations with Owo-Grant and Spradley as they drafted their theory of change. But for all the theoretical and technical detail we nerded out on, the crucial reflective moment was when they realized their key question: did the training they offer create brave spaces for leaders of color? They needed to pilot a professional learning environment “where leaders can bring their authentic selves and feel vulnerable to not be the expert.”

CALL OUT: A theory of change, or TOC for short, is a process and a product for strategic planning and thinking. The version of TOCs that we offer in the Toolkit is a simple graphic organizer for teams to write down the causal links between the actions they take and the outcomes they’re aiming for.

H4: REFLECTIVE MOMENT #3: WHAT DID WE LEARN?

It was time to build and run a first pilot. Starting small meant planning a single morning of professional learning for a group of academy directors. This right-sized pilot would test several important questions, including: Was it feasible for Owo-Grant and Spradley to collaborate with their colleague, the deputy chief academic officer in the Friendship central office, on the design of the session? And to what extent were the participants able to focus on self-reflection and to interrogate personal biases in a brave space?

These types of questions can seem pint-sized next to the goal of developing an institute aimed at supporting hundreds of educators. But small learning questions embedded in a pilot like this are connected to the larger challenge. Spaces of psychological safety and belonging for Black and Brown educators to get personal as they grow as leaders are not just nice to have—they are necessary. Further, they hypothesized that de-siloing leadership development work required that they develop these learning opportunities in tight collaboration with Friendship colleagues.

The results of the pilot affirmed their hypotheses. During the session, academy directors readily leaned into the novel opportunity to talk about personal bias and how those intersected with real challenges facing them at their schools.

When Owo-Grant and Spradley reflected on the results of this first test afterward, they developed another insight: not only was the content of professional learning sessions like this important, but so was the collaborative process of creating the workshop itself.

CALL OUT: Pilots are experiments, big and small, that are systematically designed to answer a set of questions. Through pilots, which we see as low-risk opportunities to learn, innovators are able to “try-on” a solution aimed at addressing inequities within our education system. Our Pilot Plan template provides a highly specific framework for guiding designers through a pilot.

H4: REFLECTIVE MOMENT #4: WHERE DO WE GO NEXT?

The conclusion of that first pilot was another key moment for reflection. The final section of the pilot plan document asks designers: What did you want to learn? What is your emerging answer? And what are the implications and next steps? At this point, those simple questions appeared before Owo-Grant and Spradley after the bend in a lengthy path. 

One of their learning questions for the pilot was this: To what extent was it feasible for them to collaborate effectively with their colleague, the deputy chief academic officer? The answer that emerged was that it was more than just feasible; it was hugely beneficial to the creation of a powerful professional learning session.

That insight around the need for new ways of de-siloing work across the Friendship organization guided them through the crossroads. They had affirmed the importance of creating spaces for self-reflection on biases in leadership. Now they saw the opportunity to develop ways of collaborating with colleagues to meet the various other learning needs school leaders said they had, like budgeting, instructional planning, and management.

The next pilot Owo-Grant and Spradley are working on involves the creation of a scope and sequence for professional learning for any leader at Friendship Public Charter Schools. But what they are testing next is the collaborative process of creating that document and the related PD opportunities that will form the foundation of the Friendship Learning Lab. 

At this point, I don’t have a conclusion to Owo-Grant and Spradley’s story, since they are still on the journey. But getting to the end doesn’t feel like the point. Rather, it’s about getting to moments of reflection. We challenge teams in our Incubator programs, and in Design Fellowship in particular, to do a lot: empathy research, theories of change, multiple pilots. There is great value in the process of learning and leveraging each of those tools. But the most crystalized insights from the process come at the pause points at the end of each cycle work with these tools. The insights that emerge swing their compass arrow in the direction of a new path. And off they go in pursuit of new questions, new solutions, new learning.

This post is a part of The Rewind, our month-long highlight reel sharing what we’ve learned and spotlighting the leaders and ideas we’ve supported from 2020-2022.

ENTREPRENEUR SPsxOTLIGHT: BRIAN GLOOR

Brian Gloor is the Assistant Principal at Bard High School Early College DC

What CityBridge program did you participate in?
Design Fellowship, Spring 2021

What was the most impactful or meaningful part of participating in CityBridge programming?
The most impactful part of the CityBridge Design Fellowship experience was being able to meet as a group of innovators and tackle and support the challenges together. It was great to know we were not alone in the work we were doing at Bard DC and that we had so much support from all over the city with what we were wanting to accomplish.

How has your experience with CityBridge influenced or helped you in your life and career?
CityBridge has really shaped how I engage with our various stakeholders. In all of my interactions, not only am I looking at the entire group of stakeholders, but also thinking about how those at the margins are impacted by what is happening or not happening. It also influenced the way I support and provide voice to those I work with. I am constantly aware of others’ voices and providing space for them to bring it back to the community.

What are you up to now?
We are currently still in our full pilot stage and continually revamping what we are doing and how we are doing it. [The team has scaled up implementation of inclusive classroom routines across the school to deepen relationships between faculty and students and cultivate belonging. Read a summary of their work here.] We never expected school to look and feel so different when we returned in person, but we have been able to use what we have learned in the process to continue to implement and modify in each classroom as needed. Things are going really well, and I am excited to continue to see this develop, especially when things return to a more normal feel in the school.

What piece of professional advice would you give CityBridge alumni and education entrepreneurs?
I would suggest going in with an open mind and be prepared to be challenged. This opportunity not only impacted me professionally, but also has changed so many of my personal interactions. I look at things differently, engage differently, problem solve differently, and execute differently. I am forever grateful to the CityBridge Design Fellowship program and opportunity for truly transforming who I am as a person, an educator, an administrator, and an innovator.Fill in the blanks: “Before I participated in CityBridge programming, I used to think ____. After participating in CityBridge programming, I now think _____.”
Before I participated in CityBridge programming, I used to think I needed to have everything planned out before implementing something. After participating in CityBridge programming, I now think that incremental expansion and constant evaluation and revamping is what makes a program a success.

Entrepreneur Spotlight: Ruth Foster

Ruth Foster is CEO of Effective Intervention Services, LLC and is a Spring 2022 Design Fellow. She also participated in CityBridge’s Design Studio.

What was the most impactful or meaningful part of participating in CityBridge Programming?
The most impactful part was the program sessions in which different organizations and individuals shared their concepts, and we collectively offered insights to each other to help navigate specific DC-related challenges. Getting to learn from and with each other, other program participants.

How has your experience with CityBridge influenced or helped you in your life and career?
My experience with CityBridge has helped me a lot. The first one that comes to mind is when I was looking to pilot, as soon as I mentioned that I was in CityBridge programming, people were so keen to lean in and work with me!

What are you up to now?
So right now we’re working on a second pilot. And with pilot two we are hoping to start a therapeutic summer camp, which we will be using the model that we have for the school structure that we got to develop and implement that structure into a summer camp. It’s not going to be as intense but it’s going to kind of hit each target. We’re gonna target the parents, the teachers and the students all working together to the best effect [of] the child so I’m excited about that. I mean, I can’t wait to see how it turns out.

What piece of professional advice would you give CityBridge alumni and education entrepreneurs?
One professional advice I would give is that you are never too successful to learn. And I think that a lot of times, we might have a craft that we are familiar with. And we’ve been doing it for so long, but other people can come into our lives and can kind of give us some guidance and some knowledge. You take what’s good, you take what is meaningful, the meat of it and you apply it because it can always help you grow. I was wanting to get insight and information from other people because even though I specialize with working with children with special needs, there are other people in the general ed community that work with special needs children can say, “You know what, this is what I see when I’m with them.” And so I learn from them. I might not have seen that before. 

Fill in the blanks: “Before I participated in CityBridge programming I used to think ________________. After participating in CityBridge programming, I now think __________________.” Before I participated in CityBridge programming I used to think that starting a new school was just impossible. It was just a dream to participate in CityBridge programming. I now think that starting a new school is going to be a reality.

Innovator Spotlight: Felicia Owo-Grant

Felicia Owo-Grant is Director of Strategic Development at Friendship Public Charter School and was a 2021 Design Fellowship participant.

What was the most impactful or meaningful part of participating in CityBridge Programming?
The ability to learn amongst a diverse cohort of leaders and innovators with the guidance and support of dedicated CityBridge coaches.

How has your experience with CityBridge influenced or helped you in your life and career?
The experience has shaped the way that I think about design and specifically how I think about developing my innovation. Underscoring the importance of pilot testing an idea and ensuring that the stakeholder voice remains highly tethered to throughout the development process.

What are you up to now?
I am currently working on developing a professional learning ecosystem—inclusive of structured workshops and also more holistic learning approaches—for school leaders within my current school district. The ultimate goal is to ensure that school leaders have a clear pathway to success with the necessary support as they navigate the maze of challenges associated with urban school leadership.

What piece of professional advice would you give CityBridge alumni and education entrepreneurs?
I would share four pieces of advice:

1. Remember that innovation can be an enhancement to a preexisting idea and not only a new idea.
2. Just keep swimming: if you are truly passionate about what you want to manifest, don’t give up. Remain steadfast to your vision.
3. Keep your primary person or thing you want to serve at the core of your innovation. If your approach is going to help teachers, make sure you talk to teachers and keep their needs as the center throughout the entire process. Do not lose sight of the purpose.
4. Embrace risk! Do not shy away from trying something new, leaning into flux, and staying flexible. Innovating requires you to be nimble. Be okay with that.

Fill in the blanks: “Before I participated in CityBridge programming I used to think ________________. After participating in CityBridge programming, I now think __________________.” Before I participated in CityBridge programming I used to think that an equity design approach was arbitrary and difficult to manifest within a tangible and structured approach. After participating in CityBridge programming, I now know that it is possible within all systems, structures, and designs!