Case Study
San Rafael – Together Academy 2025
Category: Service Areas
![A small team is seated around a table and taking notes as one person is being interviewed.]()
Case Study
Ridiculously Hopeful Futures for a Human-Centered Government
![group of people around a table smiling and working on worksheets]()
Blog Post
Ridiculously Hopeful Futures Meets Meeting of the Minds
At California Workforce Association’s (CWA) Meeting of the Minds conference in Monterey (September 2025), we invited participants to time travel…
![picture of a portal with lights - purple and yellow streamers hanging down from a door]()
Case Study
BayREN – Equity Assessment of an Energy Efficiency Program
![Data visualization that shows the proportion of interviewees that were represented across 3 categories: Program Goals, Paths to BayREN, and Measures that were pursued.]()
Blog Post
Co-Designing Technology for Human-Centered Public Services
Background In the Spring of 2025, our Ridiculously Hopeful Futures (RHF) project invited community members and public benefits administrators across…
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Case Study
Calbright College – Quality Jobs Framework
![Sample pages from the quality jobs framework]()
Case Study
EPIC | Humboldt County Benefits Access Pilot
![A small group of co-design session attendees are seated around a table, deep in discussion.]()
Case Study
5-Year Technology Roadmap for Berkeley Public Library
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Case Study
City of LA Workforce: A 5-Year Path Forward
![Several people are spread out around 6 different tables, writing ideas on post-its to help shape the priorities of the plan.]()
Blog Post
Four Key Takeaways from a Co-Design Session in Humboldt County
At a time when public benefits programs are in a state of uncertainty due to the utter chaos ensuing at…
![Picture of one of the teams sharing their vision worksheets with each other.]()
Case Study
Sunnyvale Innovation Team, Summer 2024
![In this picture, four people are grouped around a table. Two women in the middle are half standing up, arranging a prototype made of crafting supplies, while others around the table look on or offer directions.]()
Blog Post
Leveraging the Power of Apprenticeships
In a continuation of our work with California’s Employment Training Panel (ETP), we recently wrapped up a 10-month design process…
![HCD Process Graphic, highlighting the implementation phase at the very end]()
Case Study
Accessible Design Workshop for Hawthorn Senior Apartments
![Digital rendering of the Hawthorn Senior Apartments]()
Blog Post
Coaching Equity-Centered Design Thinking
At the start of June, we kicked off the newest Innovation Team offered by the City of Sunnyvale. This project…
![Four participants laughing together while sitting around a table completing a worksheet.]()
Case Study
SF ORCP Concrete Building Safety Program – Stakeholder Engagement
![Technical experts from ATC led stakeholders, including members of the CBSP Working Group and the City, on a tour of concrete buildings in the Mission.]()
Case Study
City of Alameda Strategic Plan
![Two adults and two children are looking at and in front of two three large pieces of paper. They are in a large foldable tent or shade structure at the Alameda farmer's market. The pieces of paper are hung up on three sides of the tent. The paper has potential details and things to vote on that they'd like to see in the plan. They are allowed to place dots next to the statements they like.]()
Case Study
JFF Workforce Communities of Action
![6 members of the project team are together on a zoom call, smiling and prepping for the next session. In the picture (from Left to Right, Top to Bottom) Leah Tremblay-Adams, Brittany Henry, Genna Petrolla, Christina Garcia, Jonathan Osei, and Lee Domeika.]()
Case Study
Santa Cruz Housing Element
![From behind, three attendees are gathered around a map of Santa Cruz County in discussion.]()
Blog Post
2023 Year in Review
Every year, the CivicMakers Team takes a look at what projects (both internal and external), people, and partners furthered our…
![An outtake from the team photo shoot. Everyone is lining up in front of a plant-filled background, getting ready for the group photo.]()
Case Study
ETP – Application Process Evaluation
![Two people stand in front of a screen which shows a detailed journey map of the application process. They are both pointing to a part of the screen and discussing it.]()
Case Study
City of Pleasanton Budget Engagement
![A parent holds a small child in their arms, and together they are placing a green dot vote onto a poster of budget priorities that is filled with green and red votes from other residents.]()
Blog Post
CivicMakers Team Strategy Jam
The CivicMakers Team gathered together for what we called a Team Strategy Jam on Monday, June 12th, at our office…
![Team photo outside in a park on sunny day with plants in the background. Seven people stand in a row with their arms around each other. From left to right: Julian Gunter, Judi Brown, Brittany Henry, Eva Mas, Cristelle Blackford, Leah Tremblay-Adams, Kyle Wicks.]()
Blog Post
End of Year Reflection, 2022
It can be difficult to fit time for reflection and learning from our work into the day-to-day of running a…
![Mike, Judi, Leah, and Brit on a zoom call. All are smiling with the zoom filter of green sprouts coming from their heads.]()
Blog Post
Commitments to Inclusive & Accessible Learning Space
It’s been two years since we piloted our Learning Lab at the City of San José - how the time…
![A screenshot from Demo Day #5. On the right side is a column of participants on video while Kelli Parmley (Assistant Director Of Human Resources, City of San Jose) shares a slide. The slide is titled]()
Blog Post
Practicing Accessible Design in Community Development
How do communities design for accessibility? What can we learn from co-creating living spaces with people with disabilities and their…
![map of proposed site for project with labels]()
Case Study
Asset-Based Community Development for Planned Affordable Housing in San Jose
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Blog Post
CivicMakers’ 2022 Team Retreat
Last week, we brought our team back together for the first CivicMakers retreat in over three years. In addition to…
![CivicMakers team sitting together around at table outdoors, about to eat lunch.]()
Case Study
Project SPARC
![Screenshot from the SPARC Showcase March 2022. Someone is sharing a slide with three quotes from CalWORKs parenting students who shared their experiences around mental health. On the right side are a series of pictures of SPARC Leaders attending the zoom session.]()
Case Study
City of San Jose Innovation Learning Lab
![Aha Moments Slide from City of San Jose Innovation Learning Lab]()
resource
Stakeholder Identification
Last Updated: November, 2021 A key step to engaging the humans in human-centered design is identifying your stakeholders. This framework…
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resource
Communications Strategy & Messaging Guidelines
Last Updated: November, 2021 When engaging stakeholders (whether it be the general public, partners, staff, etc.), it is important to…
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Case Study
San Francisco Homeless Workforce Systems Alignment
![Cristelle and Leah brainstorming in front of a whiteboard with post-its]()
Case Study
Santa Clara County Housing Authority Community Engagement
![HACSC Poster]()
Case Study
City of Mountain View Strategic Plan
![city hall mountain view]()
Case Study
San Francisco Public Research Program
![San Francisco Public Research Program - Image]()
Case Study
City of West Sacramento Council Strategic Retreat
![West Sacramento strategic planning]()
Blog Post
Creative Constraints: Designing a Virtual Community Meeting during a Crisis
In the era of physical distancing, face-to-face public participation tactics like town hall meetings, community workshops and tabling are not…
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Blog Post
Everything is Data: Making Sense of COVID-19 with Human Connection
Finding hope for positive systems change from an informal online meetup with public servants I’ll admit it. I’m a compulsive…
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Case Study
San Francisco ‘SF Shines’ Program Evaluation and Implementation
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Case Study
City of Hayward Strategic Plan
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Case Study
Napa Valley Transportation Authority Countywide Plan
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Case Study
City of San Rafael Innovation Learning Lab
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Blog Post
The Culture Stack — Cultivating a More Resilient & Responsive Government
The govtech movement holds great promise, but is hindered by a glaring blindspot — the assumption that technology alone will…
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Case Study
California Health & Human Services Innovation Lab
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Case Study
San Francisco Recreation and Open Space Element (ROSE) Evaluation
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Case Study
City of Fremont Smart City Action Plan
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Case Study
Pew Charitable Trusts Parks & Tech Challenge
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Blog Post
Trusting the process, and the people — Designing the Parks and Tech Challenge
Oftentimes, when deep into the design of a group process, I hit a point where the possibility of failure seems…
![Trusting the process, and the people — Designing the Parks and Tech Challenge]()
Case Study
Code for America User Research
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Case Study
CA Health & Human Services Knowledge Sharing Platform
![A room of stakeholders with posters describing]()
Blog Post
Now More Than Ever
If the recent election showed us anything, it’s that we need to learn to listen and understand each other better.…
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Blog Post
Co-Discovery: A Process for Impactful Projects
At CivicMakers, we believe gathering the right mix of people, cultivating community and building trust are key ingredients for any successful…
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