PUBLIC SPEAKING,
TEACHING, & MISCHIEF

I’m an experienced public speaker, facilitator, educator, & crafter of communal experiences. I’ve spoken at the White House, Code for America Summit, Code for America Brigade Congress, New America, MozillaFest, CityLab, Online News Association Conference, Knight Foundation’s Media Learning Seminar, and more, and taught at more places, online and offline, than I can count!

Below you'll find a round-up of my greatest hits. First you’ll find a recap of talks I’ve given. Scroll for a look at my classes, trainings, participatory design stuff, and…related Other.

Interested in having me gab or teach with your group? Get in touch!

 

TALKS, PANELS, & KEYNOTES

Jamee (left) & Cuán (right) on IG Live in 2022 for Let’s Talk About Burn Out!

Keynoting the 2020 Brigade Congress with the amazing Mutale Nkonde

Panelist on at the 2014 Code for America Summit

  • Let’s Talk About Burn Out! with Jamee Pineda [2022]

    Building Technology for Liberation, keynote with Mutale Nkonda, Code for America Brigade Congress [2020]

    Where We Stand, Virtual AfterThoughts, Baltimore Centre Stage [2020]

  • 2017
    Build With, Not For, Citizen Interaction Design    , University of Michigan

    Already Smart: Community Leadership in Civic Problem-Solving in Charlotte and Beyond, Integrated Network for Social Sustainability Conference, UNC Charlotte

    Fighting Fascism: How Did We Get Here?, Woolly Mammoth Theatre


    2016
    If You Build It, New America NYC

    Build With, Not For, Wesleyan University

    Using Technology to Open Government from the Outside, Sunshine Week

    Technology and Power, CityLab 2016

    2015
    Do We Want Civic Tech?, Web of Change

    If Technology is a Tool for Power, Then..., Web of Change

    Build With, Not For: Community Partnership in Civic Tech, Code for America Summit

    Community Engagement Models for More Inclusive Journalism, Online News Association Conference

    Construyendo con la gente, keynote at ConDatos in Santiago, Chile

    Innovation = Imagination, White House Tribal Youth Gathering

    Community, Technology, and Partnerships, Knight Foundation’s Media Learning Seminar

    Thinking Differently About Community Engagement with Data, GovLab Academy

    The Ethics of Civic Hacking, NY Tech Meetup: Leadership Circle Event

    Build With, Not For, White House’s First Tech Meetup

    Mo Open Data, Omidyar Network’s Civic Tech Ignite at Civic Hall

  • 2014
    Social Magic for Civic Participation (and Dinosaurs)    , Magick Codes

    Beyond Hacking for Good: An Inclusive, Government-(and Citizen) Friendly Approach Toward Civic Tech, World Bank

    “Civic Tech for All”, NYCFusion Rise Up Hackathon

    Radically Weird Civic Design, Civic Design Camp

    The Talk: How to Increase Diversity In Civic Experiences, Civic Design Camp

    “Timings”, with artist Augustina Woodgate for The 5×5 Project

    Offline: Bridging Digital Divides in Open Data, Mozilla Fest

    Community Integration in Civic Tech (or the DC “Build With, Not For” Action Plan), DC Day of Civic Hacking

    “The Millennial Challenge", Millennials Rising Symposium

    Smart, Ethical Cities, a challenge to “The Responsive City“, New America

    Building DC Civic Tech With Intentionality, October Code for DC meetup

    The Talk: Approaches to Inclusive Community Engagement, Code for America Summit

    Building for Inclusive Community Participation, Code for America Summit

    People First: Meeting Residents Where They Are, Code for America Summit

    Laboratories of Data-Driven Democracy, Ohio State’s BigDataFuture

    Technology, Community, and the Arts, American University

    Weingartner Digital Citizenship Forum panelist, College of William and Mary and dotDemocracy

    Realistic Careers in Non-profit Advocacy, Harvard’s Intercollegiate Business Convention (IBC) Women in Business Weekend

    All Data is Local, TEDxMidAtlantic

    2013
    Open Data: City Policies to Promote Transparency, Efficiency, and Engagement, Sunlight Foundation, Harvard Ash Center, & National League of Cities

    Open Data & Performance Innovation, State Policy Directors Annual Meeting

    Navigating the Sea of Data Without Getting Lost, CITRIS/UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies

    Local Government Innovation: Open Data, Lean Thinking, Hackathons…Oh My!, Truman Scholars Association National Conference

    Oakland Public Ethics Commission’s informational hearing on transparency, testimony

    The Government We Build Together, intro for TransparencyCamp

    Intro: Hack for DC Opening Day, National Day of Civic Hacking

    Everything I Know About Community Organizing I Learned from a Giant Orb, EventPros Meetup

    Help Us Design the Future of Local Open Data, Chicago’s OpenGov Hack Night

    2012
    Developing Physical + Digital Communities, DC WEEK

    Where Good Governance Meets Good Teach, guest lecture at Transparency International Lithuania’s Summer School on Integrity

    Making (Cyber)Space for Public Art, TEDxDC

    2011
    An Introduction to Open Data, Transparency Action Plan (TAP) Summit

    We Demand Open Gov, rally in Salt Lake City, Utah in support of state-level right-to-know laws

    City Stewardship Rebooted, Redesign_DC

    2010
    Open Data, Open Art, CityCamp San Francisco

 

Tiny crab hands, clawing for justice during CityLab Miami 2016. Before we can build *tools* that will change how government works for the better, we (whoever "we" are) need a critical understanding of how our governing *system* works (and who it does and doesn't work for).

 
 

Classes, TRAININGS, CO-DESIGN, & MORE

To see the latest workshops I offer, head here.

 
 

CLASSES

 

Building With, Not For: Community Engagement Rooted in Community Organizing, 10 week class hosted by Build With, registration open to the public

  • First cohort: 2022

Community Engagement: Tools and Techniques for Making Meaningful Connections, 8 week class hosted through the Centers for Civic Impact @ Johns Hopkins University, registration limited to U.S. local government workers

  • Four cohorts: 2018, 2018, 2019, 2020

Getting Started with Community Engagement, go-at-own-pace class based on Build With principles, commissioned by the Centers for Civic Impact @ Johns Hopkins University

  • Published in 2019

 

TRAININGS
To see the latest educational offerings I have on deck, head here

 

  • 2022
    Intro to Facilitation    , a recurring Build With workshop, open to the public (ran April, May, June, September)

    Diving Deeper into Facilitation Design, a recurring Build With workshop, open to the public (ran in June)

    Facilitating with Care, a recurring Build With workshop, open to the public (ran in September)


    2021
    Build With, Not For: Community Engagement Rooted in Community Organizing    , Vancouver Island University, IT Department

    Facilitation Workshop, with La Sobremesa for International Funders for Indigenous Peoples


    2020
    Teach In: Conflict and Community Care    , Code for America Brigade Congress

    Building a Practice of Meaningful Community Engagement, City of Miami

    Navigating Burn-Out: Caring for Ourselves While Caring for Each Other, City of Philadelphia

    Community Engagement During COVID and Beyond, City of Philadelphia

    Virtual Facilitation 101, City of Philadelphi

    Power-Aware Facilitation, George Washington University

  • 2019
    Build With, Not For,     City of Miami

    Power-Aware Facilitation, Woolly Mammoth Theatre


    2018
    With, Not For: A Very Mini Organizing Bootcamp    , Center for Government Excellence, internal training

    With, Not For: A Very Mini Organizing Bootcamp, Brigade Training at the Code for America Summit 2018

    Accountability is a Form of Care    , Brigade Training at the Code for America Summit

    Radical Transparency: on self care in the context of self work and movement work, Social Medicine Consortium, with Tanvi Avasthi

    Make Meaningful Connections, NYC Gov: OpenData Coordinator's Training


    2017
    Community Partnership in Civic Design,     Citizen Interaction Design, University of Michigan

    Co-Desiging Our Cities (The Remix!)    , Integrated Network for Social Sustainability Conference, UNC Charlotte

    Identity and Power, Woolly Mammoth Theatre

    Time and Power: Putting the 2016 Election in Perspective, St. Stephen and the Incarnation Episcopal Church

    Working with Discomfort: An Introduction to Facilitation, Woolly Mammoth Theatre, with Kristen Jackson


    2016
    Identity & Policy: Toward human-centered social policy and understanding our own biases as creators    , New America (internal) 2016

    Plan for Success: An Intro to Sustainable Community Engagement in Open Data, What Works Cities Summit

    Civic Participation on Our Terms, in Our Lives, New America


    2015
    Challenges to Open Government in the U.S. Today,     International TransparencyCamp

    Build With, Not For Workshop, Open Data Day DC, with Jessie Posilkin

    Building Community and Engagement Around Data, Data Literacy Bootcamp at the World Bank

  • 2014
    CivicTech‬ With, Not For Workshop     at BetaNYC’s #CivicFreeSchool


    2013
    Open Data: Getting Started    , Code for America Webinar

    DIY Open Data, Capitol Hill Montessori School’s GIS team

    2011
    Where Do Lobbyists Come From? And Where Do Their Dollars Go?    , Occupy DC, with Nicole Aro

    Introduction to Campaign Finance and Online Disclosure, Rootscamp, with Nicole Aro

The DCDino visits the robot army parade krewe generated by ROBOTDISCO, an interactive space where community members learned about robots, civic tech, and made their own robot costumes; a pop-up during the 2015 DC Funk Parade

 

PARTICIPATORY DESIGN & MISC FACILITATION

 

2021
IFIP 2021 Global Funder Retreat, lead co-design of virtual, global retreat in partnership with La Sobremesa with and for IFIP (International Funders of Indigenous Peoples) & their broader community

Re/Alignment Retreat, Throneless Tech 2021

2020
Community Engagement Toolkit, Co-Writing Series, (7 week project) City of Charlotte

Book Circle Facilitation, (5 week project), Northern New York Library Network

Yours truly (chin on hand on the right) and City of Charlotte employees in late 2019 at the only co-design meeting we got to have in person (the one where we realized we needed to craft the toolkit) before the pandemic hit. We adapted the rest of our process to flow online in a way that also cared for participants grieving and navigating the earliest days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

2019
Community Talk-backs for the play, Fairview, (5 week run of show), Woolly Mammoth Theatre 2019

Aligning Values, Intent, and Impact, a 2 year, staff-led process of establishing new values and attempting to establish accountability systems for the Centers for Civic Impact (formerly “GovEx”) at Johns Hopkins University

Green New Deal: Convening, facilitated and supported design of New Consensus’s research-planning meeting, bringing together almost 100 environmental justice activists, legal scholars, and a wide array of climate policy analysts and workers to outline the questions, actions, and community weaving necessary to drive the Green New Deal forward

2018
Center for Government Excellence: Quarterly Retreat, Johns Hopkins University

Measuring Library Broadband Networks: Participatory Design Workshop, designed with and for librarians and Simmons University, Internet2, & New America

2017
The Arsonists Workshop, a week-long education initiative designed to combine community dramaturgy and conscious-raising for the cast of The Woolly Mammoth Theatre's fall production of The Arsonists by Max Frisch

Design Jam: Costuming, a co-design event based on Project Runway for the Woolly Mammoth Theatre’s costume department in support of communally contributing to the costume design for The Arsonists

Design Jam: Lighting, a co-design event translating lighting design into string for the Woolly Mammoth Theatre’s lighting director in support of communally lighting the first act of The Arsonsists

2016
Beyond Bystander Intervention: A DC Community Education Jam, Fantom Comics 2016

2015
Experimental Modes of Direct Partnership in Civic Tech, Chicago Community Trust Convening

ROBOTDISCO at the DC Funk Parade

The amazing artists, tech workers, designers, and organizers brought together by myself and the SmartChicago Collaborative in 2015 to explore direct community partnership strategies in tech & beyond.

2014
Millennials Rising, facilitator for policy breakouts and interactive sessions

Civic Participation on Our Terms, in Our Lives, New America (internal) co-design workshop

The Tech Embassy at the DC Funk Parade, an interactive community space modeled after science fairs and DISCOTECHs where DC folks could learn about (and try their hand at making/playing with) a variety of civic interest tech projects, ranging from DJ turntables and GIS projects to govt transparency work and LED art

2013
Transparency Camp, directed all aspects of unconference and co-design process; 500 participants, 25 countries, 33 states, plus more municipal/local focused advocates and policymakers than ever before

The Re-Cycle, collaboratively designed interactive art installation, a musical float accompanying a critical mass bike ride bringing together members of DC’s DIY tech, arts, and sustainability communities during DC Week

2012
TransparencyCamp, led all aspects of production, including a more dynamic co-design process, for the world’s largest unconference about open government; 400 participants, 27 countries, 26 states

TransparencyCamp How-To, wrote and published a virtual zine for folks interested in creating their own unconferences (or TransparencyCamps), with details from our experience at the Sunlight Foundation

The Alley of Doom, an art installation/pop-up game co-created with a stretch of neighborhood on U Street, NW transforming a city alley into the boulder chase from Indiana Jones (inviting neighbors to jump into said scene and run from the boulder…)

2011
TransparencyCamp, directed and organized the world’s largest unconference about government transparency and accountability; 200% increase in participation from 2010; 1st year of both the TCamp International Program and Scholarship Program

Paint and Slaps on Foot, street art tour, AIGA’s Design Week

Sunlight Olympics, an staff-wide creative-development game crafted for the Sunlight Foundation; intended as team-building this also proved a foundational event for product development