Superheroes in a Tent
Rodrigo Dyer (he/him) was a 2021 Institute of Design (ID) extern with the Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics exploring the creation of an overnight low-threshold space for people with substance use disorders (SUDs).
In 2019, I attended a conference by Antionette Carroll at DePaul University in Chicago. The CEO and founder of the Creative Reaction Lab, a community-centered movement for racial justice and healthy living, made distinct remarks about working in these spaces:
- The first one: any complex social challenge can only be approached, not solved. If we are arrogant enough to think that we are figuring something out in its entirety, we are probably creating new issues unknowingly.
- The second one: addressing a problem from the ground up entails engaging people who have been through — or currently endure — similar traumas as the target audience. We can’t just pretend to grasp the extent of the issue if we haven’t suffered it ourselves.
- The third one: we may be invited to ask certain questions but people have the right and power to refuse answers and cooperation. We should be mindful of our limitations when working on emotional-heavy challenges, and aim to build enough empathy to get a glimpse of reality.
These lessons stuck because they break from traditional conceptions regarding the practice of design. I’m interested in them not only because I’m being trained to think as a designer, but I’m doing it in this country, in the midst of unspeakable injustices towards minorities (of which I’m a part of), systemic racism that’s deeply embedded in every layer of society and a general realization that we might actually have to do things differently so people don’t suffer.
Antionette’s words and these thoughts emerged stronger than ever these past few months in which I’ve been supporting the Office of Recovery Services to envision an overnight low-threshold space for people enduring substance use disorders and homelessness.
In a (probably unfair) nutshell: in August 2017, the City of Boston opened the Engagement Center, a welcoming, flexible daytime space to meet people where they are in relation to substance use, and to provide pathways for recovery and longer-term housing to those ready. In spite of pushback from the community, a delicate relationship with law enforcement, COVID-19’s disproportionate toll on this population, skepticism concerning the continuity of its operations, harsh reporting from the media, and a generalized aura of negativity surrounding the very topic of substance use, the Engagement Center worked. It worked so well that, four years later, the City’s getting a permanent space to expand its mission and impact.
I tried to think about this seemingly baffling outcome, grounding my thoughts on Antionette’s lessons which I’ll use as an inspiration to make sense of “the Tent’s” (as guests affectionately refer to it) success.
Be humble and optimistic
A wise person once told me: “Stop thinking that every step you take needs to be perfect. The most important thing is to figure out your North Star and take steps in that direction.”
The Mayor’s Office, the Office of Recovery Services, MONUM and the other teams involved in making the Engagement Center a reality were humble enough to recognize this is only a small dent in approaching the problem. The opioid epidemic is a complex challenge, a wicked problem and they knew this space was not a silver bullet to eliminate it. Yet, they were optimistic enough to take that step anyway and push it in the right direction, with pure intentions, together.
The positive consequences of that work are a reflection of that modesty and enthusiasm. While they don’t know what obstacles the new space will bring, they are starting off fresh, from a more informed standpoint, with the “win” of having helped many people along the journey.
Be disciplined and sensitive
The longest-serving staff member of the Engagement Center said: “You have to understand when and how to help. Don’t push the issue to a person that’s not on the same page.”
What is happening inside of that Tent is nothing short of extraordinary. Constantly, staff and guests are working together for a better tomorrow. Of course, there is a larger infrastructure of stakeholders making that possible in the first place but the day-to-day match is played only by them. This job implies a heavy emotional burden for both groups and tensions are not always productive. But they are aligned, somehow. And they show up, every day.
The positive consequences of that work are a reflection of that relentless effort and a realization that success in this place means living to see another day. This emotional context makes people more prone to work things out together and sensitive enough to grasp where their counterpart is at every moment.
Be empowering and informed
Per one of the basic tenets of Creative Reaction Lab’s Equity-Centered Community Design framework: “We have to acknowledge what we know we don’t know (and what we don’t know, we don’t know.)”
You can’t just barge into people’s lives. The Engagement Center was impactful especially because it was an invitation to folks to be themselves in a safe place and to think of themselves as humans worthy of respect and care. The Tent is all about shifting power dynamics, which to be honest, every City in the world could benefit from. In this process of agency flux, guests are encouraged to frequently reflect upon their lives and the choices they want to make.
The positive consequences of that work are reflection of that willingness to rethink power exertion and the openness to continue learning from those conversations, sometimes not through the most tender gestures. Compounded in time, that shift in mentality proved to be constructive and, hopefully, it will inspire leaders beyond the recovery space to decentralize power and have more horizontal discussions about policies and shared goals.
As a final reflection, I go back to the words of the staff member who said most people he talked with in the larger government and community ecosystem don’t really understand the depth of the work they conduct there. Even sadder, they don’t know what happens inside the Tent, what services they provide, what kind of support they offer. With limited time and resources, it’s hard to pass the message to every Bostonian.
The good thing is the Tent is always open.
Everyone is welcome.
So you can just walk in and see for yourself.
Rodrigo is a graduate student at IIT Institute of Design where he is pursuing a Master of Design. Before moving to the US for his graduate studies, Rodrigo worked in an education nonprofit in Mexico, and an innovation consulting firm and a hedge fund in Peru, his home country.
About the ID Externship
IIT Institute of Design’s (ID) Master of Design program externship is practice-focused and centers the belief that students need practical experience in real-world design work to gain insight into the day-to-day practice of the design profession and to acquire skills not accessible in a learning environment.
