DEI is being dismantled—but equity can’t wait.

Across the country, equity advocates are being silenced, programs are being defunded, and historically underinvested and excluded communities are being left out—again. It’s not enough to “hold space.” We have to build new ones.

Join the Institute of Equitable Design and Justice (formerly Creative Reaction Lab) and Antionette D. Carroll, award-winning designer and systems strategist, for the Equity by Design Immersives: Designing Equity in an Anti-DEI Environment—a 3-day immersive experience created to meet this moment of backlash with action.

This is more than a workshop. It’s a collective redesign.

Click here for more information on the Immersive.

🤔 Still on the fence?

Besides the explicit anti-DEI environment being executed at the United States’ federal level, are you wondering what some examples of an implicit anti-DEI environment look like?

“Our school has an equity team, but our curriculum and discipline policies still disproportionately harm Black and Brown students. We’re stuck in cycles of discussion without transformation.”

“We had DEI trainings, but our BIPOC staff still report feeling isolated, undervalued, and unsafe. Leadership doesn’t know how to respond without being defensive.”

“Our mission is equity-driven, but our leadership team and board lack representation—and we don’t know how to shift that without tokenism or conflict.”

“We’re trying to expand access to our wellness programming, but communities most impacted by health disparities aren’t showing up—and we don’t know why.”

“Our institution wants to highlight marginalized artists, but our curation and hiring practices haven’t shifted—and we’re being called out.”

At the Equity by Design Immersive: Designing Equity in an Anti-DEI environment, we will explore the scaling of these designs from the individual to the national (and potentially global) level.

The Immersive isn’t an event. It’s just the beginning.

REGISTRATION & TICKETING 

$444 per person

Registration includes:

• One (1) ticket to the three-day Equity by Design Immersive in Chicago, IL, with continental breakfast, lunch, and snacks included

• Invitation to the Institute of Equitable Design and Justice online network, including a private online community of practice for the Equity by Design Immersive program alumni

• Alumni-only virtual gatherings

• Access to Lab Report Newsletter

• Certificate of Completion

• Name acknowledgment in Equity by Design Immersive Series Report

• Bonus: Redesigners for Justice™ Participation Pin and Sticker

• Bonus: Equity-Centered Community Design 1.0 field guide

DEI is being dismantled—but equity can’t wait.

Across the country, equity advocates are being silenced, programs are being defunded, and historically underinvested and excluded communities are being left out—again. It’s not enough to “hold space.” We have to build new ones.

Join the Institute of Equitable Design and Justice (formerly Creative Reaction Lab) and Antionette D. Carroll, award-winning designer and systems strategist, for the Equity by Design Immersives: Designing Equity in an Anti-DEI Environment—a 3-day immersive experience created to meet this moment of backlash with action.

This is more than a workshop. It’s a collective redesign.

Click here for more information on the Immersive.

🤔 Still on the fence?

Besides the explicit anti-DEI environment being executed at the United States’ federal level, are you wondering what some examples of an implicit anti-DEI environment look like?

“Our school has an equity team, but our curriculum and discipline policies still disproportionately harm Black and Brown students. We’re stuck in cycles of discussion without transformation.”

“We had DEI trainings, but our BIPOC staff still report feeling isolated, undervalued, and unsafe. Leadership doesn’t know how to respond without being defensive.”

“Our mission is equity-driven, but our leadership team and board lack representation—and we don’t know how to shift that without tokenism or conflict.”

“We’re trying to expand access to our wellness programming, but communities most impacted by health disparities aren’t showing up—and we don’t know why.”

“Our institution wants to highlight marginalized artists, but our curation and hiring practices haven’t shifted—and we’re being called out.”

At the Equity by Design Immersive: Designing Equity in an Anti-DEI environment, we will explore the scaling of these designs from the individual to the national (and potentially global) level.

The Immersive isn’t an event. It’s just the beginning.

REGISTRATION & TICKETING 

$444 per person

Registration includes:

• One (1) ticket to the three-day Equity by Design Immersive in New York, NY, with continental breakfast, lunch, and snacks included

• Invitation to the Institute of Equitable Design and Justice online network, including a private online community of practice for the Equity by Design Immersive program alumni

• Alumni-only virtual gatherings

• Access to Lab Report Newsletter

• Certificate of Completion

• Name acknowledgment in Equity by Design Immersive Series Report

• Bonus: Redesigners for Justice™ Participation Pin and Sticker

• Bonus: Equity-Centered Community Design 1.0 field guide

Grants don’t build trust—relationships do.

The philanthropic sector is at a crossroads. Communities are calling for more than funding—they want transparency and shared power. In the Re/Designing Trust in Action Lab, funders, philanthropic leaders, and program managers will further step out of their offices and into co-creation with the people they fund and serve. Together, participants will develop trust-centered interventions and models that transform how decisions are made, how impact is defined, and how philanthropy is expressed in solidarity, not saviorism.

Example Trust Redesign Opportunities in Philanthropy:

Grantees report that foundation staff are disconnected from on-the-ground realities and routinely overlook grassroots leaders.

Small, BIPOC-led organizations are overwhelmed by burdensome grant applications and reporting requirements that drain capacity.

Short-term, restricted grants prevent nonprofits from planning or growing—leading to burnout and instability.

Foundations demand rigid outcomes that ignore context, extract stories, and reinforce white dominant metrics of success.

Grantees and applicants often lack visibility into how decisions are made, which can lead to confusion and mistrust.

Foundations solicit feedback after funding cycles, but grantees rarely see their input reflected in policy or practice.

Boards and executive teams lack representation from the communities they fund, reinforcing elitism and exclusion.

Across four powerful days, reimagine philanthropy from diverse perspectives, particularly those of the people most directly impacted by the field. Build funding practices, relationships, and governance models that confront power, redistribute resources, and rebuild trust from the ground up. In the Re/Designing Trust Action Lab, we’ll redesign how philanthropy contributes to sustaining transformation.

The Re/Designing Trust Action Lab: Philanthropy will culminate in co-created trust-based interventions that will be publicly disseminated to drive industry-wide systems change.

This is not a retreat. It’s a reckoning.
Walk in with a problem. Walk out with a plan—and a community.

Rebuilding Trust in Philanthropy Starts Here.

Education systems were built without every learner and educator in mind—let’s redesign that.

Educators, administrators, and youth advocates, the trust gap between institutions and communities is growing—and students are paying the price. In a time of growing mistrust among students, families, educators, and institutions, the Re/Designing Trust in Action Lab provides a transformative space for education leaders, students, and families to rebuild what has been broken.

Example Trust Redesign Opportunities in Education:

Students and families have disengaged from the district’s equity initiatives, describing them as performative and tokenizing. Staff are unclear on what meaningful inclusion looks like in practice.

Students and teachers witness gender and racial bias in textbooks, curriculum, and interactions, yet feel powerless to challenge it.

Families and local communities feel disconnected from what students are taught and how their identities are reflected. Families of low-income students often feel that schools only contact them when there is a problem.

Educators express that their concerns are dismissed by leadership; students feel their feedback goes nowhere.

Punitive discipline systems disproportionately harm BIPOC and neurodivergent students, eroding trust in the school.

In this four-day Re/Designing Trust Action Lab, reimagine how power, accountability, and belonging show up in classrooms and leadership to address systems of mistrust and distrust. Together with youth leaders, living experts, and system insiders, participants reimagine how schools, learning environments, policies, and curricula can become centers of equity, healing, and belonging. Move beyond talk—design real-world trust interventions that honor dignity, confront harm, and reshape learning with community at the center.

The Re/Designing Trust Action Lab: Education will culminate with co-created trust-based interventions to be publicly disseminated for industry-wide systems change.

This is not a retreat. It’s a reckoning. Walk in with a problem. Walk out with a plan—and a community.

Rebuilding Trust in Education Starts Here.

Trust can’t be prescribed—but it can be designed.

The health system’s history of harm has left deep scars. From patient care to public health outreach, communities are demanding more than access—they’re demanding accountability. In the Re/Designing Trust in Action Lab, health professionals, system leaders, and community advocates come together to rebuild relationships through equity-centered strategies. Co-design solutions that restore dignity, improve outcomes, and make trust a measurable part of healthcare delivery.

Example Trust Redesign Opportunities in Health and Healthcare:

• Patients from BIPOC and immigrant communities report recurring dismissal of symptoms and pain, but feel there’s no safe channel for accountability.

  Providers rely on diagnostic algorithms that underdiagnose certain conditions in Black, Indigenous, and Latino/a/e/x patients, exacerbating health disparities.

  Communities with histories of medical racism (e.g., sterilization, experimentation, neglect) avoid care due to deep mistrust.

  Patients experiencing trauma report feeling retraumatized by chaotic, impersonal, and security-heavy ER environments.

  Vaccine campaigns and public health alerts are met with skepticism and misinformation in underinvested communities.

  Health apps and patient portals often fail to serve low-literacy users, older adults, and uninsured patients, thereby widening the digital divide/apartheid.

  Hospital boards and leadership teams lack input from the very communities most impacted by health disparities.

Healing Starts with Trust.

For patients to heal, they must first be heard. In a field marked by racial, gender, and disability disparities and institutional harm, this Action Lab brings together health providers, public health leaders, and patient advocates to co-create systems of care rooted in dignity, equity, and trust. It’s time to treat trust as a health outcome.

Across four powerful days, reimagine systems of care alongside the people they’re meant to serve. Develop policies, protocols, and healing-centered practices that respect lived experiences, address past harms, and rebuild trust in institutions that have too often caused harm. Health and healthcare can heal—but only if we redesign them for dignity and equity.

The Re/Designing Trust Action Lab: Health & Healthcare will culminate in co-created trust-based interventions that will be publicly disseminated to drive industry-wide systems change.

This is not a retreat. It’s a reckoning. Walk in with a problem. Walk out with a plan—and a community.

Rebuilding Trust in Health & Healthcare Begins  Here.

Truth isn’t enough when trust is missing.

More than ever, media shapes how we see the world—but whose stories are told, and how, continues to fracture trust. The rise of new technologies has diversified platforms and producers, but also fueled misinformation and deepened public mistrust. The Re/Designing Trust in Action Lab calls journalists, content creators, and media professionals to rethink storytelling from the ground up. In partnership with community voices, participants will design practices, narratives, and platforms that repair harm, foster transparency, and center the power of the people most misrepresented.

Example Trust Redesign Opportunities in Media & Journalism:

• Local residents say the newsroom only shows up during crises or crime coverage—and rarely reflects their everyday experiences.

  Social media platforms amplify sensational or false content faster than verified reporting, eroding public trust in journalism.

  A newspaper repeatedly publishes biased or harmful content but lacks a clear process for community redress.

  A major newsroom has no BIPOC journalists in leadership, despite covering communities of color daily.

  News coverage is inaccessible to non-English-speaking residents during emergencies or elections, exacerbating exclusion.

  Journalists and influencers often use images, quotes, or stories from communities without consent, retraumatizing or misrepresenting them.

  Survivors of violence, poverty, or displacement feel exploited by journalists and retraumatized by sensational coverage.

  Social media comment sections often become sites of harassment, silencing marginalized voices.

  Communities distrust media metrics that prioritize reach and revenue over representation and repair.

  Existing style guides often fail to reflect the evolving language surrounding identity, culture, and harm, thereby alienating readers.

Across four powerful days, reimagine journalism and content creation with communities, not just about them. Build editorial practices, storytelling frameworks, and narrative systems that center truth and repair—not just reach. Media and journalism can restore trust—but only if we’re willing to redesign how stories are sourced, told, and shared.

The Re/Designing Trust Action Lab: Media & Journalism will culminate in co-created trust-based interventions that will be publicly disseminated to drive industry-wide systems change.

This is not a retreat. It’s a reckoning. Walk in with a problem. Walk out with a plan—and a community.

Rebuilding Trust in Media and Journalism Starts Here.

DEI is being dismantled—but equity can’t wait.

Across the country, equity advocates are being silenced, programs are being defunded, and historically underinvested and excluded communities are being left out—again. It’s not enough to “hold space.” We have to build new ones.

Join the Institute of Equitable Design and Justice (formerly Creative Reaction Lab) and Antionette D. Carroll, award-winning designer and systems strategist, for the Equity by Design Immersives: Designing Equity in an Anti-DEI Environment—a 3-day immersive experience created to meet this moment of backlash with action.

This is more than a workshop. It’s a collective redesign.

Click here for more information on the Immersive.

🤔 Still on the fence?

Besides the explicit anti-DEI environment being executed at the United States’ federal level, are you wondering what some examples of an implicit anti-DEI environment look like?

“Our school has an equity team, but our curriculum and discipline policies still disproportionately harm Black and Brown students. We’re stuck in cycles of discussion without transformation.”

“We had DEI trainings, but our BIPOC staff still report feeling isolated, undervalued, and unsafe. Leadership doesn’t know how to respond without being defensive.”

“Our mission is equity-driven, but our leadership team and board lack representation—and we don’t know how to shift that without tokenism or conflict.”

“We’re trying to expand access to our wellness programming, but communities most impacted by health disparities aren’t showing up—and we don’t know why.”

“Our institution wants to highlight marginalized artists, but our curation and hiring practices haven’t shifted—and we’re being called out.”

At the Equity by Design Immersive: Designing Equity in an Anti-DEI environment, we will explore the scaling of these designs from the individual to the national (and potentially global) level.

The Immersive isn’t an event. It’s just the beginning.

REGISTRATION & TICKETING 

$444 per person

Registration includes:

• One (1) ticket to the three-day Equity by Design Immersive in Oakland, CA, with continental breakfast, lunch, and snacks included

• Invitation to the Institute of Equitable Design and Justice online network, including a private online community of practice for the Equity by Design Immersive program alumni

• Alumni-only virtual gatherings

• Access to Lab Report Newsletter

• Certificate of Completion

• Name acknowledgment in Equity by Design Immersive Series Report

• Bonus: Redesigners for Justice™ Participation Pin and Sticker

• Bonus: Equity-Centered Community Design 1.0 field guide

Public service without public trust is no service at all.

Whether you're in city government, a public agency, or elected office, you’ve felt the weight of public mistrust. When public systems fail to listen, communities tend to disengage. From civic planning to policymaking, the Re/Designing Trust Action Lab equips government leaders and public servants with tools to rebuild relationships, center resident voices, and co-create interventions that earn lasting trust.

Example Trust Redesign Opportunities in Government and Public Service:

Residents feel excluded from city budgeting decisions, leading to frustration and accusations of misallocated funds.

Policies are created in offices far removed from the people they impact, causing confusion, resentment, and disengagement.

Government projects (e.g., redevelopment, infrastructure, zoning) move forward without public trust or consent.

People with lived experience of poverty, incarceration, or immigration face policy decisions made without their voice.

Residents of historically excluded neighborhoods are refusing to participate in public planning meetings, citing decades of ignored feedback and performative outreach. Additionally, communities harmed by past government actions (e.g., urban renewal, displacement, surveillance) feel ignored or retraumatized by current engagement efforts.

Across four powerful days, reimagine civic systems with residents and communities, not for them. Build tools, practices, and policies that shift accountability, restore relationships, and earn trust where it’s been lost. Government and public services can work—but only if we’re willing to redesign how they show up.

The Re/Designing Trust Action Lab: Government and Public Service will culminate in co-created trust-based interventions that will be publicly disseminated to drive industry-wide systems change.

This is not a retreat. It’s a reckoning. Walk in with a problem. Walk out with a plan—and a community.

Rebuilding Trust in Government and Public Service Starts Here.

Technology without trust isn’t innovation—it’s risk and erasure.

From generative Artificial Intelligence to everyday apps, digital platforms are shaping how we live, work, connect, and make decisions. Whether you’re developing AI models, building digital tools, or deploying platforms at scale, the Re/Designing Trust Action Lab challenges you to center transparency, equity, and accountability at every stage of innovation. This four-day immersive experience centers those most impacted by technological harm, not just as stakeholders, but as co-creators.

Example Trust Redesign Opportunities in Artificial Intelligence and Technology:

• An AI product used in hiring is flagged for disproportionately screening out applicants from marginalized backgrounds, resulting in public outcry and a loss of trust.

  Engineers identify bias in a model, but leadership deprioritizes fixing it due to deadlines, prompting employee whistleblowing and user mistrust.

  A major tech platform rolls out updates that disproportionately impact disabled users and low-income communities—without co-creating and engaging with them during the design and production.

  A centralized content moderation system enforces biased policies that silence racially diverse voices online, sparking user exodus.

  Innovation spaces often prioritize speed over social impact, leaving justice-focused creators without resources or visibility.

  Users, mainly from historically surveilled communities, are opting out of digital platforms due to unclear or exploitative data practices.

Trust is the missing algorithm—and it’s costing us. 

The Re/Designing Trust in Action Lab is a four-day immersive experience designed for product designers, engineers, data scientists, technologists, product equity specialists, policy leaders, ethicists, and technology enthusiasts who are ready to rethink how technology earns public trust. Across four transformative days, reimagine technology with communities, not just for technology consumers. Build digital tools, design practices, and governance models that center accountability, protect dignity, and rebuild trust where it’s been broken. Technology can serve the people—but only if we’re bold enough to redesign how it’s built.

This isn’t just about responsible innovation. It’s about earning public trust in a field that cannot afford to ignore it any longer.

The Re/Designing Trust Action Lab: AI & Technology will culminate in co-created trust-based interventions that will be publicly disseminated to drive industry-wide systems change.

This is not a retreat. It’s a reckoning. Walk in with a problem. Walk out with a plan—and a community.

Rebuilding Trust in AI & Technology Begins Here.