Inclusive Innovation

PCIIT is focused on creating more equitable futures informed by insights from the lived realities of Philadelphians. The Center will use these community perspectives to reimagine existing approaches to innovation ecosystems across sectors including social work, philanthropy, nonprofits, social policy, and more.

PCIIT’s founding faculty director is Desmond Upton Patton, the University’s 31st Penn Integrates Knowledge University Professor and a pioneer in the interdisciplinary fusion of social work, communications, and data science. “My hope for PCIIT is that it becomes a conscious heartbeat for Penn,” says Patton. “I want our community to have hard conversations and to create models for action. I want to bring in the most diverse people and brilliant minds. I want to have light bulb moments at Penn through the power of vulnerability.”

Ken Miles serves as PCIIT’s inaugural Executive Director, and he is working with a variety of partners to bring these initiatives to life in Philadelphia. “We think imagination and dreaming can play an important role in our work with local communities,” says Miles. “What can be unlocked may be greater than we presumed. It’s important not to dismiss where ideas come from.”

For example, PCIIT is using the arts to inspire community members to imagine new possibilities for the future. PCIIT Artist-in-Residence Pierre-Christophe Gam is one of the collaborators who is helping to explore the role that arts and supportive technologies can play in community engagement. His work incorporates augmented and virtual reality experiences that allow viewers to engage in cross-cultural exchanges on the power of dreams.

The Center’s efforts will also include activities ranging from facilitated conversations and classes to community-led advisory councils and workshops where participants can develop and co-design practices to bring ideas to life, harnessing the power of technology for good.

Currently, the PCIIT team is identifying deeply rooted partners and local organizations that are invested in Philadelphia’s future, and they will conduct local listening tours soon. Together, PCIIT and its collaborators are finding ways to create greater opportunities across the groups that have historically been excluded from conversations about innovation that directly impacts their lives. PCIIT also works alongside SAFELab, a research lab affiliated with SP2 and the Annenberg School, that is examining the complex modern relationships youth, particularly Black and Brown teens, have with grief and joy, both on- and offline.

On campus, PCIIT has big plans to build and strengthen relationships. A fellowship program that connects Philadelphia communities with Penn faculty, emerging social work practitioners, and graduate students is also in the works—but needs funding. An already-successful youth council was previously established through SAFELab where local teenagers are compensated for sharing their insights during co-design sessions structured to advance different creative concepts. PCIIT has partnered on a speaker series for practitioners with the Center for Social Impact Strategy, and is exploring an innovation for good collaboration between SP2 and Pennovation.

“The PCIIT team is doing actionable work that prioritizes partnerships with people and communities who have too often been ignored,” says SP2 Dean Sara S. Bachman. “Engagement and philanthropic support from the Penn community will only help to bolster the promise and opportunity that is inherent in PCIIT’s mission of empowerment and collaboration.”

To learn more about supporting PCIIT, email Kristen De Paor, SP2 Associate Dean for Institutional Advancement, or call (215) 898-5518.