Public Innovators Labs
Unleash your capacity to catalyze change and strengthen your community's civic culture with our Public Innovators Labs. Featuring new content, they are designed to offer you the best of the time-tested Harwood approach strengthened by our recent work with communities across the country.
The Labs are offered virtually for individuals and cohorts. For communities and organizations looking to galvanize a larger group of Public Innovators, we offer in-person Labs. To speak to our team about bringing an in-person Lab to your community, please contact us.
“It changed my entire perspective on the work that I do, my commitment to my profession, and how I think about how we everyday engage with our communities.”
Lab 1: Getting Started
Your Launchpad for Creating Change
In just five weekly 2-hour interactive sessions with our team of Certified Harwood Coaches, explore the mindset and practice of Turning Outward; learn how change happens and unfolds in a community; develop ways to engage people in your community and what matters to them; discern where your community is starting so you can take the right actions; and identify how you can show up more intentionally in your life and work.
If you are ready to get started using the Harwood approach, this Lab is for you!
The next Getting Started Virtual Lab will be held in April 2025 - let us know you’re interested by clicking the button below.
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The lab is great for individuals or cohorts of people—from urban, rural, or suburban settings—who are working to create change in their community.
The lab is a great fit for someone who:
Is engaged in and seeks to make things better for their community
Is open to adopting a new way of doing things
Moves beyond talking by taking intentional action
Is not easily defeated when challenges and difficulties arise
Seizes new opportunities to achieve desired impact
Possesses a can-do spirit and a sense of authentic hope in the face of real challenges
Values the community’s voice and keeps the community's aspirations in their line of sight
Enjoys problem-solving in the face of ambiguityItem description
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Session 1: Why Turn Outward. You’ll explore the mindset and behaviors needed to make more intentional choices and judgments in your work and life to create a new sense of possibility and authentic hope in your community.
Session 2: How Change Happens. You’ll examine how to catalyze a chain reaction of actions in your community with others and learn how the chain reaction can grow and spread over time.
Session 3: What Matters to People. You’ll discover why starting with people’s shared aspirations and concerns is critical, and how the public knowledge you gather can help you reframe public discussions, enlist allies, develop strategies, and align actions over time.
Session 4: Know Where Your Community Is Starting. You’ll learn how to discern and diagnose where your community is starting—not where you wish it could be—which will enable you to calibrate a set of actions that best fit your local context.
Session 5: How You Show Up. You’ll identify what it means and what it will take to show up differently for yourself and others in the community.
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Orientation: March 31, 2025 | 2 - 3:30 pm ET
Session 1: April 1, 2025 | 2 - 4 pm ET
Session 2: April 8, 2025 | 2 - 4 pm ET
Session 3: April 15, 2025 | 2 - 4 pm ET
Session 4: April 22, 2025 | 2 - 4 pm ET
Session 5: April 29, 2025 | 2 - 4 pm ET*Subject to change
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The class fee is $995. We encourage you to participate in the Lab with your colleagues! Joining as a group can help you align around a common purpose and spread the Turning Outward practice within your organization and your community.
In addition to the interactive weekly online sessions, you will receive:
A Public Innovators Lab Guidebook
Essential tools for Turning Outward
Copies of Rich Harwood’s most recent books
Access to an online Resource Hub
Regular email updates from the Institute to guide and support your work
Connection to a growing national network of public innovators
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Weekly homework assignments: Before each session, you will complete homework assignments including readings, videos, and reflection questions to apply your learning. Most participants spend around an hour per week on homework in addition to the two-hour class session. To get the most out of the Lab, plan for adequate time to complete the assignments before each session.
Large & small group discussions: Each session features interactive large and small group discussions. Please come prepared and ready to engage!
“This Lab is a great place to get started if you feel worn out or stuck in old ways and are looking for fresh ways to center your community in the work you do.”
“Now, anytime I plan a meeting, I’ll think about how the actions or topics are perceived by the people I’m engaging with. Am I focused on me and my organization or on the needs of the community?”
Lab 2: Unleashing Impact
Deepen and Accelerate Your Practice
In five weekly 2-hour interactive sessions with our team of Certified Harwood Coaches, you’ll learn how to unleash, grow, and spread a chain reaction of actions throughout your community, strengthen your community’s civic culture, develop new ways to engage in ongoing learning, deepen your ability to make more intentional choices and judgments, and stay grounded in the practice over time.
With all new content, Unleashing Impact is great for folks who have gone through earlier versions of the Labs and those without previous experience using the Harwood approach. It is your next step to becoming that much more effective.
The next Unleashing Impact Lab starts in 2025. Let us know you’re interested using the button below.
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The lab is great for individuals or cohorts of people—from urban, rural, and suburban settings—who are working together to create change in their community.
The lab is a great fit for someone who:
Is engaged in and seeks to make things better for their community
Is open to adopting a new way of doing things
Moves beyond talking by taking intentional action
Is not easily defeated when challenges and difficulties arise
Seizes new opportunities to achieve desired impact
Possesses a can-do spirit and a sense of authentic hope in the face of real challenges
Values the community’s voice and keeps the community's aspirations in their line of sight
Enjoys problem-solving in the face of ambiguity
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Session 1: Unleash a Chain Reaction. You’ll take a close look at the chain reaction—how you can take intentional actions to unleash it and how you can make intentional choices about who to run with to better grow and spread the chain reaction over time.
Session 2: Grow Civic Culture. You’ll examine how the actions you take must address people’s shared aspirations and concerns and grow your community’s civic culture—the capacities, relationships, networks, and norms that enable your community to work effectively.
Session 3: Engage in Civic Learning. You’ll develop new ways of working to engage in ongoing learning and innovation so that you can continually recalibrate your efforts based on what you and others are learning about the community and your shared work.
Session 4: How You Show Up. You’ll explore in-depth how you show up for yourself and others by becoming more intentional in being Turned Outward in your work and life.
Session 5: Stay Grounded to Lift Off. You’ll learn how you and those you are working with can remain grounded in the Turning Outward practice so you can accelerate progress, build momentum, and create sustainability.
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Stay tuned for the 2025 dates!
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The class fee is $995. We encourage you to participate in the Lab with your colleagues! Joining as a group can help you align around a common purpose and spread the Turning Outward practice within your organization and your community.
In addition to the interactive weekly online sessions, you will receive:
A Public Innovators Lab Guidebook
Essential tools for Turning Outward
Copies of Rich Harwood’s most recent books
Access to an online Resource Hub
Regular email updates from the Institute to guide and support your work
Connection to a growing national network of public innovators
-
Weekly homework assignments. Before each session, you will complete homework assignments including readings, videos, and reflection questions that help you apply what you are learning. Most participants spend around an hour per week on homework in addition to the two-hour class session. To get the most out of the Lab, plan for adequate time to complete the assignments before each session.
Large & small group discussions. Each session features interactive large and small group discussions. Please come prepared and ready to engage!
“I went into this Lab feeling frustrated and stuck, but now I feel like there are steps that I can take to really help my community. I don’t feel like I’m lost in the woods without a map. I’ve been given the map, and now I just have to put it into practice.””
“I learned many valuable tools to make the work I do more meaningful to the people I serve. The Lab left me feeling inspired that each person has the ability to engage and connect with others in a way that fosters a deep sense of support and change.”
Meet Our LAB TEACHERS
Ava Fenelus
Certified Harwood Coach, Researcher
Ava is a lifelong educator, having taught everything from middle school to graduate school. In her role at Relay Graduate School of Education she leads the design and delivery of practical, powerful instruction for classroom teachers to support them in creating caring environments where all children learn joyfully. Ava has worked with the Harwood Institute since 2020, as a Certified Coach, Community Researcher, Lab Teacher, and Lead Coach for our community initiative in Alamance County. Her approach reflects the idea that learning, especially learning oneself, is a path to liberation, power, and love.
Maritza Coscarelli
Certified Harwood Coach
Maritza is a former professional dancer turned professional speaker and certified life and leadership coach. Since 2020, Maritza has worked with the Harwood Institute as a Lab Teacher Community Researcher, and Certified Coach for multiple community initiatives. She founded Maritza Coscarelli Coaching in 2015 and delights in guiding others to maximize their potential in life and business and put it to use in service of others.
