Civilla

Project Re:Form

The form that 2.5 million people used.

In 2015 we got our hands on Michigan’s application for public benefits — the form 2.5 million residents used each year to access food assistance, healthcare, childcare, and emergency relief. It was 40+ pages long, more than 1,000 questions, 18,000 words. The longest application of its kind in America. It included questions like “What is the date of conception of your children?”

By 2019 it had been redesigned, piloted, approved by both CMS and USDA, trained across 5,000 staff in 100+ offices, and rolled out statewide. The new version cut the words and questions by 80% and the page count from 40+ to 18; applications came in 94% complete (up from 72%), and processing times dropped significantly. Caseworkers folded their leftover stacks of the old form into origami hats and paper birds.

Harvard Kennedy School recognized the work as one of the top 25 innovations in American government.

The lesson from Re:Form that has shaped everything since: nothing moves without a concrete proof point. Telling a state agency about “human-centered design” meant nothing. Holding up a 40-page form and saying this could be different changed the conversation.

• 80% fewer words and questions; 40+ pages cut to 18
• 94% completion rate (up from 72%)
• Rolled out statewide across 100+ field offices
• Trained 5,000+ staff
• Top 25 Innovation in American Government — Harvard Kennedy School

Project Cohere

Energy assistance in minutes, not months.

In the fall of 2019, leaders from Michigan government, two utilities, and the nonprofit sector set out to streamline how the state distributes more than $150 million a year in energy assistance. The application then in use ran 1,500 words and 159 questions. Policy analysis showed only ten pieces of information were actually required, and the partner organizations already held seven of them for any given applicant.

We designed and built the software at the center of the pilot: residents applied by two-way text message from their phones, while role-based views let utility call centers initiate cases, state caseworkers attach verified household data, and nonprofit specialists make determinations. Each organization contributed the data it already had, so applicants stopped being the courier between agencies. The code was open-sourced.

The outcomes below come from the pilot report and the published case study. Cohere is the proof point we reach for first: most of the burden in a benefits process is data the system already has, and the technology to remove it already exists.

• 159 application questions cut to 4
• 97% of participants received a same-day determination; 30+ days was the norm
• 87% average approval rate, against a 47% baseline for the state's emergency relief program
• Per-caseworker processing fell from 45–60 minutes to under 10

Immersive Exhibits

Making the problem impossible to ignore.

For many of our projects, the deliverable that moves people is a room. We build immersive exhibits: physical spaces where legislators, union leaders, policy staff, and advocacy groups walk through what residents and frontline staff actually experience.

The Re:Form exhibit set the pattern. Built in Detroit, then duplicated within walking distance of the Michigan Capitol, it became the coordination tool for the project’s coalition.

A state official told us:

“I have been involved with many initiatives within the state of Michigan over the years. I haven’t ever experienced the way this initiative is being communicated. You didn’t just tell us — you involved us.”

The exhibits remain the model for how we think about coordination: turning a coalition’s shared understanding into a shared artifact, and a shared artifact into a shared mandate.

• Walked legislators, union leaders, and advocacy groups through the lived experience
• Built for projects across the studio's portfolio
• The Re:Form exhibit, duplicated near the Michigan Capitol, became the coalition's coordination tool

Michigan Reconnect

Research that became legislation.

Michigan ranked 34th in the country in post-secondary degree attainment. Reconnect became the largest effort in state history to change that: tuition-free community college for adults without a degree.

Our part came before the program existed. Working with the Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity, we spent time side-by-side with residents and educators to understand the barriers holding adults back from degree programs. That research directly supported the development of the legislation.

The pattern is the same one that runs through all our work: sit with the people the system is failing, make what you learn impossible to ignore, and let the evidence carry the policy.

• $55M in legislative funding, passed with bipartisan support
• 4M+ Michiganders eligible for tuition-free community college
• 160,000+ applications in the first year

AI and the Future of Public Institutions

A sector-wide research initiative on AI adoption in public-serving institutions.

The current chapter. A long-horizon research initiative studying how public-serving institutions adopt AI, led with Lena Selzer. The work pairs technology forecasting and trends analysis with interviews with civic leaders and prominent design practitioners about the future of AI and design in public service.

The research asks what vision residents and public servants hold for their institutions and the role AI ought to play, and what human-centered practice becomes in an AI-transformed public sector. It also maps where new pathways for impact are emerging as service delivery is reshaped.

• Tech forecasting and trends analysis across the public-sector AI landscape
• Interviews with civic leaders and prominent design practitioners
• A grounded view of where the field is heading, and where the biggest gaps are