Design Services

The Collaborative's mission is to ensure that high-quality design is accessible to everyone. To do that, we provide low-cost preliminary design services to organizations and communities through a community-engaged design process. We provide these services at low cost by matching organizations with teams of volunteer design professionals. We form a unique team for each project we take on, matching volunteer expertise to the specific design needs and scope of that project.

Preliminary design services are critical, yet they are often not easy to find funding for. Working with the Collaborative addresses this challenge and enables organizations and communities to put their visions on paper, drive the improvements their clients and neighborhoods need most, and set themselves up to raise and leverage funding, garner community and political support, and ultimately take steps towards project implementation. 

The Collaborative continues to evolve its design services to meet client needs in multiple ways, including through core grants, initiatives, and technical assistance. The first step to accessing design services is to reach out and express interest. We will then work with you to determine if there is a good fit and which set of services may be the most appropriate for achieving your goals.

Interested in accessing design services? Start by emailing Jesse Blitzstein at jesse@cdesignc.org with a brief description of your organization, potential project, and need for assistance.

Please note the following as you explore working with us:

• We have a steady pipeline of projects and it typically takes us several months to vet and then set up a new project. Please consider your timeline accordingly. Our abilitiy to address emergencies or urgenct design need scenarios is limited, but we are willing to discuss what is possible, and we do our best to provide guidance and/or referrals even when we cannot take on a project ourselves.
• While we serve the Greater Philadelphia area and have done many design projects outside of the city over the years, our capacity to serve projects outside the City of Philadelphia is limited. That being said, feel free to reach out, we are always willing to discuss projects and see what is possible or if there are ways we can provide guidance.