Equity is not an abstract concept—it is a fight for power, justice, and belonging. As attacks on DEI escalate, we cannot afford to be passive. This is not a time for hesitation or compromise. It is a time for strategy, for building, and for ensuring that our work does more than survive—it transforms.

That is why I wrote this working paper, Community Co-Design for Equity in Municipalities and School Districts. This framework is not about asking institutions to “consider” equity. It is about forcing a structural shift that ensures those most impacted by inequities are not just included in the conversation, but leading the work.

We do not have the luxury of debating whether this work can move forward. It must.

Why Co-Design? Why Now?

Community co-design is not just a method—it is a demand. It is the only way to ensure that institutions do not just tinker around the edges of injustice, but fundamentally rebuild themselves in service of equity. It is a framework that forces the question: Who holds power, and how must that change?

This working paper lays out a rigorous, structured process for embedding co-design into municipal governments, school districts, and other institutions. It moves beyond DEI as an advisory exercise and instead establishes equity as an operational, structural, and governance priority. The framework includes:

• Equity Audits that expose systemic barriers and ensure policies serve the people, not just institutional convenience.
• Power-Sharing Mechanisms that require institutions to relinquish control and invest in community-led governance.
• Impact Measures that hold institutions accountable to the people they claim to serve, ensuring this is more than rhetoric.

The lessons of co-design are not new. From organizations like the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), Organization for Afro-American Unity (OAAU), and the Black Panther Party in the Civil Rights Era to the decentralized leadership of Black Lives Matter, history has shown that real change does not come from top-down mandates—it comes from power being placed in the hands of the people.

We Must Win

This is a defining moment. Those in power are attempting to roll back the progress we have fought for—not because DEI has failed, but because it has worked. Because when institutions start shifting power, those who have long benefited from inequity feel threatened. And they should.

But we are not here to be on the defensive. We are here to win.

We win by embedding co-design into institutions in ways that cannot be undone. We win by ensuring that those most impacted by injustice drive the solutions. We win by refusing to allow equity to be treated as a temporary initiative instead of a structural necessity.

I wrote this working paper because I refuse to let our work be dismissed, diluted, or destroyed. If your institution is ready to take real action—to move beyond statements and into transformative policy shifts—then let’s build together. Download Community Co-Design for Equity in Municipalities and School Districts as a publicly available resource.

This is our duty. And we will win.

By: Liam R. F. Bird

Author’s Statement and Citation Note

This working paper is a conceptual and practice-based contribution grounded in LRFB Equity Consulting, LLC’s experience supporting municipalities and school districts in advancing racial and social equity. It draws extensively on the wisdom, scholarship, and lived experiences of organizers, practitioners, and theorists committed to liberation and systems transformation.

While every effort has been made to credit foundational ideas and frameworks—whether through citation or embedded acknowledgment—this paper operates as part of a living body of work. Some language, themes, or concepts may reference or be inspired by the work of others without direct quotation. Readers are encouraged to engage the sources mentioned directly and view this paper as a continuation of collective thought rather than a proprietary position.

The paper is meant to inform, provoke, and co-create—not prescribe. It exists in service of communities most impacted by current and historical inequities.