M/WBE Spotlight: L+L

Liz Seibert Turow and Leigh Mignogna in their Brooklyn studio. Photo by @kelseyannrose.

Choosing a design partner is not easy. When it comes to aesthetics, everyone has an opinion on what looks best, but clearly conveying a community and its goals visually takes a lot of skill. L+L, a women-owned design firm, has just that skill. Karp Strategies was lucky enough to work with L+L on a project for Cooper Robertson, Return to the Riverbend, a riverfront master plan for Middletown, Connecticut. It was L+L’s campaign identity that set the look and feel of the engagement materials and final plan.

Becoming L+L

L+L is a multi-disciplinary design studio started in 2015. But their story stretches back to when L+L wasn’t the name of a studio; it was just shorthand for Liz and Leigh, two graduate students completing their coursework at Pratt Institute. As the pair drew closer to earning their degrees and worked the requisite hours together in a studio, they began to consider creating their own firm. Although both designers had existing positions, they each slowly extricated themselves to start L+L.

Today the firm has grown to four employees, with Liz and Leigh each brainstorming, reviewing every project, and bouncing ideas off one another to prevent the type of self-reinforcing feedback that comes from working alone. They view themselves as communicators and translators who help their clients by taking complex ideas and content—and finding a way to visually explain it to their audience. Far beyond artistry, the pair reach out to stakeholders and community members to ensure that their work correctly reflects the communities their deliverables represent and inform.

The duo enjoys tackling diverse projects, from brand and product strategy to user experience and interactive design and everything in between. Still, Liz and Leigh were particularly eager to work with civic design and urban planning organizations. Through The Center for Urban Pedagogy’s (CUP) Public Access Design fellowship—where they made this guide to help people who’d been arrested retrieve their belongings—they gained confidence in their ability to partner with other subject matter experts and realized an interest in working alongside similarly impactful organizations. Soon, they had expanded their work to other socially minded projects, from an online knowledge repository for Code for America to the design of a full brand system for the civic tech nonprofit JustFix.

Get it Back guide created for the Center for Urban Pedagogy.

Creating Middletown, Connecticut’s Riverfront Master Plan

In June 2021, the City of Middletown, Connecticut, selected a consultant team led by Cooper Robertson (and supported by Karp Strategies and Langan) to help create a riverfront master plan. From the start, the City saw this undertaking as an exciting opportunity to reverse the impacts of urban renewal, support forward-thinking economic growth, and build a new waterfront grounded in the goals and needs of local Middletown stakeholders. To inform the plan, Karp Strategies led a market analysis, economic development analysis and strategy, and thorough community engagement.

L+L created a set of brand guidelines and design templates to clearly articulate the thoughts and feelings of the community and the future they envisioned. Cooper Robertson then took all of the analysis and input—including over 1,200 stakeholder comments—and transformed it into the beautiful and inspiring plan that exists today. The final plan reimagines a 200-acre stretch of land along the Connecticut River as vibrant and accessible new city districts with significant open spaces and a broad mix of uses. The plan includes photographs, graphics, maps, and even images of sticky note comments from community engagement meetings, all laid out in an easily digestible format.

Detail of Return to the Riverbend Master Plan.

To learn more about L+L, visit their website or on Instagram or reach out at shoutout@landl.us to sign up for their newsletter.

Get to Know | Jeff Lee Romero

Jeff Lee Romero is a Principal at Karp Strategies. A development finance attorney and urban planner by training with over 20 years of experience in community and economic development, Jeff thrives in helping private and public sector stakeholders to innovate and grow. Prior to Karp Strategies, Jeff spearheaded the economic development practice at Capalino, served as an associate at one of New York’s foremost affordable housing law firms, and led NYCEDC’s Strategic Investments Group, where he oversaw high-profile initiatives and programs such as the New York City Industrial Development Agency program and NYCEDC’s new markets tax credit program. A native New Yorker with roots in the Latinx and Asian communities, Jeff is a proud child/grandchild of immigrants from China and Colombia.

What drew you to Community and Economic Development?

Between college and grad school I dipped my toe into a few different jobs - high school science teacher, publishing, and website development. As a way of pulling together several disparate interests, I got together with a friend of mine and we built a website that featured personal vignettes and observations from our group of friends, with NYC and the urban environment as the central theme. That experience helped crystallize the idea of building a career around improving the urban environment and urban communities, and as a native New Yorker (Queens, baby!) the idea of building stronger, more equitable communities resonated with me. That led to me getting a job helping run a community economic development program focused on providing assistance to entrepreneurs of color in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. Then I really caught the bug!

When it comes to private-public sector collaborations, you've engaged with several private businesses functioning in the public sector. What were your major lessons or challenges from the experiences you've had in the past that are contributing to your current work?

At a high level, I’ve found that I’ve learned a lot about the intersection of business mandates and public policy, and the strategies to finding the areas of overlap and synergy. There are going to be areas of alignment, and there will also be competing priorities. It’s important to know what business points are non-negotiable for both the public and private sector partners. And to make sure that all parties see the benefits of striking a deal that results in substantial wins. Often there is ample room for everyone to walk away feeling like their goals were accomplished.

Another lesson I’ve learned is that everyone, every business, has a story. It’s usually a personal story: where does the CEO live, where do his/her workers live, what’s the company’s origin story, what makes them tick. It’s not enough to just push paper and numbers around; every business is made up of people and their stories and backgrounds inform their future strategies.

What do you think are the integral strategies to create more inclusive economies post pandemic?

The obstacles for more inclusive economic development that were present prior to the pandemic are still present today: lack of capital, access to opportunity, and access to networks (funding, partnering, mentorship and expertise). One thought is that, while we have to work with a wide range of businesses in thinking holistically about strengthening our local economies, it’s important to carve out space to focus on small businesses, specifically. That can mean a lot of work and a real investment of time, but it’s worthwhile in terms of equitable outcomes.

Another idea is that it will be important for policy leaders to find ways to ensure that long-term assets — like housing and real estate — are affordable to the businesses and residents who previously have been excluded from opportunity. This is especially important since many entrepreneurs from disadvantaged backgrounds have really borne the brunt of the negative impacts of the pandemic, and so support is needed to get those businesses back on their feet and set up for success.

What excites you most about working with Karp Strategies?

We do a wide range of projects, so no one day is like the other. I can be working on offshore wind one day, and the next I’m working on supply chain strategy or real estate and market analysis the next. I’m working on projects located in Washington, D.C., and projects located in Maine. I love the geographic variety as well as the opportunity to get to know people from different communities.

On top of that, the people at Karp Strategies are dynamic, smart and inspiring! That’s a huge deal to me. I find that the ideas that my team generates are a continual source of inspiration. It’s refreshing to be around planners and strategists who think creatively.

Finally, I’m a big believer in our values of teamwork and of equity-oriented work. We support each other, and we have fun while we’re doing it!

What encouraged you to pursue a degree in Urban Planning after a degree in Biology?

Biology was interesting — still interesting today as we watch science race to catch up to COVID-19 — but by the time I graduated college I was ready for a different direction. When I eventually started doing community-based economic development work, I loved it, but also saw the limits of being just one person doing this work. I wanted to find a way to scale my efforts, and to build skills — and credentials — that would allow me to amplify my impact. A graduate degree in urban planning seemed like one way to do that. I ended up doing a combined degree program — got my JD after graduating from Brooklyn Law School — with the goal of being a community development-oriented practitioner and leader. I’m happy about that choice!

Get to Know | Andel Koester

As a director at Karp Strategies, Andel leads the firm’s work with Equinor, a global energy company developing one of the U.S.’s most significant OSW projects. In true KStrat fashion, Andel approaches her day-to-day client and team management from a multi-faceted perspective, driven by her previous work with Bloomberg Philanthropies and the civic tech start-up, mySidewalk. Andel’s work is grounded in data and a belief that evidence-based policy must be the answer to society’s most pressing challenges. And if you’re ever in the market for a theater recommendation, Andel should be your first call.

What drew you to public policy in the first place?

Solving big public problems is all I’ve ever wanted to do! My specific interests have changed over time: early on, I thought I’d be a diplomat or an international human rights lawyer; instead, I ended up advising local governments and big corporations. Ultimately I’m interested in wrestling with complex, interconnected issues and finding new tools and ways to collaborate with communities to solve them.

What excites you most about the work you are doing—and specifically OSW?

What motivates me is the opportunity to fundamentally transform how organizations -- no matter what sector they’re in --work to make the world a more equitable and sustainable place. I was new to offshore wind when I joined Karp Strategies, but what drew me to it is the dual opportunity to meet big climate goals while launching a new industry in the U.S. It’s an opportunity to radically rethink how corporations (such as developers or suppliers) collaborate with and invest in communities.

You have worked on many private-sector/public sector partnerships, specifically private companies operating in the public sphere. What lessons did you learn from those you bring to your current work?

I strongly believe that no sector has a monopoly on good ideas. Working with corporations, it’s clear to me that they have tremendous assets -- expertise, influence, data, technology, and, yes, funding -- that could be deployed to help solve public problems. The challenge is in connecting those resources to the right problems, which is harder than it appears. I see my role as challenging my clients to engage deeply and authentically with the communities in which they operate.

Why is data and evidence-based policy important?

It’s about making more informed decisions that result in better outcomes for communities. The alternative is when nonprofits deliver the same services they always have, or companies roll out the same product as before, or governments cater to the same, most vocal communities. One example of this is public bus routes: in too many cities(including NYC), they have been the same for decades. When transit leaders use data to analyze economic activity and community profiles, they can redraw the routes to connect people to the jobs and services they actually need today. Bringing data and evidence is an opportunity to better diagnose the problem and target our actions, which increases the likelihood that we’ll make a positive impact where it’s needed most.

How did you become fluent in Spanish, German, and French, as well as English?

I am half Mexican and half-German; I was born in Mexico City, and Spanish is my first language. My family immigrated to the U.S. when I was very young, but my parents saw language as an important way to connect us to our heritage, so they made a wise point of making sure we kept up our Spanish and German at home. I studied French from middle school through college and lived with a family in Lyon for a bit, and in general, I think my brain was already wired to pick it up easily!