Reimagining Shelter Spaces for Survivors of Domestic Violence: EmPWR Evaluation Highlights the Promise of Participatory Design

A new evaluation report and practitioners’ guide from the Mayor’s Office for Economic Opportunity (NYC Opportunity) highlights how participatory design can promote emotional wellbeing for vulnerable populations.

Environments Promoting Wellness and Resilience (EmPWR) was launched in 2019 to enhance the built environment of domestic violence (DV) shelters. EmPWR worked with nine DV shelters across New York City, with the goal to promote healing, enhance autonomy, and build resilience among survivors and their children.

EmPWR was a collaborative effort between the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (NYC Health Department), the Human Resources Administration (HRA), and NYC Opportunity. EmPWR was supported through an NYC Opportunity Collaborative Innovation award, which sought to improve government services by promoting greater collaboration between City agencies to improve outcomes for New Yorkers in need.

Using a participatory process to redesign DV shelters

The EmPWR program partnered architects with DV shelter residents and staff in a participatory process to redesign communal spaces to support the social-emotional needs of survivors, fostering a trauma-informed environment that emphasizes safety, trust, and choice.

EmPWR employed various tools and activities to gather comprehensive resident and staff input. It conducted interactive design workshops where staff and residents presented and discussed the proposed design changes, refining the project based on collective input. Creative worksheets were used to gather written input, and surveys enabled anonymous feedback. “Inspiration boards” displayed in communal areas allowed residents to collage images and captions representing their vision for the redesigned spaces.

These approaches encouraged creativity, ensured that the diverse perspectives of residents and staff were considered, and empowered participants to envision spaces that resonated with their needs and aspirations.

Evaluating the impact of EmPWR

In 2023, NYC Opportunity hired NORC at the University of Chicago, the New York Academy of Medicine (NYAM), and Evaluation+Learning Consulting (ELC) to conduct a mixed-methods evaluation of EmPWR, and to develop a practitioners’ implementation guide to disseminate lessons learned and help others to replicate the EmPWR model in additional shelters and other center-based programming.

The evaluation found that both shelter residents and staff reported that the redesigned spaces had a positive influence on their overall wellbeing, particularly for residents with children. Residents emphasized that the renovations improved their mood and sense of safety, and staff observed how the new spaces lifted residents’ spirits and provided a soothing environment.

One significant benefit of the design process was its ability to help shelter communities visualize the proposed changes. As one staff member noted, seeing the actual layout and design plans made the renovation process less abstract. This visualization helped residents and staff better understand and support the upcoming transformations, and fostered a sense of anticipation and ownership, making them feel more engaged and committed to the process.

Throughout the design process, architects were responsive to the needs and preferences of residents and staff. Feedback gathered during site assessments and workshops informed various design decisions, such as improving layout and lighting, replacing furniture, and creating flexible, multifunctional spaces. These changes aimed to enhance the overall atmosphere of the shelters, making them more inviting and supportive of the residents’ healing journey. For example, one shelter community highlighted the importance of a new room divider, which provided an unobstructed sightline that allowed parents to keep an eye on their children while cooking, thereby reducing conflict and promoting a sense of control and safety. These changes reassured the residents and staff, instilling a sense of confidence in the safety and control of their environment.

The evaluation also highlights challenges with implementing the EmPWR program, and identifies recommendations to strengthen the approach. Unsurprisingly, the COVID-19 pandemic presented significant operational barriers, including: limiting workshop engagement; spiking renovation costs, which forced a reduction in the number of participating shelters from 15 to nine; and disrupting the project timeline, including temporary work stoppages at select sites. Partners worked diligently to navigate these challenges, but the report calls out the need for more clear and consistent communication with shelter staff and residents to mitigate the frustration of project delays.

In addition, the evaluation highlights opportunities to enhance participation and strengthen the design process. Strategies such as incentives, translation services, and childcare could remove obstacles to participation, and foster more equitable and collaborative decision-making. Combined with an initial “observation phase” at the project outset and a greater emphasis on multi-use spaces, these programmatic enhancements could ensure that design changes are responsive to the needs of all residents well into the future.

Creating a practitioners’ guide with learnings from EmPWR

To help share the lessons learned from the EmPWR program and evaluation, NYC Opportunity worked with partners to develop the accompanying practitioners’ guide, which provides actionable step-by-step guidance and tools to enhance the built environment of communal spaces in various social service settings. The guide presents participatory design strategies and activities to ensure that staff, resident, and stakeholder perspectives are included throughout various phases of the project, from determining readiness and site assessment, to design planning, installation, and sustainability.

The findings and recommendations presented in the EmPWR evaluation report and practitioners’ guide reaffirm the value of these participatory processes and will help inform future initiatives and collaborations. HRA is exploring opportunities to expand community engagement and participatory methodologies throughout the DV shelter system and beyond as part of its commitment to bolstering survivor-centered and trauma-informed practices. The NYC Health Department is actively engaged in initiatives to create healthy environments and committed to contributing mental health and wellbeing guidelines in the planning of public spaces.

EmPWR provided an empowering experience for participants who watched their inputs drive the design process and ultimately produce responsive environments that facilitated healing and resilience. NYC Opportunity thanks NORC, NYAM, and ELC for their thoughtful analysis of this initiative, and we commend the NYC Health Department and HRA for centering the voices of shelter staff and residents in the EmPWR program and its evaluation.

For more information:

Environments Promoting Wellness and Resilience (EmPWR) Evaluation

https://www.nyc.gov/assets/opportunity/pdf/EmPWR-Evaluation-Report.pdf

EmPWR Evaluation — Findings at a Glance:

https://www.nyc.gov/assets/opportunity/pdf/EmPWR-Findings-at-a-Glace.pdf

Designing for Wellbeing: Community-centered tools for transforming shelter and other community spaces to promote mental health and healing (practitioners’ guide)

https://www.nyc.gov/assets/opportunity/pdf/Designing-for-Wellbeing_EmPWR-Practitioner-Guide.pdf