Academy of Municipal Innovation (AMI) launched in 2012 as a partnership with the City of Philadelphia’s Office of Innovation and Technology with a cohort of 20 participants from across city programs and departments. Evolving over the years to advance innovative development opportunities, this program has empowered 11 cohorts of participants to tackle complex, real-world problems, fostering collaboration among diverse groups to help frame opportunities, analyze solutions and explore potential impacts across various organizational contexts. Prompted by an AMI alum, the program expanded to include cohorts from SEPTA (South East Pennsylvania Transit Authority) beginning in 2023.
Fast Facts
- Years running: 12 (11 cohorts, with a break during Covid)
- Participants served: Over 220 alumni from the City of Philadelphia and SEPTA, across programs and departments from both organizations
Testimonials
- "Learning how to make a better survey is helpful as my office creates a lot of surveys for public outreach. I could also see myself using the impact-interest matrix. I really enjoyed how much time we took all together to learn about these new tools before doing them on our own."
- "This was well-structured. I liked that we introduced and walked-through an example as a class, then did it in pairs. Pairs was helpful to bounce ideas off of another person."
- "I loved how welcoming and engaging the class was. It was nice to continue collaborating with others, but also having time to work on my individual problem statement."
- "I enjoyed the opportunity we had to practice using the Impact/Interest Matrix. I also like engaging with other cohort members as it has given me different perspectives on how I should refine my problem statement."
- "[I enjoyed] hearing from Alumni how they utilized the data in their work with real life examples."
- "I have applied stakeholder mapping for a few outreach and information sessions related to ongoing Office of Immigrant Affairs programming. Each time focusing on creating the broadest list possible and then refining."
To learn more about how Kanbar College of Design, Engineering & Commerce's Innovation team can create similar opportunities for your organization, contact Dana Scott at dana.scott@jefferson.edu or call 215-951-2681.