The Community First Toolkit is an initiative by the High Line Network — in conjunction with the Harvard Graduate School of Design and Urban Institute — providing “a structured process to understand the influence and impact of infrastructure reuse in the community and set forth an equity-based action plan.” Decimal was asked to design its printed toolkit as well as create the corresponding online experience.

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The toolkit aims to address inequities caused by systematic racism by putting community first during all phases of park planning. We translated the toolkit into its digital form, creating a website that provides a structured process to understand the influence and impact of infrastructure reuse.

The Toolkit is supported with stories and case studies of Network member experiences, showcasing how the Toolkit can and has been used to tackle real-life park organization challenges. Additionally, the website offers an interactive start guide, helping the users understand where in the process they are and what to do next.

This toolkit is not intended to be linear as each user is inevitably at a different stage of embedding equity in their organization. The challenge for the web thus became to help the user understand where they are at in the process and where to get started. To guide the user we created an interactive quiz, directing individuals to different sections and tools depending on their results.

The toolkit is also available as a printed booklet, providing an overview and historical context of systematic racism. It also frames definitions, goals, and stories around the Network’s processes of creating equitable impact. We designed the entire book — including the cover — in tandem with the website, ensuring it could easily scale from digital to print.

Download the booklet here.