Human-Centered Strategy & Design

A team collaborating and sharing ideas, representing Flourishing Sparks’ commitment to human-centered consulting, empathy-driven service design, and inclusive community co-design.

We help organizations navigate complexity and move ideas into action. Our human-centered approach puts real people at the center—designing strategies, systems, and services that reflect individual needs, values, and lived experiences. With creativity, empathy, and systems thinking, we support inclusive and lasting change.

Human-centered methods we will use:

  • We help you pause and craft a powerful “how might we…” question that is specific, energizing, and focused on root causes, not quick fixes.

  • Through tools such as interviews, listening sessions, and observations, we uncover meaningful patterns in the experiences, motivations, and values of the people connected to your work.

  • We craft and lead inclusive idea generation opportunities to spark fresh thinking about your driving question. We then support you in narrowing and refining top ideas to move forward.

  • We co-design strategies and solutions in partnership with individuals and communities—gathering feedback, refining ideas, and supporting thoughtful rollout.

How we can support you:

  • We help you explore the ways that your organizational structures, roles, and culture support (or hinder) your purpose. Through tools like collaborative mapping and staff interviews, we surface how people experience your organization day-to-day—clarifying strengths, identifying friction points, and guiding intentional design choices that align with your values and goals.

  • We support you in making sense of the broader ecosystems in which your organization operates—across sectors, service networks, or policy environments. We help you articulate a clear vision of the system change you want to see, identify leverage points, and design shifts that benefit both the system as a whole and the people within it.

  • We support the development of strategies that are dynamic, grounded, and forward-thinking. Through thoughtful input and creative problem-solving, we help you surface priorities, make informed decisions, and feel confident in your next steps. We draw on environmental trends, best practices, and lived experiences to ensure your strategy is both practical and meaningful.

  • Whether refining an existing service or creating something new, we help you design with the people you serve at the center. Through journey mapping, we identify the key moments that most directly support your service’s intended value—helping you focus efforts where they matter most. We then guide the structuring of processes and resources to effectively design, launch, or refine your service.

How we’ve helped:

  • Guided a national philanthropy in advancing Medicare-Medicaid integration by co-designing system-level strategies and coalitions grounded in the perspectives and motivations of those most affected by potential policy changes

  • Facilitated a strategic planning process for a national nonprofit that blended cross-department ideation and structured engagement of staff, leadership, and board—harnessing creativity and guiding the translation of insights into strategic priorities, KPIs, and a shared roadmap for the next five years

  • Partnered with a state agency to support service providers in examining and improving their approach to person-centered planning for individuals with serious mental health conditions, with a focus on effectively incorporating individualized goals to support better outcomes

  • Led design of a data-driven community engagement strategy to address COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy during initial rollout—pinpointing ecosystem leverage points, collaborating with trusted community partners, and redesigning communication and access touchpoints to support equitable vaccine access

  • Led strategic planning and organizational design at a federally qualified health center, engaging community advisory boards, staff, and partners to align internal structures with mission and co-design new service lines—including school-based health, dental, and integrated primary care+behavioral health—that expanded healthcare access for uninsured individuals and Medicaid beneficiaries

  • Collaborated with state Medicaid agencies and community providers to strengthen identification and treatment of behavioral and physical health needs in youth—supporting redesign of data systems to identify individuals at heightened risk, improve crisis response, address social needs, and align payment and care delivery around prevention and early intervention

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  • “Kimberly has been a valuable thought partner in advancing our understanding of strategic and financial sustainability pathways for community based organizations serving older adults. She has helped us realize the potential of and opportunities for our programs by synthesizing complex federal and state funding opportunities and regulatory requirements. We appreciate her thoughtful approach through a human-centered design lens that empowers and elevates the voices of our partners.”