Pollen 50 Over 50 Award Winner – Brian Smith, Director, Office of Performance and Innovation for the City of Minneapolis

Article by Becky Fillinger, photos provided

Brian SmithThe Pollen 50 Over 50 award recognizes Minnesotans over 50 making significant contributions to our communities. Brian Smith was one of the recent awardees, recognized in the Disruptor Category. Brian is the Director of the Office of Performance and Innovation for the City of Minneapolis, and he’s remaking public safety practices to center and protect all of us, with a focus on Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) residents. We talked to him about the award and how he undertakes innovation for City of Minneapolis.

Q:  You were recently recognized in the Pollen 50 over 50 program – in the Disruptor Category. Congratulations! What did it mean to you to receive this award?

A:  Receiving the award meant a lot, after thinking about it for a few months. I usually feel like the reward for my work is the impact that it has on communities and systems. It’s always been hard for me to accept compliments. However, I’ve realized that it is nice to be appreciated and recognized sometimes; especially at home. Having a moment to be celebrated in the presence of family, friends, mentors, and community giants was great.

Q:  You were summarized as a ‘response rethinker’ for your work with the Director of Performance and Innovation for the City of Minneapolis. Can you tell us about the changes you’ve led in the City’s 911 response program? 

A:  The short of it is that we were tasked with re-imagining public safety, and asked to look at calls that come to 911 that would not require a police response. We used our Human Centered (residents) Design process to co-design with resident, internal city partners, and external partners to develop a few alternative responses. We developed the Behavioral Crisis Response Teams. These teams respond to all behavioral calls that come to 911 and all mental health calls, as long as there is no weapon involved or physical violence. BCR is dispatched through 911. This ensures that trained behavioral and mental health professionals arrive on scene, instead of officers who are not trained to deal with the situation. BCR partners closely with MPD in situations where police may be needed, and police do the same for BCR. Fortunately, the need for one another is a rare occurrence.

Behavioral Crisis Response (BCR) services are provided free of charge for Minneapolis residents. 

This is a first of its kind Crisis Response through 911, and the first to be designed by residents based on data and community needs/desires. Though we led the development of the program, it was heavily informed by the Director of 911 and their staff. We also created an overnight parking pilot so that police don’t have to respond to overnight parking calls; as well as transferring theft and report only from 911 to 311. This allows MPD to deal with more pressing problems and not be called to things that are not extremely urgent.

Q:  You’re the Director of the City’s Office of Performance and Innovation. When you took on this role, did you have any ideas about how a city might approach innovation? 

A:  When I took on this role, I didn’t have any ideas about how a city might approach innovation. The most important thing to me was finding out if the City of Minneapolis and its leadership was open to innovative ideas in general. I knew coming in that ideas of about how to approach innovation would depend on the attitude that leadership within the City had about innovation. Though there was a playbook to help guide our work regarding innovation in general, we would have to adjust to our reality in City Hall. 

Q:  What is your office’s approach to innovation? Do you have a team? 

A:  The Office of Performance and Innovation approaches innovation by centering Humans Beings in all of our work. We work to improve city infrastructure and societal well-being by increasing civic engagement in service (re)design and advocating for budgetary investments that promote high-quality service deliver. We manage the development and operations of research-based, community-influenced pilot projects and service improvements that have the potential for scalable, sustainable, and equitable impact on City and/or community-identified priorities. We use an Inclusive Design framework to facilitate inclusive decision-making between community members, city staff, and elected officials. This process ultimately advances systemic equity by creating opportunities for more effective and equitable solutions that are informed by the diverse experiences of those that are impacted by City decisions; enhanced trust between community members and the City; a stronger more transparent City government. I do have a team of five. We have several streams of work outside of innovation, so clearly the team is small for what we do. 

Q:  When you’re generating new ideas, do you have citizen input?

A:  Whenever we are generating new ideas that directly or indirectly impact residents, those ideas must center input of residents. We make sure this happens without fail. 

Q:  What’s the greatest challenge facing your innovation efforts?

A:  The greatest challenge facing our innovation efforts is capacity. Again, the team is small and we simply can’t address all the needs of residents and internal departments and divisions with such a small team. We are tasked with a lot, and simply need the resources to catch up with the output and outcomes. 

Q:  We wish you continued success. How may we follow your news? 

A:  We report our news under the City of Minneapolis web page and we welcome feedback here.