Welcome to CoDesign Works.
About Me: Carrie Griffin Basas, JD, MEd (she/they)
My first job was teaching truck drivers to use computers and enter their fuel tax receipts. I knew nothing about trucking in high school. I noticed in that moment how the systems intended to be built for ease actually caused barriers for the people who were the customers and stakeholders. My career since then has taken me from founding a nonprofit to practicing law, being a law and business professor to leading a government agency. I have also led two disability rights organizations. In all of these settings, I am aware of who is being included and who is being left behind. As a disabled person who spent the first years of their education in a separate school and a first generation college graduate who learned quickly what it meant to try and create spaces of belonging, I see my practice through CoDesign Works as an opportunity to bring cross-sector strategies and insights for social impact.
Education
- University of Washington College of Education
M.Ed. Education Policy, Leadership, and Organizations - Harvard Law School
Juris Doctorate - Swarthmore College
B.A. with honors - Additional professional learning through Stanford D-School K-12 Lab, Northwestern University ELOC Coaching, and IDEO U
Philosophy
We must move beyond what is legally ‘owed’ to someone to what we must change to recognize them as our colleagues and neighbors. Our systems do not change unless the people most impacted lead their reform.
