Designing Inclusion: Insights from Englewood City Manager Shawn Lewis

Shawn Lewis never imagined a small-town train would bring tears to his eyes. But when the historic Belleview Park train in Englewood, Colorado welcomed its first wheelchair rider after accessibility renovations, the city manager witnessed firsthand the profound impact of universal design. This moment encapsulates the heart of Lewis's approach to community building—creating spaces where everyone belongs.

Drawing from experiences from his childhood in rural Texas, Lewis shares his journey to becoming a city manager who champions both physical accessibility and human connection. His insights reveal Englewood's unique character as a first-tier suburb balancing the needs of established seniors with the third-highest concentration of millennials in Colorado.

Beyond discussing infrastructure challenges, Lewis illuminates how cities develop their own distinctive cultures and vibes. He explains how Englewood funds critical accessibility improvements through innovative mechanisms like their concrete utility fee, allowing systematic upgrades to sidewalks and public spaces. 

Whether you're interested in accessibility, community development, or leadership, this conversation offers valuable insights into how smaller cities can leverage their intimate scale to create places where everyone can dance as if nobody's looking.

For more information, transcriptions and behind-the-scene photos, visit https://craighospital.org/unstoppable

Craig Hospital is a nationally recognized neurorehabilitation hospital and research center specialized in the care of individuals who have sustained a spinal cord injury (SCI) and/or a brain injury (BI). Located in Denver, Colorado, Craig Hospital is an independent, not-for-profit, 93-bed national center of excellence that has treated thousands of people with SCI and BI since 1956. Learn more: https://craighospital.org

Transcript

Introduction to Unstoppable at Craig

Jandel Allen-Davis 0:02

Welcome to Unstoppable at Craig, where we pull back the curtain on what makes healthy workplace cultures click and what happens when people are empowered to expand the boundaries of what is possible. We'll explore the perspectives of employees and leaders who have carte blanche to speak their truths, tell their stories and unlock uncommon ways of approaching challenges. I'm Dr Jandell Allen Davis, ceo and President of Craig Hospital, a world-renowned rehabilitation hospital that exclusively specializes in the neurorehabilitation and research of patients with spinal cord and brain injury. Join me as we learn from people who love what they do and what happens when fear doesn't stifle innovation, when fear doesn't stifle innovation.

Jandel Allen-Davis 0:50

The topic of placemaking and city planning and community development is one that, even if we're not necessarily aware of, we are living it.

Jandel Allen-Davis 0:57

We are in it as members of communities and society.

Jandel Allen-Davis 1:02

I was actually thinking this morning in the lead up to having the opportunity to spend time with the city manager of Inglewood, sean Lewis, who we are going to get to chat with in a bit.

Jandel Allen-Davis 1:13

The theme of this podcast is cultures and what makes strong cultures and great cultures, and as I was getting ready to come to work this morning, I thought you know how does that translate for cities or for towns and the truth is that towns and cities have a vibe, they have a culture, they have a sort of way that they're branded or feel is important and probably creates the opportunity to leverage all the same leadership skills and passions and talents and capacities that we do within the buildings that actually occupy those towns and cities and communities.

Jandel Allen-Davis 1:55

So we're going to spend some time today with Shawn Lewis who, as I said, is the city manager of Englewood, colorado, which is where Craig Hospital is. Manager of Englewood Colorado, which is where Craig Hospital is, and we've developed over many years such a great partnership with you, sean, and the city. A lot of that work, which is led by Diane Reinhardt, who is our vice president for hospital services and community impact, and she's having some impact out there working with great partners like you. So welcome and thanks for being here with us today.

Shawn Lewis 2:25

Thank you so much. Welcome and thanks for being here with us today. Thank you so much and thanks for being a huge part of Inglewood's amazing community.

Jandel Allen-Davis 2:35

It's a cool community. I love this space, this place. Why don't we just start with the good old softball question of just tell me about you, tell our listeners about you, your background and what led you to want to become a city manager, let alone how you became one?

Shawn Lewis 2:47

Yeah, I grew up with two parents who were involved in public service, so my mom was a school teacher, my dad, when I was in junior high, ran for sheriff of our county, which also included the roles of tax assessor, tax collector and chief appraiser, because it was a very small rural county in Texas.

Shawn Lewis 3:08

And so I think you know public service kind of came naturally from that standpoint. When I got into college and went to graduate school for public policy, you know you're in this program and you're all supposed to end up being the president and I explored lots of different areas of government. You could have kind of a track in federal, state or local government. And I realized after an internship in state government that if state government felt a little separated from the people, that federal government must feel really separated from the direct impact, feel really separated from the direct impact. And so did an internship with the city of Thousand Oaks, california, and just loved the ability to impact people on a day to day basis and so that kind of solidified my decision to be in city government and I have to say I've always kind of liked being in charge.

Jandel Allen-Davis 4:03

So I said what's the?

Shawn Lewis 4:04

you know what are some of the opportunities and the avenues for really making the most difference in a position of leadership within city governments, and that was the city manager role, and so I started my career in a small community in Abilene, texas.

Jandel Allen-Davis 4:22

Oh my, gosh, we have to talk about that.

Shawn Lewis 4:24

Yeah yeah, not so small anymore and then kind of moved around, did a lot of downtown revitalization work, served as a planner, served as a director of development services and a director of economic development and eventually came out here to be assistant city manager in Longmont before becoming city manager in Inglewood.

Jandel Allen-Davis 4:44

I's amazing. I just loved it. That's amazing. Well, first of all, Abilene, military brat.

Shawn Lewis 4:49

Yes.

Jandel Allen-Davis 4:50

I was in Abilene. We were in Abilene on Dias Air Force Base when I was in third and fourth grade. Oh really.

Shawn Lewis 4:56

That goes to the way back.

Portrait of Englewood, Colorado

Jandel Allen-Davis 4:58

Yeah, I suspect that the city, because that was the 60s, I'm assuming, the city has changed quite a bit and actually it adds an interesting dimension to what you do, having military presence in the town as well. So you find yourself in this wonderful, small and, I'd say, vibrant and growing community called Englewood. You know, folks may not know much about Englewood, either historically or just sort of what it's like, but describe it suburbs around us.

Shawn Lewis 5:28

We were actually a first tier suburb. You know our more recent history in the 50s and the 60s, when Denver began growing and growing outwards and the suburbs you know started kind of forming in. These small little historic towns like Inglewood suddenly became, you know, large growing suburbs, and so the 50s was the era that we really saw the largest growth. So many of our houses are from that era. They're small when people could raise a family in a two-bedroom, one-bath home. So that's what we have A lot of our housing stock. Is that A great industrial base here, much more so than most communities? We have a lot of manufacturing still in Englewood.

Shawn Lewis 6:24

We're very proud of that. And during COVID and the pandemic, when revenues were so down, especially sales tax for many cities, englewood was actually quite stable. We were one of the only communities that didn't have layoffs or even furlough days, because that industrial manufacturing base was really propping us up, as well as our hospital community. Thank you Craig, thank you Swedish. And so we have a very economically diverse community, but we don't have the highs that other communities have when the economy is really good. You know we're doing fine, but we're not like some of the other suburbs that are very retail heavy. We have, you know, small highs, but we have small lows too, and so it creates a very stable community.

Jandel Allen-Davis 7:11

Yeah, it's a small business town is what it strikes me as and also one beautifully that you can see each other and be seen by each other. One of my favorite places is to go over to the Breakfast Queen for breakfast, and I'm a local, I'm a regular in there, they know me. And that's not necessarily the case in bigger places and it's not necessarily to bash them or anything, but there's something beautiful about small places. I could also and it's interesting you mentioned the highs and the lows. When economies are booming, you're not going to boom as much, and yet revenue is one of the drivers of being able to do the things you want to do in a community, and that's tax revenue of different kinds, for sure. So what are the big challenges that you face as a city manager? I've obviously pointed out one, but what does?

Jandel Allen-Davis 8:00

that one then actually impact.

Competing Priorities in Community Management

Shawn Lewis 8:03

I would say our biggest challenge is balancing competing priorities in the community, competing groups of residents. The Denver Post. Recently there was an article in the Denver Post that called Inglewoods and this may be offensive to some, but the newlyweds and the almost deads, oh my gosh. Yes, and it was a quote from a developer. While that is certainly not the case, we do have the dynamic of very, a very young population, the third highest concentration of millennials in the state, but a very stable senior population that has been here for 30, 40, 50 years.

Jandel Allen-Davis 8:41

Who were the newlyweds?

Shawn Lewis 8:43

at one point, they absolutely were the newlyweds, and so we really sometimes feel that push pull that comes from, you know, people wanting things to change and wanting things to get better and others that really want things to stay the same or kind of go back to the way things were, and so I would say those competing priorities. But on a more granular basis, we have to really, as you said, are a small business community, so making sure that we stay business friendly, making sure that we're staying connected to our business community, many of which owners, employees and entrepreneurs may not even live in Englewood, but they are a huge, huge, important constituency of the city of Englewood and we want to make sure that they feel welcome, successful and have those opportunities to grow and succeed.

Accessibility & Universal Design Challenges

Jandel Allen-Davis 9:31

Yeah, well, you know, speaking of the whole topic of competing priorities and, I'd say, the intersection of those priorities and the fiscal or financial or budgetary ability to do things, you know, obviously at Craig Hospital, one of our biggest areas of focus or concern has to do with what happens and what's available and how easy is it to actually move about wherever community you may come from across the United States. And so this whole topic of accessibility on any of a number of planes is important. And talk about how you view that, how the city views that, especially given that we are one of the big anchor institutions, as they're called, as a hospital here in Englewood, the big anchor institutions, as they're called, as a hospital here in Englewood.

Shawn Lewis 10:18

I would say Englewood has been a place where I have really been educated and informed, much more so than in my previous jobs, even being a planning director and a director of development services.

Shawn Lewis 10:30

I've been educated about the importance and the absolute necessity for us to focus on access for all, and it was I'm embarrassed to say, but it was here in Englewood that I learned about universal design, and I actually credit Craig for that because, diane that you mentioned previously, your vice president here at Craig, she has been a huge part of helping us set up our downtown development authority. She has educated us on the concept of ADA plus and universal design and, you know, given me an opportunity to dig into you know some of those concepts, but you know it's not just Craig. It's when we look at our population and I think Craig may be a driver for this, but we actually have 13% of people that are disabled within, you know, one square mile of our downtown and that is a larger percentage than many communities have, and so we know that that is a very, very important part of our community that we want to make sure has access readily.

Jandel Allen-Davis 11:36

Just for those who may not know, ada is the Americans with Disabilities Act, and plus is that ADA is necessary but hardly sufficient to really create the kind of accessibility that allows people to live and thrive in communities. So this is what can we do beyond that? Hence the plus that we build on top of that, and then universal design. What's that?

Shawn Lewis 12:01

of the Americans with Disabilities Act. It means there are no boundaries. There are no. It is so accessible without having to do anything extra. If you are on a walker, you don't have to. You know, raise your walker up to get over the curb. The curb seamlessly goes in. Interestingly now, ada standards do require that anyway, at least on corners. So we're in the process of replacing hundreds of curbs and corners to comply with that.

Shawn Lewis 12:44

But we were really trying to do that even before the standard came into effect. But it's really removing all barriers for mobility and accessibility for anyone, no matter their ability.

Jandel Allen-Davis 12:56

Yeah, and that includes not just mobility, but visual and hearing and even sensory just for folks.

Jandel Allen-Davis 13:03

And the other thing that surprised me is because I too, like you, didn't know much about this until nearly six years ago when I came to Craig. I also think about the whole sensory, neural side of things. I read recently that inclusive or universal design means that we've created spaces and places that any and everybody can use Exactly Anybody, any and yet it comes with a cost, because I had, again, didn't really know much about this, but I've wondered for years what's the ideal modified home that our patients and families would go back to that would really meet their needs optimally. And in talking to developers, it's actually cheaper to build it right, and I'll call it that the first time. Modifications are far more expensive. So that's got to be a challenge when you're in a city, in the city planning and development space and trying to sort of reach whatever. Is that ADA plus? So what are the challenges of trying to either retrofit or even in new construction or new infrastructure builds? Think about universal design.

Shawn Lewis 14:15

You know, it's amazing to think about how humans are such creatures of habit and it's very hard to break us out of something that we're used to right, and so I think that actually the biggest challenge is kind of just the psychological hurdle of, oh, this is different. And so I think it's just getting people to think differently about construction. And then, certainly from a government perspective, I think you know helping your elected officials and your community members understand the benefits of this type of design and that, yes, there may be an upfront cost to simply changing you know the system or training our you know construction workers or you know training you know the people that help build houses on how to do things. But really, what does that do for your community? I mean, what are the? You know what are the trade-offs? It's a very low cost, in my opinion, compared to the benefit of making sure that you know our housing stock is accessible to everyone and that people can age in place, that people can enjoy their homes, even if they're, you know, disabled or, you know, ability challenged.

Jandel Allen-Davis 15:30

Yeah, when we were preparing for this interview, you mentioned feeling behind in terms of this space. Can you elaborate on what you mean by that and how's it motivating you in your work?

Shawn Lewis 15:43

Yeah, I think Englewood, like a lot of inner first tier suburbs. Englewood, like a lot of first tier suburbs, are those suburbs that were built, the first kind of suburbs to start being built around a major metro area, and because of that we have older housing stock, we have older infrastructure. We were not built in an era that existed, in which ADA, the Americans with Disabilities Act existed, and so we were not accessible from that standpoint. We were not using building codes that took into consideration different abilities, physical abilities, and so we have some work to do. Right, that takes money, and Inglewood is a little bit unique from, at least from a sidewalk perspective, that we created back in the 90s, a concrete utility, and that was because the Americans with Disabilities Act was staring us in the face. We knew we had to comply. We did not have accessible infrastructure, pedestrian infrastructure, and so we went to the voters and they, I think, pretty overwhelmingly gave us the ability to put a fee on your property tax bill, and something like 96% of Englewood residents pay for it, and we now have a fund that we can make these changes, and so every summer, in about June, you'll see our contractors come out and start replacing curb cuts, placing sidewalk sections that maybe have, you know, just risen because of a tree root, but especially the ramps that we are rebuilding because they don't comply with current ADA standards.

Creating Inclusive Public Spaces

Shawn Lewis 17:29

We've caught up quickly, at least on the pedestrian side, but I think we have so far to go in areas like our parks, where, you know, parks are such they're the ultimate public realm right where everyone should feel welcome and be able to use those. But when you look at parks in an older city that hasn't necessarily revamped their park system, you see parks that do not I mean, you would never be able to, you know, take a child in a wheelchair and let them play on the equipment. And so upgrading that equipment and upgrading the surfaces on which playgrounds are built and upgrading, you know, the paths that are found in many parks are absolutely critical. One of the proudest moments that I had on this and I'm getting a little emotional just thinking about it we have had a train that was built by the Englewood Lions Club back in I think it was the 40s or 50s kind of in that boom time of Englewood, and it has still been in operation.

Jandel Allen-Davis 18:30

The little train.

Shawn Lewis 18:31

The little train in Bellevue Park.

Jandel Allen-Davis 18:33

I think that is precious.

Shawn Lewis 18:35

Thousands and thousands of kids have, you know, ride. That is precious and we want to make it as accessible for all as we can. And about three weeks ago, when we had the opening, within a week, we had our first wheelchair rider on the train. Oh my gosh and just the look on his face when he was right there on that train was just made it all worth it.

Jandel Allen-Davis 19:09

Okay, this is my first tears of the day. Wow, what a sweet story.

Shawn Lewis 19:13

Yeah.

Jandel Allen-Davis 19:14

How active is the disability community and sort of city government?

Shawn Lewis 19:19

I have to say we could be better in terms of more direct outreach to that community. But you know we do have this larger population than many cities, a larger percentage of the population that is in that category. We do have our Downtown Development Authority. I think has been as probably forward thinking as any of our boards and commissions or other city departments and offices in really trying to be intentional about that Because of this population that's really centered in the downtown area. One of our advisory board members is a wheelchair user. We have Diane, your vice president. You heard Craig on the board of directors. That really is pushing that. We also have a business community that's very interested in this.

Shawn Lewis 20:09

I want to call out the very best advocate from the business community, tiffany Fixer from Brewability, and that is a new brewery in downtown Englewood. I say new, it's now five, four or five years old. Their mission is to hire and be a place where people with intellectual and developmental disabilities can thrive. And they live out that mission not just in being that place, that one place in downtown Inglewood on Broadway, but also in pushing others to do better and pushing the city to do better.

Shawn Lewis 20:48

And so I have had many conversations with Ms Fixtor about the need to, you know, have wheelchair plug-ins outside, in our breezeways, in our downtown and where pedestrians are gathering. We need plug-ins that accommodate, you know, electric wheelchairs. We need better access on our ramps and our crosswalks. We need lighted and sound activated crosswalks that serve people with all levels of disability. We need more Braille in our signage. One of the things that we've recently done in terms of placemaking is put up historic signage and we decided we're going to put all of these in Braille. They're pedestrian scaled signage that are in our sidewalks and tell the story of various cool historic places, and we put those in Braille.

Jandel Allen-Davis 21:38

Wow, that is such a good story. They say that diversity is being invited to the dance, equity is being asked to dance and inclusivity is dancing as if nobody's looking.

Jandel Allen-Davis 21:55

I love that or belonging is like dancing as if nobody's looking, and that's what I think you know sort of the ideal is in terms of just thinking about building cities that people love and can feel super connected to is that there is a place for me here and I can dance as if nobody's looking. But how do you think about, through city planning, the creation of public spaces that people love?

Shawn Lewis 22:24

I love the concept of you know, being welcoming, and I think that being welcome and feeling included creates a sense of belonging that actually makes us want to live in a place, that actually makes us want to visit a place.

Shawn Lewis 22:43

If we feel welcomed, if we feel included, if we feel like we can fully engage and participate, then we're going to feel like we belong and that belonging is at the center of good communities.

Shawn Lewis 22:58

And so I think that one thing that I'm loving about Englewood is the ability to, to your point, to go into a restaurant and feel like someone knows you and that you know you're a regular.

Shawn Lewis 23:13

Because our houses are small and because we have less open space between houses, like some communities, our zoning creates very small lots. You're close to your neighbors and you get to know your neighbors and we're creating programs and opportunities to bring neighbors together with backyard movie kits and with block party trailers and with grants to do little community neighborhood beautification projects together, and we're doing all of that to try to create that sense of belonging. So when we look at city planning and we look at the physical infrastructure which is what we've focused on mostly, which is what we've focused on mostly we really are trying to say maybe it actually starts at the more human-to-human level that when people understand that making our neighborhood more walkable and more accessible for everyone means that we know our neighbors better, that we make them feel like they belong, that we ourselves belong more, and so we're really trying to do our best to connect people to one another, because that knowledge of the other, if you will, breaks down barriers and creates that sense of belonging that you know.

Shawn Lewis 24:31

It's just the birthplace of good communities, I think.

Jandel Allen-Davis 24:35

How would you assess, in your mind you think, how resilient Englewood communities are, especially with this 13% I think that was the number you said of folks who are differently abled live? How?

Shawn Lewis 24:48

would you?

Jandel Allen-Davis 24:48

assess that.

Building Community Resilience & Connection

Shawn Lewis 24:50

You're speaking my language and I've seen this firsthand too. When I was in Longmont as assistant city manager, we had the floods of 2013.

Jandel Allen-Davis 24:59

See, I got chills.

Shawn Lewis 25:00

Yeah, and the you know, our town was split in half by the St Vrain River and we had, you know, people who had lost their homes and people who had lost everything in their homes and people who had lost everything in their homes and we found that, you know, relative to some other communities that didn't have that community connection, that didn't where, you know, it was harder to get to know your neighbors or for some reason you didn't have the opportunity because of physical or social kind of determinants that they didn't.

Shawn Lewis 25:31

But Longmont looked out for each other and Englewood has that, I think. In spades, One of the things during COVID that we first did was create for people that were homebound, so particularly elderly and disabled, and we used census data to identify neighborhoods that had higher populations, again mostly in the downtown area, and we sent postcards to say we're going to have a twice a week call, Zoom call with you that we want you to engage in, we want to understand needs, we want to connect you to people and we already had a program called Snow Buddies in which if you need help because we're in Colorado shoveling your snow, because you're elderly or disabled, that we will partner you with someone who will come do that for you.

Shawn Lewis 26:20

And so we use those folks that had already signed up for those that Snow Buddy program to then take food or pick up medicine for people who you know were also people that were, you know, at high risk for contracting COVID, and so, yeah, you've got to have that understanding of your neighbors, and it doesn't have to be programmatic, right, I'm describing a program because I'm a government person, but the fact is, what we're also trying to do is make this more organic with these programs that give people an excuse to get together.

Jandel Allen-Davis 26:54

Collisions yes.

Shawn Lewis 26:56

We waived all the fees for closing off your block in front of your house and inviting all your neighbors. We give you the flyers to hang on your neighbor's doors. We give you grants for the food that you you know up to $500. Yeah, we really are trying to be intentional about giving you an excuse to get together with your neighbors, because that's what creates resiliency, and in you know you're you couldn't be more correct that you can harden all the infrastructure you can, but if people aren't willing to go and help other people, your community is not going to bounce back from. That's going to take so much longer, and this is kind of a whole discussion on government too and the role of government. But the fact is it all starts at the person level. I mean, government is not going to be able to save us from a lot of these challenges. We have to help each other and we have to come together and think of ourselves as a community.

Known, Matter, Included: Leadership Philosophy

Jandel Allen-Davis 28:00

Oh my gosh. So the energy just shifted in this room at nine o'clock in the morning on a Friday at the end of the week.

Shawn Lewis 28:03

You came alive as you talked that way, I feel like it's just been this like what's wrong? What's? Why is this not working? How is this not happening? And it took me. You know, I actually took COVID. It took a little bit of the flood. I learned a little bit of it back in 2013 from the Colorado floods.

Shawn Lewis 28:20

But, COVID, just to say we have to have belonging, we have to have knowing each other. We've even started in our organizational culture in the city of Englewood a three-term concept that drives everything we do on culture, known matter included. So we've got to know each other at a deep level. Not I'm going to get into your business kind of knowing, but we know about you because we care about you and that's at all levels and it doesn't matter the levels.

Shawn Lewis 28:55

Forget the levels. Know each other, no matter the levels, and make sure people feel valued and that they matter. And so show that caring, concern and show people that you care about what they bring and what they have to offer and then include them in everything. And so I don't know. It's kind of just like been a mantra of mine since coming here, because of seeing so many years of maybe government bureaucrats just hitting their head against a wall, thinking why is this not taking when it was always about human connection, and how can we foster that human connection and create a place that's so welcoming and inclusive that everyone feels like they do belong to it?

Jandel Allen-Davis 29:43

And they want to keep it good and make it better. There's an article by the way around mattering, the importance of mattering, and that it's not the value you bring, but that you are of value Exactly. We'd be so much less without you. We somehow are the less without you. That was beautiful.

Shawn Lewis 30:04

Yeah.

Jandel Allen-Davis 30:04

Well, I want to thank you for spending time with us. What I think you've beautifully encapsulated here is that what's possible in smaller communities that is not impossible in larger but it sure is a huger challenge communities within your neighborhoods being connected to each other and caring enough about them to try to prevent harm and try to build a real sense of harmony in a community. So thank you for that and thank you for what you do to make Englewood such a livable, wonderful place to come and work every day.

Shawn Lewis 30:48

Thank you and thank you to Craig for you know pushing us to be better in these areas and y'all have been such a leader in this area and it's just great to have you and Diane and all of the rest of your staff really helping to make sure that we are being a place where everyone is welcome.