Caroline Tanbee Smith wants New Haven to be her forever home.
A transplant from Kentucky, she fell in love with the city while a Yale undergraduate. After graduation, she worked at the local civic startup SeeClickFix before co-founding the community accelerator Collab. Then, two years ago, she was elected as an alder of New Haven’s Ward 9, serving parts of East Rock and Fair Haven. Along the way she also earned a master’s degree at the Yale School of Management.
“I was so drawn to the civic spirit of this place that ripples through the sidewalks and streets,” Smith ’14, ’25 M.B.A., said. “As a young person, I just really wanted to be a part of it. I think that’s what New Haven does for many people. It fights for itself, and it makes you want to fight for it, too.”
This week, Smith is bringing her civic spirit to the Yale Innovation Summit, a two-day entrepreneurship event happening on campus. Leaders of the summit tapped her as the inaugural organizer of the event’s new “civic track,” which brings together innovators, advocates, and community members to strengthen communities, improve governments, and address critical issues such as housing, workforce development, and inclusive economic growth.
“New Haven punches above its weight in terms of individuals who want to start something that positively impacts their neighborhoods, whether it’s a food truck or a restaurant or a service organization,” she said.
In an interview, Smith discusses why innovation is so critical to cities like New Haven, how the new “civic track” can help promote a more vibrant community, and how her time at Yale inspired her path to entrepreneurship and public service.
The interview has been edited for length and clarity.
What role does innovation play in addressing critical issues like housing, inclusive economic growth, and more in cities like New Haven?
Caroline Tanbee Smith: Two things come to mind. One, there’s the capital “I” innovation. Like literally creating a new platform or infrastructure to support individuals to engage with government in a way they hadn’t before. Two, there’s lowercase “i” innovation. What excites me about this [civic] track is that the umbrella is very broad, and I think individuals are coming up with ideas that don’t necessarily need to become their own business. They don’t necessarily need to create a tech platform; their contribution can be a mural or a messaging campaign that gets people to vote or utilize their voice.
I also think part of innovation and civic life is not always about the “what” – it’s about the “how.” At this point, we have pretty good ideas about things we need to get done as a society. But sometimes the challenge is not knowing what we need to get done but how do we actually get there. How do we build the political will to get there? How do we bring community members together? How do we facilitate thoughtful conversations through conflict? I think there’s a lot of innovation in the “how.”
You were asked to coordinate the new “civic track” during this year’s Yale Innovation Summit. What do you hope to achieve with this initiative?
Smith: The intersection of civic life and innovation is one that’s rich and exciting and has a long history. We are 25 years into this century, and I get excited about the idea of this being the “civic century” — the century where we have a resurgence of civic life and civic purpose. The civic organization plays a very crucial role in our country but has eroded over time. I don’t think it has to be that way. In fact, one reason why I’m in love with New Haven, one reason why I get so excited to wake up in the morning, is that I experience individuals in every single neighborhood who have this thirst to support their community and support their neighborhood. The civic track is exploring how we build organizations, startups, and infrastructure to support that civic vibrancy and civic hunger that exists.
What goals informed the programming for the civic track?
Smith: Yale Ventures [the university initiative that organized the summit] was thinking about the key questions at the intersection of civics and innovation. What are the questions that people across the country have really good answers to, and what are some of the questions that are still evolving?
It makes a lot of sense to me that the spine of the agenda ended up being around inclusive economies, housing, and technology. How do we build an economy where every single individual in the community can participate and can provide their talents? How do we make sure that every single member of our community has a safe and stable roof over their head? And, as someone who believes in the role of government as a visible, trusted, and effective force for good in people’s lives, how do we think about the role of technology in solidifying that relationship and making the communication channels between neighbors and government stronger? These are some of the most important questions of the next 10-plus years in civic life and in America but especially in Connecticut.
As part of the summit’s civic track, you’re also co-hosting a “civic pitch competition” around the theme of building more civically engaged cities. So how do we do that?
Smith: One of the reasons I was excited about the civic pitch challenge is I believe we should treat civic life as infrastructure just like streets and sidewalks. It’s infrastructure, and therefore should be invested in, innovated upon, and really thought about with a high level of attention.
I believe that’s the case for two reasons. One, I believe the more individuals are involved in lending their voice — whether it’s in a survey or coming to a meeting — the stronger and better the idea becomes. Second, I think that being engaged in civic life, whether it’s going to your kid’s soccer game or running for office, creates the conditions for people to be happier. Being involved in New Haven as a community member has given me such a strong sense of purpose, and it’s made me happier. I get excited about the idea of us as municipalities and cities building that infrastructure to support people if they so choose to experience that level of purpose by being engaged with their neighbors and their surrounding community.
How did your time as a student at Yale inform your path to entrepreneurship and public service today? What drew you to both?
Smith: I spent a few summers in New Haven while in school. I was a Yale President’s Public Service Fellow where I interned for the mayor’s office. My two projects for that summer were helping to run Democracy School, a cohort of 30 residents that met different department heads and got to look under the hood of city government, and a resident’s guide to New Haven. Creating this 30-page guide on the city website took me to the nooks and crannies of the city. It was just a really powerful summer for me. The summer before, I also spent most of the summer in the city and saw Yo-Yo Ma perform on the New Haven Green during the International Festival of Arts & Ideas during the pouring rain. These experiences were about collective joy and connection, and, frankly, I still can’t get enough of it.
I remember going for runs, and I would see someone on their front stoop and wave. The next day, I go for a run, see that same person on the front stoop, and wave. That experience of building relationships over time in a place is magical. If magic exists, that is magic. I get to experience those small moments all the time now and hope to for a long time.
Learn more about the Yale Innovation Summit and register here.
