PUBLICSTUFF
While working for local government, one of the big trends was implementing 311 call centers and I was lucky enough to manage one of these implementations. Unfortunately, these systems can be incredibly expensive with New York City's implementation costing $25 million. I took advantage of the opportunity to create a cost-effective platform designed specifically for local government needs that can be utilized by governments of all sizes.
PublicStuff is a Saas solution designed for local government agencies and helps them improve communication with their residents through online and mobile applications. As the founder, I created the business plan, raised $6.8M and grew the company to 25 people along with a slew of other fun things!
ENTREPRENEURS ROUNDTABLE ACCELERATOR
One of the best accelerators in NYC and honored we were selected to a part of their inaugural class! ERA is a 4 month long incubator program providing seed capital, office space and an extensive and super helpful mentor network.
Interested in applying yourself? Learn more about their program and submit an application here: http://eranyc.com/apply/
GOOD COMPANY VENTURES
Selected to participate in the GoodCompany Ventures program and participate in their big vision.
"We offer a bold new approach to business thats about anchoring global impact with real traction; about scaling this impact by refining transformative business models; about launching dreamers by giving them the tools to do."
MAYOR BLOOMBERG'S DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
As the youngest employee to be hired to Mayor Bloomberg's Department of Education, Special Analytics and Projects team. I was responsible for analyzing fiscal and performance data to support the development of fiscal public policy. I also conducted special studies, management inquiries, and managing the jaw-dropping $20B budget.
CITY OF LONG BEACH, ROTATIONAL PROGRAM
With hundreds of applicants, the City of Long Beach offered one of only two management rotational programs for local government at the time. Selected as one of the three candidates, I was able to select three departments to work with.
Public Works: Developed the department-wide communication plan. Designed and managed the website overhaul and public facing communication pieces.
Information Technology: I lead the sourcing, feasibility study and implementation of the City of Long Beach's first 311 system. The project had an ambitious timeline and provided a unique opportunity for the city to increase customer satisfaction and align resource allocation with the community's priorities.
City Manager's Office: I lead the Ergonomics Program, an Energy Management system and Employee Review process. The Energy Optimization study analyzed needs and identified potential opportunities for cost savings through utilizing alternative energy solutions.
TRANSPORTATION SECURITY ADMINISTRATION
At the transportation Security Administration, I created an interactive and dynamic analysis for the first internal management tracking tool. The tool was utilized for staff and travelers and was the first iteration that the department approved. We were able to increase retention by over 25% while improving on every other employee and traveler metric.
US DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Developed guidelines for the content and presentation of risk information and warnings related to international travel. After identifying the major risks posed to travelers, the project examined the existing sources of information on warnings and advisories issued currently by government agencies, free private websites, and subscription services. Surveys of 234 travelers and 10 travel agents, were conducted to characterize the market for travel risk information in terms of potential users’ needs and beliefs. Based on these analyses, the project proposes a two-stage decision making model for issuing travel warnings/advisories, with three levels: low, elevated, or exceptional. Concluding that there is now no single source where travelers can turn for all the risk information that is pertinent, necessary and available, the development of a comprehensive Web site that could gather and collate the most accurate, timely and site specific data available and then present it to travelers. Finally, a prototype website for publishing travel advisories was created, bringing together recommendations for both content and design to make them more comprehensive and accessible to the user. The report was published and is titled "Traveling in a Risky World".
SICHUAN ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
During the “Tenth-Five-Year-Plan” period, under the guidance of the Provincial Party Commission and Provincial Government, the provincial environmental protection scheme was carried out with its target aimed at making Sichuan province the strongest province in terms of the economy in both Western China and the ecological screen in upstream Yangtze River. The main mission of the environmental protection scheme in Sichuan during the “Tenth-Five-Year-Plan” period included:
Total Pollution Discharge Amount Control, Industrial Pollution Discharge Satisfying National and Local Standard, Important Municipalities’ Air and Water Quality Satisfying the National Standard
Reinforcing ecological conservation and construction
Improve water quality of the Yangtze River (Sichuan section), Min River, Tuo River and Jialing River to the third class water standard
Improve the air quality of 15 important municipalities to the second level standard
Promote municipal wastewater and solid waste treatment plants construction along with better treatment capability
The project concluded with a symposium of energy leaders who were invited to Sichuan to provide feedback and have a think tank on these issues.
GENERATION ENTERPRISE (FORMERLY YOUTHBANK)
Generation Enterprise (GEN) partners with at-risk unemployed youth to launch scalable businesses that can be expanded or franchised to create jobs in low-income communities in the urban developing world. In August 2010, the International Labor Organization warned of a "lost generation" of young people left out of the global economy and facing reduced life opportunities. They include over 80 million unemployed youth, and over 250 million youth in the ranks of the "working poor" – eking out uncertain and unsustainable livelihoods in the informal market, on the margins of society.
The “lost generation” is an economic, social justice, and international security issue. Street youth cost their countries billions in lost potential, are vulnerable to exploitation, and tend to be targets for recruitment by criminal groups, from local gangs to terrorist cells. Generation Enterprise creates a clear path for youth to go from poverty to self-sufficiency to community leadership. Unlike training programs that prepare youth for jobs they may not find, we prepare youth to create jobs for themselves and for others. Unlike traditional microfinance programs that focus on providing loans for anything from working capital to school fees and wedding expenses, we focus our loans on building strong, growth-oriented businesses that are coached and vetted by experienced local business leaders and our team of social venture capitalists looking for maximum social and financial returns. They invest deeply in each class of Fellows, and keep working with them to realize a return on that investment – one that pays dividends for the whole community.
I had the honor of traveling with the team to Lagos, Nigeria and document one of their initial programs and work on this incredible cause.
WOMEN & GIRLS FOUNDATION
The Women and Girls Foundation promotes social change by addressing fundamental social inequalities and raising the awareness of these inequities to the media, voters, legislators and corporate and non-profit decision-makers. By serving as an independent and clear voice, the foundation strives to bring together women and men in our region to work together to find solutions to create sustained equity for all of its citizens. One of my projects was to implement the “Fair Representation” language model to promote gender and racial balance on governmental boards and commissions. This project required working closely with elected officials and legal representatives to adopt the legal requirements.
Another project was a review of the Board, Authority Commissions Report. The Team conducted research on the demographics of BACs in the City and County by race and by gender, and also generated recommendations for the City and County to use in implementing a more transparent and inclusive public board appointment policy. The City of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County contain a wealth of talent and energy in their communities. Both the City and the County will benefit from a fair and open appointment process which ensures that the demographics of residents are reflected on BACs. Additionally, broad-based participation will provide role models from various social, economic, and cultural segments of the community and provide an entry point for future leaders to engage in civic activities and the political process. When all BACs represent the diversity of City and County residents and are balanced by gender and race, the region will be better served. efforts to pursue legislation at the city, county and state levels for fair representation for women and people of color on Pennsylvania’s appointed boards, authorities, and commissions became a national model for effective philanthropic coalition building and advocacy efforts resulting in new legislation implemented at the city and county levels. Since then women’s representation on government boards in the City of Pittsburgh went from 25% of appointees to over 50%.
CONVERSATIONS FOR COMMONWEALTH
Conversations for Commonwealth creates setting in which diverse groups of people can respond to the deepest ethical callings in their lives and translate that response into generous actions in the world. The initiative was funded by the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, Heinz Endowments, The Pittsburgh Foundation and Maurice Falk Fund. As part of the grant, I helped to lead focus groups of diverse backgrounds -- fundamentalists with the LGBT organizations, republicans and democrats, etc.
EASTEND YOUTH TUTORING
Tutoring services in Pittsburgh public schools are very limited, so I helped to kickstart an inner city tutoring program in partnership with Pittsburgh public schools and Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). The program enabled CMU students to volunteer time to tutor inner city students on a variety of core subject material and the arts as well. A secondary program that we launched was a penpal program that provided inner city students with a college student to communicate with and practice writing letters to.
The program was able to successfully improve student testing and equally important, we were all able to be become role models and (hopefully) made a positive impression with the children.
