Blogs

This FUSE-produced story was originally published on GovTech. Workforce Development, Aging and Community Services (WDACS) in Los Angeles County serves a broad mix of constituents, including people who are homeless, formerly incarcerated individuals, foster youth, veterans, and older and dependent adults. Collectively, this amounts to a target audience of over a million people, many of … Continued

As a FUSE Executive Fellow, Niles Friedman (2015-16) worked with the State of California to establish an Office of Innovation for the California Health and Human Services Agency (CHHS). This new office was created to instill a culture of innovation across the 12 CHHS departments and improve the delivery of services through the adoption of … Continued

This FUSE-produced story was originally published on CityLab as “The Human Faces of Data.” Data can present stark examples of racial disparities in communities, but the policymakers charged with devising solutions are often learning about these challenges in reports loaded with numbers and charts. Without additional context, they are missing an important step in the … Continued

As a FUSE Executive Fellow, Dr. Carlos Thomas (2018-19) worked with the Los Angeles County Child Support Services Department (CCSD) to augment their use of predictive analytics to increase the rate of child support payment compliance and improve outcomes for families. “We were pushing forward a lot of new ideas about what social services can … Continued

As the spring cohort embarks on their journeys to advance racial equity and ensure a just recovery from the pandemic, they share their personal motivations for becoming FUSE Executive Fellows. Read more. HALA FARID Hala is working with the Housing and Planning Department in Austin to support anti-displacement efforts amidst the launch of a new … Continued

As a FUSE Executive Fellow, Jeremy M. Goldberg (2012-13) worked with the San Jose Office of the Mayor to develop the Silicon Valley Talent Partnership, the city’s first public-private partnership enlisting pro-bono talent from local companies to make public services more effective for residents. Since the conclusion of his fellowship, he has gone on to … Continued

Our newest board member, Miguel Solis, couples a passion for public service with deep expertise in education policy and community-based economic development. He is the current executive director of Coalition for a New Dallas, which reimagines a Dallas made up of neighborhoods where jobs and basic services—housing, transit, schools, parks, and retail—are available within a … Continued

The fatal shooting of an unarmed African-American teen by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, sparked widespread protests in nearby St. Louis and placed a harsh spotlight on racial disparities in the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department (SLMPD), where just one third of officers are non-white, while nearly half the city’s residents are black. … Continued

This FUSE-produced story was originally published on CityLab. Lots of cities take pride in their rankings: the best place to live, the best place to work, the best place for single people, and so on. But what constitutes a “best place” for some may be misery for others. This was the case in Austin, Texas, … Continued