Thomas Houston (2013-14) is founder and chairman of the board of trustees of Medici Road, a think tank focused on solving generational poverty by researching related education and public-health issues, writing policies to influence how funding is distributed in these areas, and creating programs and products that help fight poverty today. As a FUSE fellow, … Continued
Cynthia Shields (2017-2018), who helped Pittsburgh diversify the talent pool for jobs in the local construction industry, is an assistant deputy in Allegheny County’s Department of Human Services. She oversees housing and homelessness programs and is working to ensure that everyone in Allegheny County has a home. How did the FUSE fellowship impact you? My … Continued
This piece was originally published on Apolitical. Cities have long been centers of new ideas, especially in Washington D.C., a world-class capital city with brilliant and passionate residents. Supporting D.C. is one of the most important things I can do to help spur progress in the face of federal inaction. Despite what some see as … Continued
This FUSE-produced story was originally published on Next City. Vallejo is a city with a population of just 125,000 on the north rim of California’s Bay Area. Scrappy and diverse, it exemplifies small-town America’s experience on the economic roller coaster ride of the past decade, fighting to come back from the 2008 Great Recession. So … Continued
Rebecca Foster (2013-14), who served as a fellow in the San Francisco Mayor’s Office of Civic Innovation, is now executive director of the San Francisco Housing Accelerator Fund (SFHAF). A public-private partnership, SFHAF was initially incubated in the Mayor’s Office, then spun out as an independent nonprofit in 2017 with the help of a $10 … Continued
Colin Dwyer (2016-2017), who helped the Allegheny County Health Department create an integrated response to the opioid epidemic in its region, is the founder of the Opioid Crisis Response Fund (OCRF), a nonprofit that raises money for opioid response opportunities with the greatest life-saving potential. OCRF makes these determinations by prioritizing funding on the basis … Continued
This FUSE-produced story was originally published on Next City. Washington D.C. has a broad real estate portfolio that includes thousands of residential and commercial properties valued at more than $11 billion. An estimated $1 billion more worth of properties remain vacant, abandoned, or tax-delinquent, providing little to no value to their surrounding neighborhoods, waiting to … Continued
This FUSE-produced story was originally published on Next City. The criminal justice system across municipalities is vast, complicated, and interdependent. Justice-involved people must account with dozens of staff and systems as they go through different processes: parole officers, the courts, corrections, county health services, social services, and more. To ensure that the rights of justice-involved … Continued
To boost economically depressed neighborhoods, it takes more than just supporting existing businesses. It’s equally, or even more important, to give aspiring business owners a leg up. That’s what Aja Hardy, a veteran strategist, found when she went to work as a FUSE executive fellow in Cleveland, helping promote early-stage entrepreneurship through public-private partnerships. In … Continued