Data & Technology

Advancing a Behavioral Economics Approach to Child Support Compliance
The Los Angeles County Child Support Services (CSS) is working to enforce child support orders, including the collection of monies, to help positively affect the financial stability of the children it serves. To improve payment compliance and the customer experience, CSS brought in FUSE Executive Fellow Amanda Wang Valentine, who... Read more
Enhancing the Child Support System
Conventional child support systems rely heavily on a blanket set of punitive measures to help ensure that families receive the financial support to which they are legally entitled. Los Angeles County is taking a different approach, one that seeks to tailor child support interventions to the circumstances of each case... Read more
Bridging the Gap Between Technology and Education
Karen worked with state Superintendent Tom Torlakson to pursue better use of technology to transform and improve teaching and learning in California. The primary goal of the effort was re-envisioning Brokers of Expertise to be a sustainable modern online site for educators to share best practices and tools for digital... Read more
Strengthening Emergency Services
The City and County of San Francisco’s Division of Emergency Communications has 160 public safety dispatchers who collectively provide round-the-clock 9-1-1 emergency assistance. To improve the agency’s management of the complex and fluctuating staffing requirements, FUSE executive fellow Marilyn Varnado worked with the agency to reduce staff scheduling challenges and... Read more
Streamlining Police Operations to Better Serve the Community
FUSE Executive Fellow Aminata Brown supported the New Orleans Police Department in its efforts to streamline and digitize processes to improve operations. She launched the Superintendent’s Technology (SuperTech) Improvement Program, which outlined primary program tracks that could benefit from technology enhancements, such as the management of documents and content. To... Read more
Enhancing Patient Care Through Improved Staffing Practices
The Los Angeles County Department of Health Services (DHS) relies heavily on contract workers, who make up 27 percent of the agency’s workforce. FUSE executive fellow Nichelle Toomire helped the agency understand the associated cost, use, and impact of this workforce, identifying opportunities for efficiencies. She also secured resources for... Read more
Designing Data-Driven Strategy to Improve Public Health
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health – Environmental Health (EH) is responsible for ensuring that food is prepared and served safely for the millions of people who frequent the region’s restaurants and dining halls each year. EH partnered with FUSE executive fellow Mohammad Mehryar to build on the... Read more
Improving Services Through Smart City Technology
The City of Los Angeles is working to improve quality of life for all residents, including underserved communities, through the use of data, technology, and user experience design. To help advance this goal, the City of Los Angeles’ Information Technology Agency (ITA) hired FUSE Executive Fellow Dawn Comer to develop... Read more
Leveraging Strategic Data Analytics
The San Francisco Human Services Agency administers social service programs to promote the wellbeing and self-sufficiency of more than 200,000 low-income and vulnerable individuals. The agency hired FUSE Executive Fellow Sima to analyze data the agency is collecting through its newly upgraded systems and to integrate that analysis into its... Read more
Leveraging Open Data for Law Enforcement Reform
As part of its growing focus on criminal justice reform, the California Department of Justice is launching an ambitious effort to transform itself into a data-driven organization. A major first step in this plan is the creation of OpenJustice, a transparency initiative that will help build trust and increase accountability... Read more