USC Marshall MBAs Doing Good

Indi(end)

2010-08-24T08:46:00.001-07:00

After three months of living abroad, I'm home. Being home is good. I have all the luxuries of food, culture and friendships I so sorely missed, and I benefit from the perspective I'm slowly developing from being plucked out of the thick of my former Indian workplace.

As I had mentioned in a previous blog post, working in India was extremely hard. There were parts of my experience I loved and others I loathed. But when I lay down in my bed on my tempurpedic pillow, inside my apartment with regular electricity and water, in a city where I can get a decent cup of coffee, its easy to forget all the past hardships. And I think its with good reason because I can now see more clearly what my team and I accomplished and what I learned from the experience.

Did we finish our project? No, but we are still moving along. Over our time we met and interviewed nearly 30 people, from school teachers and NGO leaders to government officials and villagers, capturing over 25 hours worth of video footage, allowing us to complete three five-minute documentaries each portraying a specific challenge affecting the region. Currently, we are working with a team of web developers in Bangalore to construct our wiki-based platform, which we hope to launch by early January 2011.

Did I learn anything? Yes, a lot. I come away knowing how to take an idea and execute it. When I first proposed the idea for the project - before it was ever funded - it was a theoretical concept, lacking any roadmap. Technically, the project is still theoretical until it launches and proves successful, but my team and I still designed the mechanisms we hope will give us the best chance to convert this idea into a reality come January. Throughout this project, I also began to learn how to quietly manage a team. I had initially proposed the project and was the most senior person on the team, but the way the program was constructed, there were no clear lines of authority - it was a group effort through and through. But on a team with a range of experiences, from undergrad to graduate students, it was important that the group had direction, but just as important, an opportunity for every member to assert and develop their own leadership skills. Striking this balance of knowing when to step in and knowing when to let others take the lead was something I could never learn in a classroom. It was a life skill I was afforded by this opportunity.

The experience was hard and it was humbling, but I'm home, I'm happy and I can reflect positively, without regret, on my time working in India.

Education Reform in LA

2010-08-23T17:35:00.000-07:00

My summer with Education Pioneers came to an end this Friday and overall it was a great experience. I finished up my project and provided the CEO of Value Schools with a comprehensive strategic growth plan that will provide the foundation for Value Schools’ expansion. I learned a great deal about education reform and met some amazing and inspiring individuals who have devoted their lives to improving education in Los Angeles.

One of the most valuable parts of the Education Pioneers experience was the opportunity to hear from all the key players involved in education reform including the district, charter schools, and teachers unions. As someone new to education the opportunity to hear from all sides was incredibly important and my opinions regarding education reform were challenged over the course of the summer. Charter schools have done some great things in Los Angeles, but not every charter school has been as successful as Green Dot. I think that it is important for people to make the distinction between a charter school and a high performing charter school when discussing the role charter schools continue to play in education reform.

LAUSD is failing many of its students and it definitely deserves much of the bad press it receives, but through Education Pioneers I have had the opportunity to meet some great leaders from the district. LAUSD Deputy Superintendent Deasy delivered an outstanding keynote speech at our end of the summer networking event and I am hopeful that he will be an effective leader who will take the radical steps necessary for real change to occur. The district still has a very long way to go but I am more optimistic about education reform in Los Angeles than I was at the beginning of the summer.

Lessons Learned

2010-08-23T11:56:00.001-07:00

I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to work in India for the summer. I learned and experienced so many things that I would not have been able to experience in the US. Adjusting to a completely new professional and social culture provided me with insight and patience that I will definitely carry with me forever.

My project was a continuation project from last year, and will be carried on by the NGOs we worked closely with. We were able to construct a database that will hold patient information for the HIV/AID’s community. This database will streamline the referral and follow-up system currently in place and reduce the amount of time and resources needed for each NGO.

I learned a great deal throughout the process and have definitely changed my management style. I learned the importance of constant communication, especially when working in a new culture where miscommunication occurs often. I also learned to manage my expectations and take into account that efficiency and productivity levels may vary in an environment where reliable internet and electricity is not always guaranteed. All of these factors have given me a richer understanding of the non-profit landscape in a developing country and it makes me appreciate all of the work that is occurring on the grassroots level across the world.

Education Pioneers: Wrapping Up

2010-08-17T09:31:00.000-07:00

5 more days to go, and things are winding down.

Last week I had the opportunity to present preliminary drafts of my work to various leaders around ICEF, and the feedback I received was very encouraging. In fact, some of my marketing recommendations made it into the annual PR planning meeting with ICEF's communications vendor. I feel pretty confident that I added value to this organization this summer, and thus made my small contribution toward the solution to this education crisis.

This week I'm finalizing my recommendations, presenting to a number of leaders, and getting ready to hand everything over to my supervisor before I head back to school. Additionally, I've been working to make all of my recommendations as "plug and play" as possible. Resources are tight at this organization, and I've learned that one of the biggest hurdles in implementing my recommendations will most likely be staffing requirements. Thus, whenever possible, I've developed templates, examples, detailed implementation plans and in one case I was able to create the actual brand guidelines which I recommended.

I think one of my key learnings this summer has been organizational in nature. ICEF was founded with one after-school program in 1994. Since then, it's grown to 15 schools and about 400 employees. What was once a start-up environment is now transitioning to a small company. As I worked to recommend marketing and communications solutions in this environment, the importance of scalable systems became increasingly evident. ICEF has proven the success of its educational model and has exponentially grown its impact in South LA in a relatively short amount of time. The challenge is creating organizational systems to keep up, and to sustain even more growth and impact.

My summer as an Education Pioneers fellow has been a very rewarding experience. I've learned an incredible amount about education reform, I've formed my own opinions and have been forced to question those opinions, I've met and networked with numerous leaders in the LA education world (including Superintendent Cortines!), and I've given much thought as to how my work in education will continue beyond this experience. And, just as importantly, I really feel as though I've grown professionally as a result of this summer.

Jennie

It's Over Already?

2010-08-16T19:34:00.000-07:00

Those were possibly the most fulfilling and rewarding 9 weeks of my life. I have made friends and learned a lot about myself. I think that the “goodbye” e-mail that I sent to the organization says a lot about just how much my time with Chrysalis meant to me:

Dear Chrysalis,

What an amazing organization. As I mentioned to some of you yesterday, I thought I knew, but I had NO idea. The client stories are heartbreaking and their perseverance admirable. I have a huge amount of respect for the work that you all are doing. I can’t deny that the stories that I heard didn’t make me toss and turn as I tried to go to sleep each night. However, I woke up each morning proud to come to work.

Although these last 9 weeks have flown by, they have made a lasting impression. I feel honored and humbled to have been a part of the Chrysalis Team. Where can I pick-up the “Lifetime Membership” form?

The last week of my internship was an amazing week. One of the clients who had attended a Jobs Club session that I led asked me for help a few times. I taught her how to shake hands professionally (she was doing the grabbing the thumb handshake) and what a “complete” application packet looked like. On Monday she came to my office to share with me that SHE HAD GOTTEN A JOB. The most important part of the whole conversation for me was what she told me a few times: “I did it by myself.” That’s the proof that Chrysalis works. The organization does not exist to hand jobs to people, but rather to give them the tools and confidence that they need to go face the madness of job hunting on their own. Most everyone has many doors closed on them, but eventually one opens.

She rang the bell on Tuesday, and I had to wipe a tear away. The framed picture of me and her that my co-workers gave me on my last day of the internship is hanging on my wall and is a constant reminder of the change that I can make in the world.

Going into the internship, I had my reservations about what I was going to walk away with compared to my classmates. I can honestly say after completing it that I have no regrets about my experiences this summer. I would do it all again in a heartbeat.

I wanted to share one last video. This woman was honored at the last Butterfly Ball (a fundraiser for Chrysalis) and rang the bell while I was there. It is always a good thing to see such a remarkable program like Chrysalis get the attention it deserves.

Molly

Jaalaka - Connecting the HIV/AIDS Community through Technology

2010-07-18T18:21:00.000-07:00

“Things will change when you get to India”. This was echoed throughout the pre-departure planning stages for my project. I had a very clear understanding of my purpose for this project: resolve the technical issues and expand the software into other NGO’s, but I went in knowing that these objectives could change dramatically.

I am fortunate that my project has not deviated greatly from the proposal my team had prepared. The NGO’s that are working with us are extremely organized and have realistic goals and expectations that were communicated clearly and promptly from the beginning. Despite the pre-departure planning, there have been many challenges that I did not anticipate. Specifically, the length of time needed to resolve the technical issues that these NGO’s are facing, the technical knowledge needed to implement the program, and the identification of possible expansion opportunities for the software have proven to be the biggest challenges.

However, we have been able to take a step back from the urge to focus solely on fixing the technical issues and have analyzed the most efficient growth for the SMSFrontline software. After meeting with multiple stakeholders working with the HIV/AIDS community, my team and I have identified a need to expand the program and create a more efficient network to connect all the stakeholders that are currently using the SMSFrontline software. A centralized database would allow the NGO’s I am working with to share their data to create a more automated and structured tracking, referral and follow up system. In order to create this database, we have enlisted the help of various sources- LEAD students from BVB College, a software engineer and a fellow intern. I am hopeful that this database will streamline the data flow currently being implemented and improve the overall data sharing between the NGO’s. So what does my team envision? We hope that a specific NGO can refer a patient to register for a support group via SMS, and the support group will receive a message regarding the referral. If the patient attends the support group, the support group can then send a SMS message back to the referring NGO to confirm the registration of the patient. All of these messages would go through the central database and a history of the patient will begin to accumulate. With such limited resources, the NGO’s can benefit greatly from this system and will allow the NGO’s to spend more time working directly with the community members.

Working in India is definitely a unique experience. I have learned to become much more patient and accept the miscommunication that is bound to occur. Because my project involves many stakeholders, I am often at meetings to discuss specifics about the project. Email and phone calls are not effective in India, and thus, things take much longer to accomplish because of the face time that is required. One benefit to this is the chai and biscuit requirement for every meeting- if I wasn’t a tea drinker before coming here, I definitely am now!

Despite the delays that consistently take place in India, small victories do occur and are appreciated that much more. I am truly enjoying my internship and I feel fortunate that I can now truly understand the different work cultures that exist across the world.

The Daily Struggle

2010-07-15T22:42:00.001-07:00

I came to India to get experience developing and executing an entrepreneurial idea and to gain international exposure to NGO work. My experience in the US had quickly taught me that a nonprofit organization's approach to working in one city required a different approach to working in another city. I knew that regional differences played a significant role and anticipated that India's would only be magnified, but to what degree and to what dimension I had no clue. In my nearly five weeks working in India, I've quickly learned what I came here seeking. Entrepreneurship is no doubt difficult, but doing it in rural India requires twice the input and gets you only half the output. Never had the words, "you will soon appreciate the small wins," rang so true.

Everyday is a new day and never like the one before. When we first arrived we focused heavily on meeting with foundation staff to begin understanding the challenges in the area and develop contacts throughout the region. When not in meetings, we were discussing our web platform and wireframing the webpages to pass along to our web developers.

As we began developing our local sea legs, we soon became all too familiar with "the runaround." The runaround is everywhere. A task that should take five minutes takes five days. Things that are promised are rarely delivered without persistent pressure. Good communication (not to be confused with translation problems) is hard to come by and passing the buck is standard operating protocol. These are all part of a culture, which for thousands of years has tolerated with great patience bureaucracy, a sense of individualism, and in my opinion, a lack of trust, which I think is at the heart of why you can never find the decision maker when you need a simple task completed, and why when things go wrong everyone wants to point their finger to the next person. Without accountability the job is always harder.

Having learned to recalibrate expectations we have continued to pursue our work in the field, meeting, interviewing and filming NGO leaders, government officials, journalists, professionals, farmers and villagers. If logistics are the tortoise of our project, then getting an interview is the hare. When people hear you are a student from the US, it becomes your VIP pass to speak with whomever you want, even without an appointment. And they have no problem opening up their mobile contact lists to you either. Whether it was the Commissioner of the Municipal Development Corporation, who overseas 1.2 million people, or the most successful businessmen in the region, getting their numbers, speaking to them on the phone, and setting up a meeting was no problem - in fact, almost too easy.

With already 15 hours of footage, we split our time pursuing new leads and editing clips to help frame the challenges we seek to present. Beyond all the day-to-day operations, this has been our biggest challenge. There are no shortage of problems to be solved, for example in the education sector, but determining which issues are systematic and which could have potential to be addressed by the general public with a sustainable, scaleable solution is always a debate. And ensuring our time is spent wisely is a guessing game. When we travel four hours to a remote village to interview farmers about their involvement in their child's education, it's a total crapshoot whether the information we gather will be pertinent to our project's objectives. Some days require so much time and energy, yet provide little reward for the project, beyond the personal experience we can take home with us.

Beyond the personal challenges of work are the personal challenges of maintaining proper health. After four weeks of eating in the local restaurants, in villages and transitioning from bottled to filtered water, my stomach and I felt most invisible, with the exception of the minor discomfort from time to time. But as soon as I thought I had begun developing an immunity to the spices and dubious cleanliness of food preparation, I was knocked off my feet, admitted to the hospital with a food-borne virus. Right when I thought I was in a good zone with respect to my body and my project, everything nearly came crashing down. If it weren't for the support of my team, our project may have been derailed while I lay incapacitated.

India is a challenging place to work. And where I am, in the rural enclaves, life is much slower and more conservative. On one level, I can't say I would want to work in an environment like this again. I must acknowledge that I am biased by the struggle of being away from my fiance for so long, but there is more to my sentiment that resides here in India. I have accepted my new temporary home, but I often find myself fighting the cultural norms. I know change is slow, and I'm not expecting to change the world overnight, but its the small things, like getting a computer cord, which require four visits to the computer shop after four separate promises that it would arrive that evening, and the next, and the next and the next. It's arriving at a meeting, and waiting five hours for it to get started. It's meeting with a doctor and asking him a question about your test results and receiving a look of contempt as if it was an affront to ask a question of such an educated man of status. And the gender inequalities, while not oppressive, are disheartening.

But when I pull back and see the forest from the trees, I come away more optimistic from this experience. There has been a lot of amazing things about working with the people in India. Most are gracious, friendly and willing to help. They have taught me so much about their culture, and through the process, have educated me of the challenges of international development. I haven't even finished my project and yet I know that grown through the richness of experience, which has made the journey all the more satisfying.

-Jesse

Education Pioneers Week 5

2010-07-15T21:44:00.000-07:00

The last five weeks have flown by with much of it spent working out the details of the financial model that will guide Value Schools through their expansion. Sound exciting? Not really, but this is obviously a necessary phase of the project as we further develop our plans for expansion. By developing the financial model I have gained a better understanding of charter school funding, which will be useful as we begin targeting locations and facilities for our additional schools. We’ve really just started this process and are looking at what communities in the Los Angeles Unified Schools District could most benefit from a charter school. Ideally we would like to locate our schools in close proximity to our existing two schools, but we have not ruled out targeting new locations. During the next few weeks I will be developing a list of recommendations for additional locations and starting to target possible facilities in those locations. I am looking forward to this phase of the project and I will update you next month.

Education Pioneers: Mid-Summer Update

2010-07-15T20:33:00.000-07:00

This week marks the halfway point of my Education Pioneers summer fellowship. I can't believe it. Looking back, I've accomplished a lot, and learned an enormous amount, but there's still so much left to do!

My marketing project for ICEF Public Schools is well under way. I've spent the first half of the summer on two main workstreams. The first has been assessing the current position of ICEF within its major stakeholder groups. This has been done via informational interviews, web/press searches and also a survey (set to go live on Monday). I'm talking to people inside and outside of ICEF - home office staff, school staff, parents, members of the greater LA education community, etc. My findings regarding ICEF's position will flow directly into the marketing plan that I recommend.

The second workstream has consisted of more secondary research. I'm looking across a variety of research, reports, case studies and other resources to study, benchmark and evaluate potential marketing/brand solutions for ICEF. I've had luck with sources from both inside and outside of the education world, and from both the non-profit and for-profit sectors. It's been really exciting for me to combine a host of "best practices" to develop a plan that will be uniquely valuable to ICEF.

In addition to my project, I've had the opportunity to get involved in other exciting projects that are taking place at the organization. For example, I got to help out with ICEF's Promise Neighborhood grant application. (The federal government will choose 20 applicants to receive grant money in order to essentially replicate the Harlem Children's Zone model.)

And finally, outside of ICEF, the Education Pioneers Fellowship itself has proven to be a valuable learning experience. Today was our third workshop, in which we focused on Human Capital. We learned about current initiatives such as Teacher Effectiveness in LAUSD, and spent the day discussing, debating and even attempting to "solve" major teacher evaluation/compensation issues. I've found the workshops especially valuable, coming from a financial services background and still forming my own opinions on what exactly should be done in Ed Reform.

All in all, my first 5 weeks have been a valuable and worthwhile experience... and yes, I feel as though I'm making a difference!

Chrysalis: Checking In

2010-07-15T09:28:00.000-07:00

Has it been 5 weeks already? My time with Chrysalis Enterprises (CE) is flying by. I have attended almost every class/support group that Chrysalis offers to clients in an effort to better understand not only the full-range of services that Chrysalis provides, but to also give me an opportunity to speak with the clients to learn a bit more about where they struggle the most and what their experience has been like with Chrysalis.

Although I have heard many stories that bring me nearly to tears, I have also celebrated the successes of many of the clients. It is music to my ears when an announcement is played over the intercom system that a client is going to ring the bell. I grab my keys and hurry next door to see them proudly wave the bell, share their story, and offer words of encouragement for all those still working hard to find a job. (Some are more comfortable speaking in front of crowds than others!)

My role at Chrysalis has not been focused on simply one project, as those of some of my classmates I speak with at other organizations. I have had a surprising amount of autonomy in identifying projects, making recommendations, and then receiving support as I put my recommendations into action. One of the larger assignments I have worked on has been investigating the feasibility of CE selling trash liners to customers. Why now? The customers that do work with Chrysalis have been hit hard with cutbacks in the new fiscal year and were in need of another route by which to order necessary supplies. I not only played an integral role in selecting the vendor, but then developed and introduced the new inventory system for the liners.

While this internship might not be the same experience that my classmates are having at Fortune 500 companies, it is the perfect experience for me. Perhaps just what the doctor ordered.

Education Pioneers Day 2

2010-06-15T21:20:00.000-07:00

This summer I will be taking part in the Fellowship Program with Education Pioneers. Education Pioneers links graduate students from various programs with organizations that are seeking to improve this nation’s education system. I have no prior experience working in education and I am looking forward to gaining experience over the summer and deciding if education is the right career path for me. The 10 week program started yesterday with a Foundations Workshop, which was attended by the 42 Education Pioneers L.A. Fellows that will be working on various projects throughout the summer.

For the next 10 weeks I will be working with Value Schools, a charter school operator that manages two charter schools in Los Angeles. I will be working with the CEO of Value Schools to develop a strategic growth plan that will allow Value Schools to add three additional schools to its existing two schools. The first part of the project will involve developing a financial model that will project revenues and expenses and the amount of funds needed from philanthropic sources. During the second part of the project we will identify the locations in Los Angeles with the strongest need for a charter school. Once we identify the target locations we will develop a plan for recruiting students and locate a suitable facility that will support Value Schools’ growth needs. The next 10 weeks will be busy, and I am looking forward to a great learning experience this summer.

Utilizing SMS Technology in India

2010-06-15T11:25:00.000-07:00

As I stepped out of the plane in Hubli, India, I observed the landscape and was pleasantly surprised by the cool breeze and beautiful sunset that greeted me. As we drove through the city I saw the familiar sights of a developing country: large, developed buildings clustered with haphazardly built structures, dogs and cows aimlessly roaming the streets, and the buzz of crowded streets.

Now having spent a week in Hubli, the sights of the city have become more familiar and I am excited to begin my internship and make a change in this community. My project for the summer will be focused on utilizing a mobile based software that connects the HIV/AIDS community with support groups and clinics in the Hubli-Dharwad region in Karnataka. Specifically, my colleagues and I are implementing the SMS Frontline open source software with the Karnataka Health Promotion Trust (KHPT), the funding agency, and with the Bhoruka Charitable Trust (BCT), the implementation agency. Currently, these two agencies are utilizing the software in two of their projects; the first project is specifically working with high risk communities: female sex workers. The software will allow BCT peer educators to send information about this high risk demographic to BCT for reporting through a SMS message. This will eliminate the inefficient paper system that is currently in place and will more accurately report data from this community. The second application, and what I am most excited about, is the use of the software to contact the HIV/AIDS community directly to provide reminders about health checks and testing as well as support group meeting reminders. There is a lot of potential for this software to streamline a lot of the redundancy within the system and to provide a more accurate snapshot of the number of people within the community who are following up on the recommended health checkups, testing, etc.

The two agencies I will be working with, KHPT and BCT, are amazing NGO's that truly support the implementation of this software. My first encounter with KPHT occurred on the first day after arriving to Hubli. We had a site visit to one of the general clinics and we were greeted by members of the community who are affected/infected by HIV/AIDS which included sex workers, children, and foster parents. The gathering took place under a tree in one of the villages and everyone in the community was so warm and willing to speak with us. Subsequent meetings with KHPT and BCT have also been very positive experiences for me. The staff is very passionate and they have been very helpful with arranging site visits to AIDS/HIV clinics so we get a better understanding of the structure and to familiarize ourselves with the current referral system.

We have a lot of work ahead of us and the challenge is an exciting one. Working in a foreign country presents unique challenges as we have to adapt to local customs and tailor our program to the needs of the community. We are fortunate to be working with great NGO's in the community and our support system is very strong with the help of the Deshpande Foundation. It should be an amazing summer and I know that I will learn a great deal- stay tuned!

Crowdsourcing Social Innovation

2010-06-15T08:12:00.001-07:00

Today I find myself immersed in the slow hustle of the urban countryside in Hubli, India. Make no mistake by the description; Hubli is what the staff here refer to as the land of oxymorons. Nestled in the heart of this city, among the three-wheeling taxis, the gratuitous car honkers and the the cow who grazes outside my bedroom window, resides the Deshpande Center for Social Entrepreneurship (DCSE), a modern landscaped building projecting the future of innovation looking to take hold in these humble parts.

Established out of the Deshpande Foundation by serial entrepreneur Gururaj "Desh" Deshpande, the DCSE strives to be the epicenter for social innovation in a region where education, healthcare, agriculture and livelihood are today daily challenges. DCSE trains aspiring social entrepreneurs from Hubli and collaborates with international fellows to marshall in new, localized and sustainable innovations.

I am here as part of a group from USC to bring a new and untested innovation to Deshpande. Our premise is simple: there is so much untapped knowledge in the world from doctors and engineers to science teachers and hobbyists, whose understanding of the world around us, if harnessed collectively, could be used as a force for good to solve some of the world's greatest social challenges. What better way to get people involved in a socially-driven causes than to ask them to donate their ideas rather than their money. We are proposing to crowdsource innovation.

Over the course of the next two months our project with come in two parts. First, working with Deshpande and their network of local NGOs, we intend to identify upwards of eight challenges facing the region. Equipped with a video camera and a microphone, we will document each challenge into a digestible 3-5 minute documentary, providing an overview of the given challenge and the context in which the challenge exists. Each documentary will conclude with a call to action.

The second part of our project begins with our website. Leveraging the help of a crack team of programmers from Bangalore and my trusty O'Reilly guide to PHP, we plan to create the foundation for our crowdsourcing project. Each documentary will be loaded to the website, where users around the world will have the chance to view the challenge and collaborate on a solution using our wiki-style web platform.

Crowdsourcing, in my opinion, represents a new frontier. It's potential has already been demonstrated through Wikipedia, with its more than 15 million articles in 270 languages, as well as in a more recent example initiated by DARPA, in its contest to find 10 red balloons.

The next two months will certainly move quickly, but with a dedicated team and the support of the Deshpande Foundation at our backs, I look forward to the where this ride will take us.

-Jesse

Education Pioneers Fellowship: Day 1

2010-06-14T22:49:00.000-07:00

I believe an MBA can be a powerful tool for impacting a community and affecting change. When I applied to Marshall, I had a pretty clear vision of how I might do this in a way related to a couple of my lifelong passions, including education. Throughout my first year, I took advantage of every opportunity to build the right skill set, develop as a leader, gain relevant experience and start brainstorming feasible business plans.

I had a long term plan, but when it came time to make a decision about my summer plans, I found myself at a loss. I had no idea where to begin. I soon found Education Pioneers, and realized this would be the perfect first step. My summer fellowship will help me make the transition from financial services to education – and eventually to my long term plans - by surrounding me with the right people, the right resources and invaluable opportunities.

Education Pioneers is a national human capital organization founded in 2003 by Scott Morgan. The organization is focused on urban education reform and addresses this issue by building a pipeline of talent from graduate programs such as business, law, education, policy and a variety of other disciplines. Graduate students are recruited as fellows for a 10-week internship which includes weekly workshops in addition to a project with a partner organization such as a school district, charter organization or foundation.

Currently, Education Pioneers operates in seven urban cities. This summer, there are 290 fellows from 111 graduate school programs at 66 universities. I am a proud member of this summer’s Los Angeles cohort, which includes 42 fellows from around the country. We are working with 15 different partner organizations, including LAUSD, PUC Schools, ICEF (Inner City Education Foundation) Public Schools, Teach for America and the Broad Foundation.

I will be working with ICEF Public Schools, a charter management organization which manages 15 charter schools in South Los Angeles. ICEF was founded in 1994 by Michael Piscal in order to transform South LA into an economically vibrant community. My project is to evaluate ICEF’s position within its community in order to recommend a strategic marketing/communication plan.

Today we kicked off the summer with a Foundations workshop for the LA cohort, and tomorrow is my first day at ICEF. Stay tuned!

Jennie

A New Perspective: Chrysalis Enterprises

2010-06-14T19:57:00.000-07:00

“A hand-up as opposed to a hand-out.”
- Mark Loranger, President & CEO of Chrysalis

I look forward to working with an organization that supports people as they help themselves. Chrysalis is not an organization that provides clients with a one time $200 gift card to Ralph’s and expects the clients to do the rest. Chrysalis is an organization that understands the difficulties their clients face living in poverty and getting/maintaining a job, and fundamentally changes the person forever who sticks with the program. Chrysalis Enterprises gets clients back on their feet.

My previous volunteer work included tutoring students living in low-income housing in the Conejo Valley, but the situation of those residents did not seem as dire as that of those living on Skid Row. Despite my thousands of hours of volunteer work over the years, this is the most involved I will be in the day-to-day operations of an organization that has a mission in which I strongly believe. So, why now?

When starting business school, I was confident that my career after would be with some type of nonprofit organization/social enterprise. A few months into my first year, though, surrounded by students who aspire to work for all of the big corporations I had heard of but never thought of working for, I started having second thoughts. I wondered if it would be better for me to go into the private sector immediately following graduation and then after that experience begin working for a nonprofit organization. My previous career was in city government (the public sector), so I do not have any experience in the private sector. I hope to learn a lot about myself and how I want to spend my years after business school through my time with Chrysalis Enterprises.

My responsibilities with the organization are not as clear cut as some of those of my classmates working for large, private corporations. I look forward to the opportunity to grow in many ways, leaving my comfort zone and immersing myself in areas in which I am less familiar. Leaving my comfort zone seems less intimidating when I am doing it for an organization for which I am passionate.

I want to leave you with a brief video about Chrysalis. In explaining the organization I will dedicate 9 weeks of my life to this summer, I found that the following video captured not only what Chrysalis is and does, but the energy with which they do it.

Posted by Molly

Summer of Experience and Growth

2009-10-05T20:18:00.000-07:00

This Summer I worked on something new, extraordinary and exemplary! I had the privilege of being the first Marshall MBA to start a legacy of internships with New Ventures Mexico, in Mexico City. The Society and Business Lab provided me the subsidy which allowed me the opportunity to work on a business plan aimed at the urban poor of Mexico. I was tasked with strategizing the action plan that would congregate urban poor micro-entrepreneurs into a franchise that would provide them economies of scale, health insurance, efficiency business training, and sustainable profits. The best part about the business model was that it was a new frontier in social development. I found that there was some research on “micro-franchising” but not too much evidence of action. This was an amazing opportunity to move the “micro-credit” movement into its logical evolution: Micro-franchising.
New Ventures Mexico was an incredible place to work. They had created a young and fun culture that promoted creativity and innovation in business. They had three main business functions: Las Paginas Verdes, a “green” phone directory, a green social enterprise accelerator, and green consulting. My area was in new projects and development, where new market-based solutions that came from the company could be incubated, not necessarily green.
My experience was unparalleled. The people I worked with welcomed my inquisitive nature and provided me with a series of meetings with top executives that worked with the “bottom of the pyramid” sector. I met with heads of microfinance banks, social housing projects, other accelerators, and government officials. Everyone I interviewed was genuinely interested in our progress and was very enthusiastic about USC’s partnership/interest in Mexico. I found a great sense of community in Mexico City; from the World Bank to the other grad students I interacted with, the network I brought back with me was priceless.
While in Mexico City, I mingled with MBA’s and master’s students from Stanford, John Hopkins, University of Chicago, and Yale. I was so proud to be the person to bring Marshall’s name to the competitive arena of international social enterprise. By sending an MBA every year to intern at New Ventures Mexico and work on a market-based social solution, Marshall is making a name in international social development.

Proving a Basic Business Concept

2009-09-01T07:01:00.000-07:00

What I will remember most about my summer at the Fulfillment Fund was the organization’s willingness to welcome and integrate me fully in its day-to-day. From the moment I got there, I was shown to my own office, with a personal login, email, and set of files that was going to help my summer work. Additionally, throughout the summer, I was brought into meetings at all levels of the organization, including those that weren’t in my summer job “function.” Because of this inclusion, I took a lot of ownership of not only the projects I was working on, but also those that my summer team was completing.

What strikes me about this is how different this felt from most of my experiences at LAUSD. As a public school teacher, I had to fight for my classroom (annually) and didn’t receive an email/login until the third week that school started, and always felt periphery to important events the school was experiencing. Maybe these differences are inconsequential when it really came down to the work I did, but, regardless, it felt different. I felt welcomed, necessary, and included at the Fulfillment Fund. And, although LAUSD and a small education non-profit serve extremely different purposes in the education space, they are not opposites. This summer proved a basic business concept for me: no matter how “good” the work that your organization is doing, if your employees don’t feel taken care of their contribution will ultimately be limited.

Back to School

2009-08-17T23:07:00.000-07:00

Although my internship is coming to an end, a new school year is just about to start at Green Dot! Eighteen schools will welcome new students, families, and teachers over the next few weeks, marking the 10th school year since Green Dot was founded by Steve Barr. This morning, all Green Dot staff and teachers – close to 700 people – gathered downtown to celebrate the successes of the previous years and look forward to the challenges that remain for the students we serve. And perform cheers and step routines to show which Animo has the most spirit (yes, that would be the principals and teachers on stage – not a student in sight).

Even amid funding cuts and political turmoil at all levels, Green Dotters have persisted in thinking strategically about the future of the organization and committing to the success of all students. The goal my project this summer has been to research and identify the key metrics that demonstrate the organization’s progress towards achieving its strategic goals. After several rounds of interviews, workshops, and discussions, we are ready to present a slate of metrics for a management dashboard to the executive leadership a Green Dot.

It’s been a great project for learning how a charter management organization works and how all the moving parts of the mission are demonstrated on a day-to-day basis. Another highlight of the summer was having lunch with the other Education Pioneers interns and Steve Barr. We asked him about his vision for growth, discussions with Arne Duncan (US Secretary of Education, and how the Dodgers are going to make it to the World Series this year.
This internship has been a great professional and personal learning experience for me. I look forward to making my final presentation and wrapping up my work, and keeping in touch with the Dotters I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know this summer.

To get a taste of Green Dot’s work in Los Angeles, check out the SoCal Connected series on Locke High School.

Changing Lives Through Jobs

2009-08-10T11:47:00.001-07:00

My internship this summer is at Chrysalis, a nonprofit devoted to helping homeless and economically disadvantaged individuals transition back into the work force. In these times of economic hardship, when it can be difficult for just about anyone to find a job, Chrysalis provides resources and opportunities for the people facing the biggest challenges in obtaining stable employment. As their CEO states, Chrysalis provides people with “a hand up, not a hand out.” The Chrysalis Program includes interview classes, computer skills training, and access to job postings. Each client meets regularly with an Employment Specialist who tracks their progress.

For the clients who have the most difficulty finding employment, for reasons such as homelessness or felony convictions, there is Chrysalis Enterprises, which serves to provide these clients with work experience they can translate into future career opportunities. Chrysalis Enterprises is comprised of Chrysalis Staffing, essentially an employment agency, and Chrysalis Works, a street cleaning and maintenance service that employs Chrysalis clients. The genius of Chrysalis Enterprises is that, in addition to accomplishing the organization’s mission by providing employment opportunities for those in need, these endeavors earn money for Chrysalis, allowing the non-profit to be self-sustaining to a certain extent.

My internship is in the Chrysalis Enterprises office, located in downtown Los Angeles in the “Skid Row” district. Each morning when I arrive, there is a crowd of people on the sidewalk who have just signed in at the front desk in the hopes of getting work that day. Another great thing about the organization’s strategy is that all the clients and potential clients are there because they want to work hard and turn their lives around; no one is there against his or her will.

When I began the internship, I did as much as I could to understand the workings of the organization. I attended orientations for new Chrysalis clients (I even teared up a bit during a particularly moving orientation video) and clients who had been referred to Chrysalis Enterprises, and sat in on many client interviews. When I was introduced to one new client as “David the Intern,” the client carefully looked me up and down, and then said, “Are you really a doctor?”

Additionally, I had the opportunity to spend a morning with one of the street cleaning crews where I was driven around and shown the areas they cover. Coincidentally, it was the “Figueroa Corridor” area, i.e. the area right around USC, where I spend my time the rest of the year. It was interesting to see the area from a different perspective, and to see how all the sidewalks, alleys, and landscaping are maintained; I had never noticed the Chrysalis crews before, but now I see them every time I drive by campus. The crew members take a great amount of pride in their work and were eager to show me the stark contrast between the areas they maintain and the areas that are not covered under their contract.

I also visited the other two Chrysalis locations: one in Santa Monica and one in Pacoima. While at the Pacoima office, I sat in on interviews with clients for a part-time job collecting recyclables at a nearby university. It was heartbreaking to see how each and every one of those clients just wanted to work and was willing to pick up hours wherever they could; I was rooting for each and every one of them to get the position.

Most of the work I have done thus far involves Chrysalis Works; my first major project was to tackle the problem of the record-keeping and customer reporting system. The system in place was that supervisors of the street-cleaning crews would write down the data each day (e.g. how many trash bags were picked up, where graffiti was removed, any bulk items that were picked up, etc.), and one of two people would enter the data on an Excel spreadsheet. At the end of the month, the data would be copied onto one of a variety of report templates and sent to the customer.

My assignment was to fix this system using FileMaker Pro, which I had used years ago when I worked at the Shoah Foundation. I took a few weeks to build a system into which the data could be entered in a standardized format in a location that all employees could access. I had to create a screen where all the necessary data could be entered in a way that it could be pulled onto a singular report for the customer. The next step was to create the report templates within FileMaker, so that once that data was in the system, creating the report for the customer was as easy as selecting the report from a drop-down menu.

We tested this system using the data from June, and sent FileMaker-generated reports to all of Chrysalis Works’ customers, who responded positively to the new format.

Another project I worked on was the thorough analysis of client data. Most of the data on individual clients is collected in the payroll system, but unfortunately, there is not one cohesive report that displays information on things such as average hours worked, number of months employed, hours worked per employee per year, etc. Information such as this is extremely important for judging the efficacy of the program and determining where improvement is needed.

We determined that the vast majority of Chrysalis Works clients work either fewer than 10 hours a week, or more than 30 hours a week; very few people fall in between those categories. Additionally, we discovered that, during the time period we examined, the clients who work the most hours are usually the ones who have been there the longest; there is extremely high turnover among the clients working few hours. The next step is to determine a way to track clients, so that we know what happens to them when they leave the Chrysalis program (e.g. Did they find outside employment? Are they back on the streets?, etc.)

I also had a chance to put my development skills to use, running a training session for the development department on the software The Raiser’s Edge. I had the opportunity to show them a lot of the features I’d used at a prior job, The Guardians of the Jewish Home for the Aging.

As the internship continues, I look forward to learning more about and contributing more to this organization.

One more month and the learning begins...(newly edited to include link to a picture blog)

2009-08-09T22:17:00.000-07:00

So...a lot has been accomplished since the last time I blogged about my summer internship at Pacific Charter School Development(PCSD). School officially opens on September 2, 2009. Thinking back to my first couple of days at PCSD, I can't believe the progress that has been made in 9 weeks. When I first visited the school site, our contractors were just putting up the framing, the outside of the building had barely been started, and you certainly were advised to wear a hard hat as you walked the building. Today, we're expecting furniture move in less than a week from now, the classrooms look like well...classrooms, and the exterior of the building highlights the promise of a new school.

Of course, the last month and a half has not been without its challenges. As anyone that has worked in project management for a real state developer knows, much of your job is tackling new issues that seemingly pop up all the time. Many of these issues deal with getting city approvals, permits, and inspections in time for the school opening. With the help of countless numbers of people these issues have been navigated and at this moment things look promising leading up until the opening. The amount of moving parts on a project can be overwhelming at times. I've learned how vitally important it is to remain organized, cool-headed, and diligent as you work through the various issues that invariably come up. What makes development of a school so difficult is the tight development timelines that exist because school starts on a particular day. Unlike residential real estate development, which I had experience with in the past, delays in construction are not as easily dealt with. If the school is not ready to be opened, 100s of kids will be left in the cold. It's this unique pressure that is both exciting and a little stressful as issues come up and then are resolved. It's a delicate balancing act that project managers for these developments must do. I've been fortunate to work at an organization that handles this as well as any.

The job of a project manager is not done once the building is finished and the students move in either. An additional project I've been working on this summer is helping to compile the documents needed to obtain certificate of occupancy(CO) for two schools that are already open. There are a countless number of conditions that are put on developments that must be satisfied before CO can be obtained. Again, the number of moving parts can become overwhelming if you don't stay organized. With the help of officials from the city, contractors that have worked on the project, architects that have drawn up the plans, and everybody else involved with the project, I'm confident we'll be able to obtain CO in the near future.

As my internship winds down, I've not only gained a new appreciation for project managers but I've also reignited my interest in real estate development. After working on the project management side of development this summer, I'll have seen a substantial part of the development process. From land acquisition, my prior experience at KB Home, to project management at PCSD, I now have a fuller understanding of what it takes to be successful at development.

My last blog post will recap my whole summer and hopefully tell the story of how a finished school is ready to become a place where the possibilities are endless.

Edit: For those of you that would like to see the pictures from the months long construction process...go to to this link. New Green Dot School

A summer worth remembering…

2009-08-08T18:23:00.001-07:00

Time flies. Really, it does. Yesterday, I realized that I had just few more weeks to go before my summer comes to an end. I have gotten so used to my colleagues that it seems that I've been with them much longer than 2 months. My work here at Families In Schools (FIS) was to conduct a technology assessment to analyze how technology can be leveraged to get work done more efficiently. My technology assessment work led me into the core strategic planning team where I soon got involved in an organizational self-assessment initiative, where FIS as an organization is evaluating how they are moving towards their mission. We are using the renowned Drucker Foundation's Self-assessment Tool for Nonprofits. As the project progressed, I got interested in the fund raising process and when I expressed my interest in learning more about it, I was immediately involved in one of the grant proposal processes. I also had the opportunity to attend several of the FIS' programs. Not only was I exposed to mission critical projects but I also had the opportunity to work with a lot of interesting people.

The other amazing part of my summer was the Education Pioneers experience. Education Pioneers is the non-profit organization responsible for my placement at FIS. Education Pioneers' mission is "to train, connect, and inspire a new generation of education leaders dedicated to transforming our educational system so that all students receive a quality education". A cohort of around 40 graduate students from top schools from fields like business, education, policy and law work on mission critical projects at different education related organizations in several cities across the country. I realized that I had never met a group of such passionate and intelligent people before. We discussed everything from the current education issues faced by Los Angeles to national education issues to moral issues. We had several interesting workshops and numerous other resources available to us. We were exposed to each other's projects and had the opportunity to meet distinguished speakers. The whole process was an incredible learning experience for me.

At the start of summer, I had accepted this internship with a little bit of hesitancy. But now I can confidently say that it was a great decision. Frankly, I've had so much fun that I don't even want to go back to school now. Yes, this definitely is a summer worth remembering…

A Non-Profit Complexity

2009-07-25T23:31:00.000-07:00

Throughout the last few weeks, I have been sensing a struggle that the Fulfillment Fund is dealing with: should the organization serve where the need is the greatest or where the “returns on investment” are highest? If this were a for-profit entity, there would be much less confusion. One of the benefits to for-profit management seems to be that many of the organizational questions can be solved with analyzing how they affect the value of the company. It is not this straightforward in not-for-profit organizations.

Take the Fulfillment Fund for instance. According to its publications, the purpose of the organization is to mentor, counsel and guide disadvantaged high school students to achieve a college education. To fulfill this mission, the organization should operate in the schools that have very limited access to college preparatory programs and services. Unfortunately, however this provides many roadblocks for the organization. The schools that may have the greatest need in Los Angeles may also be the most difficult to access and partner with, and thus the services are less effective. With less effective services, the organization risks not being able to communicate its impact to supporters and potential donors. If I were studying this organization as a for-profit company in my strategy class, the “right” path would be clear-cut: operate only in markets where its services are effective and profitable. If a non-profit takes this approach, is it running the risk of not fulfilling its mission? I am curious as to have a non-profit determines the appropriate scope for its services, ensuring both that it is fulfilling its mission and maximizing its return.

Mexico the Green!

2009-07-15T15:15:00.000-07:00

I’m at my summer internship at New Ventures Mexico, I just finished drinking a container of freshly squeezed orange juice…. and I panic! There are 5 recycle bins to choose from and I can only tell what they mean by their pictures! Which one: organic compostable, organic non-compostable, or something that looks like cell phones? Lucky for me this time, the container in my hand matched the picture on the bin, and I was able to successfully recycle….whew! My office just exemplifies the power and increased activity of the green movement in Mexico!

I have been in Mexico City for one month now working as an MBA intern for New Ventures Mexico, which is multi-faceted non-profit that among other areas focuses on green solutions via accelerating new businesses. I have become more aware of my ecological surroundings since working here, but mostly I am impressed by the conscious effort to better the environment that is evident everywhere in Mexico City. Almost all the public trash bins have an option for organic versus inorganic. New Ventures helped incubate a bicycle company that offers renting of bikes for free just to cut down on car traffic.

The CSR growth in Mexico is on fire! A few weeks ago, I attended a gathering of the local professional chapter of Net Impact. Featured speakers included Epok a CSR consulting firm, and their client Cenepolis, a cinema company. In the room was an audience varying from Wal-Mart and Prudential to Fundacion de Ethos, a new thinktank. All that attended were keenly interested in how to advance CSR movements in their organizations. When Epok finished their methodology talk, Cenepolis discussed the success of their vision repair program; giving ocular medical attention to the needy. http://www.cinepoliscorporativo.com.mx/

I was amazed how the bulk of this movement is not only starting but is really exciting to the professionals of Mexico. I had to think a bit why Mexico is trying so hard to be green, to add CSR, when in the states it seems we are cutting the budgets of those departments and tightening our belts. I thought of the image I had of Mexico before I left for my internship: negative, scary, dirty, dangerous, and possibly backwards. I could not have been more wrong. I truly believe that the society of Mexico, led by their businesses, are striving to achieve the extra mile in the green movement and in CSR to prove wrong the international negative hype!

If You Build it They Will Learn

2009-07-08T14:36:00.000-07:00

This summer I am working for Pacific Charter School Development (PCSD) through a fellowship with Education Pioneers. The Education Pioneers fellowship program extends nationwide to cities such as New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles among others. I was fortunate enough to receive an offer to be a fellow in the Los Angeles cohort. As a fellow, I was matched up with an Education Pioneers corporate partner, which turned out to be PCSD. My background in real estate development and interning a number of summers in the Chicago Public School system has made the PCSD match a great marriage of my past work experiences. PCSD is a non-profit real estate developer that builds and manages high quality charter schools. In Los Angeles, PCSD mainly works with charter management organizations (CMO) that include KIPP, Green Dot, PUC, Alliance, ICEF, and Aspire.

As an intern with PCSD, I have been working with a project manager that manages construction for Green Dot Charter Schools. We are currently working on a high school that will seat 560 students in South Central Los Angeles. The school is scheduled to open this September, 2009. The school site is adjacent to the 70 acre Earvin "Magic" Johnson Recreation Area in South Central Los Angeles. The permanent home to Green Dot’s Animo Watts II, the school overlooks the pond situated in the park.

Thus far my job has consisted of a number of tasks that are essential in terms of ensuring the school starts on time. This is of even greater importance for charter schools as their funding is reliant on having the schools open by a certain date. Up to this point, I’ve worked on invoices and budgeting, helping to get approved street light improvement plans to Edison utilities, and drafting a request for architectural qualifications from firms that are interested in building schools for PCSD. I’ve also had the chance to sit in on weekly on-site construction meetings related to the Green Dot School we’re building. Although I’ve only been at PCSD for a few weeks, I’ve already learned a great deal about being a project manager for the organization. It takes a lot of hard work and perseverance to shepherd a project from its beginning acquisition phase to the actual build out of the school. As the summer moves ahead, I’m looking forward to helping create a school that will be a great home to almost 600 students. There are only a few months to go until I hopefully get the opportunity to celebrate in the unveiling. As the summer moves forward, I’ll blog a couple more times to keep everyone up-to-date on the progress. That way, anyone reading can follow the accomplishments that lead up to building great schools for urban children.

Social Media for Non-profits

2009-07-08T09:56:00.001-07:00

Social Media is a new concept for a lot of people and I have been meaning to write a primer on Social Media for a long time but never got around to it. There was so much available on the internet about Social Media that it didn’t make sense for me to write another blog. But Social Media for non-profits is another thing. There is a large amount of information available, but most of it is fragmented, so I decided that writing about Social Media for non-profits would be a worthwhile effort.

So, what does Web 2.0 & Social Media mean?

"Web 2.0" refers to what is perceived as a second generation of web development and web design. It is characterized as facilitating communication, information sharing, interoperability, user-centered design and collaboration on the World Wide Web. It has led to the development and evolution of web-based communities, hosted services, and web applications. Examples include social-networking sites, video-sharing sites, wikis, blogs, mashups and folksonomies. [i]

"Social media" is using the Internet to instantly collaborate, share information, and have a conversation about ideas, causes, and organizations we care about powered by social media tools. [ii]

Social media is about reaching to a group of people with common ideas as opposed to the traditional media (television, newspapers) which was created to reach a large audience, for instance, a nation. It is important to understand that social media is powered by the internet is not controlled by any one individual or organization. And most importantly, all social media strategies are driven by the needs of your audience and not by the needs of your organization, so the most important social media strategy is to LISTEN to your audience!

So, the next question is: what are these “social media tools” mentioned in the definition?

Since there many social media tools out there, I will just focus on the ones which will be and have been useful for non-profits: [iii]

· Blogs: Blogger, TypePad, WordPress
· Micro-Blogs: Twitter
· Social Networking: Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn
· Social Bookmarking: Delicious, StumbleUpon, Digg, Reddit
· Photo Sharing: Picasa, Flickr, Photobucket
· Audio/Video Sharing: YouTube

The next logical question is: what can these tools do for you?

These tools can be used for a variety of things, most important being:
· Marketing
· Brand Building
· Networking
· Fund Raising
· Driving traffic to your website
· Humanizing your communications
· Listen to what your target audience wants
· Recruiting

In my subsequent blogs, I’ll get more into implementation and will also post some non-profit social media success stories. And before I end this post, I want to leave you with some food for thought:

Should you really care?

· In 2007, total online giving in the US has reached over $10 billion – a 52% increase over 2006 [iv]
· 73% of active online users have read a blog. 57% have joined a social network. 55% have uploaded photos. 22% have uploaded videos. [v]
· In 2005, 8% of all adults online had a profile on social networking site, as of Jan 2009, the number is 35%. [vi]
· Barack Obama is on Facebook, Twitter & MySpace J. Check out his website for more: http://www.barackobama.com/.

[i] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2#Definition

[ii] http://www.wearemedia.org/Strategy+Track+Module+1

[iii] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media

[iv] Convio, The Wired Wealthy, March 2008

[v] Universal McCann Comparative Study on Social Media Trends, March 2008

[vi] http://www.pewinternet.org , http://www.comscore.com/ (statistics are for US, unless specified)

Anil is an Education Pioneers Fellow and interning @ Families In Schools (Summer 2009).

Summer School Begins

2009-07-07T23:35:00.000-07:00

From behind the fences of the football field, I cheered with fellow Green Dot staff, proud parents, and rambunctious teenagers as we all watched the largest class of graduates in recent memory receive diplomas at Locke High School’s main campus in Watts.

This was the first class to graduate since Green Dot Public Schools took over management of the school one year ago, and, while there’s a world of work to be done, the school has shown meaningful progress. Progress that includes a jump of 20% in the size of the graduating class and a leap in number of students going on to college this fall.

I’m not a classroom teacher. Not an assistant principal or counselor. But, through the Education Pioneers summer fellowship, I’m part of the Green Dot home office team that serves to support the schools in creating successful learning communities for students. With one year of Marshall MBA training behind me, I’ve jumped onto a project this summer in the strategic planning department to develop a management dashboard for the organization. I’m so excited to be working on this project and getting to know the people at Green Dot who have worked so hard to enable the success of high students all over Los Angeles. Additionally, it’s been great to connect with other graduate students from all over the country working in public education reform in our Education Pioneers cohort.

Finally, I have to thank the Society and Business Lab and Career Resource Center at USC Marshall for making this experience possible for me with the Non-Profit Summer Internship Subsidy Program. The leadership and support of our colleagues there – Pete Giulioni, Adlai Wertman, Abby Fifer Mandell, and Janice Nishiyama – have created a new avenue for students to apply business skills to impact our communities.

I’m looking forward to my second visit to Locke High School, even though there may be less cheering early in the morning on the first day of summer school.

Kelly

First Day Musings

2009-07-07T17:22:00.000-07:00

As I begin my summer internship tomorrow at the Fulfillment Fund, I am struck by how this experience is going to differ from my “day job” as a high school English teacher. Although I am in business school and working to move into a career in non-profit, all of my professional experience has been on an LAUSD high school campus, run by bells. This summer experience will not only provide a way for me to apply what I am learning in Cost Accounting or Strategy, but will also transition me from a very specific working environment to a more traditional one. I wonder what it will be like to be able to use the restroom freely or to make it through a day without the mind-numbing fire alarm going off. Will these changes make me work more productively or will I miss the quirky environment of a school?

I also wonder what it will be like to take another step behind the curtain. When I was studying to become a teacher, I was struck by how much thought and time was put into activities that, as a student, I saw as effortless. Now as a teacher, I tend not to think of the programs that are designed and run off-campus. As I work with one of these programs this summer, I wonder how my attitude will change yet again.

Lastly, I am curious as to how I will be received in my new working environment. I occupy two seemingly opposite positions in life: high school English teacher and business school student. I wonder which the Fulfillment Fund will see me as. Additionally, I wonder whether I will be able to use this experience to merge these two parts of me. I am hoping I can.