Nov 26, 2019
(One of) the most wonderful time(s) of the year: fellowship season!
Applications for our summer and yearlong fellowships went live last week. In the spirit of exploring and improving our own internal processes, we hosted the “version 2” of our Fellowship Open House. The evening is an informal opportunity to hear about our team, learn from alumni what it’s like to be a fellow, and find out about other ways to get connected with the City of Boston.
We’re excited to share notes from last week’s Alumni Panel. We hope you’ll be inspired to take a look at the summer fellowship application or the yearlong fellowship application to see if either position sounds right for you.
Many thanks to our new Technologist for the Public Realm, Nayeli, and our current Yearlong Fellow, Yifan, for making this post possible.
November 20, 2019 | Alumni Panel Q&A
Who are you and where are you now? What was your project when you were a fellow and what did you bring to it?
Kim Lucas (Summer 2015), current Open Data Manager with DoIT
Project: Boston Saves (children’s savings accounts)
I brought: My academic training to sit back, observe, and absorb to figure out how all of the puzzle pieces fit together
Alex Lawrence (Summer 2013), current Chief of Staff with DoIT
Project: How to get municipal departments to collaborate beyond best practices? How do we create shared standards around creating technology and sharing resources?
I brought: A background in nonprofit and knowledge of how to get departments to move forward in a bureaucracy
Kris Carter (Summer 2010 / Yearlong 2011), current Co-Chair of MONUM
Projects: (1) Defining Boston’s innovation district and (2) addressing chronic absenteeism in BPS
I brought: Storytelling abilities and blogging/website design
Joe Christo (Summer 2017), current Senior Planner for Resilience at BPDA
Project: Bank on Boston, creating access and pathways to non-predatory financial services for unbanked residents
I brought: Catalytic energy from being involved in small projects with multiple stakeholders
Karti Subramanian (Summer 2016), currently with the MBTA digital team
Project: Defining Boston’s “Smart City policy”
I brought: A willingness and ability to call something nonsense
Micah Epstein (Summer 2019), currently intern at Continuum
Project: Thinking about updates to the 311 system, aligning current stakeholders and new iterations of UI/UX
I brought: Enthusiasm and curiosity.
Justin Brazier (Summer 2019), returned to same architecture firm from before the fellowship, also applying to grad school
Project: Reclaiming streets for people and taking back areas in the city dedicated to cars to create pop-up plazas and prototype new street design scenarios
I brought: An architecture background, community work experience, and sheer will to get things done
(How) did your fellowship change the way you think about cities?
Micah: I realized how much work needs to be done in cities, and how dedicated people are doing to that work. There are a lot of opportunities to do great things.
Alex: Is making structural change within organizations actually possible? Yes. If there is political will and desire to get things done, you can make real change. Those changes are hard but possible.
Joe: Coming from a disaster recovery environment and going back to grad school, coming into MONUM was an important transition to remind me that even if something is an important and critical subject (e.g., economic development, homelessness) the response can still be delightful and whimsical, and in fact this can help the engagement process.
Kim: As a teacher and professor, the MONUM fellowship helped remind me of the humanity of coworkers and fellow members of society and remembering this is a requirement to get things done. Remember that “society” means the humans that you live and work with everyday.
Kris: I understood the interconnectedness of all the things that happen in City Hall. MONUM has a unique vantage point of how all the people and projects that are currently happening in the building connect to each other, and one of our important functions is to draw those connections for people who don’t see them for themselves but do have the desire to make those connections meaningful.
How did you leverage your resources in MONUM and the fellowship cohort to make your project happen?
Justin: We very quickly learned of each other’s skills. We bounced ideas off each other, exchanged poster design ideas, tested each other’s surveys, and engaged with each other before we took our ideas outside of city hall.
Micah: You have to be scrappy, you have access to resources but there aren’t huge pots of money to be spent so you have to know how to get people excited about your project, be a self-starter and know how to rope others into your team. Part of doing that is listening which is an important way of getting people involved in your work.
Kris: Each project has a champion in the MONUM team and the partner department (if there is one) who are aware of the challenges and can offer guidance and support.
Alex: Sometimes random things get thrown at the group which can be great. Once a company sent us out to do surveys of the taxi drivers around City Hall. Another time, the fellows participated in a brainstorm about what a [Boston] Marathon memorial could be. There are core projects but also side projects that come about because the fellows are a great group with whom people can test ideas.
What is the extent to which you bring projects to a more collaborative level of engagement versus citizens coming up with solutions and being given the authority to execute them?
Kim: Every aspect of the Boston Saves program was derived from families in the city, everything from the name, the colors, the brand and how the program was structured and its components came from families who were entering the program as part of its pilot.
Micah: It’s often on you to find the resources and get out into the community if you feel that is crucial to the project’s success. That applies to both engagement and participation with groups outside of City Hall and to interdepartmental collaboration. It’s encouraged, and also requires you to take initiative.
To what extent are projects reactive to social climate or existing problems versus visionary planning for the future?
Joe: I managed projects in both buckets: Bank on Boston was inspired by existing programs in other cities that needed an office to own that program, so it was a bit reactive. I also worked on Streetcaster, which was about proactively planning for equitable infrastructure and got attention for taking the step for how to plan ahead for infrastructure.
Karti: There is an existing problem space, but you get to shape the outcome proactively. The MONUM team doesn’t know the answer, and it’s up to you to find it and you actually have the chance to shape city policy and initiatives.
Kris: There are some projects that have both characteristics, and some projects that are much more in one scope than the other. Both sides of that question are important as a city.
Other ways to stay engaged:
- DoIT fellowships will open(hopefully!) as of Dec. 1, 2019. Info on Analytics fellowships will live here.
- The MBTA is hiring a UX designer
- Join a board or commission
- Join the Mayor’s Mentoring Movement
- Read a plan and see how to participate (GoBoston 2030, Climate Action Plan, etc)
- Help out with the 2020 Census in Boston
- Be a (paid!) census canvasser, or encourage someone in your community!
- Come to MONUM 10-year anniversary events: we’ll be announcing these over the coming months!
- Collaborate through university and other educational projects: email newurbanmechanics@boston.gov
