For my third year residency of my Doctor of Education Leadership (EdLD) program, I willbe working with OUSD as Special Assistant to the Office of the Chief of Staff.

The Coordinator of Stakeholder Engagement and Family Recruitment enhances and is responsible for the research, implementation, and continuous improvement of stakeholder (staff, family and community) engagement strategies, and leads family recruitment and retention efforts for the Pittsburgh School District. This role also provides effective and centralized project management for the priorities of the Office of Communications and Marketing. This leadership position is responsible for engaging and serving as a connector for all internal and external Pittsburgh Public Schools (PPS) stakeholders by building, nurturing and maintaining strategic relationships, and strategically and effectively planning, implementing, and campaigning around the District’s commitment to family recruitment and retention.

The Coordinator, Family, Youth and Community Engagement is responsible for enhancing and leading implementation of the family, youth and community engagement strategy for the Pittsburgh School District, and will provide effective and centralized project management of Office of the Superintendent strategic priorities. This leadership position is responsible for strategically and effectively planning, implementing, and campaigning around the district’s commitment to family, youth and community engagement with internal and external Pittsburgh Public Schools (PPS) stakeholders, including families, students, school staff, administrators, partners, and community members to ultimately raise student achievement.

The Director of Program Development and Community Engagement reports to the President and CEO, and is responsible for implementing programs and services consistent with Homewood Children’s Village (HCV) mission, as well as overseeing all community engagement efforts. In this position, I serve as the lead Director of the organization, creating synergy between all departments/Offices and all programs. I also double as the Director of the Office of Child and Community Health. In this position, I lead a team responsible for running various programs that benefit the youth and the community that we serve. Overall, I am responsible for the management and goal setting for multiple projects and programs. I serve as a team lead in both Director positions and ensure desired project outcomes. This position requires exemplary organizational management skills, strong fiscal acumen and budget preparation experience. Furthermore, it requires the ability to secure significant funds through diverse sources and the ability to manage and mobilize people and tasks with the purpose to achieve intended results.

As a member of the Storm Mitigation and Resilience Office, under the direction of the Chief Operating Officer, I managed over 30 federally funded Hurricane Sandy related projects totaling more than $300 Million. I worked directly with FEMA, NY State Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services, and NJ State Office of Emergency Management to ensure that the five (5) NYC Metropolitan area airports owned by PANYNJ are repaired, operational, and prepared for future storms via infrastructure upgrades. Grant Management duties included stewardship of public funds, tracking grants, developing internal reports for senior staff and the Aviation department, Quarterly reports for NY and NJ State, maintaining records and audit files, and working with Airport staff to ensure each project is meeting proposal conditions, schedule and budget. The position required experience in solving complex logistical issues involved in project management, developing funding strategies when multiple funding sources are available, interpreting contracts, multi-year budgeting, building and maintaining relationships, and staying flexible while handling multiple tasks.

This was a Mobility Assignment with the Lower Manhattan Development Corportation:I was responsible for management of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) grant funded projects for Community and Cultural Organizations located in the Lower Manhattan area of New York. Duties included developing strategies for successful project implementation, negotiating and assisting in the drafting of subrecipient agreements and consultant contracts, managing executed agreements with subrecipients, consultants and vendors, monitoring project progress and compliance with HUD requirements (i.e., procurement, labor practices, environmental review, minority and women’s subcontracting, and workforce diversity), reviewing requests for reimbursement submitted by subrecipients and/or consultants, and meeting with State, City and private agencies to negotiate project terms, costs and budgets for various public and private projects.

August 2009 - As a senior member of the Grants Oversight and Regional Funding Division, I was responsible for ensuring federal compliance for the over 125 active grants awarded to the Port Authority from 13 different federal agencies, totaling more than $3.5 billion. Other duties include maintaining the company-wide grants database and providing monthly variance reports and memos to senior staff and serving as the liaison between the Management and Budget Department and all revenue producing units of the Port Authority. I have also instructed training courses for grant managers and administrators.October 2007 - As a junior member of the Management and Budget Department, Aviation Division, I performed ongoing strategic analyses and research in the aviation industry as well as the overall transportation industry. This included a monthly variance analysis for the five airports controlled by the Port Authority in the Metropolitan New York City area. These five airports produce approximately $2 billion in annual revenue. My budgeting responsibilities included establishing a three-year budget for forecasted revenues, operating expenses and capital projects, and financial modeling for a ten-year capital plan including projects funded by revenue from various bonds, grants, and fees from clients and consumers.

Elected to a two-year term. Duties included interpreting the Bylaws at any meeting of the Executive Board, Council of Presidents, serve as a resource on proper parliamentary procedure at any meeting of the Executive Board, Council of Presidents, serve as a resource to NULYP Chapters in developing bylaws and other policies and procedures for the governance of ULYP Chapters.

Elected to a two-year term as the Eastern Region Vice President on the executive board of the National Urban League Young Professionals (NULYP). In this position, I was charged with providing leadership to 16 chapters in 10 states throughout the Northeastern Corridor of the United States. I successfully re-created the National Civic Engagement Guide, a guideline explaining allowable civic activities for non-profit organizations, which was distributed nationwide to NULYP chapters.