GovLove - A Podcast About Local Government

How relief funds are being spent. Michael Hotard, Director of Operations at CivicPulse, and Kevin Kearney, City Manager of the City of Bradbury, California, joined the podcast to talk about COVID-19 relief funding for local government. They discussed the key findings of CivicPulse's survey on past and future COVID-19 relief spending. They also shared how local governments can use these results in...

The Land Bank Dollar Sale. Brian Platt, City Manager for the City of Kansas City, Missouri, joined the podcast to talk about the Land Bank Dollar Sale. He shared other creative things the City is doing to expand housing options for the unhoused community. Brian discussed starting a new Housing Department within the City. He also shared lessons learned while working with the unhoused community and...

Redressing institutional racism and redlining. Nicholas Cummings, Corporation Counsel for the City of Evanston, Illinois, joined the podcast to talk about the new program approved last month to address the historic impacts of housing discrimination. He shared the details of the program and the City's Local Reparations Fund. Nicholas also discussed the legal limits of reparations programs in local...

The impacts of the Federal funding. Ryan Gallant, CEO & Founder of SLATE Research & Consulting, joined the podcast to dive deep on the American Rescue Plan Act and answer questions about how it will impact local government. He discussed what the funding could be used for and how it differs from the CARES Act funding. He also makes the case for using ARPA funding for IT needs and digitizing service...

Power to the public. Two guests join the podcast to talk about their new book, Power to the Public: The Promise of Public Interest Technology . Tara Dawson McGuinness, Fellow at New America and Founder of the New Practice Lab, and Hana Schank, Director of Strategy for Public Interest Technology at New America, explain the process of writing their book and explain public interest technology. They s...

Leadership lessons. Tanisha Briley, the City Manager of the City of Gaithersburg, Maryland, joined the podcast to talk about her first 100 days on the job. She shared how she prioritized her time and focus as well as how she approached change management in a high performing organization. Tanisha talked about what it was like to take over a leadership position virtually during the COVID-19 pandemic...

Permitting and inspections. John (JC) Hudgison, the Chief Building Official and Construction Services Center Manager for the City of Tampa, Florida, joined the podcast to talk about development services. He discussed the work of a Chief Building Official in enforcing the building code and working to provide good customer service. He also shared what it was like to transition to a new job during th...

Spending stimulus dollars responsibly. Chris Fabian, the CEO and Co-Founder of ResourceX, joined the podcast to talk about the funding for local governments within the recently passed federal stimulus package, the American Rescue Plan Act. He shared best practices for local governments to spend and allocate the stimulus funds along with how to distribute the money equitability. He also gave guidan...

Late night in Tigard. Kent Wyatt, Communications Director for the City of Tigard, Oregon, joined the podcast to talk about the City's creative approach to the annual State of the City address. He discussed how to make the State of the City more authentic and relatable to members of the public, the importance of partnering with a community media center to produce a video, and where to find inspirat...

Elections administration. Brianna Lennon, County Clerk for Boone County, Missouri and Co-Host of High Turnout Wide Margins , joined the podcast to talk about the work of County Clerks and what it takes to administer elections. She shared how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted elections, the experience of running the 2020 election, and engaging with the public. She also discussed her career path and ho...

Move carefully and fix things. Cyd Harrell joined the podcast to talk about her new book, A Civic Technologist's Practice Guide . She shared her perspective on working in civic technology as a volunteer and as part of the Federal Government for 18F. She discussed lessons for government and civic technologists as well as the importance of user research. Host: Kirsten Wyatt

Driving culture and the pandemic one year later. Raymond Gonzales, County Manager at Adams County, Colorado, joined the podcast to talk about changing the culture in Adams County. He outlined how he scrapped the traditional Human Resources Department and implemented a People & Culture Services Department. Raymond also reflected and detailed the County's response to COVID-19. He shared what changes...

Sustaining Hoosier Communities. Two guests join the podcast to talk about the Educational Partnerships for Innovation in Communities – Network (EPIC-N) . Jane Rogan, Director of Sustaining Hoosier Communities at Indiana University, and Barry Jeskewich, former Parks and Recreation Director at the City of Bedford, Indiana, discussed how the university and local government worked together to serve co...

Recognizing trafficking. Two guests join the podcast to talk about how local government staff can be part of the effort to eliminate human trafficking. Margaret Henderson, Director of the Public Intersection Project at the UNC School of Government, and Angela Sowers, Environmental Health Specialist at Orange County, North Carolina, discussed the signs of trafficking and how local governments can p...

Possibility government. Mitchell Weiss, Professor of Management Practice at Harvard Business School, joined the podcast to talk about his new book We the Possibility . He discusses how bringing entrepreneurship into government can help solve complex problems and improve services. He also shared how public entrepreneurship is different than starting a pilot program.  Host: Kirsten Wyatt

Mentors matter. Marlon Brown, City Manager for the City of Sarasota, joined the podcast to discuss his career path, including his recent transition from Deputy City Manager to City Manager. He talked about working with the City Commission and his plans for his first few months in his new role. He also shared the importance of finding a mentor and how the City has responded to the COVID-19 pandemic...

A new way to solve problems. Salimah Samji, the Director of Building State Capability at the Harvard Kennedy School, joined the podcast to talk about a step by step process that allows for flexible learning and adaptation called Problem Driven Iterative Adaptation (PDIA) . She shared how this process allows stakeholders to determine what the problems are rather than outsiders. Salimah also discuss...

The electric revolution. Kevin Miller, the Director of Public Policy for ChargePoint, joined the podcast to talk about electric vehicles and the infrastructure to support them. He shared how electric vehicles and charging stations can be integrated into the built environment. Kevin also discussed how cities can support the adoption of electric vehicles such as by making changes to building codes....

Mesa Cares. Two guests joined the podcast to talk about supporting entrepreneurship and economic development using an online tool and technical assistance. Jay O'Donnell, Assistant Economic Development Director for the City of Mesa, Arizona, and Jenny Poon, Founder & CEO of CO+HOOTS, discussed how the City worked with CO+HOOTS to support small businesses. Jaye shared what the City was looking for...

Maintaining equity during a pandemic. Two guests joined the podcast to talk about how they promote equity during the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Farris Muhammad, Director of Equity and Inclusion for the City of Lawrence, Kansas, and Ruaa Hassaballa, COVID Testing Equity Project Manager for Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health, shared how the partnership between the City and Public Health Department ha...

Learning about public administration. Three undergraduate students from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Faiza Mawani, Mary Gilmore, & Kyle Adams, joined the podcast to discuss what they learned from a class about public administration. The students shared their notions of the profession before and after the class. Each guest highlighted their favorite GovLove episode and how it helped for...

Teaching local government. Dr. Peter Jones, Assistant Professor at the University of Alabama-Birmingham, joined the podcast to talk about his classes teaching students about public service careers. He discussed how he teaches students about different government government careers and ways to be a public servant. He also shared what students are interested in and might be helpful in recruiting and...

Celebrating public service. Catie Miller, Strategic Communications Manager for the General Services Administration, joins the podcast to discuss the Federal agency's #GovLove campaign to highlight success stories in government. She shared the types of successes they are highlighting and how other organizations can participate. She also talked about the work of the Office of Shared Solutions & Perf...

Consult early and consult often. Claire Elizabeth Williams, CEO & Co-Founder of Foundations for Social Change, joins the podcast to discuss the New Leaf Project . She outlined how the New Leaf Project distributed a direct cash payment of $7,500 (CAD) to 50 recipients who recently became homeless in Vancouver, British Columbia. Claire shared the results of the project as well as lessons learned and...

Pizza, beer, & public input. Kevin Lyons, CEO & Co-Founder of FlashVote, joins the podcast to discuss community engagement. He highlights common mistakes made with various types of communication channels as well as mistakes organizations make in town halls, social media, online forums, and surveys. Kevin also shares with resources to improve community engagement. Host: Alyssa Dinberg