Blog

Talking CivicTech in St. Louis

What are the values of your civic technology project? I joined GlobalHack, and some civic philanthropists in St. Louis, Missouri, to talk about how to ensure your civic tech project is is the right project for your community, and the value well designed projects can bring to a community. 

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Appointed Borough Administrator in Leonia

On November 20th 2017, the Mayor and Council of the Borough of Leonia unanimously approved of my appointment as Borough Administrator, to begin on December 7th.  [Sorry not sorry this is long/sentimental] Six years ago I got the unbelievable chance to show that young people or those outside of party machines or those who didn’t care about being re-elected or those who didn’t watch a show like West Wing, but studied it, could not just get elected to public office, but could do and support others in doing amazing work. In South Orange we did this - we stabilized property taxes and raised new revenues while cutting costs and better supporting our workforce, we supported a diverse, community-oriented police department which significantly reduced crime, did more (and better, more equitable and more sustainable) redevelopment, better supported our diverse culture and arts, all while being more transparent with everything we do and more-so partnered with our community members.

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Perspectives on Pathways - Why early-chain civic leadership

This post is an installment in a series of posts of my personal reflections on Pathways for America, a nonpartisan civic leadership program I researched, developed, and implemented from 2016-2017 for Run for America.  Leading up the creation of Pathways, we were focused on a broad, but fundamental, deficiency related to the present failing of public institutions. It is: Any progress on any issue is incomplete and unsustainable unless public institutions are fully equipped to be able to “successfully” tackle whatever issue or decision is in front of them. Here I'll explore why we focused on that, and a few things we learned.

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Should I run for office?

Over the years, I've had the chance to talk to many about how they can get more involved, make some sort of greater civic impact. So, I've put together this, well, "comprehensive" guide to whether you should run for office. Check it out!


Are you running for office?

On March 29th, I was invited to speak at Rutgers Eagleton Institute of Politics as part of their Youth Political Participation Program & the New Jersey League of Women Voters' Young People's Network. The day included discussions of New Jersey's party structure and system, role playing exercises, a panel of young officials, and a crash course workshop I gave on starting a campaign and running it lean, like a startup. Taking from experiences of my own campaign in 2011, consulting work with Veracity and mentorships and work with campaigns across the country, I provided students with a quick starting point to getting a campaign off the ground. Check out the slides below and feel free to get in touch if you have any questions! Daily Targum: Rutgers Eagleton debuts RU Running? pilot program