Gracias City of Phoenix!

I am really grateful with the opportunity that the City of Phoenix has given me during this past semester. As a foreigner, being able to intern in the city government from another country is really valuable. I also believe it has been an incredible experience which I consider that has added an enormous value to my master experience in the U.S.

First, I want to thank my main supervisor, Toni, who is the Director of the Public Information Office and despite of having a very busy position, she always made time to listen to me and guide me in the work that needed to be done. She was also always willing to explain me how things work at the City and introduce me to people in other offices or departments. I also want to thank Jon, who was the person previously in charged of the program, and despite being in his new position in another department of the City, he trained me and he was always willing to help me and answer any of my questions. Then, I also want to thank Tammy, the new person in charged of the program, who recently started the position, and I have been working together with her a lot in this past month. Finally, I want to thank the rest of the people working at PIO, Alejandro, Rosalinda, Yvette, Sina, Joyce, Stephanie, Michelle, Margaret and Matt, because they helped me every time I had any doubt regarding of how things work at the City and also because they made feel comfortable working there. 

I am definitely looking forward to keep working with all of them next semester and also meet new people!

Dear Toni,

I really appreciate the opportunity of interning at PIO that you have given me. I had an amazing learning experience. Not only I have learned about PIO, but I’ve also learned a lot about how the City of Phoenix works.

Thank you for integrating me with so much enthusiasm to the office and showing me interest from how things work in the country I come from. I feel very lucky to have had the experience of working at a local government in the U.S.

Finally, I would also want to thank you for the opportunity of continuing the internship next semester. I am more than excited to see how the projects I’ve been working on will turn out in the following months.

Sincerely,

Natalia Cuneo

After 4 months

This internship at the City of Phoenix has been an incredible learning experience mainly because it has been my first job in another language, which I consider it to be a big challenge. I have not only learned about the program I am interning at, but also I have learned about how the Public Information Office works. Having had the opportunity to attend to the weekly staff meetings has been a great experience to learn about everybody else’s work.

I definitely think I have achieved the goals of starting to become more familiar with how a U.S. local government works, have a better idea of what my interests and skills are and finally being able to see in real life things I have learned in different school courses.

I am also very glad that I had the opportunity to interact with people from other departments and also learn from them. The fact that the program has a team conformed by employees from different departments makes it really interesting because you constantly hear different perspectives and suggestions about the projects we were working on.

One of the things I value the most about this internship is that I always had the opportunity to give my opinion and suggest ideas of the work we were doing. I think this is essential to keep interns motivated in what they are doing.

I am also very excited because one of the projects that I have been working during the whole semester, the request for sponsorship for the defibrillators located in different facilities of the City, is about to be issued and it definitely feels enthusiastic being part of this project.

I was recently offered to continue this internship next semester, which I guess is a good indicator of my performance during the internship, and this really excites me and motivates me towards the future.

Program for International Student Assessment (PISA)

A final paper I am working on for one of my classes has to do with how the U.S. performs in the PISA exam in comparison to other countries. PISA is the Program for International Student Assessment designed by the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) and is taken every three years in 70 countries, since the year 2000. This exam is taken by 15-year-old students and the subjects tested are science, mathematics and reading. I think that this exam is well designed and it actually measures the so-called “21^st century learning skills” needed like critical thinking and problem solving for instance.

Overall, the U.S. ranks on average in reading (ranking 14 in OECD) and science (ranking 17) but then drops to below the OECD average in mathematics (ranking 25).

The top PISA performers are: Shanghai, Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, Finland, Canada, Japan and New Zealand.

Here is a very interesting video on how the exam works and its main features:

Linking school and work

We are getting closer to issue a request for sponsorship (RFS) for the defibrillators located in public facing areas in different facilities of the city government. I have to say that I have learned a lot during this process because there are so many details that came up during the process which are not always very easy to predict in advance. Furthermore, is very exciting to see the developing process of a project since inception. I am also very glad that I had the opportunity to contribute with my opinion and propose ideas for the (RFS).

Once the RFS is issued another interesting process begins, because different companies will bid on this opportunity, thus one offer must be chosen. After a company wins the biding process, the implementation process starts, which will probably be next year. I think it is very important to link what we learn in the academic field to what actually happens in reality. For instance, last semester I took a course where I studied the bidding processes that a government has to go through in order to outsource a service and now during this internship I am actually seeing real examples by learning a lot on how request for proposals and request for sponsorships actually work.

Strengths of my organization

I believe that the greatest strength of the Public Information Office, as the name of the office suggest, is its ability to communicate very clearly the goals and activities of the City to the community and inside the organization.  I also consider that it is very valuable that there is a lot of space for employees at this office to constantly brainstorm new ideas, which makes the work environment a very stimulating place to work.

Another important strength that I see at this office is how everybody works in a collaborative way and how this is an essential factor in order to achieve the goals of the organization and have a more stimulating working environment.  Furthermore, everybody demonstrates an incredible sense of community service, which I believe is indispensable for employees working at a public organization such as the City of Phoenix.

One thing I would try to change is to make some processes less bureaucratic because many projects take longer to be completed because of this. However, I also understand that is not that easy in a public organization where there are laws that describe how processes must be done.

Post II on Career Service Event

How to use LinkedIn in a job search?

Webinar with Jennifer Rhodes

November 15th 

I decided to attend this career service event because I believe LinkedIn is a great tool that helps us looking for a job and is becoming more and more popular.

Basically LinkedIn is a professional network that helps you connecting with people that otherwise you wouldn’t be able to do it. Plus, many companies are using it to check on potential candidates for different positions. I specially liked the following quote that Jennifer Rhodes used to describe the potentiality of LinkedIn  “Turn relationships into opportunities”.

Some of the main characteristics of this network are:

• Connect with people who work in a field that you are interested in
• Follow companies and groups you are interested in
• Share ideas/articles
• Get an idea of who might be a potential interviewer for a job
• Share Power Points and projects that reflects what you have been working on

LinkedIn has a job section where you can look for positions just typing key words. You can also have a premium account if you pay, however the basic accounts allows you to get a lot of information too. There is also an education section where you can look for any higher education institution you might be interested in.

Key suggestions for your profile

• Maintain connections
• Have a good summary in the profile section (brief professional history, top skills and experience and written in first person)
• Ask for other people’s recommendation about your professional skills
• Up date status weekly
• Have a professional photo in your profile

Some interesting figures about LinkedIn

• More than 225 M people world wide (64% outside the U.S.)
• More than 2.9 M companies
• More than 60 K college and universities

Interesting TED Talk

I want to share this TED talk video, where Michael Porter, a Harvard business professor, talks about the idea of solving social problems through business. I think he has an interesting point of view on how to address the current social challenges like poor nutrition, access to water, climate change, lack of skills and more because he proposes that addressing a social issue through business creates shared value (social value + economic value). For instance, reducing pollution emissions can actually generate profit and save money, thus there is an incentive to work towards this direction. He also puts as examples of organizations that are working on technology that saves water, organizations that train people in IT skills and many more.

Group 5, free write

The Free Prescription Drug Discount Program is one of the current partnerships that the City has. This discount card is free and it helps people save up to 65% on their prescriptions. It can be used by anybody, there are no restrictions on age, income and health status, and the only information you need to put in the card is your name and a 10-digit number. The card can also be used for dental, vision, veterinary, hearing and more services.

The City does not spend any tax dollar in this program; the program actually generates revenue, which goes to the general fund.

What I usually do regarding this program is to keep track on the figures. For instance, I see how many cards are being used in the different areas of the City and check that the revenue that the City receives corresponds to that number.

Puerto Piramides-Patagonia

I grew up in Patagonia, the South of Argentina, which is a very beautiful place. Patagonia is a region that contains 5 of the biggest provinces of the country. One of my favorite places in this region is Puerto Piramides, which is a small village located in the Northeastern of the province of Chubut.

 
 

Puerto Piramides is a famous place because people from everywhere come to do whale watching. Every year May through December, Puerto Piramides receives whales that choose this place to breed and give birth.

 

However, I used to go there during summer time (December to March), because the beaches and the landscape are just amazing. The weather sometimes is windy but in summer it gets hot enough to go inside the water.

 

Public Service

The organization where I am interning in is the City of Phoenix, thus is a governmental organization. The mission of the City of Phoenix is the following:

• “To improve the quality of life in Phoenix through efficient delivery of outstanding public services”.

We can see in its mission statement the organization’s goal is all about delivering good public services. Some of the main services that the City provides are:

Public safety, transportation, water services, neighborhood services, senior centers, recreational centers, garbage services, libraries, teen educational programs, parks maintenance, youth sports programs and many more.

The City of Phoenix also plans into the future its urban and economic development and how to make Phoenix a more sustainable city. 

The way the City of Phoenix provides services is also determined by its values which are: exceptional customer service, integrity and transparency, respect for diversity, personal empowerment, engaged teamwork, consistent professionalism and creativity and innovation for excellent results.

Developing leadership skills

The Marketing Partnership Program doesn’t have a specific group of people working full time for it but it is coordinated by my supervisor, the Public Information Director and a team of City employees who work in different departments. Thus, as the intern of the program in order to get the information I need, I have to work with people in different departments. I consider that one leadership skill I am learning, as my supervisor emphasized in the interview I made to her, is being a good listener because for example, the partnership with Service Line Warranties of America brings lot of questions and comments from Phoenix residents, which I have to do my best to answer them. I also consider that because all the members of the Marketing Partnership Program team are very busy with their own position responsibilities, I am encouraged to take the initiative in working in the different projects and requesting information and setting up meetings to keep working on some of the partnership opportunities.
I can definitely see  my supervisor being a good leader. For instance, we have a weekly staff meeting where she always encourages everybody to give their opinion in different issues and also to come up with innovative ideas. I think that giving space to employees to give their opinion is a valuable leadership skill. What I also see in the PIO office is that everybody works in a very collaboratively with a positive environment, and I guess this has to do with having a good leader. 

Two great profiles

I decided to do two interviews because I think they represent two different profiles but with the same passion of serving the community and wanting to have a positive impact with their jobs, which I find definitely interesting and inspiring.

The first interview I did was to my supervisor, Toni Maccarone, who is the Public Information Director of the City of Phoenix. As a Director, she is in charge of the communication and public relations for all the departments of the city government. The main skills needed for the position are writing, strategic planning, multitasking, and constantly learning new technology. Toni, got her degree in journalism with emphasis in public relations at ASU and her first internship was at a non profit organization. Then she got another internship in the private sector in a public relations agency where she continued to work after the internship. She then worked for another public relations agency and afterwards decided to go to the public sector because of her strong interest in serving the public by providing information. She definitely considers that her experience in the private sector has helped her to prepare for the public sector. Toni considers that the new trend in her field is certainly social media because is a 24-7 news cycle. She believes that the most important skills needed as a leader are being a good listener, patient and being flexible. Her advice to anyone interested in this field is to be interested in being a good writer, multitasking, learning constantly and being willing to have a busy profession.

The second interview I did was to Jon Brodsky, who is the actual coordinator for Fit PHX program but was previously in charged of the Marketing Partnership Program, thus I could also consider him as my supervisor. Jon is responsible for overseeing Fit PHX, which is a new program with the goal of making the City of Phoenix one of the healthiest places in the country by improving the health and wellness of the people. Two main duties of this position are getting grant funds and making partnerships. The main skills needed for the position are good writing, juggle multiple projects at the same time, understanding the big picture and knowing the assets from the different departments in order to reach a goal. Jon’s major was in American history but during college started doing internships in TV stations. He worked in broadcasting, as a TV reporter for many years, and there was when he started developing his interest in “cities”. He had to cover many stories concerning issues and events in the city so he learned a lot about government. He also worked in a school district for 2 years. Then, he decided to work in the public sector, so it has been 9 years since he is a City employee. During the last period he worked in the school district and the beginning of the period in the City he pursued his MPA at ASU, which he says is definitely helpful because for example, there are many positions at the City, which people can’t get without an MPA. His decision to work in the public sector was primarily made because of his desire to serve the community by having an impact. He believes that the new trend in local governments is that employees have to become more entrepreneurial due to current constrains, like budget cuts. Jon recommends to people that want to work in this field to enjoy the job, being able to work hard and don’t be afraid of being creative and innovative. He believes that the most important skills needed as a leader are to know how to motivate people, have ideas and trust people. 

Working without high inflation

This week my supervisor asked me to calculate the 2013-2014 revenue estimates for the Service Line Protection Program (one of the City’s partnerships), and I thought about the benefits of doing this task in a country where the inflation rate is very low. If I had to do it in Argentina I would have two main obstacles. First, I would have to adjust prices for expected inflation based on the current inflation. Second, the real inflation rate is higher than the official rate calculated by the national government. The government says that the annual inflation rate is 10% whereas private estimates state that the annual rate is around 27%. Thus, this fact would contribute to make the revenue estimates even less accurate. Besides specific calculations like the one just described, in order to perceive inflation, it only takes a person to go to the store once a week to see how prices are going up. I can say that inflation definitely makes everybody’s life more complicated.

Group 3, free write

The City of Phoenix has many teen programs that focus on helping youths develop a wide range of skills. The programs offer computer classes, educational classes, physical fitness training, recreational activities and art classes among others. In the Marketing Partnership Program we are exploring the opportunity to get a sponsor for all these City teen programs. In order to do this, I am working on a draft of a request for sponsorship (RFS). One thing I have to do is put together all the information regarding these programs and find out how many youths are involve in each program. I’ve learnt that when you are working on an RFS is essential to include the information of the scope of the programs in this case, because is something that a potential partner would look at it in order to decide if it is worth submitting a proposal or not. Another thing we need to think about is what kind of organizations would be interesting in being a sponsor for these programs. Due to the fact that these programs work with teenagers, we think that higher education institutions would me interested in them, so I gathering information of all the higher education institutions located in Phoenix.

"Paint Phoenix Purple" Campaign

“Paint Phoenix Purple” is a domestic violence awareness campaign supported by 50 organizations including the City of Phoenix. The campaign’s main goal is to make people aware about the domestic violence problem and produce a cultural change.

October is the month of National Domestic Violence Awareness so the city will paint Phoenix Purple. 

The Public Information Office, the area where I am interning, is in charged of promoting this campaign.  Indeed we all got “campaign t-shirts” which we can wear at the office anytime during October.

I wanted to write about this campaign because I believe is a positive initiative that the City supports it and also because the City has a Family Advocacy Center which provides services to victims of domestic violence. 

http://paintphoenixpurple.org/

For food lovers

As I mentioned before, I am from Argentina, and one reason why the country is known is because of its good meat. I have to say that if you go there you would eat the best BBQ ever, which we call “Asado”.

What I want to share now is a video of an Argentinian girl, Felicitas Pizarro, who recently won a food contest organized by the famous English cook Jamie Oliver, who is a well known healthy-food activist. The recipe includes meat and rice and is pretty easy if any of you want to try it! Enjoy!

Post I Career Service event

“How do I write a winning resume?”

Conducted by Jennifer Rhodes

September 13^th in the Tempe Campus.

I decided to attend this workshop because I thought it was really important to learn how to write a good resume for future job searches.

First they explained the main differences between a resume and a CV, which was really interesting for me because actually before coming to the US I just thought that resume was the “American word” for CV. In my home country we just talk about CV for any kind of job. So, now I now that the CV are targeted to a research-academic audience and is more descriptive about all kind of academic achievements and research experience. On the other hand, a resume is targeted to a general audience and is more skilled focus. Another difference is the length. The CV can be as long as necessary whereas a resume shouldn’t be longer than 1-2 pages long.

One thing I will definitely change in my current resume is to highlight and add the skills I have gain in a specific job rather than giving long description of what my working duties were.

I also think it was very helpful that they provided us with information containing online recourses to do a self-assessment and career research.

Overall I can say it was a great experience because I helped me tailor my resume in a more accurate way.

Life away from home

It’s been 1 year and three months since I am living in Phoenix. Before I used to live in Buenos Aires, Argentina. I can say that here is different but I really like it. Although summers are tough I think this second one has been a little better. Fortunately I’ve made a lot of friends, some from the US and others from other countries, and I just love it. It’s amazing how much you can learn from other people and that when you need something there is always somebody willing to help. Believe it or not, yesterday I tried for first time in my life Taco Bell! I know here is pretty common but I don’t have it back home. I have to admit, is good! Another thing I had to get used to was having dinner early, especially when I go out with friends to eat dinner. In Argentina people have dinner late, 9 or 10 pm may be. At 6 pm we would have something called “merienda” that is like a tea or coffee with some pastries or toasts. This past year I also had the opportunity to travel to places like Grand Canyon, Montana and New Orleans, which were awesome. I hope to keep meeting incredible people and visiting new places!

Group 2, free write

1. The Marketing Partnership Program may issue a Request for Proposal (RFP) very soon to find a vendor for the beverage and food vending machines in different City facilities. One of the requirements for the vendor will be that part of the beverages and food offered in the machines meet certain healthy nutritional standards. The City will receive certain percentage of the total gross sales and an annually fee payment.  This revenue will go to the City's general fund. What I am doing specifically for this opportunity is helping in the RFP draft and working in a spreadsheet which has the location of all the current City machines and which of those have already a contract with other vendors.

2. The idea with the defibrillators located in different buildings of the City is to identify which ones are located in public view areas. Once we have that information gathered the goal is to get a Sponsorship for these defibrillators. For the moment I am working on a spreadsheet that contains the location of all the defibrillators in the different City buildings and I am working with the other departments to identify the defibrillators' specific locations. I am also working in the draft of a Request for Sponsorship (RFS) that would be issue in order to get a sponsor. In this partnership the sponsor wouldn’t have to provide any service, they would just have to pay certain fee to the City in order to put their logo next to the Automated External Defibrillators (AED) signs that are located next to every defibrillator. The revenue raised in this partnership would also go to the City’s general fund.

Typical day

My internship days go from 8 am to 4 pm, three times a week but I couldn’t say that I have the same daily work routine every day. What I mean with this is that I am doing different stuff all the time. However, I can classify my activities in two main groups:

• Activities related to the current marketing partnerships that the City has. This includes answering concerns that residents may have regarding the partnership with Service Line Warranties of America, which offers an optional service of water and sewer line warranties for Phoenix residents.
• Activities related to the exploration of new possible partnerships opportunities.

Basically, I do activities for both groups everyday. Also depending on the week I attend different meetings. Although the Marketing Partnership Program is administered by the Public Information Office, it has a team of City employees from different departments that contributes to the program in facilitating the collaboration between departments and brainstorming new ideas for the program. This group gets together once a month, so this is one of the meetings I must attend. Other meetings I attend are with staff of other departments because in order to get information for new opportunities I need to work with other departments.

Besides the Marketing Partnership Activities, if there is an event or a meeting that my supervisor considers it could interest me, she always invites me to go. 

About the organization and what will I do

The organization I will be working for is the city government of Phoenix. The City of Phoenix has a council-manager form of government since 1913. There are 32 departments. My internship is for the Marketing Partnership Program, which is administered by the Public Information Office (PIO), thus my working spot is in this office and my supervisor is the PIO Director. The main function of PIO is to communicate the public what are the goals and activities of the city government. This program is very innovating and challenging because its main goal is to generate mutually beneficial business partnerships in order to raise revenue for the City general fund without spending more money! The program has so far two partnerships:

• Service Line Protection Program
• Free Prescription Drug Discount Program
  

Here is the link to the website in case you want to check them out:
http://phoenix.gov/pio/mrkpartpgm/index.html

In following posts I will be describing these current partnerships in more detail. So basically, what I will be doing is helping to keep track of the two current partnerships and also exploring new possible partnership opportunities.

Introducing myself

Hello people!! 

My name is Natalia Cuneo and I am from Argentina. I am currently starting the second year of the MPP program, which I really like so far! I got my BA in economics in Buenos Aires, Argentina. After college I worked for two years in the City Government of Buenos Aires and it was at that moment when I became really interested in public policy. I love my country but I know it is currently facing major problems like increasing poverty and crime, high inflation and specially a very deep social division, those who are in favor of the government and those who are against it. I hope that coming to the U.S will help me gain experience and knowledge to contribute in any way to my country in the future.

My internship is in the Marketing Partnership Program of the City of Phoenix and it started one month ago. The goal of this program is to raise revenue for the government without spending money through beneficial business partnerships. I am really happy and thankful for having the opportunity of working in a U.S local government! I will tell you more about it in the following posts!

My goals for the internship are:

• Understand how a local government functions in the U.S. Specially after having worked in the City government of Buenos Aires, I believe is really interesting to compare the working dynamics in both places.
• I am looking forward to identify more specifically what my interests and skills are.
• Try to relate what I am learning in the academic world (school courses) with what happens in real world (work environment).