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.