Square Pizza

GIVEAWAY - send us a message and let us know your favorite thing about the Square Pizza Pod. We are giving away SchermCo swag to the first three people that send us a note!

The Square Pizza Pod welcomes back a guest who last appeared on March 4, 2021, Nicole Jarbo. Nicole is the interim CEO of 4.0 Schools. 4.0 connects, coaches, and invests in people to test new learning spaces and tools with their communities.

In this episode: 

• Last Interview
  • CEO of Goodbets
  • Career as a collegiate soccer player at Cal / Alex Morgan 
  • Fundraising best practices 
• Overview of Boost + her journey 
  • Start of her career, lecturing at Cal
  • Teach for America in New Orleans
• Advice for entrepreneurs and leaders
• Interim CEO, 4.0 Schools
  • Overview
  • Current focus as Interim CEO
  • CEO Search 
• AI
  • Where she is in the AI journey

Support the show

GIVEAWAY - send us a message and let us know your favorite thing about the Square Pizza Pod. We are giving away SchermCo swag to the first three people that send us a note!

Welcome back to another episode of the #squarepizzapod. This week, Greg is in conversation with Irene Shih, CEO, MMBay. Minds Matter Bay Area (MMBay) is an education nonprofit that connects driven and determined students from low-income families with the people, preparation, and possibilities to succeed in college, create their future, and change the world.

In this episode:

• The story behind launching Minds Matter Bay Area (MMBAY)
• What MMBAY does
  • Providing educational opportunities to underserved students
• Current initiatives
  • Mentorship and college readiness programs
• Recruiting volunteers
  • Ensuring alignment with the organization's mission and student needs
• Evolution over the next year
  • Expanding reach and impact through innovative partnerships and initiatives
• Undermatching, Cross-Class Bridging
  • Focus on social mobility and capital for students
• Professional background 
  • Career from the classroom, a leader of a non-profit, as well as city, state, and policy level work

Bio:
 
Irene Shih is CEO of Minds Matter Bay Area (MMBay) based in San Francisco, CA. She joined MMBay as its first full-time CEO in 2019, returning to her hometown roots in the Bay Area. For 18 years, Irene has served students in low-income communities — previously as a middle and high school classroom teacher in Arizona, a strategic advisor to superintendents in large urban school districts like Boston Public Schools, and a thought leader on state-level education policy in Massachusetts and Connecticut. Irene is a corps member alumna of Teach For America, holds an M.P.P. in Social & Urban Policy from Harvard Kennedy School, and completed a B.A. in English Literature and Women's Studies from U.C. Berkeley.

As CEO of MMBay, Irene leads a 300-student and 300-volunteer strong community to foster a world-class educational environment that nurtures generational impact on high-school students by cultivating transformational relationships between students and an ecosystem of volunteer mentors. Since assuming the position in 2019, Irene has led the chapter through its expansion from San Francisco into San Jose.

Support the show

GIVEAWAY - send us a message and let us know your favorite thing about the Square Pizza Pod. We are giving away SchermCo swag to the first three people that send us a note!

Welcome back to another episode of the #squarepizzapod. This week, Greg is in conversation with Ali Medina, Executive Director of the Oakland Public Education Fund. The Oakland Public Education Fund is a nonprofit that leads the development of community resources in Oakland public schools so that all students can learn, grow, and thrive.

In this episode: 

• Current Role, Executive Director, Oakland Public Education Fund
  • Started in April of 2020 
•  Core aspects / programs of the Oakland Public Education Fund
• Fiscal sponsor for OUSD
  • Raising and managing $20M to support innovative initiatives
• Professional Background
• Future Work 
  • What initiatives does the organization envision to advance and improve the educational environment for students in Oakland public schools?

Bio:
Ali Medina has served as the Executive Director of the Oakland Public Education Fund (Ed Fund) since April 2020. She has led the agency through two major campaigns, the COVID-19 Rapid Relief Campaign and #OaklandUndivided. The COVID-19 campaign raised over $3M for food security, distance learning, healthy schools, and direct aid to families. As a lead founding partner in #OaklandUndivided, the Ed Fund serves as the fiscal sponsor of this city-wide campaign to close the digital divide. #OU raised $13M in its first round and provided 25,000 students in Oakland public schools with computers and internet access.

Previously, Ali spent eight years as the Senior Director of Programs at a community-based education organization in Oakland working with secondary students and building a new preschool. She created, designed, and implemented community school programming at four Oakland high schools to build career pathways and is an expert in using data to drive improvement. 

She began her career at the forefront of after-school program development and was a statewide leader in the Healthy Schools movement. She served as an After School Services Administrator for five years, administering over $4M in state and federal grant-funded programs and intervention services. 

Ali graduated from the University of California-Berkeley with a BA in History focusing on Ethnic Studies and earned a Master’s in Educational Leadership from Cal State East Bay.

Support the show

GIVEAWAY - send us a message and let us know your favorite thing about the Square Pizza Pod. We are giving away SchermCo swag to the first three people that send us a note!

To our listeners, thanks for making 2023 another great year. SchermCo wishes you the happiest of holidays, and we look forward to seeing you back next year. We have some fresh slices coming your way in January 2024. 

Support the show

GIVEAWAY - send us a message and let us know your favorite thing about the Square Pizza Pod. We are giving away SchermCo swag to the first three people that send us a note!

Welcome back to another episode of the #squarepizzapod. This week, Greg is in conversation with Gary Officer, President & CEO of the Center for Workforce Inclusion.  CWI Labs is the largest and most experienced nonprofit dedicated exclusively to workplace inclusion and economic opportunity for low-income, older job seekers.

In this episode: 

• CWI Labs  
  • Core aspects / programs of CWI Labs?
• AI
  • Thoughts on how it will affect work 
• Professional Background
  • Successfully grew Rebuilding Together from an operating budget of $3.5 million to $23 million
• What advice would he would give to other leads as they consider growth and fundraising? 
• Affordable housing + Property values
  • Promising solutions for affordable housing

Bio:
Gary A. Officer is a seasoned social entrepreneur and Chief Executive. He is known for innovative, value-driven public-private partnerships that remove barriers to community development. In addition to founding CWI Labs, Gary is the President & CEO of the Center for Workforce Inclusion, the largest and most experienced nonprofit dedicated exclusively to workplace inclusion and economic opportunity for low-income, older job seekers.

Gary previously served in senior executive positions at the Newseum and the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars in Washington, D.C. From 2006-2013; he served as the President and Chief Executive Officer at Rebuilding Together, Inc., the nation’s most extensive volunteer-based homeownership preservation nonprofit, and fourth-largest remodeler. Under his leadership, Rebuilding Together grew operating income seven-fold and created award-winning partnerships with blue-chip corporate brands to support of the organization’s mission.

Gary has served as President of the National Credit Union Foundation (NCUF), the national foundation supporting credit union development in the United States. As an affiliate of the Credit Union National Association, NCUF promotes and manages credit union development and consumer savings programs on behalf of CUNA and the US credit union movement. The Foundation also manages the National Development Education Volunteer Program. During his three-year tenure, NCUF successfully grew a community investment fund providing grants, loans, and secondary capital, to credit unions and related organizations throughout the United States.

Gary earned a Bachelor of Arts (Hon) Political Science from the Manchester Metropolitan University and a Master of Science Msc (Econ) in International Relations from the London School of Economics. In 2012, he completed the Advanced Management and Leadership Program (OAMLP) at the Said Business School at Oxford University.

Support the show

GIVEAWAY - send us a message and let us know your favorite thing about the Square Pizza Pod. We are giving away SchermCo swag to the first three people that send us a note!

Welcome back to another episode of the #squarepizzapod. This week, Greg is in conversation with Lacey Robinson, President/CEO of UnboundEd. UnboundEd designs learning for educators that exemplifies equitable instruction so that students experience grade-level, engaging, affirming, and meaningful instruction.

In this episode: 

• UnboundEd 
  • Overview 
• Merger
  • Pivot Learning & UnboundEd
• UnboundEd Programs Highlighted
  • Leadership Institute
  • MLL
  • Science Pathway
  • Cohort
  • Math Leader Collaborative
  • CORE
• Served as the CEO since 2019
  • When she began leading the organization in 2020, UnboundEd recorded $14.3 million in revenue. In two years' time, she'd grown it to $35 million.
• New book - Justice Seekers: Pursuing Equity in the Details of Teaching and Learning
• Practical advice for leaders of an education non-profit as they seek to grow

Support the show

GIVEAWAY - send us a message and let us know your favorite thing about the Square Pizza Pod. We are giving away SchermCo swag to the first three people that send us a note!

Welcome back to another episode of the #squarepizzapod. This week, Greg is in conversation with Maria Flynn, President and CEO of Jobs for the Future. Jobs for the Future is a national nonprofit driving transformation in the American workforce and education systems. 

In this episode: 

• Connection from episode 73 with Lydia Logan, IBM 
• Jersey girl + Bruce Springsteen fan
• Jobs for the future and why their work is urgent
• Aligning workforce and education systems and  where she sees opportunities and current successes
• Maria’s Forbes article: To Support Women in the Workforce, Stop Focusing on Women 
  • She shares key takeaways she’d like readers to take away with
• What practical advice she has for leaders of a workforce development non-profit as they seek to grow

Support the show

GIVEAWAY - send us a message and let us know your favorite thing about the Square Pizza Pod. We are giving away SchermCo swag to the first three people that send us a note!

We are excited to bring you this episode of the #squarepizzapod. This week, Greg is in conversation with Eric Thomas on his MASS Impact: The Education Podcast. Eric Thomas, Ph.D., is a critically acclaimed author, World-renowned speaker, educator, and pastor. As he is better known, ET has taken the world by storm with his creative, common-sense approach to living a successful, satisfying professional and personal life. Through a significant social media presence and regular domestic and international tours, “ET, The Hip Hop Preacher” has become a global phenomenon!

Each week, MASS Impact: The Education Podcast provides actionable and relevant content that gives teachers, mentors, youth leaders, and parents what's needed to close the gaps that negatively affect students every day. 

In this episode:

• About SchermCo and how it started
• Bringing value and credibility back to the educational institution
• Major keys for the well-being of students
• Providing families with impactful resources to succeed

Support the show

GIVEAWAY - send us a message and let us know your favorite thing about the Square Pizza Pod. We are giving away SchermCo swag to the first three people that send us a note!

Welcome back to another episode of the #squarepizzapod. This particular episode is a special mash-up of our top five most downloaded guests. In honor of our 100th episode coming soon, we decided to bring those guests back and check in with them. In this episode, you will learn about what they have been up to since their last episode, their work, and what it means to be in the top downloads of square pizza history. 

Guest featured in this episode: 

• #78 - Charlotte Lab Students
• #88 - Taylor James & Mathu Gibson, SchermCo
• #90 - Alex Abisch and Jia Lin-Bothe, SchermCo
• #2 - Dr. Howard Fuller, Dr. Howard Fuller Collegiate Academy
  
  
  
  

Support the show

GIVEAWAY - send us a message and let us know your favorite thing about the Square Pizza Pod. We are giving away SchermCo swag to the first three people that send us a note!

Welcome back to another episode of the #squarepizzapod. This week, Greg is in conversation with Alejandro Gibes de Gac, CEO & Founder, of Springboard Collaborative. Springboard closes the literacy gap by closing the gap between home and school.

In this episode:

FELA Methodology

• 6 basic steps of FELA methodology
• Importance of setting a winnable goal within 5 to 10 weeks
• Three cycles of FELA recommended over a year

Springboard Program

• Aim to close the literacy gap between home and school
• Weekly workshops as the secret sauce to equip families to support learning at home
• Parents delivering 25 hours of one-on-one tutoring at home for every hour that a teacher leads a workshop

Challenges in Education Sector

• The disproportionate impact of the pandemic on marginalized learners
• Engaging families in at-home learning is critical for learning recovery
• Company transitioning towards a performance culture and accountability
• Clear definition and standardization of work

Structural Changes

• Springboard and Paloma creating an independent entity as a public benefit corporation
• Shared vision of making parent-teacher collaboration standard practice in education
• Relationship and optimization of synergies to bring the vision to life

Support the show