Start At Zero

The public housing industry must not always be about providing amenities to everyone. Instead, it must also be about building communities where people can connect with one another safely and sound. Joining Abhijit Verekar on how this mission can be integrated into the industry is author and advocate for affordable housing and national housing policy reform, Eugene Jones Jr. Eugene shares how PHAs take advantage of the power of technology to innovate their processes, making public housing even more accessible to the public, especially when providing information to nearby establishments and communities. He also talks about PHA's biggest challenges after being hit by the pandemic and how everyone can bridge the digital divide.

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Ensuring a major US city’s survival during COVID-19 is challenging enough, let alone leading it towards commendable modernization efforts aimed at making its residents’ lives better. Cincinnati may be in the Rust Belt, but its city management team is far from rusty. Manned by a talented workforce and forceful leadership, the city has managed to perform beautifully in technological solutions, including the massive undertaking of providing Wi-Fi access to identified lower-income neighborhoods. As Assistant City Manager, John Juech gets to see and participate in all these efforts first hand. Listen as he shares how fruitful that experience has been for him as he joins Abhijit Verekar on the show.

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Everything we do in government is all about achieving quality service delivery. A lot of that can be achieved through process innovation, but it can often be a challenge when you’ve got a team of people who were never empowered to think outside of the transactional box. Mark Wheeler sees this as one of the biggest responsibilities he is called upon to shoulder as Philadelphia’s CIO. Possessing years of GIS-related experience, Mark brings in a proclivity towards innovation, as well as the top-notch leadership, communication and planning skills that all IT leaders need to have. He now joins Abhijit Verekar to share how he and his team are navigating the challenge of finding technological solutions that work to improve service delivery in their massive jurisdiction.

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During the pandemic, necessity has driven a lot of change in many organizations worldwide. Many government organizations were agile enough to gather resources like CARES funding quickly to complete shovel-ready projects. However, others did not take advantage of this funding. During this podcast, Abhijit Verekar and Mike Caffrey discuss the basics of creating a COVID-resilient government organization. As the pandemic continues to take a toll, the CARES funding deadline has been extended. This extension allows more time to find shovel-ready projects, create long-term strategic plans, and execute projects that help your organization achieve desired outcomes for your community.

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Even as advanced as the world has gotten in terms of technology, many people still do not have access to internet. Sometimes, it is just not available in the area; other times, it is not affordable. In this episode, Abhijit Verekar sits down with Mike Caffrey to continue their conversation around this topic. Mike discusses the results from his CBRS – Proof of Concept, sharing with us its success and the reasons for it. He also talks about who was involved in the project and how the technology is the potential of building a learning environment of the future. Shedding light on the process, he also shares challenges faced along the way, offering insights into what goes into taking on an important project that could help internet accessibility in the Blount County Community.

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Many housing authorities suffer from the lack of IT support, even the big ones. In this day and age, having the team and systems behind you could take you a long way. Host Abhijit Verekar invited for today’s show the Senior Manager at Avero, Robert Kornovich, who has been very involved in the Public Housing Authority Practice. Here, he talks about the challenges that often get in the way of efficient operations. He discusses how to manage the support process and vendor relationships, and why these are very important. Join Robert in this episode as he breaks down the necessary things housing authorities must keep in mind and more.

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Am I spending too much? Are we behind the times and too slow? These are often questions that Avero hears from its clients regarding Information Technology within their organizations. Today, IT modernization means so many things to many different people. In this conversation, Mike Caffrey and Abhijit Verekar share their thoughts on proven roadmaps, pitfalls to look for and spend traps to avoid when it comes to IT modernization. It's easy to throw money at IT without seeing anything in return. However, utilizing a consulting partner to assist in revealing or validating your organization's concerns can save you from years of spending and inefficiency.

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Access to affordable, high speed or ANY Internet is increasingly seen as a utility across the world. Most especially at a time where we’re all forced into our homes, bringing with us our work and even school, having the right internet access is a must. In this episode, Abhijit Verekar explores with Mike Caffrey, the Vice President and Partner at Avero Infrastructure and Avero Advisors, wi-fi zones, 5G, StarLink and Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS). They break down each of these to help you gain insight into which ones provide the best solution for your needs. Plus, they also talk about the government’s role and how the COVID-19 changed the technological landscape.

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What many people don’t realize is that local governments are big enterprises that require good communication and coordination systems to work efficiently. A lot of the problems that cities face right now can be solved with the proper use of government technology and with the help of someone who has both the technical expertise and bureaucratic clout to make things happen.  With his stellar performance as former CDO for the City of Los Angeles and subsequently as interim CIO for Sacramento, Abhi Nemani is an absolute thought leader when it comes to all things GovTech. With his new GovTech consultancy firm, EthosLabs, Abhi continues to accelerate good governance in dozens of cities by helping them harness the power of digital technology. In this conversation with Abhijit Verakar, he shares his insights on the systematic changes that local governments need to do to catch up in digital innovation and transformation.

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The past two decades have been an era of hyper-growth for the City of Pearland, TX. For city manager, Clay Pearson, it’s just the right environment for his strategic and innovative mind to work. Having held the reins as Chief Executive Officer since 2014, he sees the need for the city government to be strategic and flexible in adopting information technology systems that allow it to keep up with the demands of ensuring quality life for a rapidly growing population. In this conversation with Abhijit Verekar, Clay shares the work they are doing for the city in terms of IT integration, his personal view of innovation, his definition of a smart city, cybersecurity concerns, IT in utilities and many more. Great things are coming for the city of Pearson and Clay is right at the helm of that journey.

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