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This Encore Fellow Helped Embed Social Justice in Engineering

This Encore Fellow Helped Embed
Social Justice in Engineering

Jim Blakley joined an intergenerational team at Arizona State University working to make social and environmental justice practices the norm for engineers

After working in the tech industry for nearly 40 years, Jim Blakley knew he wanted to pursue an Encore Fellowship, working part-time for a nonprofit organization that aligned with his values. At 60, he was ready to retire and knew several colleagues who had enjoyed their Encore Fellowship experience. He submitted an application, expressing interest in a virtual opportunity so he could work from his home in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Around the same time, Darshan Karwat, 37, heard a colleague at Arizona State University (ASU) mention Encore.org (now CoGenerate) and the next day saw Encore.org mentioned again in a book he was reading. Seeing it as a sign, the college professor and founder of Project Confluence, googled the organization and was excited by the Encore Fellowship program. He sent an email, saying he’d love to have an Encore Fellow collaborate with him on a new project.
Shortly after, this intergenerational pair was matched. Both spoke with CoGenerate’s Sarah Gibson below.
What is Project Confluence and what inspired you to start it?
Darshan: In talking with students and other practicing engineers, I was hearing a hunger to apply their skills in other ways – not just following orders or designing systems to ensure a profit, but also considering the social and environmental impacts of their work, and creating positive social and environmental value in the world. I saw them struggling to see themselves working in engineering, being dissatisfied, and dropping out of engineering altogether. It was frustrating to see so much talent leaving this field when they could be having such a positive impact.
Engineers build things — the cars we drive, the way power is generated, the buildings and infrastructure we live and work in, the weapons used in wars, artificial intelligence — and all of these things have impacts on the world, positive, negative, and unclear. I believe it is possible for engineers to create less damage and more beauty in the world. Project Confluence is one effort to embed environmental protection and social justice in engineering.
How does it work?
Jim: Eventually, we hope it will become a certification program like LEED, but to start we created a professional development program that sensitizes engineers to social and environmental justice and teaches them how to make decisions with that in mind. We developed a curriculum and delivered it over eight weeks to an architecture, engineering and consulting firm as a pilot. Next up is rolling it out to other firms in the industry.
In the early part of the fellowship, I helped Darshan develop a strategy and plan for Project Confluence. In the second half, I was one of the developers and instructors for the curriculum.
Darshan: Engineering promotes values. For example, we hear a lot about efficiency as a driving value in engineering. But there isn’t yet a standardized process for how to approach social and environmental justice, for how people and natural resources are impacted.
Can you give us an example of how decisions might change, using the lens of social and environmental justice?
Jim: Sure. We worked with a firm that was tasked with building a bypass in a busy area of South Carolina. They did an analysis and the client chose to go through a historic community that was predominantly African American. Their reasoning was that it would impact the fewest number of people, and the firm had no real way to factor in the impacts or influence of their client’s choice.
The community went into an uproar and the engineering firm had to go back and re-do some of the design as well as improve a local park as a way of mitigating the impact. This was all because there were no standards applied to help the engineers make decisions with social and environmental justice in mind. Engaging with the community in a meaningful way early and often could have changed their design decisions and saved a lot of money and heartache.
How was the Encore Fellowship experience?
Darshan: It was awesome. I gained a mentor and, in doing so much work together, Jim became my friend. He has a perspective that I generally am not exposed to. He has 40 years of experience and has all of this wisdom. He was at a very high level at a large tech company when he retired, and I assume you only get to that point by having demonstrated leadership, management and organizational talent. The way he thinks about what we’re doing is different from how I think about it, and I love that.
Jim: It was such a great collegial exercise, working with Darshan, some of his students and other professors and professionals with subject area expertise. There was a great deal of respect between everyone and it felt like we were on a shared mission. We each had to apply our creativity and skills to put this program together and deliver it. To get such a positive response from the firm we did the pilot with has been really rewarding.
The participants from Mead & Hunt and facilitators in the Project Confluence pilot program.
What kind of impact are you having?
Jim: The firm we did the pilot with is now getting new business from clients who value social and environmental justice. They’ve gone after new grants that support doing this specific type of work, and they’re experiencing cost savings by avoiding potential problems they may have encountered down the line. Their current employees report being more engaged and they’re having an easier time attracting new talent since young engineers really care about environmental impact. They’re demonstrating leadership in this space and are able to include their efforts in their ESG reporting. So far, there really hasn’t been a downside.
Darshan: Longer term, we want to create working examples of how principles of environmental and social justice can become part of how engineering firms do their business. To date, the connection between engineering and social and environmental justice has tended to engage individual engineers and communities rather than firms. There are regulatory changes coming where firms will have to think about this differently but that can all too easily become a checkbox exercise, like greenwashing. We’re trying to move beyond that – so this isn’t something you have to do, but something you want to do.
Any final thoughts for those considering becoming an Encore Fellow?
Jim: One of the main reasons I retired was to have more time to do things that I cared about and to get more involved in causes that were important to me. The Encore Fellowship was a great way to make the jump from a high-pressure work environment to a nonprofit. I was able to use what I’ve learned and not just be an extra set of hands. The match was ideal and my friendship with Darshan is a great added bonus.
LEED certification took 25 years to become a standard practice and this might take just as long. I probably won’t be around then, but hopefully what we’ve built will be the seed.
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TIM CARPENTER

Encore Host Organizations

TIM CARPENTER

EngAGE

Tim Carpenter started EngAGE twenty years ago to create community and change lives by transforming affordable senior and multigenerational housing communities into vibrant centers of learning, wellness, and creativity. The EngAGE mission is to empower people – intellectually, creatively, and emotionally – to do what they do best for the rest of their lives.

The organization now runs lifelong learning programs in forty-seven communities in three states, reaching over 6,000 seniors and several hundred families in multigenerational housing.

As the organization continued to grow, Tim realized he needed a strategic plan. He reached out to the Encore Fellowships LA director who provided three candidates, and one, Michael Dowlan was the perfect fit. “It was instantaneous…as soon as we met Michael, we knew he was a match because of his background, skills, and interest in aging. Even in our first meeting, his level of preparation was apparent, and he’d already thought the process through.”

As someone who originally worked in the private sector, Tim was open to applying business strategic planning to the non-profit sector. “But experiencing Michael’s high-end private sector experience was the big ‘Wow’ for us. Michael spent a lot of time talking to me and my people, listening to our ideas and connecting us to the process to take ownership. He had my total buy-in—any moments where people said they did not have time, I said, ‘You have to find time; it’s an organizational priority.’ However, it was Michael’s ability to develop the relationships and personalize the process to the team which made it successful.”

The team spent hours whittling down 600 ideas to 33 distinct goals and designing a roadmap. “Michael also created an amazing implementation tool to track it…I would not have come up with this tool in a million years—none of us had the skill.”

Michael helped develop the vision for growth, but also focused on what the organization needed to do, in terms of infrastructure, staffing and capacity. “He helped us on two tracks; we solved not just where we are going, but how are we going to get there. I also had a gut feeling that I needed to change my role based on what I do well and like to do. Michael helped me figure out my own personal journey in terms of a succession plan and my role. I can see the path to that now. We have a plan. I can change what I do, and how I do it, but still be with the organization.”

Tim sums up, “Ultimately, Michael’s work was beyond my expectations—it stopped being, ‘Someday, something is going to happen’ to ‘Let’s look at it and plan.’ Michael has become such an important person to us that our staff and board have said they’d like to keep him around. We are looking at that.”

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REID COX

Encore Host Organizations

Reid Cox

iFoster

Reid Cox started iFoster over 10 years ago with his wife, Sarita, working out of their office in Truckee, California. “My wife was raised in the foster care system,” Reid shares, “and we felt that we could have the biggest impact by finding new ways to get more resources to foster youth, families, social workers and nonprofits working in this space.”

Outcomes often reflect his lack of investment. Findings from a 2016 California Youth Transitions to Adulthood Study show that within four years of aging out of the system, about 70 percent of foster youth receive government assistance, and 50 percent are unemployed.

iFoster forms partnerships with companies, local businesses and nonprofits to negotiate low-cost purchases of items foster youth need, like laptops, and works with foundations and companies willing to donate products and services to foster youth across the country.

Marketing was a competency the organization didn’t have, and was actively seeking. “We’ve been so focused on doing the day-to-day blocking and tackling to get these kids what they need,” Reid says. “We brought Marc in to help us take a step back, and think about how we should be communicating what iFoster is doing, to set us up as the leading voice in providing resources to these kids.”

The Encore Fellowship experience was so positive for both parties that they’ve decided to continue working together, which happens with about half of all fellowships.

“For the first nine years, we didn’t spend any money on general audience advertising,” he says. “That was the beauty of Marc and the Encore Fellowship program. We could bring someone in who has a lifetime of experience in this area, and go from zero to where we are today in just a year.”

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PATTY MACHIR

Encore Host Organizations

PATTY MACHIR

Futures and Options

Futures and Options empowers New York City’s underserved youth to explore careers through career development and paid, mentored internships. During David Pfeifer’s Encore Fellowship, he pitched in on any project required. When his Fellowship ended in September, he accepted a full-time job as Operations Manager.

“We hired him because he is the best person for the job,” says Patty Machir, executive director. “David’s prior experience in the for-profit world as a COO, CFO and CEO has been immensely helpful and, because of his efforts and contributions, we are a much better-managed nonprofit.”

Machir adds, “His ability to communicate effectively with our team, his respectfulness, his integrity and his terrific sense of humor are all much appreciated. And he will roll up his sleeves to tackle any project — he just gets it done.”

Visit the Futures and Options website

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PATRICIA WYATT

Encore Host Organizations

PATRICIA WYATT

Japanese American Cultural and Community Center

“People are thinking about their financial situation now more than ever,” says David Derryck, the Chief Impact Officer of SaverLife — a nonprofit that provides incentives and resources to help low- and middle-income Americans save money and build financial security.

When Patricia Wyatt joined the organization, she realized that the financial systems did not serve her vision for successfully managing the organization for growth and future success. Previously, financial management had been outsourced, but she determined she needed an internal resource to bring clarity and focus to the financial structure. Familiar with Encore Fellowships from a prior position, she knew that the opportunity to bring on a seasoned professional, at below market rates and within her limited budget, was the answer to her needs.

Upon seeing Emily Bernhardt’s fellow application, with her years of senior financial experience, many in other nonprofit organizations, Pat recognized that she was a perfect fit for a new visionary financial leader.

Emily restructured and revamped all processes, systems, reports, and analytics so that Pat had a granular view into the organization and its programs’ strengths and shortcomings. She created financial reports that told stories and focused management efforts on areas that were catalysts to growth. She worked with grant-writers to help them interpret the financial stories and historical information to create powerful proposals to grant organizations.

“Because these grant organizations could see that JACCC had a deep understanding of its financials and budget, they had confidence in the ability of JACCC to translate vision into effective programs that thrive,” Patricia explains. Emily’s efforts resulted in a 300% increase in foundation grants including a $2 million grant (the highest amount awarded from a consortium of foundations, The LA Arts Recovery Fund). In addition, JACCC was named as one of America’s cultural treasures by the Ford Foundation.

Pat states “Emily is an example of the catalytic impact a Fellow can have.” Emily has accepted the position of CFO of the organization.

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MARIE BERNARD

Encore Host Organizations

MARIE BERNARD

Sunnyvale Community Services

Founded in 1970, Sunnyvale Community Services (SCS) is an independent, nonprofit emergency assistance agency in the heart of Silicon Valley, explains Marie Bernard, Executive Director. SCS’s mission is to prevent homelessness and hunger for low-income families and seniors facing temporary crises.

Our first experience with the Encore Fellows™ program was 5 years ago, when we knew we needed to invest in a missing function in the agency – marketing – but we were not completely clear what that function would look like and how it would integrate into a very lean organization. We brought Tory Bers in as a Marketing Fellow to help us solve that problem and shape this new role. The agency’s leadership and Board were initially wary, having never had spent a nickel on marketing staff, but they were soon convinced that it was a very cost-effective way to bring professional marketing expertise in to define what we should be doing. The Board of Directors as a whole underlined their support within three months of Tory’s tenure. Tory worked part-time for one year, and has now been with us for five years as our Director of Marketing.

The Encore Fellows™ program is a powerful option for non-profits looking for specific talent and expertise, and for SCS, it allowed us to understand if a role we envisioned merited a full-time hire. The program allows Fellows to figure out their interest and fit in a non-profit setting, and, at the same time, provides leadership to an organization looking to shape new processes or add skills and expertise to its roster of talent.

As an Encore Fellow, Tory helped us prioritize what we most urgently needed and set processes in place to continue the work beyond her fellowship. She immediately rolled up her sleeves on projects. With her years of executive-level marketing experience, she was able to figure out the marketing role with autonomy, and set high standards for our print and online marketing communications. Tory took over the newsletter, website, videos, and social media, so that we now have marketing and communications campaigns admired and used by our audiences. She even took on leadership for our annual fund-raising auction.

A natural organizer and a clear communicator, Tory is an ideal complement to me as Executive Director. She writes like she breathes, which is so valuable in such a fast-paced environment, where grants, articles, e-blasts, social media posts, and more are daily (sometimes hourly) events. She is an important thought partner, bringing her practical, results-oriented business lens and strong ethical perspective to any strategic discussion. She also has a strong instinct for human resources, and knows the right people for the right job.

With one Encore program success under our belt, we were ready to try again. Like the marketing position, which did not exist before Tory joined the team, we also knew we needed to strengthen our ability to collect and analyze data so that we could create more compelling grant applications and provide grantors and the community at large with a clearer picture of who we are serving and what the outcomes are for our clients and community.

Until three years ago, we did not have a person dedicated to working with our data. We relied on internal staff and volunteers to come up with “the numbers,” and we were clearly missing opportunities to tell our story in the most persuasive manner. This time we brought Catherine Farry into the agency as our Encore Fellow for data analysis and research. We knew Catherine had tremendous capacity and the Fellowship would give us a year to have her help us shape the job. Catherine came to us from academia and loves to sink her teeth into the data, providing us with whole new ways of seeing the impact of what we do and whom we serve. Catherine has a deep curiosity to find out what trends are happening in our work… what’s the overlap of people in our financial aid and food program, what is their participation rate in our programs, what are the demographic trends in our data and in the community in general. Catherine has taken the initial role and brought it to a level we didn’t even know we needed. After a year as a part-time Encore Fellow, Catherine joined SCS full-time and now serves as our Director of Research. Now the story we can tell is exponentially stronger as a result.

We’ve often have people state that they are interested in working in the non-profit sector, but if they are coming straight from industry, they are often not prepared for the cultural shift. The Encore program, with its rigorous matching process and structured program of support for Fellows, is a perfect pathway for people thinking about making that transition. We’ve had tremendous success and received outstanding value from our Encore Fellows™, who continue to serve our agency with their exceptional skills and leadership.

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JEFFREY CHIN

Encore Host Organizations

JEFFREY CHIN

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Mass/Metrowest

Jeffrey Chin leads Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Mass/Metrowest to provide children facing adversity with strong and enduring, professionally supported, one-to-one relationships that change their lives for the better, forever. Encore Fellow Tracey Gustafson served as a MyStem Development Fellow, created and conducted STEM activities and sought out potential corporate partners and individuals. She helped double the participants in the MyStem program.

“Thanks to Tracey’s work,” says Chin, “MySTEM grew by leaps and bounds and we were able to double the number of kids we served this past year …and it had such an impact on our communities, we decided to keep Tracey on in a part-time position with us.” Learn more by watching the video below.

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ERIN HUBERT

Featured Host Organizations

ERIN HUBERT

Boys and Girls Club of Portland

Erin Hubert leads the Boys and Girls Club of Portland, providing after-school programs for youth. Her Encore Fellow Ken Harris lead the securing of a $7 million bridge loan to finance a new campus of the Club.

“Ken secured a $7 million complex bridge loan to have the needed cash to get the Club built on time,” Hubert says. “He was able to traverse the complexity of this process – the financing and legalities of it – in a way that I couldn’t have done.”

Learn more in “Retirement gap year: Program matches retiring professionals with nonprofits.”

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EDNA KANE-WILLIAMS

Featured Host Organizations

EDNA KANE-WILLIAMS

AARP

Edna Kane-Williams, AARP’s senior vice president of multicultural leadership, brought in Harriette Cole as an Encore Fellow tasked with helping the organization increase its presence in the African American/Black community.

Cole’s prior career included various leadership positions at Essence and Ebony magazines, maintaining a weekly column for 17 years, hosting a coaching series, and coaching Black recording artists — including Mary J. Blige and Alicia Keys — on public speaking.

At AARP, she helped develop a Covid-19 fact sheet designed to speak directly to the Black community, which was sent to AARP offices across the country at the start of the pandemic, and created a briefing for Black media outlets. She also began hosting a new speaker series on the AARP Black Community Facebook page — discussing life, creativity, and overcoming challenges with a wide range of Black thought leaders. To date, those virtual events have been watched by more than one million people.

“Harriette quickly became an entrenched, valuable member of our team,” Kane-Williams says. “Her insights and knowledge about public relations and communications strategy have really helped us raise the bar on the reach and impact of our work.

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ELI KENNEDY

Featured Host Organizations

ELI KENNEDY

SMASH

SMASH helps students of color prepare for STEM college studies and careers. The organization’s flagship program, SMASH Academy, places high school students at 10 different university campuses across the country for five weeks of tuition-free study each summer, surrounded by relatable mentors.

The Covid-19 virus forced changes to their model in March and when senseless police violence impacted Black communities in May, they pivoted to embrace virtual learning and provide leadership and empowerment to those they serve. The organization’s CEO, Eli Kennedy, knew It was vital that they communicate the changes in their program.

Their Encore Fellow Andy Arenberg stepped in, leading the organization in developing a powerful statement on the murder of George Floyd, helping SMASH to convene an online event attended by over 700 members of their community, and building awareness among stakeholders and families of the changes that occurred at SMASH. “His work helped strengthen our community,” states Kennedy.

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