Want to learn how Customer Journey Mapping can enhance your programs? Sign up for our training.

On June 22, we’re partnering with the Workforce Professionals Training Institute for a half-day skills-building workshop on Customer Journey Mapping. Journey Mapping is a technique for understanding how clients move through your services, and a great way to identify opportunities to enhance services in ways that address client needs. During this training, workforce practitioners will learn how to problem-solve in real time based on customer feedback on what’s working well and where pain points exist. We will share tools and resources to help your team redesign current services or design new ones through the journey mapping practice. Learn more and register today.

We’re helping design supports for business growth:

Last year, we supported the NYC Department of Small Business Services’ Small Business First Initiative to help streamline the way the City interacts with business owners. A large component of our work focused on designing programs and resources that more clearly communicate rules, and regulations and help business owners avoid common violations. Check out these supports now available:

• Compliance Consultations: business owners can schedule a free site visit with an SBS Adviser to learn how to comply with City rules and subsequently avoid fines. According to reports from ABC 7, fines are down 40%!
• Sidewalk Usage Guide: SBS offers many regulation- and industry-specific guides to educate business owners. We collaborated on their new Sidewalk Usage Guide, which breakdowns how the sidewalk in front of a storefront can and cannot be used. Trust us, you’ll never look at a sidewalk café quite the same way once you know what it took to get it there.

This summer, our team is growing:

Please join us in welcoming Favio Germán as Public Works’ new Project Coordinator. Favio is a graduate student at NYU’s Wagner School of Public Service focusing on Nonprofit Management. Previously, he served in the Peace Corps in Paraguay, where he facilitated the creation and development of community groups, and trained incoming volunteers as well as Paraguayan Government officials on community development, project management, and experiential training models. We know Favio’s passion for supporting community based organizations and extensive experience in stakeholder engagement and performance measurement will make him a tremendous addition to our team.

Clients in the news:

• A Goodwill Outlet, located in a warehouse in Long Island City, was recently profiled in the New York Times for inspiring a sub-sector of competitive shopping and re-sale. With clothing sold in bulk and below Goodwill’s usual, already-discounted prices, shoppers – from fashion bloggers to new immigrants – gather daily to race for new items.
• In May, Cities for Financial Empowerment Fund hosted its annual Bank On conference in Washington D.C. Among the day’s discussion topics, CFE Fund announced a new data portal pilot to collect information about certified accounts across the country, offered insights from the Summer Jobs Connect program informed by our research, and introduced new Bank On resources.