In 2022, James Wright and Tiffany Russell helped initiate a groundbreaking three-digit voice and text hotline, the 988 Lifeline, that enables individuals in crisis to access trained counselors 24/7 via calls, texts or online chats. In this episode, they are joined by Jennifer Battle, the vice president of community access and engagement at the Harris Center, one of Texas’ largest providers for individuals with behavioral health and developmental needs. Together, Wright, Russell and Battle discuss how the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration collaborates with and supports more than 200 crisis centers across the nation, delivering tailored mental health services to diverse communities. The Partnership for Public Service is recognizing Wright and two of his colleagues as finalists for a 2023 Service to America Medals® award. 

 Additional Resources:

• Learn more about 988.
• Learn more about the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.
• Learn more about the 988 Implementation Guideline Playbooks.

A complete transcript of this episode can be found here.

Michael Boyce is a leading innovator at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, heading up a team that spearheads groundbreaking technological advancements related to asylum filing and overseas refugee cases. In this episode, he is joined by Arianna Miller and Kimberly Odom, two asylum officers working for USCIS who discuss their core responsibilities, the new innovations that are transforming the asylum process, and how federal leaders like Boyce use technology, customer feedback and more to improve the experiences of those seeking refuge in the U.S.

A complete transcript of this episode can be found here.

Since November 2021, public servants have collaborated across state, local and federal government to implement the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act—a once-in-a-generation investment of $1.2 trillion to repair, renew and reinvigorate the country’s aging infrastructure. Asma Mirza joins "Profiles in Public Service” as a deputy for implementation management at the White House, where she supports senior advisor to the president, Mitch Landrieu, on carrying out the new infrastructure law. To date, 37,000 projects and $280 billion and counting have been implemented across 4,500 communities in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and the U.S. territories. Kevin Donahue, the city administrator for Washington, D.C., has worked with Mirza and her team at the White House to implement a more equitable infrastructure within the city, including through the creation of the D.C. Build Back Better Infrastructure Task Force. Mirza and Donahue discuss how federal leaders are convening state and local actors to transform our nation’s physical infrastructure, improve access to high-speed internet, tackle the climate crisis and more.

Additional Resources: 

• Learn more about the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. 
• Explore the interactive map of projects by neighborhood across the U.S.A. 
• Learn more about the DC Build Back Better Infrastructure Task Force. 

A complete transcript of this episode can be found here.

Jason Broughton and Dominick Spinelli are “living a librarian’s dream” at the Library of Congress’ National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled. Broughton is the director of the NLS after a long career in librarianship, education and workforce development. Spinelli serves as the head of the NLS’ Collection Development Section, where he leads a team of librarians to build a catalog of accessible reading materials and support a nationwide network of nearly 100 partnering libraries and outreach centers. Broughton and Spinelli discuss how they leverage feedback from library patrons to help ensure that individuals across the nation, including people with disabilities and veterans, can obtain accessible print and reading materials that meet their needs.

Additional Resources:

• Learn more about the Marrakesh Treaty. 
• NLS resources for Veterans. 
• Learn more about ⁠Learning Ally’s Audiobook Solution⁠ program.   

A complete transcript of this episode can be found here.

Serving in the U.S. House of Representatives involves much more than debating policy and voting on legislation on Capitol Hill. It also requires a great deal of listening to and engaging the constituents living in local districts.  

Rep. Sylvia Garcia joins this episode of “Profiles in Public Service” alongside Enrique Garcia, a constituent services representative from her district office in Houston, Texas. In 2019, Garcia became the first Hispanic member of the Houston congressional delegation and one of the first two Latinas to represent Texas in Congress. Previously, she worked in various roles in the Texas state government, and as a social worker and legal aid lawyer. Enrique and Rep. Garcia will talk about their work to increase trust in the federal government by delivering excellent customer service to their constituents and meeting the diverse needs of the communities they serve.   

A full transcript of this episode can be found ⁠here.⁠

Additional resources:

• Learn more about Representative Sylvia Garcia. 

• Read more about Representative Garcia office’s involvement in getting justice for constituents Vanessa Guillén and her family. 

• Learn more about the I Am Vanessa Guillén Act. 

• Representative Garcia’s Youth Advisory Council. 

Civic technology is critical to addressing some of the nation’s toughest challenges, from the opioid crisis to disaster relief and more. Today’s “Profiles in Public Service” guest, Drew Zachary from U.S. Census Bureau, describes how the federal initiative she co-founded, The Opportunity Project, uses cross-sector collaboration and open federal data to design technology that supports communities across the country. Susanna Pho is a startup founder and a former participant in The Opportunity Project’s Design Sprint Challenge competitions, during which she partnered with federal agencies to use her company’s software that helps local governments and communities better adapt to the effects of climate change. Quentin Cummings is a climate analyst at the Federal Emergency Management Agency whose earlier work in government informed Pho’s 2022 Design Sprint Challenge project to strengthen collaboration between federal and local governments to aid in their preparedness for flood risk and response to natural disasters in their communities. Zachary, Pho and Cummings discuss how using federal data and partnering across sectors allows them to support local economies, expand opportunity and rebuild trust in government in communities across the country.  

A transcript of this episode is available here.

Additional Resources: 

• Learn more about The Opportunity Project. 
• Watch the 2023 The Opportunity Project Summit. 
• Learn more about Susanna Pho’s company, Forerunner. 

Two leaders committed to ensuring equity in both federal and local environmental justice initiatives join “Profiles in Public Service” to speak about their collaborative efforts to address public health issues for communities on the West Coast and beyond. Laura Ebbert works in the Environmental Protection Agency’s Region 9 office based in San Francisco, where she leads environmental justice, equity and policy programs. Lauren Boitel runs ImpactNV, a statewide sustainability nonprofit and coalition builder in Las Vegas, Nevada. A recent recipient of the EPA’s environmental justice grant program, ImpactNV is using federal funds to support transformational investments to improve air quality and mitigate the impact of severe heat on predominantly Latinx communities in East Las Vegas. Ebbert and Boitel describe how listening to the lived experiences of community members is leading to more equitable statewide and federal solutions to environmental justice concerns. 

Additional Resources: 

• Learn more about the Environmental Justice Collaborative Problem Solving Cooperative Agreement program 
• Find updates about the Buen Aire Para Todos project led by ImpactNV. 

A full transcript of this episode is available here.

The third season of “Profiles in Public Service” is off to an exciting start as we highlight all that our federal government does to strengthen local communities across America. 

In our first episode, Craig Buerstatte, a program and policy leader at the Economic Development Administration, shares how he and his team managed to equitably distribute $3 billion in American Rescue Plan funding to 780 projects that assist local communities in creating more robust and resilient regional economies. These efforts included the EDA’s $500 million Good Jobs Challenge, led by Lauren Starks, and benefited organizations like the Illinois-based nonprofit, Chicago Cook Workforce Partnership, led by Patrick Combs.  

Buerstatte, Starks and Combs discuss why they work in public service, what they have learned about enabling economic development at the local level, and how they have built community-informed projects that bring together diverse partners to support the U.S. workforce. 

A transcript for this episode is available here.

Additional Resources:  

• Learn more about the EDA’s distribution of American Rescue Plan funding. 
• Learn more about the Good Jobs Challenge. 
• Press Release: U.S. Department of Commerce Invests $18.5 Million to Strengthen Workforce Training Programs in Chicago, Illinois, Through American Rescue Plan Good Jobs Challenge.
• Read more about Service to America Medals Winner Philip Rosenfelt.