Tag: Atlanta

How to Ease the Move from Battlefield to Boardroom

Posted on by robbie

Retired Lt. Col. John Phillips of Atlanta, Ga. knows a few things about making the transition from a military career to a civilian one. After he served for more than 20 years in the Army, he began to work for Coca-Cola, where he is currently a mid-level finance executive and the founder of the beverage company’s Military Veterans Business Resource Group. Earlier this year, he published a book, Boots To Loafers: Finding Your New True North, to help those recently retired from the service make a similar career move.
Phillips discussed with Bill Hendrick of the Atlanta Journal Constitution some of the tips he shares in the book. “Always remember you know more than you think you do,” he says. “Also, if you’ve been the service a long time and been successful, you’ll likely have to work at first for someone half your age and who has no idea what you’ve done, and doesn’t care.”
Phillips outlines the three phases he believes each veteran will experience as he or she leaves military life: Transition, transformation, and integration.
One goal of the book is to build veterans’ confidence in their abilities to solve the less-than-dire problems they will face in the corporate world. Phillips writes on his website, “Many times in my civilian career I have come across a crisis, or what others perceived as a crisis, that did not compare to the catastrophes I experienced while in uniform. For example, no one has yelled at me, shot at me, or tried to blow me up since leaving the military. Instead, someone has simply spent too much money and is over budget or someone has not served the kind of soup expected in the company cafeteria and that turns into an instant crisis for some in the private sector.”
Phillips advises vets seeking jobs to start their job searches with vet-friendly companies, study the corporate culture of the business they are applying to and learn how to explain that the skills they built in the military will be useful in a civilian job.

“The people listening may not have a clue,” Phillips tells Hendrick. “And they might look at a resume for about three seconds. So you’ve got to spell out what you can do for them.”

MORE: Can You 3D Print A Car? This Program Trains Veterans How

 

Can $45 Million Worth of Data and Technology Improve U.S. Cities?

Posted on by robbie

Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has long supported civic innovation, but the philanthropist is ramping up efforts to help local governments through his charitable foundation’s Innovation Delivery grants.
Bloomberg Philanthropies pledged $45 million to American cities looking to use big data and digital tools to help municipalities solve urban issues like economic development or infrastructure.

“We’re asking cities to do so much more,” says James Anderson, who heads up the innovation programs at Bloomberg Philanthropies. “We need cities to come up with bigger, better ideas more often, and we don’t want to leave innovation to chance.”

More than 80 prospective cities were invited to apply for a grant, which can range from $250,000 to $1 million annually for three years. Candidates must have at least 100,000 residents and a mayor in office for at least two years.

The Innovation Delivery grants will also come with a team of experts to help roll out the charity’s data-driven model, which has been developed based on programs in Chicago, Louisville, Atlanta, Memphis and New Orleans. The teams will serve as an in-house consultant agency for the recipients.

Touting success in the aforementioned cities, Bloomberg notes that using the Innovation Delivery model has led to Atlanta moving 1,022 homeless individuals into permanent housing and New Orleans reducing its murder rate to 19 percent in 2013. Meanwhile, retail vacancies in Memphis’s central economic corridor dropped 30 percent while Louisville was able to cut back the amount of ambulance responses redirecting 26 percent of 911 medical calls to immediate care centers or a doctor’s office.

“Innovation Delivery has been an essential part of our effort to bring innovation, efficiency and improved services to our customers,” Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer says in a press release. “Philanthropy can play an important role in expanding the capacity of cities to deliver better, bolder results. Bloomberg Philanthropies is one of few foundations investing in this area, and it has truly been a game changer for our city.”

Bloomberg Philanthropies will also fund any research, technical assistance and partnerships with other organizations that could expand the foundation’s model, according to the release. For cities that may not qualify or other interested lawmakers, the foundation has also compiled the Innovation Delivery Playbook, which outlines the approach through successful examples in the pilot cities.

Grant winners are expected to be announced this fall with the initiatives planned to kick off in spring 2015.

MORE: Watch: Rachel Haot on How Governments Should Adopt New Technology

With Parking Spaces Sitting Vacant, Atlanta Has a Bold Plan to Merge Communities With Transit

Posted on by robbie

Everyone who lives near a city knows all too well how much location – specifically, proximity to the commuter rail — matters. The shorter the drive is to the station, the better. And the ability to walk there trumps just about everything.
Such convenience is about to come to thousands in Atlanta. That city’s metro system MARTA has started making real estate deals to build housing to unused transit parking lots. MARTA plans to turn the space at the King Memorial, Edgewood, and Edgewood/Chandler Park stations into combination residential and retail developments.
“People have been looking at these parking lots for decades wondering why they were just sitting there,” Amanda Rhein, senior director of transit-oriented development at MARTA, told City Lab.
Now, that is finally changing — and it’s not only helping commuters, but also the railroad itself. Without state funding, MARTA’s bottom line is very easily impacted by the ups and downs of the economy. So, when Keith Parker took over the agency in 2012, he decided that a bold project like this is what was required to keep it competitive. The development will not only produce revenue from all the train riders, but also with each unit sold, will raise money for the transit system that it can use for improvements.
And so far, Parker’s decision is looking like a good one. MARTA has successfully leased land to developers for mixed-use buildings that are focused on the adjacent transit opportunities, including a project on a four-acre unused parking lot that features 13,000 square feet of retails space and 386 housing units.
The boon does not only belong to the railroads, though; it is the entire community’s as these projects could decrease traffic on the roads. And on top of that, there is more to the new spaces then one might think. Beyond all the great new housing and shops, each development will also feature a public park as well as have at least 20 percent of the units dedicated to affordable housing.
While construction has yet to start, there’s already hope for more in the future since this model is good for both the city of Atlanta, its citizens and the transit system itself.
“We’re going to make the stations themselves and the surrounding areas more pleasant and more easily accessible, and we’ll be providing amenities to our riders and to the surrounding community. So I think people will realize that and give MARTA a chance,” says Rhein.
DON’T MISS: Here’s How High-Speed Rail Is Inching Closer to Becoming a Reality In California

Can Living in a City Give You a Leg Up in Life?

Posted on by robbie

We’ve been hearing for years that people who live in cities tend to be thinner and more active than those who live in suburbs—all that walking and climbing stairs seems to contribute—but a new study finds that people who live in densely-packed cities also are more likely to be agile in a different way: climbing the economic and social ladder.
The study by Smart Growth America and the University of Utah’s Metropolitan Urban Center is significant because it quantifies urban sprawl. Sprawl is not just about how much land is occupied by a city. As the authors write, “sprawl is not just growth, but is a specific, and dysfunctional, style of growth.” The study shows that the health benefits that correlate with city living are specific to dense cities, where residents have lower rates of obesity and diabetes. Residents of sprawled-out cities such as Atlanta do not show the same benefits as do those living in packed-in places such as New York.
Reid Ewing of the University of Utah, lead researcher on the study, told Lane Anderson of Deseret News, “Urban places provide higher likelihood of moving up the social ladder. Compact places provide better access to jobs, better transit and more integration.” The study judged Los Angeles to be relatively dense compared to Atlanta and other sprawling places, and found that a child in L.A. has a 10 percent chance of moving from the bottom of the income scale to the top, while an Atlanta-based low-income child has only a 4 percent of chance of such a rise.
Ewing said that one factor in this difference might be transportation—denser cities tend to have better public transportation, which gives citizens of all income levels more access to better jobs and schools, but is especially important for low-income people who may not have a car. Better mixing between people of different ethnicities and economic levels might contribute to the social mobility, too. “In dense areas, there are more chances for networking, for meeting people, more chances of getting better salaries and jobs,” he said. And riding the train also seems to keep people thinner—train riders are 6.5 pounds lighter than car drivers, according to The American Journal of Preventive Medicine, and they’re 81 percent less likely to ever become obese. One twist: the study found that kids get more exercise in the suburbs where they can run around in backyards and playgrounds, and adults get more exercise in cities, where they are forced to hoof it.
The authors of the study hope their findings will encourage more cities to implement healthy changes, such as bike-share programs, more mixed-use developments, and improved transportation. Or, as Ewing asks, “It’s time to ask the question again, how can we make cities better?”
MORE: More College Graduates Moving Into Cities

Lettuce Think Differently About Farming in Cities

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Despite having a reputation for consuming a lot of junk food, Americans actually eat a lot of lettuce: 30 pounds of it each year, in fact. Behind potatoes, lettuce is the second most popular fresh vegetable.
We’d never tell you to stop eating your veggies but it’s very likely that the leafy greens you find at your local supermarket or salad bar have traveled quite the distance to end up on your plate. In fact, 90 percent of lettuce comes from California or Arizona — and unless you live on that side of the country, that’s kind of a problem.
So what’s the solution? In Atlanta, Ga., 2,000 miles away from America’s lettuce hub, local company PodPonics is growing lettuce right in the city’s backyard. In fact, the sprouting heads are located near Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.
MORE: From Windowsills to Rooftops, Check Out the Rise of Urban Farming
You’d think Atlanta’s sweltering heat, heavy traffic and densely populated sprawl wouldn’t be optimal for fresh greens, but the company is proving that notion wrong. Thanks to the incredible technology of hydroponics, PodPonics is growing (pesticide-and-fertilizer free!) lettuce all year round.
We’ve previously mentioned the nifty technology of hydroponics (and its fishy cousin aquaponics). The beauty of this growing method is that it requires no sunlight, arable land or soil. This means it can be set up just about anywhere — from basements to fish tanks. As you can see in the video below, PodPonics grows their greens in recycled railroad shipping containers.
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The company told NationSwell that inside each of these containers — or “pods” — is a controlled environment (consisting of patented PVC-pipe hydroponic systems, fluorescent lights, virtual systems that control the temperature and nutrients) that allows the plants to flourish year round.
ALSO: Check Out the Largest Rooftop Farm in the World
Impressively, the company said that each pod produces the equivalent of more than an acre of crops. They also have a turnover of crops 26 times a year, compared to traditional farms that have four crop turns a year.
Since its launch in 2010, PodPonics has already expanded to hundreds of local grocery stores. Hydroponics is a serious contender for the future of farming, and it’s coming at an important time for drought-weary states in the American Southwest (yes, such as California and Arizona). While it can be expensive to set up, it pays off in dividends in the long run. It’s been said that hydroponic systems use only around 10 percent of the water used for soil-based crops. Companies like PodPonics are proving that we can grow fresh, sustainable crops anywhere — regardless of the weather.
DON’T MISS: The Silver Lining to California’s Terrible Drought

Can a New Approach to Treating Vets Keep Them Off the Streets for Good?

Posted on by robbie

This week the Department of Veterans Affairs opened a new residential treatment center in San Diego, designed to help veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan who are in danger of slipping into homelessness. The Aspire Center has rooms for 34 men and 6 women, and is unique in its focus on only veterans from these two wars. Directors of the Aspire Center hope that grouping together veterans of similar ages who’ve had similar experiences will produce better results.
The Aspire Center’s 28 staff members will offer vets therapy for PTSD, treatment for substance abuse, and occupational counseling. These types of services proved to be life-saving for Kris Warren, an Iraq Marine veteran who sought help from the VA in Los Angeles and after counseling was able to reunite with his family. Warren will be on staff as a social services assistant at The Aspire Center. “I know what it’s like to walk up those stairs, prideful, and ask for help,” he told Tony Perry of the Los Angeles Times.
The VA plans to open four more such residential facilities over the next two years in Atlanta, Denver, Philadelphia, and West Palm Beach, Fla. They will serve veterans of all ages, but if studies prove an advantage of grouping veterans with similar experiences together, the VA may expand the San Diego approach in the future. An estimated 286 veterans in San Diego are homeless or at risk for becoming homeless, and VA officials will be watching that number and the veterans who stay at The Aspire Center closely to determine if this approach can make a difference. So will Kris Warren. “Where they go, I’ll go,” he told Perry.
MORE: We Support Our Vets. But How About the Afghans Who Helped Them?

Meet the Amazing People Who Are Making Atlanta’s Awful Snowstorm Less Awful

Posted on by robbie

It seemed like the apocalypse had arrived in Atlanta after a few inches of snow left thousands stranded on highways without food or water. Children were stuck in school buses, a baby was born in highway traffic during the gridlock and some folks had to completely abandon their cars and walk for miles in freezing temps to find shelter. But no disaster is without its heroes.
Several schools, restaurants and companies like Home Depot and Kroger opened their doors for people to stay overnight. Michelle Sollicito, a Web-savvy good Samaritan, started the SnowedOutAtlanta Facebook page, a resource for people to get in touch with volunteers who wanted to help. The page’s crowdsourcing map allowed stranded motorists to find nearby shelters. More than 52,000 people have joined Sollicito’s service to get through the storm.
And if you want something that will really melt your heart, stop by the page’s spinoff, The Heroes of Snowed In Atlanta, which collects stories and photos of the city’s biggest helpers. Take Matthew Miller, who stood on I-75 to hand out PB&Js, cereal and hot chocolate to stranded motorists. Another local, James Thomason, used his pickup to pull cars out of ditches and take drivers home. It’s people like that who remind us that together we can get through even the worst storms.
MORE: It Started as a Winter Chore. Then It Turned Into a Movement

What’s ‘the Country’s Best Smart Growth Project’? You’ll Be Surprised

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In most places, Ryan Gravel would disappear into the crowd. In sensible leather sandals and plain collared shirt, the middle-aged architect is as unassuming in his appearance as he is careful in his words. He thinks in full paragraphs, nuanced and detailed, and speaks softly in the measured tones of a librarian. But on the Atlanta BeltLine—a 22-mile loop of trails, transit and parks under construction around the core of Atlanta—Gravel is a rock star.
On a recent sunny afternoon, just a few miles east of downtown, throngs of people had come out to stroll, skate and cycle along this stretch of pavement, the Eastside Trail of the BeltLine, which Gravel helped create. He is widely credited with the success of the project—in what has now become a nugget of local lore, Gravel’s 1999 graduate thesis provided the original blueprint for the massive urban redevelopment plan—and many Atlantans know him by face and by name. “Amazing idea, sir!” a helmeted cyclist proclaims, whizzing by. “I love it, Ryan!” echoes another rider. Continue reading “What’s ‘the Country’s Best Smart Growth Project’? You’ll Be Surprised”

Why It’s Time to Forget About “Food Deserts”

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Innovation is often about changing the way we think about a problem, sometimes even changing the terminology so that we can focus on a better solution. That’s what John Bare wants to do: Instead of diagnosing and pointing out the nation’s food deserts, he wants to empower a cure for the problem with a name. In creating the Food Oasis Movement, Bare shifts the attention to meeting the demand for fresh fruits and vegetables, rather than assigning blame for the lack of healthy produce. He’s identifying innovators and their creative ideas for engaging families and supporting their desire to learn about healthy cooking and choose nutritious foods. With new programs emerging in cities including Philadelphia, Chicago, and Atlanta, the oasis is certainly growing.