20180227-2018 Resumes, Resumes, Resumes: Marketing Yourself on the Page

Resumes, Resumes, Resumes: Marketing Yourself on the Page

Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2018 • 6:00pm-8:00pm

Marketing Yourself on the Page with Bill Shields, ASPA Executive Director and American University professor

Securing a job is a game of statistics. You are playing against many competitors applying for the same position, often with the same qualifications that you have. How do you get ahead? How do you “beat the odds?” It starts with your resume. Join us for an in-depth discussion of what public sector employers are looking for, what they are getting and how your resume can place you at the head of the pack.

There are different perspectives on resumes; the answers you get depend on whom you ask. But, the importance of a resume cannot be disputed. It’s more than a piece of paper you complete at 3:00 in the morning prior to a job interview. It’s not a document for which you spend more time selecting the stock of the paper than the substance listed on it. It introduces you to a potential employer, sells your skills and attributes in a compelling way and should get you to the next step.

Everyone—at every stage of his or her professional career—needs to update a resume; constantly refresh it; and take “stuff” off while putting new “stuff” on. There is no cookie cutter approach to resumes, but there are rights and wrongs. We will spend time on both.

Space is limited. Please RSVP.

Light snacks and refreshments will be served.

20180208-2018 PA Connections: Planning and Networking Meeting

PA Connections: February Planning and Networking Meeting

Thursday, Feb. 8, 2018 • 6:00pm-7:30pm

Come meet others interested in networking and mentorship!

What: This is the second of a series of monthly meetings that will take place on the second Thursday of the month. Please mark your calendar. At these meetings, we will seek input about the resources, events, and activities members would find most useful. From this discussion, we will work together to come up with a unified vision of what we are trying to accomplish, an implementation plan, and a plan for how we will measure success. We hope to see you there!

Coming soon – Google Group Forum:

We will be using the Google Group Forum capability to foster discussion on topics of interest to PA Connections. This will be particularly useful for preparing for the upcoming meetings, as well as fostering discussions and information sharing about mentoring and networking. If you have not already done so, please sign up for the pa_connections Google Group.

Remember the Registry:

Thank you to all who have submitted their information to the Registry. If you have yet to do so, please take care of it soon. It only takes a few minutes. I will send a reminder email with the link to the Google form. The Registry is for everyone, whether you want to connect with others to seek advice or to provide advice (or both). To have access to the Registry, you must have submitted information about yourself via the online form.

Ask us about joining the PA Connections Google Group.Contact us at aspancacmentoring@gmail.com

To learn more about PA Connections, click here or email us at aspancacmentoring@gmail.com

PA Connections co-chairs: Billy Leiserson and Pamela Foster.

Space is limited. Please RSVP.

Light snacks and refreshments will be served.

20180111-2018 PA Connections: Planning Meeting

PA Connections Invites You to its First Planning Meeting of 2018

Thursday, Jan. 11, 2018 • 6:00pm-7:30pm

What: This will be the first of a series of monthly meetings that will take place on the second Thursday of the month. Please mark your calendar. At these meetings, we will seek input about the resources, events, and activities members would find most useful. From this discussion, we will work together to come up with a unified vision of what we are trying to accomplish, an implementation plan, and a plan for how we will measure success. We hope to see you there!

Registry Update: At our last meeting, there was considerable interest in providing an online resource-the PA Connections registry-which will contain information about members who are looking to connect with others for informational interviews, mentoring, and career related advice. We plan to release a pilot version (v1.0) of the registry in the next few days. We encourage members to sign up and use the registry once it comes on line. Once it has been running for a few months, we will solicit feedback from members and make adjustments accordingly. To sign up for the registry, you must first accept a forthcoming invitation to join the PA Connections Google Group.

Ask us about joining the PA Connections Google Group. Contact us at aspancacmentoring@gmail.com

To learn more about PA Connections, click here or email us at aspancacmentoring@gmail.com

PA Connections co-chairs: Billy Leiserson and Pamela Foster.

Space is limited. Please RSVP.

Light snacks and refreshments will be served.

20171102-2017 The Future of the Affordable Housing Crisis

ASPA NCAC Invites You to a Panel Discussion on Affordable Housing

Thursday, Nov. 28, 2017 • 6:30pm-8:00pm

The Future of the Affordable

Housing Crisis

A panel discussion on the affordability crisis in the metro DC area and across the country. This discussion will focus on why an affordable housing crisis exists, policy tools and techniques to maintain and increase affordable housing, and why affordable housing matters (socially and economically).

Who: Panel hosted by the National Capital Area Chapter of ASPA and moderated by Michael Silliman, MPA.

Panel:
Gov. Parris N. Glendening is President of Smart Growth America’s Leadership Institute and the Governor’s Institute on Community Design. In these roles, he travels across the country and around the world advising state and local governments on smart growth, transit, and sustainability policies and practices. Parris Glendening served as Governor of the State of Maryland from 1995-2003 where he created the nation’s first state-level smart growth policy package. Prior to being elected Governor, Glendening served three terms as elected county executive of Prince George’s County, Maryland. He taught political science at the University of Maryland, College Park for 27 years and is the author of two books and over 100 articles and conference papers.


Alazne (Ali) Solis is President and CEO of Make Room USA. Ali has led successful national campaigns during her two decade tenure in housing and thinks it’s about time that renters’ needs move to the top of the national agenda. She’s a deal-maker, coalition-builder and advocate for people and places that need help the most.

Space is limited. Please RSVP.

Light snacks and refreshments will be served.

20171102-2017 PA Connections: Informal Organizational Meeting and Networking Event

PA Connections Invites You to an Informal Organizational Meeting and Networking Event

Thursday, Nov. 2, 2017 • 6:00pm-7:30pm

Mentoring and Networking to Thrive in Public Administration

The National Capital Area Chapter of the American Society of Public Administration has a new group called PA CONNECTIONS! We are looking to build on the momentum from our inaugural event on October 18, but we need your help. If you share an interest in mentoring, networking, public service and professional development, then come join us! We will be soliciting input about events and activities you would find most useful. In addition to brainstorming ideas, we will briefly discuss how we would like to organize the group.

PA Connections was formed by ASPA NCAC members interested in leveraging mentorship and networking to become more effective in our jobs and more adept at managing our careers.

We want the group to be responsive to the needs of ASPA members, but we can only accomplish that with your help. Please come and provide your input so we can work together to provide useful programming.

We welcome public servants at all career stages!

PA Connections co-chairs: Billy Leiserson and Pamela Foster

Questions? Can’t attend but would like to stay involved? Please contact with us at aspancacmentoring@gmail.com

To learn more about PA Connectionsclick here.

Space is limited. Please RSVP.

Light snacks and refreshments will be served.

20171018-2017 Making PA Connections Inaugural Meeting

PA Connections Invites You to a Panel Discussion and Networking Event

Wednesday, October 18, 2017 • 6:00pm-7:30pm

Mentoring and Networking to Thrive in Public Administration

Featuring:
Commander Eric Popiel 

Commander Popiel is currently assigned to the Emerging Policy Staff (DCO-X) under the Deputy Commandant for Operations at Coast Guard Headquarters in Washington, D.C. He manages the Evergreen Program, the Coast Guard’s Strategic Foresight Initiative, and serves on the leadership team for the Federal Foresight Community of Interest. He has attended advanced facilitator training at the Luma Institute, facilitated multiple workshops for Senior Coast Guard leaders, teaches Human Centered Design methodology, and provides foresight guidance to multiple federal agencies.

Ms. Carol Rusaw

Ms. Rusaw served in the federal government and was a professor of public administration, management, and adult education. Most of her federal service involved training and development.  She designed, developed, taught, and managed programs for supervisors, managers, and executives. She also developed formal and informal mentoring programs.

The panelists will share their insights on the role of mentoring and networking in careers in public administration. Bring your questions and your insights—there will be ample time for discussion!

Sponsored by PA Connections, a Group of the National Capital Area Chapter (NCAC) of the American Society for Public Administration (ASPA). PA Connections was formed by ASPA NCAC members interested in leveraging mentorship to become more effective in our jobs and more adept at managing our careers.

For more information, click here or email us at aspancacmentoring@gmail.com

PA Connections co-chairs: Billy Leiserson and Pamela Foster

To learn more about PA Connectionsclick here.

 

Space is limited. Please RSVP.

Light snacks and refreshments will be served.

20170926-2017 Chris Mihm GAO Govt Reform

Overlapping and Duplicative Federal Programs: How GAO's Work Can Help Guide Reform Efforts

Tuesday, September 26, 2017 • 6:00-7:30pm

A significant priority of the Trump Administration is to reform and reorganize the federal government. Over the next few weeks, the Office of Management and Budget will be reviewing agency proposals and deciding on the actions it will to take to develop and push forward a major reform agenda.

For the past ten years, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) has been reporting on overlapping and duplicative federal programs with the intent of helping Congress and the Executive Branch identify opportunities to streamline and make sense of the myriad programs the federal government operates. On September 26, Chris Mihm, the Managing Director of Strategic Issues and the leader of GAO’s work in this area, will speak on what GAO sees as the reform opportunities and challenges facing the Administration. Please join us in a lively discussion about what GAO has learned from its work and how that learning can guide agencies going forward.

20170719-2017 Summer Book Club Meeting

2017 Summer Book Club Meeting

Wednesday, July 19, 2017 • 5:30-7:00pm

What: WHEN YOUR JOB WANTS YOU TO LIE: A book club meeting to discuss “Lying to Ourselves: Dishonesty in the Army Profession” by Leonard Wong and Stephen J. Gerras

We all face pressure to fudge in our jobs: You have to sign that you have read and understand a long document that nobody has time to read, or you have to report figures for something that nobody has tracked so the best you can do is guess-timate. Wong and Gerras studied how U.S. Army officers are routinely required to misrepresent, how they cope with it, how pressure to lie undermines the Army’s effectiveness, and what can be done. We will start the discussion with Wong and Gerras’s book, and move on to talk about the problem in other organizations, how we can cope with pressure to misrepresent in our own jobs, and possible broader solutions.
Join us for a discussion that will help us deal with the kinds of situations we all encounter. The book is short–just 35 pages excluding frontal material. Click here for a  free PDF download. Or click here to buy a printed copy.

 

When: Wednesday, July 19, 2017
5:30pm Refreshments
6:00 pm Book Discussion

Where: Partnership for Public Service,
1100 New York Ave. NW, Suite 200,
Washington, DC 20005

The event is free for everybody, but some spaces are reserved for ASPA NCAC members. Space is limited, so please RSVP.

20170330-2017 Annual Meeting with Paul Light

2017 Annual Meeting with Keynote Speaker Paul Light, Ph.D.

Thursday, March 30, 2017 • 5:30-7:30pm

Keynote Address with Q&A
Dr. Light will be talking about what the new administration can do to address the longstanding ills of the bureaucracy as it strives to meet campaign promises.  Dr. Light’s two most recent books, Government by Investigations: President, Congress, and the Search for Answers, 1945-2012 and A Government Ill Executed: The Decline of the Federal Service and How to Reverse It? will backdrop his talk.

Dr. Paul C. Light is NYU Wagner’s Paulette Goddard Professor of Public Service and founding principal investigator of the Global Center for Public Service, Before joining NYU, Dr. Light served as the Douglas Dillon Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, founding director of its Center for Public Service, and vice president and director of the Governmental Studies Program. Dr. Light is the author of 25 books, including works on social entrepreneurship, the nonprofit sector, federal government reform, public service, and the baby boom.  A Government Ill Executed received the American Political Science Association’s Herbert Simon Award for the most important book on public administration in the preceding three-to-five years upon publication.  Dr. Light is also a co-author of a best-selling American government textbook, Government by the People.

Awards Ceremony & Chapter Business Meeting
After Dr. Light’s keynote discussion, we will hold an annual awards ceremony, announcing the winners for:

National Capital Area Chapter Award for Outstanding Service
This award is given to a member of the National Capital Area Chapter of ASPA who demonstrates outstanding service to the chapter.

The Frances Kelsey Award
This award is named for Dr. Frances Kelsey, a U.S. Food and Drug Administration employee who resisted pressure to approve Thalidomide, and thus prevented countless birth defects. This award will be given to a person who has demonstrated courage in promoting the public interest while employed in government, contractors or grantees.

Following the awards, we shall have a short business meeting. This will include a member vote to ratify changes to the ASPA NCAC By-Laws.  The By-Laws with proposed changes are available for review here.  Please send any feedback to the NCAC board at aspa.ncac@gmail.com.