High Profile Program Design

Leading Short-term Family Housing Design and Construction Efforts

  • In 2016, DC Mayor Bowser rolled out her comprehensive plan to close the complex and outdated DC General Family Shelter and open 8 smaller, service rich, dignified family shelters in each ward of the District of Columbia. Jessica led the robust community engagement efforts for these projects as well as overall project management to ensure quality shelters were delivered on time and on budget. By February 2021, all eight shelters were open and operational.

Creating Equitable Encampment Response Processes

  • In 2019, the District of Columbia estimated x people living outside in encampments. Charged by city leadership to develop a plan, Jessica created a multi-agency encampment protocol that centered around first providing outreach services and supports to residents experiencing homelessness. The protocol balanced the need for social services with health and safety concerns and clean areas in the most dignified way possible, allowing residents time and resources to help move belongings. To date, this protocol is one of the only encampment protocols in the United States to stand up against a class action lawsuit.

Designing and Constructing Low-Barrier Shelters

  • With aging facilities in retrofitted spaces, the District of Columbia’s low-barrier shelter system was in need of reform. Jessica worked to create a plan, including budget and timeline, to update each shelter one by one. This comprehensive plan included locating new shelter spaces, procuring swing spaces for current shelter residents to use during building renovation/construction, stakeholder engagement, and budget management.

Integrating Case Management
and Nutrition Services into Daily Agency Operations

  • During COVID-19, it became apparent that seniors in the District of Columbia were missing steady life sustaining supports like case management and nutrition services. In an effort to create equity for seniors across the District and ensure core needs were met, Jessica led an effort to shift case management and nutrition services from grantees to a government agency led service. This effort included hiring and training staff, setting up internal processes, standard operating procedures, and level of care benchmarks, as well as close coordination with grantees to ensure seniors didn’t fall through the cracks during the transition process.

Creating Family Success Centers with Family First Act Funding

  • In 2018, Congress passed the Family First Prevention Service Act, providing funding to states to increase wraparound services to keep families together and children out of foster care. Jessica, using her background in child welfare as well as research from best practices across the country, created a plan to open 11 Family Success Centers in Wards 7 and 8 (placing them in neighborhoods with the poorest social determinants of health). Each center provided  families with wrap-around community services and supports. Jessica worked with her federal partners to ensure federal requirements were met, budget was allocated appropriately, and updates were provided timely.

Leading Post COVID Rehousing Efforts for Vulnerable Residents

  • During the COVID-19 pandemic, the District operated hotels where they temporarily housed people experiencing homelessness. As pandemic guidelines and regulations eased, the District needed a plan to close these hotels and house 175 residents who were residing there within  90 days. Jessica led a strike team at the Department of Human Services to create a plan, engage community providers and landlords, and track weekly progress. To conclude this project, after residents had been rehoused, Jessica compiled an extensive report outlining gaps in the housing process and recommendation for improving the housing voucher lease up process.

Time Sensitive Project Management

Constructing the District’s First State-Of-The Art Zero Waste Facility

  • In 2022, the Department of Public Works was allocated $103 million dollars to rebuild a transfer station after a fire at an existing station left the facility inoperable. When Jessica came to the agency in 2023 she quickly got this stalled project back on track and transformed it from simply rebuilding another transfer station to designing a state of the art zero waste facility. Jessica formed a Community Advisory Team made up of community members, advocates, and experts to inform design and figure out how best to use the limited 6-acre campus. This project is slated for completion in 2028.

Creating Increased Towing Capacity

  • In mid-2024, District leaders and residents became increasingly concerned about scofflaws and how these vehicles with numerous outstanding parking fines and moving violations were affecting safety. Tasked with putting a plan together, and understanding that the agency was already working with limited financial and personnel resources, Jessica worked to use License Plate Reader data to target areas with the highest concentration of scofflaw vehicles. She designed a process for uncovering vehicles with $3,000+ in outstanding fines and trained a select group of staff on how to find and tow these vehicles. Knowing impound lot space was essentially non-existent, Within three months of the scofflaw pilot program, Jessica utilized data to negotiate an additional impound lot at no cost to her agency. Increasing capacity by 30%, the District benefited from ensuring that the streets were free from dangerous and abandoned vehicles.

Improving Leaf Collection Operations

  • At the DC Department of Public Works serving as the Chief Administrative Office, Jessica oversaw the Leaf Season operations - a core service to ensure streets, gutters, and storm drains remain clear of leaves and debris. During her first year overseeing operations, Jessica implemented a new communication strategy to better inform residents of services and when they’d receive them. This led to a 23% reduction in Service Requests through the city’s 311 service system. By more closely monitoring daily route data, attendance, and equipment, Jessica also helped the agency reduce overtime costs for this program by $1.3 million dollars from the previous year.

Crisis Operations

Coordinating Post Fire Senior Rehousing Efforts

  • On September 19, 2018, a 162-unit public housing building in Southwest DC tragically caught fire and was damaged beyond repair. This left over 160 vulnerable seniors displaced from their homes and without medication, food, clothing, vital documents, and other basic items. Residents were placed in hotels while Jessica led an effort to renew their housing vouchers and find new apartments for each resident. She oversaw a team to recover each resident’s medication, birth certificates, social security cards, and other vital documents lost in the fire. Jessica not only managed this project from behind the scenes, but also served as the lead for public facing communication with seniors during this process. By March 2019, all residents had been rehoused.

Leading Human Service Response for COVID-19 Pandemic

  • March 2020 is a month our world will not soon forget. Jessica was called to the District Emergency Operations Center in March to assist with contingency planning. She was promoted to oversee the Human Service Branch of the District’s operations where she quickly stood up a program to deliver food and other essential items to resident’s in quarantine. This included standing up a 160 person call center using redeployed government staff and a warehouse to package and deliver food and essential items. In addition, Jessica shifted the well known Family Assistance Center model, used after disasters, to a virtual platform. The Virtual Family Assistance Center (VFAC) connected residents who lost family members to COVID-19 with real time grief counselors and resources for burial and financial assistance.