I worked for the City of Houston Parks and Recreation Department (HPARD) Greenspace Division during my
City Hall Fellows experience. The majority of my year was spent developing and coordinating two new programs: CPI-Citizen Park Inspector Program and the Signature Program.
The CPI program recruited and trained 13 volunteer citizens to submit an
online inspection of their park each month through a new software purchased for
this program. The Signature Program purchased
and installed kiosks in over 62 parks citywide to inform citizens of their
park’s mowing & delitter schedule along with the staff who maintain the
park.
Now I’m working for my hometown local government, the City of Austin as a Program Coordinator for 10 juvenile
delinquency programs in my childhood neighborhood. We have served over 1600
youth in 2010-11. We are currently
planning to serve over 900 youth in 2011-12.
Without City Hall Fellows, I would not have gained the experience needed to secure this position and begin my career in local government. Having had
a previous internship “on the hill” in D.C., I took this Fellowship to see how
policy is implemented I came to learn local government is where national
policies come into action.
Ricardo Zavala, a Texas State University alum, was a member of
City Hall Fellows’ inaugural Houston class in 2008-2009.
Help us engage more young people like Ricardo in local public service:
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.