5 in 5: Genesis Gavino, Dallas’ Interim Deputy Resilience Officer

Results for America Fellowship Alumni give five answers in five minutes. This month, we caught up with Genesis Gavino, Interim Deputy Resilience Officer for the City of Dallas, TX.

1. Summarize what you do and how you do it.
   I currently serve as the Interim Deputy Resilience Officer for the City of Dallas and am tasked with working with internal and external stakeholders to advance the City’s vision of an equitable Dallas through transportation, workforce, healthy communities, immigrants and refugees, and sustainability.
2. Share something exciting that you’re working on.
   I’m very excited to be working with a local organization to build a predictive model to prevent evictions in Southern Dallas. We’re looking at using data from utility (garbage, water, electricity) bills, school mobility, and past eviction records to build the database and help us strategically deploy resources that would be most beneficial to the community. And aligned with all we do at the City, we approach this with an equity lens.
3. Tell us one thing you learned from someone else during your RFA Fellowship.
   During my time in the cohort, the City was in the process of framing its equity work and the guidance and lessons learned from King County helped inform our process. Their Equity and Social Justice Strategic Plan was frequently referenced in our internal meetings and used as a guide.
4. If you could wave a magic wand and have any data or evidence, what would it be?
   If I could, I’d wave a magic wand to get data or evidence on the right combination of funding, programs, and services to develop and implement an effective workforce strategy for the City of Dallas.
5. What’s the [pick-your-adjective] job you’ve ever had?
   The most fulfilling job I’ve had so far was working as a Court Appointed Special Advocate in Whitman County, WA which is where my love for public service was born.

Interested in learning more about Dallas’ work? Read the December 20, 2018 case study on the formation of a multidisciplinary team to respond to mental health 911 calls.

Genesis Gavino participated in Results for America’s Local Government Fellowship.