NYC Schools Chancellor Listening Tour

NYC Schools Chancellor Richard A. Carranza’s Listening Tour gave him, the incoming Chancellor, an opportunity to share more about himself with school and employee communities and in turn hear their suggestions for him as he stepped into this important role.

Client: Chancellor’s Office, New York City Department of Education

Problem: A new Chancellor had been appointed mid-school year (April 2018) and needed to quickly acquaint himself with employees and school community members across all 5 boroughs as he worked to create a more equitable school system.

Role: As Implementation Manager, I was tasked with project, communication, and design management specific to the employee audience of Chancellor Richard A. Carranza’s Listening Tour. My role was to ensure that New York City Department of Education employees were aware of and got involved in the listening tour—whether as attendees or as volunteers.

To help make employees aware of the listening tour I:

designed and distributed posters, flyers, and website banners; and
created and sent email outreach to senior-level staff members for buy in and to provide an invite template for them to turnkey to their teams.

To help ensure employees got involved in the listening tour, I:

created and managed EventBrite pages for prospective attendees;
created and managed a SignUpGenius page for prospective volunteers; and
managed a newly created general email inbox to field inquiries.

Solution: 2,984 employees participated in 45 town halls and listening sessions across the 5 boroughs of New York City in a two-month period.

Participants shared their perspectives on the New York City school system’s strengths and challenges with the Chancellor, the Chancellor shared more about his background and beliefs, and exchanges from the listening tour helped shape the Chancellor’s pursuit of moving toward a more equitable school system.