The genius behind City Council Chronicles, Michael Karlik, is back with a new podcast. Tear It Down tells the story of North College Hill, Ohio and a "small group of outsiders wanted to change their city for the better." Michael shares why he started the City Council Chronicles, what he's learned from watching Council meetings around the world, and why he spent 10 months looking into a small Ohio town.

From data to policing, the impact of demographics. Three panelists shared their expertise on how Kansas is changing: Sergeant Amy Rhoads, from Lawrence, KS, Ileana Serrano, from the US Census Bureau, and Cathy Boyer-Shesol, from the Mid-America Regional Council. Each shared their perspective on how the workplace is changing, how Kansas is changing and more.

From the NFL to the campaign trail. Aaron Rouse, former Green Bay Packer, is running for City Council in Virginia Beach, Virginia. He talked about why he's running for office, how local government needs to change to be more inclusive and representative of the people it serves. Aaron shared his vision for Virginia Beach, collaborating regionally and serving all residents in the city.

Local Government IT in Silicon Valley. Jonathan Reichental the Chief Information Office and Chief Technology Officer in Palo Alto, California shared his perspective on procurement, recruitment and civic tech. He talked about his path into local government, how cities can do a better job of making technology a part of their strategy and what he sees as trends in the field.

Christine Edwards, the Community Relations Coordinator for Mecklenburg County, NC, and James Gaston III, a Budget Analyst for Petersburg, VA, join the podcast to talk about the work of NFBPA and making local government more diverse. They discuss ELGL's diversity dashboard and the importance of measuring how diverse our workplaces are. They also share how to start a conversation about diversity and the importance of representation.

Talking public service, partisanship and policy. Mickey Edwards is a vice president at the Aspen Institute where he leads a bipartisan fellowship program for elected officials. Mickey was a member of Congress for 16 years, serving on the House Budget and Appropriations Committees and as a chairman of the House Republican Policy Committee. Mickey discussed his path into public service, the importance of writing and how political parties negatively impact democracy.

Organizing to solve our nation's problems. Jenn Brown the Executive Director of Civic Nation joined GovLove to talk about her work fighting for social change and organizing. Civic Nation runs organizing and public awareness campaigns to empower people to address some of our biggest problems. Prior to working at Civic Nation Jenn led Battleground Texas and the Obama campaign's efforts in Ohio. Jenn shares her path into public service and experience fighting for equality.

Making the world better. A father-son duo join the podcast this week, Tom Barwin is the City Manager of Sarasota, FL and his son Connor Barwin is an NFL defensive end and Pro Browler. They talked about their influences, giving back to the community and more. Connor also shared the work of his non-profit Make the World Better and how his father's career impacted him.

A new program from Bloomberg's What Works Cities is recognizing and celebrating the local governments that are leading the nation in the use of data. Simone Brody, the Executive Director of What Works Cities, and Jennifer Park, the Associate Director, came on GovLove to talk about What Works Cities Certification. They share why cities should pursue certification, success stories from the first 9 certified cities and how it can be scaled to all sizes of cities. Topics: Lightning round...

The procurement process often frustrates local governments and vendors alike, but it seems like a process that will never change. Mariel Reed the Founder and CEO of CoProcure wants to rethink that. CoProcure is a startup that helps local governments improve procurement to promote economic development. She came on GovLove to discuss her work, the potential for a 'Common App' for procurement and the work she did at the San Francisco Mayor's Office of Civic Innovation. Topics: Lightning round...

The CEO and Co-Founder of SeeClickFix, Ben Berkowitz, joined GovLove to talk about civic technology and innovation. Ben described how the SeeClickFix story started with graffiti and has resulted in over 1,000,000 community members, 300 local governments and 3,000,000 issues fixed. Plus Ben and Kirsten reminiscence about how SeeClickFix helped give birth to the GovLove podcast.

Balancing work and life, recruiting the best and brightest, and preparing future leaders. Three guests joined GovLove to talk about the workforce of the future and their perspectives. The panel included: Joey Garcia an Administrative Analyst in Torrance, CA; Peter Castro the Assistant to the City Manager in Indian Wells, CA; and Kristen Nelson a Sr. Executive Assistant in Indian Wells, CA and Director of Programming at MMASC. This episode was recorded in front of a live audience at the...

Clarence Anthony the CEO/Executive Director of the National League of Cities (NLC) joins GovLove to talk about the work of the organization and his path into elected office. Clarence ran for Mayor of South Bay, FL at the at of 24 and was elected by 33 votes. He shared the work being done at the NLC around infrastructure, smart cities and other issues facing cities both large and small.

This week we have a throwback episode! Two glass ceiling shattering women joined GovLove back in 2016 to talk about policing. Chief Jeri Williams, who now leads the Phoenix police department, was the Chief in Oxnard, California during this interview. Chief Denise Turner, who is now retired after 31 years in law enforcement, lead the Gilroy, California department back when this episode first aired. They each shared their path into the field of policing, what it's like being a female police...

The second in command and go-to person. Three Chiefs of Staff join GovLove to talk about the uniqueness of their job. From gatekeeper to stand in, Chiefs of Staff handle different things everyday. Samantha Harkins works for Mayor Andy Schor in Lansing, Michigan. Laura O'Sullivan works for Mayor Pete Buttigieg in South Bend, Indiana. James Hardy works for Mayor Dan Horrigan of Akron, Ohio.

Using tech and innovation to improve people's lives. Two CIOs, one city. Jose De La Cruz the Chief Innovation Officer and Craig Hopkins the Chief Information Officer from San Antonio, Texas joined the podcast to talk about how they work together to make the City better. They shared how San Antonio is approaching being a smart city, how they work with operational departments and more.

Finding a human way to talk about planning. Kyle Kingma the founder of Planning Peeps and the Planning Manager for the City of Tyler, Texas joined GovLove to talk about the memes and fun spirit behind the community for planners, by planners. Kyle discussed his path into planning as well as why he wanted to start Planning Peeps.

A very Parks & Rec episode for you. Jim O'Heir the actor that played the lovable Jerry Gergich (or is Garry?) came on GovLove to talk about the hit NBC show, his career in the entertainment industry and more. Jim sat down with co-hosts Alyssa Dinberg and Javon Davis in Kansas City, MO City Hall to give a behind the scenes look at ELGL & GovLove's favorite show.

Design thinking, pop-up coffee shops and open data in the library. Susan Brown the Director of the Chapel Hill Public Library joined GovLove to talk about running a local government library and prototyping. She also shared her Banned Books Trading Cards project, her career path into libraries and how the library engages with other local government departments in Chapel Hill. Right now at ELGL we're running a contest for the best Library in the nation. Go to ELGL.org to vote for the Leslie...

Using power to make a difference in people's lives. Nashville, Tennessee's first female Mayor, Megan Barry, joins GovLove to talk about her path into public service and her time as Mayor. Mayor Barry discusses inspiring women and girls to run for elected office, diversity in local government, and Nashville's vision zero efforts. Topics: Lightning round (2:55), The influence of her parents on her career (9:00), Her experience as a woman in politics (13:20), Inspiring women and girls to run...