The IISE Annual Conference Volunteering Event, organized by the Sustainable Development Division, connects volunteer with a local nonprofit agency in the conference’s host city. The organization selected for 2023 in New Orleans was SBP, which shrinks the time between disaster and recovery. To achieve their mission, SBP takes a holistic approach to disasters—increasing resilience before […]
Liz McCartney, a middle school teacher, and Zack Rosenburg, a public defense attorney, were living in Washington when Katrina struck the U.S. Gulf Coast. Six months later, they headed to New Orleans to volunteer. The city was still in shambles, with destroyed houses overcome by mold and residents desperate for help. Do they jumped in […]
Written by Brion
by Brion Hurley After Hurricane Katrina struck the U.S. Gulf Coast in 2005, Washington, D.C., teacher Liz McCartney and lawyer Zack Rosenberg wanted to help. Their efforts took them to New Orleans where they founded the nonprofit St. Bernard’s Project to rebuild homes and help victims recover from natural disasters. As the nonprofit and the […]
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by Zack Rosenburg When we (Liz McCartney and I) first realized that sustaining continuous improvement in our work required us to become an organization of problem solvers, we also discovered that we were not thrilled with the phrase continuous improvement, which felt a bit like a hamster on a wheel. And so, with the input of […]
Written by Brion
The 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, was getting underway when Liz McCartney, a teacher, and Zack Rosenburg, a lawyer, walked into the “hippie tent,” a meal center in Chalmette, LA, run by the unconventionally dressed members of the Rainbow Family. The couple from Washington D.C. had driven down to help victims of Hurricane Katrina […]
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by Brion Hurley I wrote a book review about the work that Toyota’s TSSC group provided to a nonprofit home rebuilding organization. Their success stories were chronicled in the new book titled, “Getting Home” from the founders of St. Bernard Project Liz McCartney and Zack Rosenburg. Some of the improvements highlighted in the book include: […]
Written by Brion
Toyota North America’s nonprofit group called Toyota Production System Support Center (TSSC) felt compelled to help Houston in the same way it helped New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. TSSC has helped nonprofits become more efficient by applying Toyota principles called TPS, Toyota Production System. SBP (St. Bernard Project), a nonprofit that received help from Toyota […]
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Working with Jefferson Parish Animal Shelter (JPAS) shelter staff, students from Loyola University New Orleans designed a month-long pilot to improve the process of selecting homeless dogs for euthanasia, finding caring homes for 60 dogs who otherwise would have been put to sleep. The Lean “5S” concepts were applied to reducing the time for potential […]
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Through the Toyota Production System Support Center (TSSC), a nonprofit within the auto company, Toyota shares its TPS methods with all kinds of organizations — including donating their expertise to other nonprofits. They only work with an organization if the executive team is committed to adopting TPS methods wholeheartedly. They invest for the long term. It’s […]
Written by Brion