This is an excerpt from the audiobook version of “Lean Six Sigma for Good: Lessons from the Gemba (Volume 2)“ Elisabeth Swan shares the story of volunteering with the Cape Cod Childcare Development nonprofit organization. She discusses getting a call from the CEO to help the organization utilize more Lean Six Sigma Green Belt skills and […]
Joy Mason discusses her background, and her work creating the Six Sigma Racial Equity Initiative with podcast host Veronica Marquez. The initiative is designed to upskill Black women in the Indianapolis community with strategies and tools for critical thinking and complex problem-solving. Each program cohort includes training and certification provided by a local university. The […]
Written by Brion
Orange Sky Laundry is a not-for-profit organization that provides a platform for every day Australians and New Zealanders to connect through a regular laundry and shower service, especially those who don’t have housing (homelessness) or are financially-constrained. The focus is on creating a safe, positive and supportive environment for people who are too often ignored […]
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The James P Womack Scholarship and Philanthropy Fund provides scholarships to students to fund hands-on problem-solving experience at charity organizations under the guidance of an Lean Enterprise Initiative (LEI) coach. The fund’s first partnership is with Oakland University in Michigan. Two student interns (Monisha Vasudeva and Sagar Bajaj) are learning and implementing lean principles at […]
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OU ISE students use ‘Lean Thinking’ to improve operations, optimize space at Humble Design warehouse
Utilizing “Lean Thinking,” Oakland University Industrial and Systems Engineering students Monisha Vasudeva and Sagar Bajaj have been helping Humble Design — a nonprofit that furnishes homes for individuals and families transitioning out of homelessness — improve their operations and optimize the space inside the organization’s warehouse in Pontiac, Mich. Humble Design staff members, ISE faculty […]
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Jess Orr, an experienced process improvement facilitator at Envision Solutions was asked to assist with a local nonprofit that worked to provide food and shelter to the homeless population. She met with the executive director and shelter operations manager, and determined that there was a critical need to standardize and document the daily homeless shelter […]
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Planners from the City of Madison, Wis., and the Sonoma County (Calif.) Transportation Authority discuss how new planning software solutions developed by UrbanFootprint are helping them better support their communities. Cities are struggling with no shortage of challenges: climate change, resilience planning, transportation gridlock, pollution, lack of resources, affordability gaps, health risks, and social instability […]
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The Poverty Outcomes and Improvement Network Team (POINT) initiative has provided a results-oriented project showing that quality improvement methods are relevant to the work of nonprofits. The nonprofits involved in the project used quality improvement methods to understand and improve their processes, enabling them to help more people find good paying jobs, housing, and other […]
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Rockford, Ill., was the first community in the United States to reach the “functional zero level” for veterans, and the second community to do so for chronic homelessness. “Every person who is homeless in our community that we are aware of goes on our by-name list, which is broken out by subpopulations: chronic, veteran, family, […]
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One of our most fantastic stories is about our partnership with Trinity Rescue Mission (TRM), and increasing participation in their Lifeline program. After careful study of the program organization and interviews with participants, the project team suggested policy and procedural changes. With TRM’s implementation of these improvements, participation in the Lifeline program increased to 75 […]
Written by Brion