This short video highlights four different examples of nonprofits and NGOs applying Lean principles and concepts to social challenges in the local community. St. Bernard Project (New Orleans, LA) Learn more at https://planet-lean.com/lean-construction-new-orleans-katrina/ Food Bank For New York City Learn more at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EedMmMedj3M Free Geek (Portland, OR) Learn more at http://www.sustainableengineer.org/free-geek-named-2021-excellence-in-sustainable-development-award-winner/ Project C.U.R.E. (Houston, TX) […]
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 […]
Written by Brion
Getting Home by Lynn McCartney and Zack Rosenburg is a wonderful book that tells the story of a very special lean journey. After Hurricane Katrina had left thousands homeless, the authors put their careers on hold to spend a year in New Orleans helping as many as they could. Five years later, they were still […]
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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 […]
Written by Brion
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
By 2009, four years after Hurricane Katrina hit on Aug. 29, 2005, there were 8,000-plus displaced homeowners in the New Orleans area still struggling to move back home, but who didn’t have money or insurance for repairs. Worse, they were being joined by an increasing number of homeowners who had suffered contractor fraud. “We had […]
Written by Brion
The lean principles of the Toyota Production System are changing how New Orleans and the U.S. recovers from disasters. With help from the Toyota Production System Support Center (TSSC), they’d become unstuck, slashing lead time to just 60 days and dramatically increasing the number of quality homes rebuilt monthly. Read more at LEI: https://www.lean.org/common/display/?o=3016
Written by Brion
Zack Rosenburg and Liz McCartney, co-founders of the nonprofit St. Bernard Project, have been rebuilding homes damaged by Katrina since 2006 when they gave up their Washington, D.C. jobs as an attorney and teacher, respectively, and moved to work full-time rebuilding homes in the New Orleans area. With help from the Toyota Production System Support […]
Written by Brion