This week, we're speaking with Angela Rollins, Director of Financial Empowerment for the City of Rochester, NY. As someone who is working at the intersection of personal finance and public finance, we wanted to ask Angela about how individual-focused financial empowerment programs help both resident economic mobility as well as the overall financial health of the city. We learn about some of the programs in place to help residents attain financial freedom such as the Summer of Opportunity Program and Kiva loans for small businesses, among others. In Ripped from the Headlines, we discuss a study that surveyed how different generations are feeling about their financial outlooks and levels of financial anxiety.

Climate change is a reality of our world, but are we thinking effectively about addressing our challenges? To find out, we sat down with Spencer Glendon, Founder of Probable Futures. We asked Spencer to tell us about what we often get wrong when thinking about climate adaptation, mitigating financial risk tied to high-risk weather events, and what kinds of public infrastructure investments we should expect to see in the future. In Ripped from the Headlines, we discuss an article that surveyed Americans about their perceptions and anxiety levels surrounding climate change.

Probable Futures is a non-profit climate literacy initiative that makes climate science accessible and understandable so that everyone, everywhere can think about climate change in practical ways and prepare for what's to come. The goal is for climate considerations to become an integral part of the decisions people make every day—at home, at work, and in their communities. You can read Spencer Glendon's seasonal essays here and can check out the maps that show local climate change impacts here.

To learn more about MMA's "Climate Risk and Municipal Finance" course that we mentioned in today's episode, click here.

When severe weather moves in, having accurate, real-time data is crucial. This extends to the muni market, where up-to-date analytics can help localities understand the exposure risks of their assets to extreme weather events. We sat down this week with Larry Lawrence, Head of ICE Climate, and Phoebe Devries, Senior Manager at ICE Climate, to better understand the methodology and technology behind monitoring and predicting the impact of severe weather on municipals, and how this helps localities conduct better risk management. In Ripped from the Headlines, we discuss a recent newsletter from our very own Liz Farmer (Long Story Short) that talks about the importance of communication in building trust in local government public finance.

On this week's episode, we're live at the ICMA conference in Milwaukee, Wis., where we spoke to David Schmiedicke, Finance Director for the City of Madison, Wis.; and William Jones, City Administrator of Mequon, Wis. With a conference focus on reimagining local government, we wanted to get Dave and Will's thoughts on financial resilience, building community trust, what the future looks like for local governments, and so much more.

What do James Earl Jones and free verse poetry have to do with a sewer district in Ohio? Sewage and stormwater fans might know we're talking about the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District (NEORSD). Their social media pages feature some next-level public utility memes, but perhaps there's a deeper purpose here? Join us as we talk to John Gonzalez, Senior Manager of Communications at NEORSD, about the importance of effective communication by public utility providers and the ways in which his team has connected with local communities.

In this week's episode, we're talking to Dr. Marguerite Roza, Professor and Director of the Edunomics Lab at Georgetown University's McCourt School of Public Policy. We asked Dr. Roza to help distill the complex state-level funding formulas that determine where and how education dollars are directed, and the highly localized decisions that school districts make in spending the funds they receive. We also talked about post-pandemic trends in education, including an imbalance in staffing and enrollment, challenges to improving reading instruction, and the role of the federal government in education finance. In Ripped from the Headlines, we discuss a school funding formula change in New Mexico and shed some light on why these formula changes are so rare.

This week, we spoke with Caitlin Lewis, Executive Director of Work for America. Amid large-scale reductions in the federal workforce, we asked about what state and local governments are doing to attract these talented public servants, and how programs like Civic Match are helping these workers find new positions. We also discuss the true extent of the federal workforce across all facets of life, and what is lost when we privatize the public sector. In Ripped from the Headlines, we talk about how cuts to the federal workforce have impacted the local financial outlook of the District of Columbia.

Government efficiency is a trendy topic these days, but Eric Schnurer, president of Public Works LLC, has dedicated his career to it. We wanted to speak to an expert on what it looks like to assess state and local government performance and spending. He shares examples of his approach and makes the case for why it's worth investing the time in speaking directly to employees, and how that leads to better short- and long-term government performance. In Ripped from the Headlines, we discuss a story looking at government efficiency efforts being led in statehouses across the country.