Help the Mayor of San Jose Develop a Business Model for the Talent Bridge Program

Talent Bridge is a new initiative of The Office of Mayor Chuck Reed to create partnerships from the private sector, non-profits, and universities to work with city employees to assist City of San Jose leaders to advance key strategic goals.   

Talent Bridge will source partnerships from professionals in the private sector to help with strategic projects on a probono basis for the Mayor’s Office.  Sample projects are: developing performance indicators/metrics for success on crime, gang prevention, etc; or helping to enhance data analytics in HR, Police Department; or cost cutting strategies.  

The program may be modeled after a similar initiative in Chicago called Civic Consulting Alliance that builds teams of their own staff, business experts, and government leaders to undertake high-impact work that government agencies neither have the capacity, time, nor expertise to address.  Talent from the world's top consulting firms join Civic Consulting Alliance to do probono work because it's the most effective way to work toward results such as higher graduation and employment rates, reduced government costs, and less red tape for businesses. For twenty-five years, Civic Consulting in Chicago has led a series of long-term projects to make a difference that no single firm could achieve on its own.

Like Civic Consulting Alliance, Talent Bridge would serve as the “bridge” to source partnerships, manage the project pipeline from the Mayor’s office, staff projects through its partners, and manage the projects.  Partners may include associations, businesses, nonprofit groups or universities.  For example, Talent Bridge has already formed a partnership with Silicon Valley Leadership Group.  

The intended goal is for Talent Bridge to spin off as a nonprofit 501(c)3 in order to continue the program beyond each Mayor’s term in office.  The Office of Mayor Chuck Reed of San Jose has asked a Community Partners team to assist in developing a business plan for Talent Bridge.  The project team would work with the Talent Bridge Senior Leadership and other advisors associated with the Civic Consulting Alliance in Chicago.

The business plan will:

1.  Serve as our guiding document for the organization 

2.  Serve as the basis for our forming an independent 501c3 non-profit organization

3.  Help us to benchmark our short to long-term goals and keep us focused 

4.  Help us to fundraise from the public and private sector