ASA: Smart Governance & Thriving Communities-empowering users' informed & responsive decisionmaking

We are on the precipice, soon to encounter the associated challenges and impacts of the 5 global disruptors (e.g. automation, climate change, hyper-urbanization, pandemics and wealth inequality).

This unprecedented encounter will challenge State stability, democracy, and the economy. 

Now, more than ever, decision-makers require the insights to guide agenda setting in order to abate disasters. 

At present the major fields subscribe to multiple platforms which perform one of the many functions proposed by ASA. 

This siloed functionality is very profitable yet yields inefficiencies to support informed effective and responsive governance. 

ASA is a deep data API that proposes the centralization of: 

-public and private data

-data spanning multiple temporal periods (i.e., historical (10 plus years), current (3-5 years), rapid (daily, weekly, and quarterly) and forecasted (calibrated projections)). 

-information from multiple dimensions consisting of 5 domains (i.e., people, services/resources, land & spatial, funds, decision-making and governance).

ASA's data warehouse is buttressed by insights from rapidly changing dynamics via plug-in integration. 

ASA requests, stores, and updates rapid and forecasted data. 

ASA has the following capabilities:

-view data

-analyze data

-monitor via a dashboard 

-convert into shapefile which permits exporting into GIS and full integration.

ASA enables governance and jurisdictional stakeholders to make informed decisions and effectively intervene to stabilize local democracies and economies by building their resilience to the 5 global disruptors. 

Our service theory of change varies for each sector of potential users. A sample is as follows:

IF philanthropists are equipped with nuanced understanding regarding their cause of interests, THEN they will design more responsive giving strategies and priorities, THEREBY accelerating impact. This is most important in order to support the insulation of citizenry and government from the impending impacts of the five global disruptors.

IF elected officials possess critical insights regarding citizenry’s public support and service needs, as well as governance oriented barriers to a decent standard of living, THEN they will author legislation and make informed decisions (e.g. allocations, placement of resources, etc.) and commensurate with stakeholders’ needs in order to build strong and resilient communities, THEREBY facilitating good governance practices to support the resilience of communities and buttress democracy and healthy
economies.

IF education and workforce development stakeholders are informed by the skill capacity, outcomes, and associated household insights (e.g. mental health, types of skills, transportation desert, etc.), THEN they will design wraparound programs that are trauma-informed and culturally responsive, as well as prioritize programming for the emerging economy, THEREBY ensuring equitable access to the emerging labor force demands/needs.

Our team consists of accomplished professionals (their resumes are distinguished) yet are best characterized as servant leaders.

For example, consider the insights about our senior leaders. 

Dr. Carlos Walker grew up in Stop 6 which consists of a zip code which has some of the lowest life expectancy in the nation- more than 10 years less than the national average. Dr. Walker is a trusted community member who has served in education, nonprofit and government. His works is nationally recognized but most importantly he's simply trusted in the community by the the continuum of ages and demographic -students struggling with high ACEs score and tinkering on homelessness to the financially insecure elder who is in need of assistance. People personally "Call Carlos" for resources and he never shows up as Dr. Walker. Linkedin here

Dr. Matthias Greywoode was training to be a priest and got on the road to finance as he became concerned about the root causes poverty in his country- The Gambia- and set out to find solutions. His research has primarily consisted of implementation recommendations, programs and standard operating procedures while simultaneously working for some of the largest organizations in the world. Yet, in his spare time he's donated more than 100 acres of land to help Africans displaced in the diaspora who have sought to return to the continent of Africa in search of peace, culture, and identity safety. He supports them personally in agricultural economic development and housing. Linkedin here

Dr. Nikka Lemons grew up in 53206- the nation's most incarcerated zip code per capita. She is the daughter of Mary Lemons, an illiterate sharecropper from Cleveland, Mississippi. the granddaughter of Will Lee Lemons born in 1891- a World War One Vet who returned home to start a small business and subsequently killed by white supremacist. Nikka utilizes her lived experience and successful navigation of systems and institutions to inform proposed her solutions to nation's oppressive institutional practices and structures. She lives to support the liberation and inclusion of oppressed people. Linkedin here

We have built the prototype in Marvel. Additionally, through this platform we have hosted focus groups with more than 47 users which reflect the continuum of potential user sectors. Test users were provided an assignment sheet to perform tasks (e.g., running an analysis, exporting to the dashboard for ongoing monitoring,  syncing with GIS etc.). The test users provide feedback on the following aspects: 

- affordability/price point

-case usage quotes

-user experience and more. 

Thus, we do not have customers yet and are in the process of preparing to pitch, filing for patent and copyrights and will be finalizing our business plan as a result of feedback from investment advisors. 

I would like to be a Solver for a variety of reasons: 

• I'm a first generation college student and woman of color. Thus, navigating this space can be overwhelming and intimidating. I think not feeling like I belong in this space is an experience often misinterpreted as "imposter syndrome" from people of my background and so sometimes my hesitation to engage or discomfort can be undermining to the mission. I believe community-like home help us feel anchored in the world as we are navigating complexity. 
• Trainings- I "don't know what I don't know". I'm a solver by birthright and lived experience but this is a vastly new place and while I'm able to research and ask within my network I believe that I'm still not fully exposed to a knowledge bank that is critical to my personal, professional and entrepreneurial success. 
• Network:  I wholeheartedly believe in the sage "if you want to go fast go alone, if you want to go far- go together". I'd like to go together. The name of the software is ASA is my son's name which means healer. If we are to work in service of State stability it requires us to lock arms and work together to build the resilience to the impending consequences of the five global disruptors. All of which heal us together and I live out my mission to - support build a world whereby my Black son is able to be safe and sound in my presence and in the afterlife when I'm not here to protect him. 

ASA is innovative for the following reasons (not an exhaustive list): 

-At present we do not have the ability access public and private (anonymized) data. This is compounded by the dimensions never before centralized with this insight. For example, ASA could enable a philanthropist with the interests to mitigate food deserts and resolve nutrition density access for economically marginalized populations with critical insights- conveniently and easily. Consider this, ASA would enable the philanthropic user with the ability to analyze a given locale (zip code level) for the: 

•  population demographic,
•  education level + income level
• mental health status (i.e., ACEs, government determination for SSI)
• SNAP benefits recipient and other entitlements, 
• government funding allocation/expenditures  (e.g., reduction in SNAP or TANF)  
• programs offered in the area and government entities (e.g., food banks, community gardens, farmer's markets, urban farms etc.)  
• criminal justice system involvement/encounter
• types of groceries stores in the area
• vacant lots and their use history- can be used to determine feasibility for a urban garden
• temperature rising projections

Such information would be accessible in multiple temporal periods. Allowing the philanthropist the ability to perform a trend analysis to determine if the crisis has worsened over time alongside the examination of the variables. Additionally, enabling the user could view the projected state (e.g., temperature rising) which will worsen conditions without intervention as a result of the impact of climate change. Thus, the user can see the depth of the problem and allocate funding precisely. Additionally, one could utilize their network, expertise and advocacy positionality to support mitigation- not just resources. Analysis of this kind is very costly - multiple subscriptions or requires a research department. ASA solves this by making it easily accessible and user friendly. 

Our service theory of change varies for each sector of potential users. A sample is as follows:

IF philanthropists are equipped with nuanced understanding regarding their cause of interests, THEN they will design more responsive giving strategies and priorities, THEREBY accelerating impact. This is most important in order to support the insulation of citizenry and government from the impending impacts of the five global disruptors.

IF elected officials possess critical insights regarding citizenry’s public support and service needs, as well as governance oriented barriers to a decent standard of living, THEN they will author legislation and make informed decisions (e.g. allocations, placement of resources, etc.) and commensurate with stakeholders’ needs in order to build strong and resilient communities, THEREBY facilitating good governance practices to support the resilience of communities and buttress democracy and healthy economies.

IF education and workforce development stakeholders are informed by the skill capacity, outcomes, and associated household insights (e.g. mental health, types of skills, transportation desert, etc.), THEN they will design wraparound programs that are trauma-informed and culturally responsive, as well as prioritize programming for the emerging economy, THEREBY ensuring equitable access to the emerging labor force demands/needs.

ASA is aligned to the UN Sustainable Development Goals and shares the essential aims and objectives. We aim to support insights in order to achieve the goals of such goals. For example, 

• Goal 2 Zero Hunger: is aligned to the impacts of climate change which will undermine access to nutrient density for all and most disproportionately among marginalized populations. Thus, decision-making must be fully informed in order mitigate the projected consequences of disproportionate hunger. 
• Goal 7 Affordable & Clean Energy: The Chicago summer of 1994 demonstrated the impact of rising global temperatures creating heat oriented deaths which reflected a race and income dimension. The lack of affordability and projected increase in infant mortality, exposure to hazardous fumes and pollution as well as simply ability to afford cooling during summers - ASA allows this to be researched and identified by location and over periods of time to determine the depth and breadth of the intervention. 
• Goal 8 Decent Work & Economic Growth: The displacement of employment due to automation is catastrophic for economies. For example, according to the Mckinsey Institute 43% of jobs and tasks will be eliminated and require rapid reskilling which hasn't kept pace and race and income bears a reskilling gap. Additionally, Black and latinx will experience the highest rate of displacement - 27% and 25%. Additionally, according to Forbes-by 2040 the U.S. will be a majority minority state but at that time minorities will have a net wealth of zero- unable to contribute to the sustainability of the consumer economy and experience barriers to a stable living. Thus, ASA supports the ability of users to be precise in the design of programs supporting reskilling and the investments- breadth and depth are informed.

We propose the development of an API. Thus, our entire proposal involves the use of technology in order to centralize information and data. An Application Programming Interface (API) allows two or more applications to communicate with each other by connecting multiple databases. This is the essential function of ASA - centralization of data in multiple dimensions. Additionally, our value add includes the dimensions of temporal periods with a variety of interaction options with data- view, analyze, monitor or export. 

This solution proposes six full time staff for concept build and integrity (two principal investigators, community & strategic partnerships, two software engineer and a data scientist). 

Additionally, in order to bring the project to scale we propose an additional five staff: an external relations officer, marketing and branding, and two researchers (i.e., publish the results of the findings, continuously identify sources of data, etc.) and a data relations manager.

Transparently, I (Dr. Nikka Lemons) have been working on this prototype for nearly three years. The evolution of this product has been evolving at a slow pace due to: battle with cancer, divorce and completion of a doctorate while also being a single mom. As a result, the refinement process has experienced a lag in time towards completion. 

Our team represents the global population of those that have been marginalized, oppressed, endured identity based harm and/or exclusion based upon gender, religion, heritage, race and/or sexual preference. As a result, we are utilizing our endured and recovered trauma to intentionally foster safe spaces and refuge for those of the communities we represent- our leadership spans the entire continuum of the groups who have endured identity based harm. 

Our business model consists of both a product (ASA) and a hyperlocal ecosystem transformation strategic consulting model (TGACP, see mock website here).

Our clients consists of jurisdictional stakeholders (e.g., philanthropy, government, real estate developers, community organizations/service providers etc.) who are striving to support the stability of people, places and State functioning. Thus, our beneficiaries are citizenry and State stability. We deploy the approach of building the capacity of decision-makers to be acutely aware of the current conditions and projected conditions so that they may optimize the current window to mitigate the interactive threats associated with the five global disruptors. Researchers and international NGOs (i.e., IMF, World Bank , United Nations etc.) have expressed sentiments regarding State stability, Failed States and the preservation of democracies and economies due to the volatility of the five global disruptors. As a result, by building the capacity of governance leaders- citizenry, especially vulnerable populations, are enabled to avert the compromised quality of life, compounded barriers to a decent standard of living (e.g., exacerbated food desserts, massive employment displacement, adequate access to resources and supports etc.). Thus, our hyperlocal ecosystem transformation consulting model combines the capabilities of ASA, builds a plan and the distinct value add- we partner with our Chartered Advisor of Philanthropy (CAP) and Certified Fundraising Executives (CFRE) to raise the capital necessary to fund the proposed projects for local State stability and economic vitality. 

As previously mentioned, this endeavor has experienced delays due to competing priorities or occurrences (e.g., doctoral studies, divorce, oncology treatment, single parenthood). As a result, we have not raised any capital. All of those major life events have been sunset. Thus, in the last three months we have completed the prototype, the pitch deck here, the explainer video, held focus groups among each category of the proposed user profile to serve as a design feedback loop and are in the process of identifying two pilot cities.  ASA serves as a component of a larger proposal. See the mock website here. We plan to raise capital in the following way(s):

• -Subscription based:  Our price point of $75,000 annual organizational subscription, set up and maintenance cost is very feasible. We have compared this equivalent price point to APIs which perform less functions. Each additional user is charged $75 per month which covers up to ten calls per month. We will start with a pilot in order to demonstrate proof of concept as well as provide national case studies.
• -The Global American Cities Project (TGACP) is a consulting model I designed and is informed by my doctoral studies. I am currently in the process of finalizing LOIs with the “champions” for the city of St. Louis. They will serve as one city in Cohort One. Thus, subscription to ASA is inextricably embedded.

Therefore, we are preliminarily seeking investment capital or program related investments (PRIs) with no interests to be acquired. This is our preliminary thought, and we understand being under the guidance of SOLVE could evolve our thinking. The subscription revenue from three years will allow us to generate revenue and pay off some debt.