Community Catalysts
Community Catalysts is a weekly podcast from Social Prosperity Partners, hosted by Matt Lehrman, where leaders from local government and nonprofits reflect on what they've learned—often the hard way—and share practical wisdom for those working to strengthen their communities.
Episodes
In this special 100th episode of Community Catalysts, Matt Lehrman of Social Prosperity Partners reflects on the deeper lessons that have emerged from 100 conversations with civic leaders across the country. Drawing on a childhood memory of reaching for the brass ring on a carousel, he explores what leadership often feels like in practice: uncertain, emotional, imperfect—and still full of possibility.
Rath...
Charlie Cauffman's leadership was shaped in a moment he didn't expect and couldn't avoid. Early in his career, just months into a new role, he uncovered a seven-figure budget deficit that required immediate action—and public decisions that would directly affect people's livelihoods.
Serving in a close-knit rural community where relationships are personal and highly visible, Charlie faced not only the math ...
For John Little, public service was never an abstract idea. It was a call—and it felt personal. As a boy, listening to John F. Kennedy's voice echo through his home, the message landed with clarity: step forward, serve, take responsibility.
He did. Over a decades-long career in Scottsdale, John rose from budget analyst to city manager, carrying that sense of duty into decisions that shaped a growing commun...
Christian Dorsey's path to public service began with a realization: if no one else is willing to act, leadership becomes your responsibility. From a career in economic policy and nonprofit work to serving as chair of the Arlington County Board, his journey reflects a steady commitment to turning ideas into action.
Leading in the Washington, D.C. region means working across boundaries, balancing competing p...
From his youth in Cameroon to building a career in the United States as a nurse practitioner, school board trustee, and entrepreneur, Marty Cho's journey reflects a powerful throughline: well-being is foundational to learning, leadership, and community.
As CEO and Co-founder of Mechi and a former trustee of the Jefferson Union High School District Board, Marty connects his clinical experience with his work...
What does local responsibility look like in places where communities aren't connected by roads, where fuel arrives once a year, and where distance shapes every decision?
In this episode, Nils Andreassen of the Alaska Municipal League shares how cities and towns across Alaska meet the demands of governing in some of the most remote conditions in the country. Supporting communities that are often isolated ye...
Jennifer Hall Lee's approach to public leadership is rooted in a story that began with her mother. As a social worker at Willowbrook State School—once one of the nation's largest institutions for people with disabilities—her mother helped expose conditions of overcrowding, neglect, and abuse that had been hidden from public view. That work, which Jennifer witnessed firsthand, contributed to a national reckoning that re...
Derrick Wood didn't set out to become Mayor. He was selling barbecue in a parking lot when a cease-and-desist order pushed him into a council meeting he didn't even know existed. Years later, he was leading the town.
What he discovered along the way is a lesson many leaders learn the hard way: being right isn't enough. If people don't see the impact on their lives, they won't support the outcome.
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Many local leaders have given up on the idea that meaningful civic dialogue can happen on social media, a space many experience as deeply toxic. Sam Toles says the problem isn't social media as a whole, but the ways local governments often choose to show up there—approaches that can unintentionally fuel outrage rather than connection.
A former media executive, city council member, and founder of CiviSocial...
When elections work well, most people never think about them. When something goes wrong, the entire system is suddenly under a microscope.
Dana Lewis, Recorder and Officer in Charge of Elections for Pinal County, speaks candidly about what it means to carry that responsibility. From chaotic election-day failures to rebuilding systems designed to prevent a single point of breakdown, Dana describes the press...
Optimism is not the first quality many people associate with public office. It is, however, the quality that defines Trustee Maiaika Velazquez.
Elected in lieu of opposition just minutes before the filing deadline, Maiaika stepped into school board service carrying lived experience shaped by poverty, special needs advocacy, and firsthand encounters with bureaucracy. She knows what it feels like to sit acro...
What does it look like to shift from hands-on service to public stewardship? In Fallbrook, California—a rural community shaped by agriculture, military families, and economic challenge—that question takes on real meaning. Tauna Rodarte reflects on moving from decades of volunteer nonprofit leadership into the disciplined role of school board governance, where impact is measured less by direct action and more by steady ...
Policy choices shape communities—but values shape policy.
Chairman Jeffrey McKay reflects on leading Fairfax County through economic disruption while also advancing One Fairfax, a countywide framework that requires leaders to examine how decisions affect opportunity, access, and long-term outcomes across communities.
He discusses what it takes to hold together short-term crisis response and lo...
Strong governance begins, not with agreement, but with shared purpose.
When governing bodies struggle, it's rarely about policy alone. It's about how leaders manage disagreement, use their limited public time, and stay focused on what matters most. Drawing on her work with school boards across Oregon, Kristen Miles explains why those dynamics directly shape outcomes—and how boards can govern more effective...
Democracy does not need to be reinvented. It needs to be cared for.
In this conversation, Neil Thanedar reflects on how transparency strengthens public trust by helping communities better understand the systems that already serve them. Drawing on the investigative work of the Michigan Campaign Finance Network, he explains how tracing the flow of money in politics brings clarity, accountability, and confide...
Trust is easy to take for granted until it is tested.
In this candid conversation, Matthew Johnson, Town Manager of Jamestown, reflects on key moments that shaped his understanding of public trust, from an early misstep in a rezoning meeting to navigating community division, misinformation, and leadership turnover during a once-in-a-generation development decision.
Johnson explores what it mea...
"The Next Generation of Local Leadership" with Vice Chair Maureen Coffey, Arlington County, Virginia
Expectations of local leadership are changing—and this conversation helps explain how and why.
Vice Chair Maureen Coffey reflects on stepping into office as the youngest person ever elected to the Arlington County Board, what it took to earn trust, and what surprised her once she was in the role——while navigating barriers that aren't always visible, but still shape who feels welcomed into leadership and wh...
As 2025 draws to a close, Community Catalysts host Matt Lehrman offers a heartfelt reflection on gratitude, leadership, and the promise of local democracy. In this special Thanksgiving message, he reminds us that the future of our nation depends not on distant politics, but on how neighbors come together to listen, deliberate, and lead in the places we call home.
Disagreement, Matt observes, isn't a failur...
Councilmember Brenda Kalivianakis of Fountain Hills, Arizona, entered local government as part of a conservative majority determined to "reclaim" their town. What she didn't expect was how quickly loyalty could turn into pressure — or how strongly she'd resist being told how to vote.
In this candid conversation, Brenda traces her evolution from partisan recruit to independent thinker, describing what happe...
In public service, real success isn't measured in headlines or applause. It's in the city that still runs, the crisis that never came, and the community that quietly thrives because someone cared enough to do the hard work well.
Brooks Williams—City Manager of Ferris, Texas—has become a nationally followed voice on LinkedIn for the way he writes about local government with honesty, humility, and heart. His...
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