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Well it was a day to end all days, being our last ever day with UWBA, last dinner with my fellow CSCers as we all depart tomorrow. So as you can imagine, a roller coaster of emotions, mainly good ones, with the odd private tear as I bid farewell to people that were up until either 4 months ago, or even 1 month ago, complete strangers. But for some reason, Universe brought us all together to have one hell of an experience together.

First up .. at brekkie this morning some of us got up to say thank you to the Breakfast Crew. Thanks to the Holiday Inn for looking after us for so long.  It was a pleasant experience, and everyone so kind and friendly!  I am going to miss my poached eggs!

Today was Career Prep Day, so our last gig to finish off the month. It was a little exciting to get back out into the community to do some volunteering. UWBA, IBM and Ernst and Young (EY) come together as one and provided an amazing day which was organised very well by UWBA and EY. This event was based at Skyline College, and oh what a campus. We saw up to 80 students, and UWBA promised that all the data collected would be in Salesforce or ECM.

We met some amazing people whom work at EY, and amazing students of all ages ranging from 17 and upwards. I had many conversations with these students. To my amazement, there were even 2 young students whom were interested in Customer Relationship Management. Yes CRM, but not the CRM I was expecting. They had a slightly different take on it, but either way, they received a blast of the Shaz wisdom.

One highlight from this event was when Nicole from UWBA was speaking about the Skyline Sparkpoint to the EY volunteers. She mentioned about IBM and the CSC program, and how we had helped them with the Employer Engagement data. She continued on to say that she used the tool that we had provided to announce that EY was in the Top 10 companies that provide volunteers for engagements of this nature, so that was very exciting to see first hand the deliverable being used, knowing that Nicole would have spent less than 1 minute doing a check! Powerful stuff!

A fond farewell and hugs all around to Nicole and Ansa and to the rest of the crew from UWBA. You guys are amazing stars, so continue to shine brightly and pave the way. See you Ansa (and anyone else from UWBA) in Pakistan when Ansa opens the first Pakistan SparkPoint Center, and we will be there for the opening! Learn lots, give heaps, and glow!

This afternoon, Meaghan and Kaila very kindly hosted Benedicte, Ricardo and myself up to Twin Peaks. This was an amazing way to finish out the month, sitting on top of San Fran, looking down on this interesting, special city that we all have grown to love in our month here. So many feelings, so in awe of what we have been through, and how San Fran embraced us all in it’s arms, where we created so many fond memories. On top of that, we were blessed with watching the Blue Angels dancing across the sky as they practiced for their event tomorrow.  We ended up at a bar at the Castrol area called Twin Peaks, thinking we would stay with the theme. A nice cool Sierra beer and a lot of laughs equals a great recipe for the afternoon.

Tonight was our last CSC dinner together, and the chosen cuisine was Indian food. A great atmosphere, and good food which was Indian / Pakistan cuisine. Brittany from Atlas Corps joined us, and soon the whole group was briefly together! We were a noisy bunch of people in this little restaurant, I think in the end they were glad to see us go.

WIth a walk back to the hotel, we continued laughing and just chatting about the memories. I am going to miss my CSC family, as yes, that is what we are. Other CSCers before us would get it, and those after us will get it! The CSC program does change your life in many ways, pushing you outside of your comfort levels, friendships are born, growth happens. I would not change one thing! I know that I have new life long friends in my CSC Family and my UWBA Family, with memories that will stay with me for a very long time!

Today was the day, the day that we have all worked hard towards .. that final presentation to our client.

We followed the IBM principles of Prepare, Rehearse, Deliver. This morning, the four of us sat as we finalised the presentation, we each spent time alone with our thoughts and wrote notes of what it was we wanted to impart.

We convened, ran through what we were each presenting, refining the delivery.

Then 12pm came and we were ready! The UWBA Team settled, with the San Jose dialed in, we began.

With Benedicte opening and introducing the Engagement Model, Susannah talking about the Engagement Model Workbook and scoring, Ricardo highlighting Salesforce data quality report and dashboard prototypes, it was soon to be my turn in the spotlight.

With butterflies in the stomach, off I went … I spoke about the high level recommendations that we had come up with. It felt right, and as I drew on all my experiences of talking to our sales communities about our own internal CRM tools, I was soon in Shaz mode promoting the importance of data collection, and stressing the areas of our observations and recommendations which supported everything that had been shared with them throughout the presentation.

Finally, after great questions and discussion from the UWBA Team throughout the presentation, Benedicte wrapped it up very nicely.

The UWBA Team forever grateful, the smiles and claps afterwards, and all the comments received, we were on a high!

This afternoon we were focused on transferring of knowledge and finalising all the deliverables to present in a special morning tea with our UWBA family tomorrow.

We took a minute to pose for a team pic for Robert from the Marketing Team with our host Nicole.

Lunch we decided on a mini celebration at a local Australian cafe .. so I got to splurge and enjoy salmon, cream cheese and dill on sour dough bread, with a Tumeric Latte Almond Milk extra hot. Whilst a little pricy and not an Australian staff member in sight, I was still a happy camper!

What a day! Difficult to get across just how I am feeling, but all I can say to sum it up in one word … MAGIC! And to quote Susannah .. “Nailed it!”

Today was a pivotal moment for the IBM UWBA Sub Team. All the work over the past 3 and a bit weeks has been all worth it to see the response that we saw today. Today I was so proud of what we as a team have been able to achieve in such a short time, and seeing it all being pulled together! It was a small moment that just happened, completely unprepared, but so worth it!

But let me first digress and make mention of the events of today as I think through the day and share with you all a couple of highlights.

This afternoon I got to watch my colleague Susannah (IBM UK) take the team through a Design Thinking Workshop Journey. She presents this topic with such flair. The workshop was fun, it was quick to the point, and definitely got a vibe working in the room as Susannah introduced this topic to pass on some skills to help UWBA to work through some of their top issues after we have gone. Everybody was engaged, everybody got involved, with plenty of questions, laughter, seriousness over a lunch and learn.

Then later this afternoon, the UWBA group were pumped and wanted to know what was happening tomorrow as they had all been invited to come learn what we have been working on. As we were sitting there, suddenly all eyes were upon us, inquisitive as they had heard about this Engagement Model Workbook that we had put together. They wanted a sneak peak.

Due to the enthusiasm, there was a quick demonstration. What came next we were not expecting … I watched and captured the following pictures to keep that memory alive … my heart melted as I saw the reactions of these passionate women whom live and breathe wanting to make a difference. That was the moment, to beat all moments! To see their expressions and reactions was just gold, knowing that we had done something to make a difference! There were huge smiles, and tears in the eyes. Needless to say that they are all talking about it, and all are very excited for our presentation to them tomorrow.

Tonight was our last group yoga in person, at our favourite place, the Grace Cathedral. I am certainly going to miss this beautiful loving environment like no other. So joined by some of my IBM CSC colleagues – Susannah, Benedicte, Abhay, Valentin, Noemi, and Emma (Atlas Corps), we all were one, at peace, enjoying the special time together with a few hundred others, as we spent an hour breathing and doing our downward dog and cobra moves, knowing that it was our last time F2F. The music amazing, every week it is someone different who plays or sings the night away. Highly recommend if you are ever in San Fran.

I did suggest we might want to take up a virtual yoga session, not sure how successful we will be at it, but hey you never know.

After yoga, Benedicte, Susannah, Noemi and I joined our UWBA colleagues for a Mexican Taco Farewell for Meghan, whom is moving to the Contra Costsa Sparkpoint. It was lovely to see them all and enjoy a yummy meal, a beer and great conversation.

That’s all for today!

Before I sign off, I wanted to take a moment to thank the many of you whom have spoken to me about my blog, how you have followed my journey so far. It has been brilliant hearing your feedback, which has certainly been encouraging. Thank you for taking the time. In fact I am so enjoying blogging that I’m thinking of continuing on with it after CSC … watch this space!

This is a long one, another cuppa might be in order. Enjoy!

Friday was an opportunity to understand in part what United Way Bay Area (UWBA) was about, why the UWBA employees are so passionate! Over the past 3 weeks we had heard so much about Sparkpoint Centers, just one of the many services that UWBA provides. So it was a field trip of the interesting kind!

Heading out for a field trip required a Cable Car ride down California Ave, catching a train experiencing the BART public transport, out to Richmond. This trip provided an opportunity to see the landscape change from the inner city to suburbia as we all wondered what was ahead for the day. In Richmond, we were met by Nicole, Meghan and Ansa (Atlas Fellow) where we were to pile into the cars and continue on. This field trip provided an opportunity to get to know our hosts a little more, asking lots of questions about UWBA, and to understand the passions of why they do what they do.

Train trip selfies and the wall art at the Richmond Station.

First stop was the Contra Costa County Sparkpoint Center. The role and service of a Sparkpoint Center is to be a one-stop assistance for low-income families and individuals to help them become financially stable, which includes high wage job training, and debt and credit counseling.

Meghan is leaving UWBA, with next week being her last week. But she is certainly not going to be too far away from UWBA, as she spreads her knowledge and passion at her new work location … the Contra Costa Sparkpoint Center in Richmond. She will be the new Site Co-ordinator for the area, touching many lives at the ground level. Meghan will be using an ECM database entering key data that flows into UWBA, that helps to see and report on the important work that the Center is doing to support the families. She will be a great role model for all the Sparkpoints in the local surrounding areas.

A short tour by the energised and passionate Regina, together with Nicole, provided a real insight to the services that the Center provides for the low income families such as a space for Tech Hub where people can learn computer skills. The Center also provides a space for legal support service, credit and financial counseling and career coaching and connection to other financial services.

This cheque from Chevron, one of UWBA’s partners, proudly hanging on the wall and spoken of. It provided the important funding back in 2011 to get the Center up and running. Also acknowledged, was The City of Richmond donates the space for the Center to run their services out of which means what the Center saves on rent, goes back into the community. With the support of partners like this, it is helping the mission of breaking the cycle of poverty in the Bay Area.

A group picture with Regina, Meghan, and Ansa (Atlas Fellow). Regina did a wonderful job in explaining all about the services provided by this Sparkpoint Center. Her enthusiasm and passion was evident. Regina has been researching ways on further helping low income families with getting into affordable housing in the area. She even spoke about an initiative that was happening that she thinks could easily be implemented here in the US for the thousands of low income families. She handed over a document that she had printed out which I read with interest. ICON has developed a method for 3D printing a single story 650-square-foot house out of cement in only 12-24 hours using a Vulcan printer for about $10K. If all goes to plan, a community will be made up of about 100 homes for residents in El Salvador next year. Regina thinks why not here! She would love to work with someone, anyone, to get this going in the Bay Area! When she shared this with us, I thought it was worthwhile mentioning here in the hope that it might help Regina’s dream if someone was to take on the challenge!

Next site visit was the Napa Sparkpoint Center which is part of a local school community. Here we met with Lupita, Ligia, and Maria. Again, the passion evident! SparkPoint Napa provides collaboration between On The Move, Phillips Elementary School and Napa County Health and Human Services, to bring more resources, connections and opportunities to the low income families in the Neighborhood.

Here Lupita and Ligia share the type of services they provide to the community with the help from four parent interns, and partnerships such as with On the Move organisation, on important areas such as:

• being a VITA site providing a service to help families prepare and complete their yearly income tax W2 documentation.
• Medi-Cal application support to obtain medical insurance
• Citizenship Legal Services that helps legal permanent residents become U.S. Citizens at a low cost
• Citizenship classes and tutoring
• Support for other services such as emergency funding in the recent fires that were in the Napa Region.
• helping to bridge parents with the local school, organising parent / teacher conferences to support their children.
• run programs such as how parents can teach their children the value of the $$, healthy and affordable meals, how to purchase a vehicle (which provides necessary skills on how to calculate their monthly payment, understanding dealership charges, what is a down payment and interest, and getting car insurance), English classes, etc.

Later in the afternoon, we were able to visit and see some of the local employment areas, enjoy a good ole California Burger experience for lunch, and visit a couple of wineries. Napa County is north of San Francisco, in California. As we were driving around the local area, we were able to see many hillside vineyards in the Napa Valley wine region, and good markets with regional gourmet food. There is also a Napa Valley Wine Train which is a vintage locomotive and traveling restaurant that runs through the valley. This whole area is where these types of places that we saw, provides a wide range of seasonal work for a lot of the local families in the area. Being seasonal, means that families have to save hard during the on seasons, to ensure that there is money to get through those off seasons.

The Wine Restaurant Train

Nicole and I amongst some beautiful flowers and garden.

Sutter Home Winery has been around since late 1800s. Sutter Home Winery is one of the largest family-run independent wineries in the United States, and is the estate known for the creation of White Zinfandel.

Front – Benedicte and Meghan; Middle – Ricardo and Nicole; Back – Susannah and Ansa

The day was finished late with dinner at an interesting and popular Italian Pizza Bistro – BOTTO. There was an interesting story behind this little place, where the owners took on a company that provided reviews – Yelp! As the owners were not interested in being part of the “Yelp Community”, Yelp retaliated by adding an algorithm that put the worst reviews as first. To not be outdone by this, the Owners turned this around to their advantage, they put up that people would get a free pizza initially for adding a 1 star rating which has ended up being a melt down for Yelp. Now it has become the norm, you visit BOTTO’s, you add a 1 star review. So far as advertised on BOTTO’s website is:
THE YELP VAFFANCULO METER
A daily count to all the one star reviews the idiots at Yelp are removing
from our profile. It’s going to take them a while
LIVE UPDATE SO FAR 2,993

Love the story, Authentic Tuscan cooking with attitude, also specializing in getting the worst reviews on Yelp! So meet one of the Executive chefs Davide Cerretini, Michele Massimo was in the kitchen cleaning up at the time of this picture. These 2 passionate partners and chefs make the best pasta that we have all experienced … trusting our hosts Meghan and her partner “Don” (as nicknamed by the Chefs), they ordered our meals which were divine!

BOTTO’s menu and signage made me giggle!

As the UWBA Sub Team got into an Uber at the end of the wonderful day, we took time to reflect on the amazing day we had. It was awesome to get out and to see the Sparkpoint Centers, to meet the awesome people working in these centers, to meet the locals! Thanks to Nicole and Meghan for taking us around to experience another side of San Francisco.