We are growing….
Tuesday the 19’th marked a very special day for the CSS team. At our office in Venture X we were able to all gather for the first time in person since the start of the pandemic. This momentous occasion for the company was marked with a celebratory photo shoot with Phil Smith Photography, as we were all finally able to get our team together.
Capital Strategic Solutions has grown tremendously over the past 2 years. While the pandemic was a tumultuous time for many, we found ourselves with a unique skill set that allowed us to jump into many difficult situations and grow while doing it.
Much of this growth can be seen in the new additions to our team, as we have pulled in the expertise of veteran public servants with clear passion and dedication to serving communities.
Jennifer Thompson
Jennifer Thompson joined us in October of 2021 as our Chief Development Officer and has had a monumental impact as a fantastic leader, not only for our team, but in every municipal workforce she is able to assist. Jennifer has been at the helm of our ARPA grant management. With her extensive background in municipal administration, finance, procurement, and human resources, she has been able to walk communities of all backgrounds through whatever ARPA path they choose to take. Her skill in strategic planning and collaboration has been built from years of grant management and has brilliantly assisted and advised communities on how to get the most out of this once in a lifetime opportunity ARPA presents. The affects of her work will last in our client communities for untold years to come, and with her at our helm we have been extremely fortunate to provide services at a capacity only possible with her on our team.
Tom Impey
Tom Impey joined us in December of 2021 as a Project Manager of Fire and Emergency Services projects. Tom serves as a Massachusetts Fire Academy instructor where he coaches students and assists with the planning and logistics for skilled training demonstrations. Tom also serves as a Massachusetts Fire Academy (MFA) instructor and was recently named Coordinator for the Public Education programs at the MFA. This along with his 15+ years in fire and emergency services has given him the specialized knowledge to assist any Fire or EMS service. Upon joining CSS Tom jumped in to oversee the Town of Truro Regional Study of Emergency Medical Services. Tom gathered data from three communities to evaluate their current EMS model with Lower Cape Ambulance Association, his recommendations to our clients used both the data and his extensive experience to make several suggestions for our client to choose between, giving them the agency to choose their own path by finding multiple
Paul Scott
Paul Scott joined us in March 2022 as a Senior Project Manager. Paul’s background as the Director of Public Works for the Town of Plainville has given him the insight to manage any infrastructure project, no matter the context. Paul’s eye for cost-effective solutions seeks to make the most of available funds and find grants when possible. Paul understands the constraints on resources in small communities and has dedicated much of his professional career to creative problem solving. His ability to manage projects with an eye towards building short- and long-term goals makes the projects he works on exceptionally well off. No matter the project, Paul prioritizes transparency and collaboration, which is why we have been extremely lucky to bring him into our Public Construction Management and Oversight, and Outreach projects.
Peter Sellers
Peter Sellers joined us more recently in June of 2022 as a Senior Project Manager. Peter joined us after serving as the Director of Public Works in Framingham for 20 years. Over that time, he proved himself a capable leader who builds collaborative environments where any employee can thrive. Several members of the CSS team have had the opportunity to work with Peter during his time in Framingham and have benefitted from the work environment he fostered. His emphasis on transparency, collaboration, and honesty makes him especially adept at restructuring internal management operations to maximize efficiency. This can be seen from his work in Framingham where he took on a project to institute “Management by Objective” which relied on a clear and well-defined program with transparent accountability standards. We are so excited to bring his expertise in capital improvement planning and implementation, management assistance, emergency management services, equipment and resource evaluations to our client communities.
Blythe Robinson
Blythe Robinson joined the team of Senior Project Managers this summer as well. Blythe has joined Jennifer on many of our grant management clients as she has extensive experience in Grant Management and Grant Writing. Her experience as a Town Manager in Norfolk and Upton enhanced her natural talent for crafting big picture solutions with meticulous planning and research. Her ability to find creative yet pragmatic solutions has also made her adept at instituting regionalization programs. Blythe knows what it means to work in communities with limited resources and has found great success in finding solutions that also build larger community networks. Since joining she has jumped in head first into several of our ongoing Grant projects, carrying with her extensive experience in capital improvement and financial planning, executive coaching, policy review and staffing analysis.
We were fortunate enough to work with Phil Smith from Phil Smith Photography to capture this celebration of our first in-person team meeting. Phil’s work is exemplary as he was able to work in every space available to us and capture wonderful moments in the limited amount of time available to us. His talent and natural creative eye brought out the best in our team, and we will be using his first-rate, high-quality photos for the foreseeable future. Phil did a wonderful job not only taking in the needs of our meeting, but also in coming up with fantastic ideas on the spot, using every single minute to capture the essence of the CSS team cohesion. His ability to direct individuals and groups of people is beyond compare, and we wouldn’t have had as successful a meeting as we did without him.
Our focus in bringing together so many talented and dedicated public servants is to allow their expertise to flourish across multiple cities and towns. The CSS team understands the difficulties of working in local government and has designed itself and its team to operate with the greatest efficiency for communities that need the staff and experience. We know firsthand how to manage common and unique issues municipalities face each and every day. By acting as a mobile municipal force, with decades of experience in public service across our team, we take great pride in being able to assist dozens of communities at once, as we know that no matter the community, the mission of public service is always the same.
“We are a group of professionals that have dedicated our careers to improving the cities and the towns that we work-in. We have been fortunate to have had the opportunity to expand our horizons and grow as individuals over the years, which is why we can offer our clients the skills and expertise to meet their needs and to be put to work almost immediately. Having worked in government, we understand what happens or needs to happen behind the scenes to deliver streamlined services and respond to emerging situations. I couldn’t be more please to work along side of each and every member of our CSS team, and to offer our clients the services that they need, at a fraction of the cost of a full-time employee,” said Nichol Figueiredo, CEO.
As our workforce grew, we asked new team members what drew them to work with us, and time and time again the response was often the same. Because our roots in local government, many have been drawn to join our team based off the known work ethic, dedication, and values of our founding team members, which had proven themselves valuable and successful long before CSS was officially founded.
“I have worked on many projects involving CSS and I have always been impressed with their professionalism and dedication to the work. I am excited to join the CSS Team and look forward to the challenges and accomplishments that lay ahead,” said Paul Scott, Senior Project Manager.
“I am excited for the opportunity to work with the team at Capital Strategic Solutions. Nichol and her team are extremely capable former public servants whose goals are to maximize the efficiency of public service organizations through innovative funding sources and analysis of methodology,” said Tom Impey, Fire and Emergency Services Project Manager.
What The Future Holds
With so much growth within CSS, we are ecstatic to look towards the future. For the past year managing ARPA grants and outreach has been our bread and butter and as many ARPA projects enter new phases we are ready to continue on. We have been working in over 18 communities, assisting them with their ARPA funds in every imaginable way. Our expertise has been able to conduct thorough and intensive outreach and manage ARPA in a way that utilizes it to its strengths, while finding other grants to supplement what ARPA cannot do. As the year continues, we have expanded our ARPA work into Rhode Island and hope to bring the excellence & skill of Jennifer & Blythe’s Grant Management and Grant Writing to more communities as ARPA approaches it’s 2’nd birthday.
With the Addition of our experts in all things Public Works, Peter & Paul, we hope to expand our already plentiful work with many wonderful Public Works partners. At the forefront of our efforts in Public Works is our experience with Water Quality management, with a specialization in PFAS, and our MS4 Outreach. Both Peter and Paul are extraordinarily well versed in untangling complicated issues into their essentials, making solving them all the simpler. As federal guidance on PFAS seems set to adapt in the coming months, Peter and Paul are ready to manage PFAS infrastructure projects, and our outreach team is ready to manage hotlines and crisis communications.
Beyond the size of our team, we have expanded our services to suit the needs of our clients. We are now offering ourselves to cover meeting minutes, and conduct EMS reports, similar to what Tom has done for the Town of Truro. As we add these skills to our deck, we hope to be able to assist municipalities and organizations in more projects and tasks with the same drive that has led us to such success thus far.
CAPITAL STRATEGIC SOLUTIONS
Capital Strategic Solutions (CSS) is a Massachusetts-based woman-owned business (WBE) comprised of former municipal employees. Our knowledge about the ins and outs of local government can help your community find the funds it needs to do the work that matters.
Our extensive experience in Grant Writing & Management, procurement, Capital improvement, Crisis Communication, and project management let us serve communities across New England with precision and care. Our team works around the clock to deliver cost effective solutions that minimize risk to our clients. Whether it be outreach, grant writing, or project management, our skills in the municipal world can make a difference in communities big and small.
To learn more about our services, and the expertise of our team please email us at info@Capital-Strategic-Solutions.com or call us at 508-690-0046 to schedule a meeting.