Operations Evolution 

Implementation of Monday.com work and project management platform. This enables our team to work with more precise organization and purpose, while automating a lot of previously analogue processes.

Implementation of Google AI tools and resources. What started the year known as Bard became Gemini, and Google rapidly spun out several tools that dramatically increased our productivity as a small team. As we've been leaning into AI more heavily, this has drastically increased our ability to create outreach messaging, prepare grant applications, and produce internal program documentation.

Training videos. Previously, BlueBridge training relied on written handbooks and documentation. This meant that information and knowledge transfer was less than ideal for new agency program directors and participating officers. By transitioning to the use of training videos, we were able to streamline the information and put it into a format that is consistent with how learning is most commonly consumed in today’s world.

Development of a universal interaction reporting system. Previously, each participating agency had its own report form, which fed the resulting data into separate tables. This data had to be manually aggregated, which was laborious. One reason for this configuration was that we needed agencies to be able to review their own data, but not see other agencies’ data without their permission. This year, we were able to build and release a new system that looks and feels very similar to the old form, but the reports are automatically segregated into individual databases, extracted from a parent database. The result is that while each agency still has access to its own data, behind the scenes data management is largely automated across the BlueBridge organization. This is important because it paves the way for ease of scalability, allowing BlueBridge to add agencies without a great deal of additional manual processes.

Transition to tablets from laptops. Previously, agencies would be provided a laptop computer loaded with all of the software required to run their BlueBridge program. Laptops were found to be clumsy and bulky. A transition to tablets allowed for a more streamlined and integrated approach to program management. This also reduced onboarding costs and increased productivity.

Branded BlueBridge cards. Up until this year, debit cards assigned to participating officers had the branding of our banking software provider. Frequently, this would create confusion on the part of the participating officers and they would forget what the card was for. Now, all new cards are branded with BlueBridge’s art and logo so that there’s no confusion.

Improvement in social media. Previously, our social media efforts were scant and were somewhat unpolished. With the addition of new talent, the ability to have a dedicated social media strategy, with professional and consistent content, became a reality. This has allowed us to expand our reach as well as collaborate more often with our partner agencies and other interested parties.