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On this episode of the Square Pizza Pod, Greg sits down with Danielle Frazier, Special Assistant to the City Manager for Workforce Development in the City of Charlotte and longtime girls flag football coach. They talk about what it really takes to build pathways to good jobs, why a one cent sales tax for transportation is actually a mobility and opportunity strategy, and how a career that started in one local organization has grown into national leadership.

From coaching high school flag football and renovating bathrooms with her dad to helping design Charlotte’s first Office of Workforce Development and chairing the United States Conference of Mayors Workforce Development Council, Danielle shares a grounded, hopeful view of what is possible when cities, schools, employers, and residents pull in the same direction.

In this episode, you will hear:

• How growing up in a football family and coaching girls flag football shapes Danielle’s leadership with young people and teams
• A clear, accessible definition of workforce development and how Charlotte’s new Office of Workforce Development and strategic plan are bringing that vision to life
• What Charlotte’s historic transportation and mobility investment could mean for thousands of future jobs in construction, skilled trades, professional services, and small businesses
• How the Education to Employment initiative with Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools is creating direct pathways from high school graduation into full-time roles with the City of Charlotte
• Why employer engagement and emerging tools like artificial intelligence are becoming essential to a healthy, future-ready workforce ecosystem

If you care about economic mobility, public investment, or connecting young people and adults to meaningful work in growing cities, this is a conversation you will want to hear.

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GIVEAWAY - send us a message and let us know your favorite thing about the Square Pizza Pod. We are giving away SchermCo swag to the first three people that send us a note!

In this episode of the Square Pizza Pod, Greg welcomes Erica Mitchell, Chief Executive Officer of United Way of Greater Nashville, for a candid conversation about leading regional change at the intersection of poverty, philanthropy, and community power.

From what was supposed to be a two-year stop at United Way to more than fifteen years of growing responsibility, Erica reflects on how the work has evolved as Nashville has exploded in size and complexity. She shares how her team is moving beyond traditional workplace giving to focus on workforce pathways, neighborhood-based partnerships, and efforts like the Fifth Third Neighborhood Initiative in North Nashville that are designed with, not just for, community members.

In this episode, you will hear:

• How a short-term role at United Way became a long-term calling to serve the region
• What it really takes to prevent and alleviate poverty in a fast-growing city
• Lessons from navigating multiple nonprofit mergers—and what leaders often underestimate
• How the merger with Hands On Nashville is reshaping volunteer engagement and community response
• Why affordable child care sits at the center of economic mobility for families
• How Erica approaches leading a one-hundred-person team and a forty-plus-member board
• Why she is cautiously optimistic about artificial intelligence and what questions leaders should be asking now

If you care about community, equity, or building stronger cities through real partnership, this is an episode you will not want to miss.

Support the show

GIVEAWAY - send us a message and let us know your favorite thing about the Square Pizza Pod. We are giving away SchermCo swag to the first three people that send us a note!

In this episode of the Square Pizza Pod, Greg welcomes Shaka Mitchell, educator, policy leader, and advocate for school choice, for an engaging and candid conversation about education, leadership, and civic engagement.

From his early days in Nashville to his current work shaping education policy across Tennessee, Shaka reflects on what’s changed—and what hasn’t—about how we prepare students for the future. Along the way, he shares sharp insights on the role of local leadership, the real stories behind school choice debates, and how families and communities can stay engaged in creating better systems for kids.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

• Why Shaka believes “parents are the most important education reformers”
• How Tennessee’s education landscape is shifting post-pandemic
• Lessons from the charter sector and what traditional districts can learn
• His advice for building civic trust and bridging ideological divides
• How he uses music as a common ground to spark conversation and bridge differences
• A few Nashville stories (and laughs) along the way

If you care about schools, leadership, or the future of public education, this is one you don’t want to miss.

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