Throughout my career in the social impact sector, I have supported organizations advancing social justice through grantmaking, strategic partnerships, and institutional strengthening. But over time, I found myself wanting to get closer to the work itself. Not only to shape strategy, but to be part of how it unfolds and see firsthand the difference it makes in people’s lives.
That brought me to Panorama Strategy and its partnership with MidPen Housing, a steward of affordable housing communities serving nearly 22,000 residents across 12 counties in Northern California. Over the past year, Panorama has worked alongside MidPen to design and now implement resident wellbeing initiatives addressing food insecurity, acute financial strain, and urgent health-related needs. What I've found, 30 days into my role as Program Officer supporting those initiatives, is less about what the programs do and more about how they listen.
Co-design is only half the equation
Too often, social impact programs are designed around assumptions about what communities need rather than being shaped by the people experiencing those challenges firsthand. In my first 30 days, I've had the opportunity to both step into programs designed with resident input and keep building on that through day-to-day implementation.
That continuity is visible in the recently launched Resident Wellness Fund, a low-barrier microgrant initiative providing rapid, flexible support to residents facing acute financial and health-related needs. In just the first two months, the Fund received more than 900 applications and awarded more than $426,000 directly to residents. Reading through those applications has offered an immediate window into what residents are experiencing day to day. That's already informing how we refine and adapt our programs in real time. Which reminds me that the most important implementation tool isn't a framework, it's proximity.
When demand is the signal
Designing and implementing new initiatives is exciting, but it also requires flexibility at nearly every step; the Resident Wellness Fund is a perfect example of this. Within 48 hours of launching in April, residents had submitted requests far surpassing what we originally projected deploying for the entire year. I joined the MidPen Resident Services team in quickly working to make the case to leadership for additional funding, treating that demand as a signal that the program had surfaced a real gap.
In my experience, that kind of response isn't always easy. Unexpected scale can trigger a lot of internal questions about what went wrong. What I've appreciated here is that the conversation quickly shifted to what we could do next, and how to maximize impact for the residents who needed it most. That instinct to lean into the evidence rather than pull back is something I've seen shape decisions across our work.
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Where listening leads next
What I'm working on now reflects the same approach. A resident survey completed by more than 600 MidPen residents last summer found that 43% identified food support as the health-related service that would make the biggest difference in their households, more than any other category. That finding is informing a Food Security Program I'll be implementing this summer—a pilot designed to bring nutritious, culturally relevant food through predictable, on-site access events at select communities. To get there, we are listening on two fronts: to regional food partners to understand what they can realistically provide, and to resident and program insights to identify MidPen communities where strong partnerships exist and food access gaps remain. Building it feels like a continuation of the same listening practice.
One step in, one step out
Something that has shaped all of this is the way Panorama structured my role within MidPen's work. Close enough to understand the day-to-day realities, the organizational culture, and the core values shaping how MidPen operates, while still maintaining enough distance to identify broader patterns and opportunities. One step in, one step out.
What I've seen in practice is that this position between organizations creates something important: the trust that makes honest conversations possible. Not just about what's going well, but about what needs to change. When teams trust one another, navigating uncertainty becomes something you do together, and that has made all the difference in my first 30 days.
Looking ahead, I'm excited to keep implementing, adapting, and learning alongside my colleagues at Panorama and MidPen.
