Hello. 

I’m Taylor.

I love two things deeply; food and community. There’s one thing I know for certain – You don’t eat soup with a fork.

Most of our policy is just that – A valiant attempt at eating soup with a fork…or a knife…or our hands. It seems obvious, but we all know we should eat soup with a spoon, right? 

A lot of policy is the same. We are using the wrong tool to solve the problem.

On this blog we talk about different methods to solve real problems facing real people across the world. There is no shortage of important work to be done, and we talk to the people doing the work from around the world. We look at emerging solutions backed by research, experiences, trial and error, trial and success.   We are here to bring you those stories, with the hope it empowers you to see solutions through a functional lens.

As far as getting to know me; here’s the footnotes version; I am a non-profit professional with years of experience in an array of focus areas including child abuse and neglect, trafficking, homelessness, refugees & migration, and economic development.  I’ve lived all over the US and abroad, studying and working in these community focus areas.

My life has afforded me the ability to live and work in different corners of the world. These vantage points have included the inside of lockdown facilities, in courtrooms and church pews, in graveyards and soup-kitchen lines; the places where the lowest levels of policy take on names and faces and heartbeats. I am passionate about this work because I have seen first hand how real world problems + real world policy can affect very real people. 

I write. I cuss. I do yoga. I cook with jalapeños. I’m trying to raise my daughter to be brave in a messy world. I drink coffee like I am trying to win an award. Welcome.

I am so happy to have you here. 

The writer, 

Taylor Patrice