Joe Eastman

Can you tell us a bit about your job responsibilities?

I oversee the Department of Homeless Services (DHS) budget for contracted provider shelters for families and single adults, street outreach, medical/ behavioral health programs, and the agency’s personnel services. My responsibilities include assessing DHS fiscal requests and providing budget recommendations for agency priority initiatives. In my role at DSS, I perform quantitative analyses to forecast shelter budget spending and prepare summaries to inform agency decision makers. I also work closely with the Mayor’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and agency stakeholders to address DHS funding needs, as well as implement new initiatives and programs to maximize agency efficiency.

Please describe what you were doing before you came to NYU Wagner?

Before NYU Wagner, I had worked at Citizens Committee for NYC where I helped coordinate the nonprofit’s micro grants program to support local, neighborhood-group based community improvement projects. Prior to Citizens Committee, as a New York City Urban Fellow I worked at the City’s Division of Energy Management. While in college at CUNY Hunter, I had internships with the NYC Departments of Parks and NYC Small Business Services. These two undergraduate experiences were valuable experiences that first introduced me to working in city government and helped develop my interest in pursuing a career in government and public policy.

Please describe how your experiences at NYU Wagner prepared you for your career?

My experience at NYU Wagner provided me with valuable skills and knowledge that I have relied on often in my work in city government. The quantitative skills and public policy insights that I learned in classes such as Financial Management, Government Budgeting, Estimating Impacts in Policy Research, and Urban Economics have been extremely helpful and directly applicable to the work I’ve done and policy/fiscal challenges I’ve been involved with addressing at the Office of Management and Budget and my current role in the Dept. of Social Services’ Finance Office.

Please describe what impact you hope to make through your career and/or organization?

Through my work in city government and career in public policy, my goal is to help develop and advance public programs and policy solutions that are evidence-based and focused on addressing root causes to social challenges. In my current role at DSS, I hope to continue to expand the work I’ve done to help agency stakeholders think through and better develop program budget requests that have clear goals, are cost effective, and use data tracking and analysis to improve program efficiency and outcomes.