The world was changing in 2006.  Pluto was downgraded from planet status to dwarf planet.  Google purchased YouTube to expand their empire.  Barry Bonds hit his 715^th (asterisked) home run to pass Babe Ruth on the all-time list.  And Beth Mulligan, a newly minted PhD psychologist at the University of Colorado, was considering her career options.

As an academic, she was interested in moving to a job that had practical application in the world, and that had an emphasis on making the world a better place.  A friend from graduate school was working at Corona Insights (then, Corona Research) and let her know we were hiring. She was intrigued by our mission and the variety of work that we do.  She won the job and has been a Corona-ite ever since, rising through the ranks from an associate position all the way up to principal.  She is now one of the most senior people at Corona Insights, leading our evaluation practice.  She also participates in many other types of projects, providing in-house expertise in statistical techniques and research methodologies.

In honor of Corona’s 20th anniversary, we are celebrating the outstanding people and organizations making a positive contribution to our community.

Each month, Corona is making a $500 donation in honor of a member of our team. For August, Jamie Blair selected the Bikes Together. We chatted with Jam to learn more about this organization and her relationship with them.

Bikes Together is a nonprofit bike shop with the primary goal of getting more people on bikes—particularly kids who might otherwise find it difficult to buy and maintain a bike. The organization helps to provide low- or no-cost bicycles to those who need them by taking in bikes in need of repair or refurbishment, then giving them new life. In addition, bike owners can come to Bikes Together and use their shop and tools to repair their bike (for free). The organization even has volunteers in the shop to help people learn about bicycle maintenance and assist with repairs. In addition, the organization provides a wide variety of classes and summer camps to help both kids and adults learn about bicycles, with topics ranging from maintenance, to safety, to communication and teamwork, and much more.

This entry in our blog series is submitted with a bit of sadness, as Jamie Blair, our office coordinator for the past two years, will be moving to Hawaii in October, and therefore will be moving on from the Corona team. Even so, we like to think of the Corona alumni network like distant members of the family, so her departure is no reason not to learn a bit more about her anyway!

Jamie (who tends to prefer the simpler “Jam”) came to Corona on Halloween of 2017. I wanted to make some clever joke here about that somehow foreshadowing her time at Corona, but to the contrary, her time at Corona has been a delight for all of us. Jam came to us with a background in bookkeeping and social work, making her a perfect fit to run “Mission Control” here in the office as someone who understands our passion for working with purpose-driven organizations.

Empowered cities and towns, united for a strong Colorado.

That’s the vision for Colorado Municipal League (CML), a member organization and long-time client of Corona Insights, that provides services, resources, and advocacy on behalf of Colorado municipalities, big and small. And one resource they provide to empower members is research.

I recently sat down with Kevin Bommer, Executive Director, and Melissa Mata, Municipal Research Analyst, to catch up and learn about how they’re using data and research to benefit their members.