Business student gets grant experience in city government

Pitt-Bradford senior Adam C. Taylor this fall has been learning to combine business skills and public service at an internship with the city's Office of Economic and Community Development.

Taylor, a business management major from Newtown, is helping to survey residents to establish their level of need so the OECD can continue to receive federal Community Development Block Grant funds to improve the quality of life for Bradford residents.

“I'm helping compile all that data that is missing from the census, putting it into the general income survey and then getting all that information together,” Taylor said. The complete picture will help the OECD argue the level of the city's need.

“The first step is sending out a bunch of letters,” he said. “We have 348 people that we need to survey. Then there's going to be a lot of knocking on doors,” he said.

This isn't Taylor's first time working with a government organization. Early in his college career, Taylor decided that he wanted to pursue a career with the government that would use his business management skills and his passion for public service.

This summer, he interned with the Department of Defense in the Office of Morale, Welfare, Recreation and Resale Policy in Washington, D.C.

Working with the DOD gave Taylor an in-depth understanding of governmental policy and regulations. With the OECD, he's working with policies that are very similar to those at DOD.

His experience in the federal government gave him a jump start with the OECD and how it operates, he said.

“I understand these written regulations, how to find them, how they're written, how they're stated and how to use them to our benefit,” Taylor said.

He is also hoping that his background in business and accounting gives him an insight into the financial workings of the city.

“I can use the ideas of business and accounting to put together a good financial idea of how the city is put together and all the grant money that goes toward it,” he said.

Taylor is enjoying his experience with small government.

“It's a lot more personal and a lot more connected,” he said.

Even though he has enjoyed his time at the OECD, when he graduates, he hopes to work with larger government organizations since there are more job opportunities.

“It's probably going to be the federal government for me,” Taylor said, “but the city government is a good kind of exposure for what I'd be doing in the federal government and who it affects.”