What's Next for Gordon

I’m Gordon Chaffin, a job searching community volunteer and public policy advocate. This is my newsletter with local news and researched opinions.

Back to Basics on Job Searching and Possibilities

I’m excited and nervous to be starting a job search after three successful years supporting the public policy advocacy of the American Society of Civil Engineers. I’m sharing this on my newsletter because I could use some help! My up-to-date resume is here via Google Drive or at https://bit.ly/GChaffResume2025. I post work samples and professional commentary on LinkedIn. I’m re-doubling my dog walking work, and would love to go on short adventures with your pup or that of your neighbors. Check out my Rover profile!

The magnum opus of my ASCE work is the new 2025 Report Card of America’s Infrastructure, released on March 25th. But, I am most proud of the work I did running ASCE’s report card program at the state level. I entered the ASCE role thinking I would be the ‘editor in chief’ of those infrastructure analyses. It seemed a natural transition from my local journalism, which covered infrastructure issues. But, the past 36 months kicked me in the butt in the best ways. The state report card program is built on the volunteer contributions of civil engineers and infrastructure professionals in each state. That meant I became a shepherd of very accomplished and busy professionals during a historical decline of volunteerism and selfless belonging. In the end, I grew to be a better leader and coach, a more versatile infrastructure expert, a director of nationally recognized committees, a vendor manager, a motivating public speaker, a cheerleader for high-attrition volunteer groups, and a competent PowerPoint creator.

I’ve also made work less of my self-identity in the recent years, which I can lean on now during a job search. Therapy works! I’m the founder and Executive Director of a community nonprofit — with volunteers and demonstrated benefit to my neighbors! Following the launch of ASCE’s national Report Card last month, I took my first trip overseas on a week-long bike trip to London. I’m grateful that the weather was impossibly perfect for a London spring: mid-60s and sunny. I rode the Surrey Hills and walked through Kensington Gardens amid jaw-dropping flowers in bloom. I did laps of Richmond Park, got a fit with Bikefit James, and watched the city’s residents explode with seasonal joy on British Mother’s Day.

It’s not all rainbows and butterflies. My wallet is much thinner now during perhaps the worst time for a public policy wonk to be job searching in decades (waves hands around toward Capitol Hill and the White House). I am contemplating the feasibility of a Gatsby-like identity transition — like D’Angelo Barksdale with less crime. But, D’Angelo makes the proper distinction: actions separate our next chapter from an exercise in pretending. You’ve got to read those books in the library. With all this perspective-changing travel, day job work exhaustion, and a busy summer season of nonprofit volunteering ahead, I’m privileged to have the time to consider the openings to all sorts of interesting possibilities. Maybe I should celebrate the off-loading of my own Jason Giambi contract?

Despite the expense, I’m thankful I ended up at Newland’s Corner asking a stranger sitting near her dog to take my picture. It turns out that day was her pup’s last few hours on Earth. She had fed him his favorite sausages, brought him out for fresh, sunny air on a Monday afternoon, as was off to get his last ice cream cone next before waving goodbye to him at the Rainbow Bridge. I don’t practice my faith directly now, but on days like that, I'm sure there’s a central, loving force in our universe. I didn’t ride that day as long or as fast as I wanted, but I ended up there to meet that woman and her dog. I got to meet a good pup during his final day. For that, I thank whatever metaphysical waltz in which we find ourselves.

In my Uber toward Heathrow Airport on my way home, the driver chatted me up with his dreams and perceptions of moving to America, buying a detached, single-family house with lots of space, with big yards and wide roads less hemmed in than suburban London. He conveyed his family’s perception that the American Dream was still very real — if at least by comparison to the British Dream during a cost of living crisis and two generations after their immigration from Pakistan. In turn, I relayed my positive impression of many British things: the apparent success of road congestion pricing, the growth of cycle infrastructure, and dense transit networks. I suppose this is why travel is so essential to human development — to wrestle us free from the traps of grass being always greener next door, in a next life. As I contemplate my next chapter, I will have to balance the optimism of the hazy future with the unnecessary pessimism of residency in a city that should be a state during politically polarizing times.

Check out this nonprofit supporting our neighbors

DISCLAIMER: All opinions and analyses in this newsletter are those solely of Gordon Chaffin and do not represent his employer or community groups with which he’s affiliated.