Member Spotlight: Meet Tom Kerr-Vanderslice of Generation Citizen

Sprout CoWorking sat down with a few of our members to hear their stories about coming to Sprout, how they use the space and what they enjoy most: 

Tom Kerr-Vanderslice
Executive Director, Generation Citizen

Generation Citizen joined Sprout one and a half years ago and occupies a Private Office. Tom has worked for GC, a national action civics nonprofit headquartered in Boston, MA, for seven years. GC believes all students have the right to a civics education that prepares them to participate in our democracy and encourages their emergence as community leaders.

WHAT DO YOU DO?

Tom is the Executive Director of the Rhode Island office where he leads the team here at Sprout. His main job responsibilities are fundraising, strategic planning and political advocacy, but his favorite part of his job is when he gets to go into area high schools and work directly with the students. “ I cherish that opportunity”, he said.

WHY DID YOU COME TO SPROUT?

GC was subletting an office on the East Side of Providence but once the group grew to four people, they knew they needed a larger space. GC offices in other states work out of coworking spaces and Tom really liked the concept. He found Sprout in a Google search and knew immediately that the Olneyville location was perfect because of its central location and proximity to five of the schools they work with. He also liked the flexibility the team had to expand and contract within Sprout and feels they are happily settled in the type of dynamic workplace they were hoping to find.

HOW DO YOU USE SPROUT?

Tom and his team work comfortably in their private office and regularly use the Café space for breakout meetings, and volunteer and intern check-ins. They use meeting rooms and the phone booths for video conference calls and the common spaces to spread out their materials as they prep for their biannual Civics Day programs. On warm days, they are often found in the outside courtyard or seated at the picnic table by the Woonasquatucket River, enjoying the outside spaces Rising Sun Mills has to offer.

BEST PART OF SPROUT?

Aside from the bottomless coffee and never ending supply of chocolate, Tom greatly appreciates the flexibility of the workspaces that Sprout offers. He knew it would be a significant challenge to find the perfect office space because of their need for an array of types of office spaces. By far though, the greatest need that Sprout has filled is being a place to hold GC’s board meetings. Sprout’s fourteen-seat Conference Center provides the professional setting they need for these annual gatherings.

To learn more about Generation Citizen, go to www.generationcitizen.org.

Sprout CoWorking was named one of 2019’s Coolest Companies by Rhode Island Inno. A special thank you goes to all our members for continuously making our spaces a cool place to work.

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