Smart Growth America Reviews

There is a lack of transparency and flexibility within the organization, and the values of the external work we carry are not reflected internally. The organization relies on early career professionals and interns to do key research and project execution, while directors and above are more focused on fundraising and speaking engagements. There is no development team, and the internal systems lack organization and clarity.

The organization is so disorganized to the point of being dysfunctional. Senior staff are too stressed to provide any support to junior staff on projects, and the turnover is so severe that staff at all levels are constantly overworked. Handoffs are an absolute mess. Senior staff are not receptive to feedback and do not accept ownership or accountability for their words or actions, whether related to management styles (or lack thereof) or the utter and overwhelming lack of meaningful diversity, equity, and inclusion at the organization. HR is contracted out and relatively inaccessible to staff except under special circumstances. Senior staff openly voice ableist and trans-erasive ideas with no regard for staff well-being, nor the impact on the organization's so-called "mission." Senior staff routinely insist SGA is a great place to work despite copious feedback to the contrary, including a class-action letter authored collaboratively by junior staff which to date received no response after almost a year. The concept of intersectionality is openly disparaged by the CEO, and the CEO routinely ignores emails from staff, including emails pertaining to contracts and grants, to the detriment of workplace efficiency and morale.