Marcos Marquez is often on the go. His work for Clear Impact, a performance management software company, takes him around the country, helping nonprofits and governments use software to analyze the impact of the work they’re doing. “Whether I’m in Toronto or whether I’m in Stockton, California or whether I’m in Daytona Beach, Florida or whether I’m in Hidalgo County, South Texas… my job is to help those communities learn this process so that they can create better outcomes,” he says.
He runs things for the company in Texas, coordinating with a number of partners at the state level. Currently, he’s working with the Texas Department of Family Protective Services to teach early childhood coalitions around the state about results-based accountability. This process gives them the data necessary to understand how each organization works individually and collectively to improve child outcomes. From that information, they can come up with solutions together that benefit everybody.
Another one of his projects works across state lines, between Texas, California, Florida, Illinois, and New York. Collectively, these states are responsible for about 40% of all births in the United States. Clear Impact is helping them work together using their software and process. “If they begin to work together to improve early childhood outcomes through maternal and childhood infant health, what would the cumulative impact be toward the country?” he’s encouraging them to explore.
With his expertise in results-based accountability, he’s been able to make an impact in a variety of ways. “I’ve done it inside of organizations, outside of organizations, so my deep experience is in facilitation, project management, and thought partnership to organizations that are trying to create better outcomes, whether it’s health outcomes, early childhood outcomes, or security or safety or whatever. RBA is just a framework, a process, it’s a way of working together.”
“At the end of the day, this is about social justice, it’s about equity,” he says. “This is about improving conditions in disadvantaged communities all over the country, really all over the world.”
While he’s often traveling the world, he’s also gotten to see the community here grow over the past two years. “One of the things I really enjoy is seeing all the new people come in, all the new relationships that are being built,” he says. The social consciousness of the community here is important to him. He loves “knowing that every single person who’s here is like-minded and also wants to create better outcomes and community. The process might be different, the products might be different, but the intention is all the same.”
As one of the first tenants in The Impact Guild’s Dedicated Desks, he knew the community here would be a good fit from the beginning. “The Impact Guild’s mission and vision, it just aligned. I mean, Clear Impact – it’s kinda in the title,” he points out.