►
From YouTube: Meet The People: Max Dennison
Description
On this episode of Meet The People, Max Dennison talks about his role in Department of Parks & Recreation, how passionate he is about teaching kids, and what 1980s cartoons he watched before school each morning.
A
A
Hello
again,
everyone
welcome
to
another
edition
of
meet
people.
My
name
is
david
finer,
I'm
the
communication
technology
manager
for
the
city
of
pittsburgh's
department
of
innovation
performance.
Today
we
have
max
dennison
from
city
parks.
Max
is
the
digital
inclusion
coordinator,
and
if
there
were
anyone
else
more
perfect
for
this
show
that
works
for
the
city
of
pittsburgh,
I
don't
know
who
they
are
max.
Thanks
for
joining
us.
A
B
B
So
that's
the
whole
digital
inclusion
and
we
found
out
during
the
pandemic
a
lot
of
kids
a
lot
of
parents
weren't
as
computer
savvy
as
necessary
or
needed
to
be,
and
we
wanted
to
start
offering
classes
and
courses
that
will
help
that
process.
Hopefully
the
pandemic
doesn't
ever
happen
again.
We
don't
have
to
go
through
that,
but
we
can
help
kids
in
that
way.
So
you
know
usually
we
use
our
rec
centers
for
basketball
and
lifting
weights,
but
now
you
know
we're
really
gearing
up
to
be
able
to
help
them
in
a
digital
side.
A
B
Haven't
branched
off
into
a
space
where
we're
teaching
adults,
but
ultimately,
because
so
for
people
who
may
not
know
parks
and
recreation,
we
have
23
centers,
all
together
from
correct
13
of
those
centers
are
senior
centers.
The
other
10
are
recreation
centers.
So
we
would
like
to
implement
some
type
of
education
and
technology
at
all.
23
centers.
But
you
know
it's
been
pretty
much
slowed
down,
I
would
say,
because
of
the
pandemic
and
how
we
can
implement
and
execute.
B
A
B
All
of
my
schools
have
been
pittsburgh
public
from
overbrook
elementary
to
frick
international
studies,
academy,
which
is
now
inside
tech
to
shin
lee
high
school.
Interesting
enough,
though
I
was,
I
wasn't
into
like
the
science,
you
know
there's
two
magnets.
It
was
like
language
and
there
were
science
early
on.
I
was
into
the
language
my
mother
put
me
into
spanish
classes.
B
They
fared
well,
though,
in
the
future,
but
back
then
I
didn't
know
that
I
would
be
into
tech
so
much
so
I
left
there.
I
started
my
university
career
at
point.
Excuse
me
at
penn
state
I
went
to
penn.
State
mckeesport
stayed
here
did
two
years
there
and
then
I
transferred
to
point
park
university
where
I
finished
school
again.
Interesting
enough.
My
my
original
education
is
in
is
in
education,
political
science
and
history,
or
my
majors.
B
I
didn't
get
into
tech
until
halfway
through
my
career,
so
just
for
people
who
are
interested
in
tech,
it's
never
too
late.
You
can
always
transition,
you
can
always
switch,
but
originally
I
wanted
to
be
a
teacher
and
I
did
teach
for
a
while
in
pittsburgh
public,
but
it
just
wasn't
as
exciting
as
I
thought
it
was
going
to
be.
I
wasn't
as
as
dreamy
as
I
thought
it
was
going
to
be
so
I
literally
went
to
a
white
boarding
party
with
a
good
friend
of
mine
and
they
were
like
hey.
What
would
you
do?
B
You
know
I
was
like
I'm
thinking
about
a
career
switch
and
we
had
to
answer.
What
would
we
do
if
we
could
do
anything,
and
I
said
I
will
run
a
startup
company
because
I
had
been
reading
about
startups
and
just
looking
at
all
of
the
new
facebooks
and
things
were
just
happening
in
tech,
and
I'm
like
this
is
where
all
the
action
is.
So
I
went
back
started
going
to
boot.
B
B
So
I
was
like
you
know
what
I
should
try
tech
out
with
them,
and
so
we
started
out
with
just
making
basic
applications,
websites
and
the
principle.
I
still
remember
she
said:
if
you
don't
need
any
money,
you
can
do
as
long
as
you
don't
need.
Any
money
won't
have
any
money
in
the
budget
for
you.
But
if
you,
you
can
run
this
program.
B
If
you
don't
need
any
money
from
us,
it's
your
time,
your
energy,
and
so
that's
where
we
started,
and
I
ended
up
posting
it
on
social
media
and
it
was
like
a
you
know.
I
don't
want
to
say
it
went
viral,
but
it
was
like
60
shares
and
I
was
like
wow
people
really
want
to
learn,
want
their
kids
to
be
in
tech,
so
that
kind
of
really
started
transitioning
my
career.
So
in
the
meantime
I
had
took
on
jobs
at
like
little
minor
startups
worked
on
applications,
and
things
like
that.
B
B
And
then
I
seen
the
opportunity
to
apply
for
the
digital
inclusion
coordinator
and
I
took
it.
I
thought
it
was
a
perfect
blend
because
it's
a
government
job,
which
is
what
I
went
to
school
for
political
science,
but
it
was
what
I
wanted
to
do
in
the
future
as
well.
So
it
was
like
kind
of
the
merging
of
what
I
was
doing
at
the
moment
versus
what
I
had
been
going
to
school
for.
A
B
A
B
But
I
want
you
to
say
it
yeah.
I
think
I
would
say
I'm
definitely
if
we
measure
success
off
of
the
ability
of
a
kid
to
start
in
pittsburgh
and
stay
in
the
ecosystem
and
be
able
to
do
good
work.
Then
yes,
absolutely,
but
I
I
don't
say,
I'm
a
success
story
yeah,
because
the
story's
not
over,
so
I
want
to
keep
going
and
see
how
far
we
could
push
it.
B
Start
talking
about
it,
no
job.
No,
I
actually
love
my
job.
I
actually
love
my
job,
but
I
think
what
makes
my
job
really
cool
is
the
people
I
work
with.
So
you
know
I've
had
a
thousand
jobs
over.
You
know
from
the
age
14
to
I'm
39.
Now
so
from
the
age
3
14
I
started
like
doing
like
summer
school
work,
people
make
jobs,
you
know
if
you
work
with
really
good
people.
My
first
director
was
ross
chapman,
the
mm-hmm
directors,
catherine
vargas,
lou
luanne,
I'm
sorry
the
public
mean.
B
I
know
these
people,
luanne
sue,
sheila,
kathy,
dwayne,
john
there's
just
a
bunch
of
good
people,
and
when
you
work
with
good
people,
you
want
to
come
to
work.
When
you
work
with
people
who
are
not
so
happy
to
be
at
work,
it
can
be
very
tough.
So
I
I
love
my
job.
I
love
the
work.
It's
never
the
same.
B
You
know
even
right
now
as
we're
doing
this
interview
like
to
me.
This
is
cool.
This
is
you
know
this
is
a
part
of
my
job,
but
it's
cool.
I
get
to
work
with
different
students,
different
recreation,
centers,
and
it's
still,
I
feel
very
grounded
like
I
feel
like
I'm
still
helping.
So
yes,
I
love
it.
I'm
just
hoping
we
can
continue
to
the
work.
A
The
group
of
kids
would
have
to
get
together
and
do
a
production
to
there
would
be
a
host
there'd,
be
they'd
all
have
to
play
characters.
They
all
had
to
learn
how
to
run
the
camera.
They
all
had
to
be
in
the
control
room
and
one
of
my
favorite
parts
about
that,
and
it
was
for
the
adult
classes
I
taught
as
well.
B
Like
creative
animation,
like
a
few
weeks
ago,
we
did
the
ping
pong,
the
old
school
ping
pong,
but
with
code,
that's
exciting,
yeah,
yeah
yeah!
It's
you
know
it's
it's
it's
definitely
satisfying
and
again.
I
just
feel
like
it's
a
part
of
the
work
you
know,
but
but
to
know
that
they
won't
when
they
get
to
a
university
level
when
they
go
to
apply.
This
won't
be
the
first
time
they're
gonna,
see
some
of
this
stuff
is
kind
of
really
the
goal
and
we're
slowly
but
surely
getting
where
we
need
to
be.
A
They
can
at
least
say
I
tried
it
and
I
loved
it
or
I
tried
it,
and
it
really
wasn't
for
me-
and
I
think
that's
your
point
that
you
just
made
about
when
they
get
to
the
university
level
they're,
not
seeing
it
for
the
first
time
right.
I
think
that's
really
important.
I
wish
I
had
those
opportunities
to
see
things
before
I
got
to
college,
but
the
the
amount
of
information
and
the
amount
of
access
that
kids
have
now
right.
B
B
Numerous
and
that
the
kids
just
need
to
see
as
many
opportunities
as
possible
because,
like
you
said,
I
didn't
get
an
opportunity
to
see
nearly
as
many
different
professions,
as
I
probably
should
have,
because
I
probably
would
have
went
in
a
different
direction
other
than
education.
It
was
just
like
this
is
what
I'm
really
good
at,
but
you
don't
know
what
you're
really
good
at
or
great
at.
A
B
To
expose
them
to
as
many
opportunities,
but
then
it
becomes
which
direction
I
go
to.
So
that's
a
question
that
a
lot
of
the
kids
that
I
work
with,
who
ask
me
like
well,
I
like
this
this
this
and
this
and
I'm
like
man,
it's
going
to
take
four
years
to
be
good
at
each
of
those,
so
you'll
be
50
by
the
time.
You
start,
if
you
do
each
one
of
these
for
four
years.
B
A
Understand
I
mean
my
understanding
is
vague
of
the
concept,
but
as
a
first
year
high
school
student
they're
usually
going
they're
doing
a
rotation
and
they're
going
through
all
of
the
shops,
so
they
can
see
each
one
and
see
how
it
works.
So
that
is
also
I
mean
I
went
to
a
vocational
technical
high
school,
but
I
was
not
on
the
voctech
side.
A
I
didn't
even
think
about
that.
I
didn't
know
anything
about
that
and
that's
probably
why
I
didn't
go
that
way,
because
I
just
didn't
know
anything
about
it.
My
parents
didn't
know
anything
about
it,
but
now
a
kid
can
sit
at
home
on
a
laptop
and
go
to
youtube
and
watch
a
tutorial
of
almost
anything.
They
want
absolutely
and
they
don't
have
to
go
to
school
they
well,
they
have
to
go
to
school,
but
they
don't.
A
They
don't
have
to
rely
on
their
school
right
or
even
their
after-school
program
to
to
do
that
for
them,
and
it's
just
the
amount
of
like
you
were
just
saying
that
the
amount
of
information
they
have
available
to
them.
They
can
almost
experience
it
from
a
desk
in
their
bedroom
and
decide
either
quickly
or
slowly,
whether
they
like
it
or
not.
I
think
that's,
I
think,
that's
really
important
for
kids
today.
B
B
You
know
it's
a
bunch
of
theory
and
politics
really
long,
history,
books
and
so
I'm
kind
of
biased
towards
reading,
so
I'm
old
school
I
like
to
get
the
horror
book
and
highlight,
but
I
remember
I
was
talking
to
my
nephew
and
I'm
like
there's
no
books
in
your
room.
We
got
to
get
you
some
books.
You
know
you
need
to
read
he's
like.
B
Why
would
I
ever
do
that
and
I
could
just
watch
a
documentary
on
it
and
when
I
thought
about
it,
he
was
like
it
takes
you
probably
a
month
to
read
that
book.
I
can
learn
more
about
that
in
two
hours,
if
I
just
type
something
in
on
my
computer
and
it
was
like
wow,
this
is
really
the
information
age
and
this
is
how
learning
is
going
to
happen,
but.
B
A
B
A
A
Have
to
learn
my
way
because
I
went
through
it.
They
should
go
through
it.
Let's,
let's
switch
to
something
else:
real
quick.
What
was
working
for
city
parks
working
for
the
city
of
pittsburgh?
What
were
the
main
differences
between
pre-covered
during
kovid
and
now
that
we're
we're
seemingly
transitioning
out
of
covid?
B
B
B
So
I
would
say
the
biggest
thing.
Doran
kovitt
was
just
moving
everything
digitally
everything
is
online.
All
of
the
meetings
with
the
kids
are
online.
We
had
coding
courses
in
our
polls
and
recreation
center,
our
jefferson
recreation
center
on
the
north
north
side
and
also
out
phillips
towards
like
carrick
brownsville
road.
B
Everything
is
at
one
point
becomes
digital,
it's
like.
Can
we
do
the
kids
have
an
email?
Can
we
get
them
a
computer?
It
just
changed
even
the
way
we
talk
right.
So
it's
like
easier
to
keep
control
of
a
classroom
when
you're
there
and
they're
and
they're
acting
up
now.
You
know
you
might
have
15
kids.
I
remember
having
this
is
kind
of
funny,
but
it's
not
really
funny.
B
I
had
a
class
of
15
and
we're
teaching
we're
teaching,
arrays
and
coding
right
and
it
can
be
difficult,
sometimes
creating
variables
and
just
just
a
little
boring.
Things
are
coding
that
everything's
not
fun
and
a
kid
wasn't
getting
it
and
I'm
trying
to
help
him.
I'm
trying
to
help
him
I'm
trying
to
help
him
and
he
just
got
frustrated
and
I'm
like
it's
all
right,
we're
going
to
get
it
and
it's
like
you
know.
B
He
came
back
and
we
ended
up
working
it
out,
but
it
was
just
like
that
easy
like.
If
we
would
have
been
in
a
classroom.
I
think
I
could
have
helped
him.
I
could
have
maybe
pulled
out
a
notebook
showed
him.
A
visual
drew
something
to
help
him,
but
when
you're
digital
you
know
it's
almost
like.
I
can
hang
up
on
you
at
any
time
and
and
in
this
session,
so
just
learning
how
to
teach
completely
virtual
was
a
difference
and
then
now
post
covet.
B
It's
almost
like.
We've
been
in
the
house
so
long,
it's
weird
to
be
back
in
person,
so
just
getting
comfortable
with
coming
back
to
meetings
sitting
down
with
people
again,
it's
okay
to
shake
hands,
it's
okay
to
because
cobra
really
the
pandemic
changed
a
lot
of
ways
that
we
communicate
and
interact.
So
just
getting
back
to
normal,
trying
not
to
ask
people
if
they're,
vaccinated
or
not
and
stuff
just
you
know
stuff
that
you
would
have
never
thought
about
before,
like
if
we
sat
down
before.
B
B
A
They
just
want
to
be
next
to
each
other,
and
now
it's
the
teacher
trying
to
figure
out
where's
the
mu.
How
do
I
mute
that
kid,
but
keep
that
kid
open,
and
what
and
and
my
kid's
raising
his
hand
and
showing
the
dog
and
showing
his
mother
and
showing
me
and
it
yeah,
but
I
I
think
that
the
kid
the
interesting
thing
and
bringing
it
full
circle
to
the
technology
component
is
that
sitting
my
kid
in
front
of
a
laptop
for
six
hours
or
eight
hours
a
day.
Wasn't
a
big
deal
to
him.
A
B
B
A
B
B
B
How
not
great
their
generation
is
not
just
just
to
that
point.
I
think
the
biggest
thing
with
them
with
the
ipads
and
the
iphones
and
the
androids
is
even
if
they
don't
understand
the
technology,
they're,
not
afraid
of
it.
Yep,
you
know
they're.
I
can
speak
to
that,
although
a
lot
of
the
kids
may
have
needed
some
technical
help
and
some
help,
they
weren't
afraid
to
open.
I
think
I've
talked
and
talked
to
more
older
people
who
are
more
afraid
to
open
up
an
email
versus
the
kids
are
like.
B
A
He
did
it
all
himself
beat
up
all
the
nazis,
and
I
said
this
is
the
internet
and
you
can
look
up
anything
you
want
about
anything
you
want,
and
he
said
I
I'm
never
going
to
need
this,
and
I
said
what
battle
were
you
in
in
world
war
ii
and
he
told
me
the
name
of
it
typed
it
in
well,
let's
read
all
about
it
and
he
it
just
blew
his
mind
of
having
the
information.
That's
your
fingertips
right
away
and
you're
right
kids.
Today
they
kind
of
take
that
for
granted.
A
Did
you
have
encyclopedias
when
you
were
growing
up?
Absolutely
so
absolutely
my
son
said
to
me.
So
let
me
get
this
straight.
Somebody
came
to
the
door
and
you
bought
a
whole
bunch
of
books
that
you
put
on
the
shelf
but
very
rarely
opened.
I
said
everybody
had
the
encyclopedia
right
and
even
to,
and
even
if
it
wasn't
in
the
encyclopedia,
it
wasn't
important
right.
B
A
A
A
B
No,
but
seriously
if
we
had
no
constraints,
all
ten
recreation,
recreation
centers
would
be
developed
and
built
out
tech
spaces
in
each
of
them
we
would
have
regular
regular
classes
and
community
engagement
even
to
the
point
of
we're,
not
the
only
you
know
at
some
point.
It
won't
be
so
much
me
teaching
or
me
helping
students
code
but
kind
of
like
a
conglomerate
of
people
in
digital
literacy
who
do
tv
who
do
anything
digital
using
that
space.
The
same
way,
we
use
a
library.
A
B
We
have
10
the
10
recreation
centers,
all
built
out
with
tech
spaces.
Hopefully
even
the
other
13
senior
spaces
would
have
some
type
of
digital
literacy
because
I
think
that's
going
to
be
lost.
If
we
don't
focus
on
that
as
well.
The
the
people
in
the
older
generation,
our
parents,
things
like
that
they
need
to
know
about
technology
as
well,
but
just
for
my
job,
what
I
do
the
10
recreation
centers
and
then
you
know
if
it
was
completely
just
I
could
do
whatever
I
want.
B
and
completely
involve
them
in
tech.
You
know,
there's
always
if
you
go
to
the
apple
store
or
you
know,
google,
they
they're
they're
consistently.
I
just
spoke
with
a
representative
for
duolingo
and
they
have
a
youth-based
math
program.
They
have
a
youth-based,
youth-based
literacy
program
or
or
app
actually,
and
so
much
stuff
is
coming
again.
Is
it's
like
the
biggest
headache
of
our
generation?
Is
the
too
much
information
right?
Do
you
go
with
apple's
product?
Do
you
go
with
google?
B
Do
you
go
with
facebook's
product
and
our
kids
don't
know
it's
like
a
million
different
math
literacy
programs?
How
do
we
know
what's
good,
but
I
could
just
flood
all
the
best
information
from
those
companies
into
our
recreation
centers
and
really
build
a
pipeline
to
where
a
kid
would
have
a
full
chance
from
the
age
of
three
or
four.
B
B
B
That
would
be
utopian
like
if
we
had.
You
know
I'll
even
take
hundreds
of
kids
going
to
university
for
computer
science
or
robotics
or
ai,
and
then
coming
back
and
creating
companies
and
really
be
able
to
say
hey.
We
went
through
city
parks
to
do
that.
We
went
through
parks
and
recreation
that
would
be
super
cool.
That
would
be
a
job
well
done.
I
think.
A
B
B
A
B
15
and
don't
know
you
know
just
to
create
that
whole
circle
and
then
utilize
the
university
here
we
have
some
of
the
best
universities
in
the
country,
but
I
feel,
like
all
of
the
pieces
are
there.
Of
course,
we
need
more
focus
and
capital
and
people
to
help
us,
but
wouldn't
that
be
a
great
way
for
a
government
instrument
to
be
utilized
right.
That's
how
I
look
at
it,
because
some
people
separate
government
from
education
and
we
can
absolutely
be
helpful
in
what
the
city
is
getting
done.
B
B
I
said
one
of
the
things
I
was
scared
about
for
applying
a
job
was
that
I
had
this
thought
in
my
head,
like
of
lobbyists
and
on
capitol
hill,
and
I'm
like
we're
going
to
all
have
these
like
suits
on
and
we're
going
to
be
talking
about
just
just
voting
and
I'm
like
how
does
that
correlate
with
tech?
And
it
hasn't
been
anything
like
that.
B
B
I
know
other
people
think
what
I
thought.
I
know
there
are
people
who
think
that,
when
you
say
city
government,
when
you
put
that
government
word
in
there,
they
have
an
idea
of
what
government
is
and
and
truly
what
I've
learned
being
at
the
city
of
pittsburgh
is
that
government
is
just
a
bunch
of
people
that
want
to
help
in
different
departments
and
they're
normal
regular
people,
like
everybody
else,
probably
closer
to
regular
people
than
lobbyists
than
you'll
ever
know.
B
B
No
seriously
seriously
and
and
and
don't
like
you
know,
engage
us
engage
us,
we,
you
know
we're
in
the
recreation
centers
in
the
senior
centers
we're
we
do
a
lot
of
community
work.
I
don't
know
if
people
follow
the
or
our
social
media,
but
much
of
what
we
do
is
really
in
the
community
and
engaging
the
community.
So
I
can't
speak
for
other
departments,
but
we
are
normal
people.
I
think
that
is
a
good
tag
linda
at.
A
B
B
I
think
a
lot
of
my
thought
process
is
still
from
that
space,
but
when
you
really
think
about
what
you
want
to
do-
and
this
is
even
for
young
people-
I
tell
them
when
it
all
comes
down
to
it's
like
you
only
hit
your
your
biggest
asset
is
time
and
if
you
truly
can
spend
your
time
doing
something
that
you
really
want
to
do.
I
think
that's
the
biggest
one
you're
going
to
get,
because
we
spend
eight
hours
sleep,
eight
hours
at
work
and
eight
hours
at
home
right,
that's
our
24
hours.
B
So
besides
sleep,
you
got
home
and
work
and
if
you
can
really
really
like
what
you
do
and
I
and
I
really
enjoy
what
I
do
I
like
coming
to
work,
I,
like
I'm,
excited
to
come
to
work.
I'm
excited
to
see
what
we
can
do
next,
I'm
excited
to
see
how
many
kids
we
can
reach
and
how
we
can
scale
and
how
we
can
grow.
A
A
B
B
A
A
B
You
know
it's
funny,
we
had
a
so
so
we're
collaborating
with
digital
harbor
out
of
out
of
baltimore
and
we
got
a
huge
grant.
We
got
a
grant
of
125k
a
year
to
implement
programming
and
we're
working
on
that
now
and
we
had
a
zoom
call
to
just
talk
about
what's
going
on
and
they
asked
what
superhero
would
you
be,
and
I
think
I
chose
professor
x
because
he
can
read
people's
thoughts.
B
B
B
Either
gi
joe
or
he-man,
that
was
my
afternoon
yeah,
either
gia
jordan.
I
just
like
the
oh
and
thundercats.
Is
that
thundercats
he-man
gia
joe?
It
would
be
those
three-
and
I
just
remember
every
morning-
and
this
is
when
we
had
the
cable,
the
black
box
cable
box.
This
isn't
like
now
I
was
streaming
yep,
but
I
just
remember
getting
up
every
morning
to
watch
those
three.
It
was
like
6
30,
7,
7,
30,
and
then
the
bus
is
coming
so
yeah,
thundercats,
chiajo,
he-man.
A
A
B
B
B
B
A
All
right,
so
the
the
various
programs
that
you're
running
at
the
at
the
centers,
if,
if
somebody's
watching
this
and
is
thinking
that
their
kid
would
be
perfect
for
this,
how
can
they
get
in
contact?
How
do
they
get
involved?
What
what
do
they
have
to
do
to
make
sure
their
kids
are
a
part
of
this?
I.