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Name: Maya Alper
Graduate School: Harvard Kennedy School
Undergraduate School: Barnard College
Agency: Boston, Department of Innovation and Technology
Supervisors: Julia Gutiérrez, Chief Digital Officer and James Duffy, Digital Content Manager and Strategist
Mentors: Aisha Miller, Vice President, Related Beal and Alejandro Jiminez Jaramillo, Director of Governance and Policy, Department of Innovation and Technology, Boston
Project Description: Maya worked with Boston Digital Service to amplify resident voices in the design of city services. During her fellowship she created a suite of user experience research tools to inform service design. Maya also designed an analytics dashboard to empower Boston.gov authors to make data-driven content decisions. These projects, taken together, help to further the Digital Service’s goal to make everyone’s interactions with and within City of Boston simple, frictionless, dignified, and accessible.

Name: Maria Aybar    
Graduate School: Brandeis University
Undergraduate School: Amherst College
Agency: City of Boston, Mayor’s Office of Workforce Development
Supervisors: Katy Gall, Deputy Director of Workforce Development and Lisa Bower, Senior Program Manager 
Mentors: Kenneth Turner, President and CEO, Massachusetts Life Sciences Center and Melissa Bustillo, Boston College School of Social Work and 2022 Rappaport Public Policy Fellow
Project Description: Maria was placed at the Boston Mayors Office of Workforce Development. She worked with the Tuition Free Community College (TFCC) Plan which recently expanded the cover the tuition costs of all students regardless of age, income, and immigration status. In her role, Maria identified ways in which TFCC funding and community college partners could be inclusive to immigrant students, in particular undocumented and English as Second Language (ELL) students. Maria worked closely with community college staff to understand the challenges they face as they work with undocumented students and also explore opportunities for increased support. This led to the creation of a report outlining challenges and proving recommendation for institutional incremental change. With the expansion of TFCC new challenges emerged on data collection and community outreach. Maria created a guide with best methods for data collection on students with diverse status in order to maintain their safety while avoiding their invisibility. She also developed a guide for strategies for community outreach as we try to better reach an older and immigrant population. She also proposed informed recommendations to TFCC as they plan to continue to expand. She worked closely with the English departments of each community college to obtain data on ELL students and subsequently inform and propose the expansion of TFCC to cover ELL single courses. Last, after a close examination of all short-term certificates covered by TFCC funding which require third party validation and state exams, and disqualify undocumented students, she proposed expanding the criteria to be more inclusive to this group. 

Name: Tamara Bah
Graduate School: Fletcher School of International Law and Diplomacy
Undergraduate School: The American University 
Agency: Massachusetts Executive Office of Economic Development
Supervisor: Rory C. O’Hanlon, Deputy Chief of Staff and Director of Policy
Mentors: Liz Graham, Chief Operating Officer, Indigo Agriculture and Deepa Krishna, Managing Director, DPK, LLC. and 2009 Rappaport Public Policy Fellow
Project Description: Tamara worked at the Massachusetts Executive Office of Economic Development on a comprehensive small business needs assessment report that offers informed insights and strategies to foster progress and prosperity for small and micro businesses in Massachusetts. Through in-depth interviews, interactive listening sessions, rigorous data analysis, and field visits, the report aims to enrich the Healey-Driscoll Administration's Economic Development Policy and Bill, nurturing a conducive environment for small businesses. The findings shed light on the economic development landscape of the esteemed Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Name: Sarah Ballinger
Graduate School: Harvard Kennedy School
Undergraduate School: Trinity College
Agency: City of Boston, People Operations Cabinet
Supervisor: Abigail Milewski, Director of Workforce Strategy and Planning
Mentors: Monica Tibbits-Nutt, Undersecretary, Massachusetts Department of Transportation and Katie King, Assistant Town Manager and Director of Operations, Needham, MA and former Rappaport Boston Urban Scholar
Project Description: Sarah Ballinger is an MPP candidate at the Harvard Kennedy School with a focus on urban policy and innovation in state and local government. Sarah’s Rappaport Fellowship supported the work of the City of Boston’s People Operations Cabinet, where she focused on workforce development and strategy. She worked on two projects during her fellowship: 1) she facilitated the design of an emergency housing support program for city employees, which aims to help address housing instability amongst the City’s low-income workers, and 2) she collaborated with the city’s police department to assess the hiring process for 911 emergency call takers and make strategic recommendations for how it can be made easier to navigate for applicants and more effective for the City. Being embedded with the People Operations team deepened Sarah’s understanding of the challenges and opportunities facing city leaders when it comes to supporting, empowering, and growing its workforce strategically to provide high-quality service delivery for residents.

Name: Gilberto Calderin
Graduate School: Fletcher School for International Law and Diplomacy
Undergraduate School: Brandeis University
Agency: MA Office for Refugees and Immigrants    
Supervisors: Leticia Ripalda, Senior Program Manager and Mary Truong, Undersecretary 
Mentors: Mitch Weiss, Professor of Management Practice, Harvard Business School and Ân Lê, Director of Policy and Research, Equity and Inclusion Cabinet, City of Boston
Project Description: Gilberto had the opportunity to be a fellow at the Massachusetts Office for Refugees and Immigrants (ORI). His primary responsibility involved formulating a funding proposal to expand English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) classes to serve the refugee and immigrant population better. With over 14,000 ESOL students on the waitlist, the demand for services far exceeds the current availability. ORI's proposal aims to bridge the gap between demand and availability, ensuring that immigrants across the Commonwealth can access the essential language instruction for successful integration and socio-economic empowerment.

Name: Mattie Harris
Graduate School: Boston College School of Social Work
Undergraduate School: Dillard University
Agency: Boston Public Health Commission
Supervisor: Krystal Garcia, Director of Policy, Executive Office of Policy and Planning, BPHC
Mentors: Melissa Threadgill, Director of Strategic Innovation, Massachusetts Office of the Child Advocate, 2013 Rappaport Public Policy Fellow and Buki Sihlongonyane, Boston University School of Public Health and 2022 Rappaport Policy Fellow
Project Description: Mattie worked on the Community Health Needs Assessment- Community Health Improvement Plan Collaborative (CHNA-CHIP) within the scope of the Executive Office of Policy and Planning at Boston Public Health Commission. Through her work, she was able to have a deeper understanding of community needs across the Boston and find ways the City of Boston can provide lasting support through policies and procedures. Leading and working across multiple projects this summer allowed her to gain experience in facilitation, data analysis, policy research, cultural context, and much more. Through experiential learning and one-on-one meetings with leaders within the public sector, the Rappaport Fellowship encouraged her to reimagine a career in public policy and explore unique intersections that support the empowerment of Black and Brown communities.

Name: Dyanna Jaye    
Graduate School: MIT
Undergraduate School: University of Virginia
Agency: Massachusetts Governor’s Office of Climate Innovation and Resilience    
Supervisor: Jonathan Schrag, Deputy Chief
Mentors: Joyce Linehan, Assistant to the President for Special Projects, Mass College of Art and Amanda Formica, Craft and Trades Specialist and Strategic Initiatives Manager, National Grid and 2018 Rappaport Public Policy Fellow
Project Description: Dyanna joined the Governor’s Office of Climate Innovation and Resilience. She worked with Deputy Climate Chief, Jonathan Schrag, on the EPA’s Climate Pollution Reduction Grant Program – a four-year program to develop updated statewide climate plans and develop a federal funding strategy for top priority climate actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while also maximizing benefits for environmental justice communities in the state. Dyanna will continue working with the Office of Climate Innovation and Resilience as the manager of this program.

Name: Matt Kamibayashi
Graduate School: Harvard Graduate School of Education
Undergraduate School: Patrick Henry College
Agency: Boston Public Health Commission
Supervisor: Renato Castelo, Senior Manager of Strategic Initiatives
Mentors: Diana Hwang, Founder and Executive Director, Asian American Women’s Political Initiative and Lauren Yoshizawa, Assistant Professor, Colby College and 2014 Rappaport Policy Fellow
Project Description: During his time as a Rappaport Public Policy Fellow, Matt worked with the Center for Behavioral Health and Wellness within the Boston Public Health Commission. Matt’s research focused on the behavioral/mental health needs of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) youth in Boston. By examining national research, scrutinizing local health data, and talking to academic and community experts in Boston, Matt created an evaluative tool for BPHC that will ensure future resources, partnerships, and events are inclusive of particular needs within AAPI communities. Matt applied his findings by helping to plan a Fall 2023 AAPI mental health forum convened by Tufts CTSI and the Museum of Science.

Name: Prajna Cauvery Kotera Pooviah
Graduate School: Tufts University
Undergraduate School: Amrita University
Agency: Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs
Supervisor: Hong-Hanh Chu, Program Manager, GWSA Implementation
Mentors: Karyn Polito, former Lieutenant Governor of MA and Rees Sweeney-Taylor, Net Zero Grid Program Manager, Massachusetts Clean Energy Center and 2021 Rappaport Public Policy Fellow
Project Description: Prajna Cauvery worked at the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) with the Climate Mitigation Team. Her primary project involved conducting a cost analysis of additional decarbonization measures to further reduce statewide greenhouse gas emissions and comparing such costs with estimated costs of carbon dioxide removal options to achieve Net-Zero in 2050.  She analyzed modeling assumptions and outputs that informed the Massachusetts Clean Energy and Climate Plan for 2050, and studied emerging approaches to assess marginal abatement costs, along with strategies to reduce projected residual emissions in 2050. For the second half, Prajna delved into both nature-based carbon sequestration and technological carbon dioxide removal options, crafting a comprehensive comparative table elucidating projected costs and relevant facets of each option. She also researched emerging sustainable aviation fuel pathways, analyzing their emissions and costs in the context of Massachusetts' Net-Zero mandate and federal aviation policies. She presented her findings and recommendations to the technical and policy staff and senior leadership at the EEA.

Name: Evans Kyei
Graduate School: UMass Boston
Undergraduate School: Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology
Agency: Boston Mayor’s Office of Recovery Services    
Supervisor: Catrina Cooley, Community Affairs Manager, Mayor’s Office for Recovery Services, Boston Public Health Commission
Mentors: Dan Rivera, Executive Director, MassDevelopment and Vincent Sweeney, Boston College School of Social Work and 2022 Rappaport Public Policy Fellow
Project Description: During his fellowship at ORS BPHC, Evans actively contributed to opioid overdose prevention efforts within Black communities in Boston. He engaged in community assessments, stakeholder interviews, and curriculum development for faith-based leaders in overdose prevention. A key highlight was the data-driven recommendation he proposed to optimize the utilization of outreach vans, tailoring their presence based on specific times and locations. This approach aims to enhance the impact of outreach services and improve overdose prevention strategies. Through practical experiences, he honed skills in program development, community engagement, and collaboration with diverse stakeholders.

Name: Shane Lancer
Graduate School: Harvard Kennedy School
Undergraduate School: University of North Florida
Agency: Massachusetts Executive Office of Administration and Finance
Supervisors: Danielle Cerny, Deputy Chief of Staff and 2009 Rappaport Policy Fellow and Aditya Basheer, Assistant Secretary
Mentors: Ellen Semonoff, Assistant City Manager of Human Services, Cambridge and Ben Forman, Research Director, MassINC and 2003 Rappaport Public Policy Fellow
Project Description: Shane spent his fellowship summer at the Massachusetts - Executive Office for Administration & Finance (A&F) where he worked on the performance management team. During his fellowship he was lucky enough to assist on three distinct workstreams 1) helping in the coordination and facilitation of an incident command center focused on addressing family homelessness under the states right-to-shelter law, 2) managing consultants in the development of a data-dashboard to track the roll-out of the state’s new work-and-family-mobility act at the RMV, and 3) drafting, distributing and collecting surveys from A&F Commissioners & Executive Directors to solicit their input into the ongoing strategic planning process underway at the Executive Office of A&F.

Name: Jenny Lau
Graduate School: Tufts University
Undergraduate School: Tufts University
Agency: Boston Mayor’s Office  of Economic Opportunity and Inclusion
Supervisor: Elijah Miller, Director of Policy
Mentors: Segun Idowu, Chief of Economic Opportunity and Inclusion, City of Boston and Jessica Tang, Harvard Graduate School of Design and 2021 Rappaport Policy Fellow and Jessica Vonashek, Chief of Community and Economic Development, City of Norwalk, CT and 2011 Rappaport Policy Fellow
Project Description: Jenny worked on a number of projects to advance the City of Boston’s Office of Economic Opportunity and Inclusion, including the expansion of worker cooperative development by conducting outreach to workers, small business owners, and local community groups to understand how the City of Boston can better support the creation and sustainability of worker cooperatives as a small business model. The project identified local needs and challenges for worker cooperatives, particularly those for immigrant communities whose first language is not English like Chinatown, and recommendations on how city government can support the growth of worker cooperatives. Separately, Jenny conducted land use research to analyze property ownership in Mattapan Square to develop strategies on engaging local property in local economic development in priority main street squares in Boston. Jenny also advised on policy issues related to economic opportunity and inclusion like guaranteed basic income and environmental justice collaborations between city government and local neighborhood initiatives.

Name: Emily Moss
Graduate School: MIT
Undergraduate School: Wellesley College
Agency: Boston Mayor’s Office of Economic Opportunity and Inclusion
Supervisor: Andrew Grace, Director of Economic and Strategic Planning
Mentors: Devin Quirk, Director of Real Estate, Boston Planning and Development Agency, 2009 Rappaport Public Policy Fellow, and Max Wynn, Deputy Director, Homeless Housing Strategic Initiatives, NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development and 2018 Rappaport Policy Fellow
Project Description: Emily  worked in the City of Boston Office of Economic Opportunity and Inclusion launching a forgivable loan program to support small business owners in acquiring commercial property as a strategy to improve wealth equity. Ther Commercial Acquisition Assistance Program (CAAP) was first announced in Fall 2022 but has lacked a formalized application process and implementation strategy. Emily supported the Office in conducting background research on similar initiatives in other cities, drafting loan guidelines and application processes, and facilitating strategic partnerships with financial institutions, philanthropic entities, legal counsel, and small business networks and technical assistance providers. She also authored a $700k grant application to the Barr Foundation requesting funding for internal staffing capacity to provide long-term oversight for the program.

Name: Alexandria Onuoha
Graduate School: Suffolk University
Undergraduate School: Bates College
Agency: Massachusetts Office of the Child Advocate
Supervisors: Melissa Threadgill, Director of Strategic Innovation, Massachusetts Office of the Child Advocate, 2013 Rappaport Public Policy Fellow and Kristine Polizzano, Juvenile Justice Program Manager
Mentors: Edward Davis, President, Edward Davis Company and Takia Myers, Social Worker and 2020 Rappaport Public Policy Fellow
Project Description: Alexandria was tasked with creating a research brief on foundational child and developmental theories that can be integrated into the various projects staff are embarking on. For example, the office is working on improving diversion programs for youth get diverted during the pretrial process. Alexandria proposed a more intentional focus on positive youth development to build on strengths youth already have to help them succeed rather than using deficit-based model. The research brief uses a developmental lens to assess frameworks that can be used to address issues related to family resource centers. This is one example, and the research brief has several examples of opportunities where foundation research in adolescence can be used to craft policy recommendations. The research brief included a social justice lens that is necessary for creating policy recommendations that would ultimately impact the development of youth at the margins (i.e., LGBTQIA+ youth, youth of color).  The second project Alexandria was tasked with contributing to the office’s overall project on Crossover Youth. Using data from Juvenile Justice Policy and Data Board (JJPAD) 2022 annual report, information learned in interviews with key stakeholders, and a national landscape review Alexandria created a policy brief that outlined the issues related to specific cohorts of youth involved in both the child welfare and juvenile justice systems. In particular, she focused on specific cohort populations that are often overlooked such as LGBTQIA+ youth, Black girls, Black nonbinary youth, gender non-confirming Black youth. Alexandria proposed a model informed by developmental theories and social justice lenses that could help address youth crossing over. She also proposed other recommendations that the office can consider based on interviews with child-serving personnel like service providers across the Commonwealth.

Name: Joshua Ozer
Graduate School: Simmons School of Social Work
Undergraduate School: Rice University
Agency: Massachusetts Executive Office of Elder Affairs    
Supervisor: Lynn Vidler, Director of Home and Community Based Programs, Massachusetts Executive Office of Elder Affairs
Mentors: Myojung Chung, Assistant Professor of Journalism and Media Advocacy, Northeastern University and Kara Jeter, Care Coordinator, Phillips Eye Institute and 2018 Rappaport Public Policy Fellow
Project Description: Josh worked at the Executive Office of Elder Affairs (EOEA) primarily on the implementation of the Community Transitions Liaison Program (CTLP), a new and expanded program to support nursing facility residents who want to transition to community-based housing. Josh assembled a best practices guide for the program, working in collaboration with EOEA staff members, which will be used to train and educate program staff to work with nursing home residents on barriers to discharge. Josh also conducted research on care programs in other states to understand potential best practices for program design, and contributed to several trainings and informational meetings for the state’s Aging Services Access Points (ASAPs) responsible for implementing this new program.

Name: Jiedine Phanbuh
Graduate School: UMass Boston    
Undergraduate School: St. Anthony's College, Shillong, India
Agency: Massachusetts Water Resources Commission    
Supervisor: Vandana Rao, Director of Water Policy
Mentors: Joe Curtatone, President, Northeast Clean Energy Council and former Rappaport Urban Scholar and Rishya Narayanan, Climate Change Communications Strategist, Conservation Law Foundation and 2019 Rappaport Public Policy Fellow
Project Description: Jiedine worked at the Massachusetts Water Resources Commission which is responsible for developing, coordinating, and overseeing the Commonwealth’s water policy and planning activities. Her task was to determine which, if any, Massachusetts policy/laws/regulations require Public Water Suppliers and Municipalities to integrate their water and land use planning. Integration of water and land use planning is increasingly recognized as a water use efficiency, conservation and sustainability strategy.  In 2022, The Alliance for Water Efficiency (AWE) (link) ranked the 50 US States based on their adoption and implementation of state-level laws and policies that advance water efficiency, conservation, sustainability, and affordability. Massachusetts ranked 13th out of 50 which is admirable, scoring 38 of a possible 89 points, but could have scored higher if we had scored any of 6 possible points for Land and Water Use Planning Integration Policies. After confirming MA has no direct supporting language in their codes, she searched the codes of Vermont, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland and Washington State for the language in their codes which allowed them to score points for mandating integration. Each state took different approaches to integration, through different legislative paths and jurisdictional agencies, with different language. She selected what she thought were “gold standards” of unambiguous language. To explore whether or not MA has a natural integration because our water suppliers and land use planners are mostly different departments in the same municipalities, she conducted interviews of planners in six towns/cities in the Greater Boston Area. She discovered integration was an ideal not often possible in practice due to disconnects between state planners and municipalities, federal, state and municipal jurisdictional conflicts, and lack of legislative mandates and funding for integration. Her final report will include proposed legislative language and points in the code where it could be inserted, and proposed future work to determine which state’s legislation is most effective at integration, and how that could be measured.

Name: Taylor Robinson
Graduate School: Harvard School of Public Health
Undergraduate School: University of Pittsburgh
Agency:  Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development
Supervisor: George King, Data Systems and Performance Analyst
Mentors: Celina Barrios-Millner, Vice President, Office of Race and Equity Research, Urban Institute and Aja Kennedy, Tufts University and 2022 Rappaport Public Policy Fellow
Project Description: During her time at the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities (EOHLC), Taylor worked on two main projects across the Division of Rental Assistance and Public Housing. Taylor created the first Tableau dashboard of public housing and rental assistance data; this required working with almost 30,000 records of tenant data for the entire state of Massachusetts for those enrolled in Public Housing, the Massachusetts Rental Voucher Program (MRVP), and the Massachusetts Alternative Housing Voucher Program (AHVP). In this dashboard she assessed trends in demographic information, income levels and types, and cost of rent. She concluded this project with a memo listing recommendations on how to examine racial and ethnic inequalities in housing. The second project was to explore, quantify, and address missing fair market rent (FMR) data in the State Oversight Housing Assistance (SOHA) Data Warehouse. Taylor analyzed 50,000 records of data, created excel pivot tables of trends in missingness, wrote an executive summary, and presented this report to a collaborator in SOHA. The summary provided key information on missing FMR data over time and by Local Housing Authority and provided specific examples and instructions on how to correct missingness. Lastly, Taylor also briefly worked with the Supporting Neighborhood Opportunity in Massachusetts (SNO Mass), an EOHLC mobility program, and provided public health-oriented insights on opportunities to engage client populations in survey collection. These projects will help the department to better understand the client population, determine the cost impact of changing rental policies, and assess trends in how property owners set a rent amount.

Name: Cara Safon
Graduate School: Boston University School of Public Health    
Undergraduate School: University of California, Berkeley
Agency: Massachusetts Department of Public Health    
Supervisor: Ann Peralta, Director, Division of Pregnancy, Infancy, and Early Childhood, Bureau of Family Health & Nutrition, Massachusetts Department of Public Health
Mentors: Steve Walsh, President and CEO, Massachusetts Health and Hospital Association, former Rappaport Boston Urban Scholar and Hill Wolfe, Postdoctoral Fellow, Yale School of Medicine and 2022 Rappaport Policy Fellow
Project Description: As part of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health’s Doula Initiative, Cara advised and presented on approaches taken by other states as they pursued pathways toward certification of perinatal doulas. Cara also provided technical assistance to and co-facilitated the Doula Initiative’s Doula Partner Advisory Group meetings, for which she developed presentations on policy options and implementation practices to inform the work. In so doing, she helped build capacity within maternal and child health on doula care policies. She undertook this effort in my role within the Bureau of Family and Nutrition, in the Division of Pregnancy, Infancy, and Early Childhood.

Name: Emma Swarney
Graduate School: MIT
Undergraduate School: University of Waterloo, Toronto, Canada
Agency: MA Department of Transportation 
Supervisor: Hayes Morrison, Assistant Secretary, Policy and Strategy
Mentors: Steve Poftak, Taubman Center Visiting Fellow and former General Manager of the MBTA and Andrew McFarland, Project Manager, Transit Priority, MBTA and 2019 Rappaport Policy Fellow
Project Description: During her time with MassDOT, Emma worked on identifying decarbonization strategies for Massachusetts centered around vehicle miles traveled (VMT) reduction policies. Her research was focused on identifying measures that had shown promise in academic research and were feasible to implement through MassDOT. She eventually selected parking cash-out, a policy in which employers offering their employees free or subsidized parking must offer employees who do not take the parking benefit the cash equivalent, as the most feasible VMT reduction strategy for Massachusetts. She spoke to over a dozen individuals from Washington DC to California, and with organizations including the Environmental Protection Agency to transportation management associations to identify best practices based on existing policies to design an effective program for Massachusetts. During her research, she discovered that State Senator John Kennan’s office was proposing a pre-tax transit benefit policy she had recommended to MassDOT as a first-step policy in implementing parking cash-out. She is now collaborating with Senator Kennan’s office and MassDOT to design a bill to mandate a cash-out law in Massachusetts.

Name: Rachel Weintraub
Graduate School: Harvard Kennedy School/Sloan School of Management
Agency: Massachusetts Executive Office for Administration and Finance
Supervisor: Quentin Palfrey, Director of Federal Funds and Infrastructure
Mentors: Jay Gonzalez, President, Curry College and Jillian Standish, Senior Vice President, Chief Equity Underwriter, Merchants Capital and 2008 Rappaport Public Policy Fellow
Project Description: As a Rappaport Public Policy Fellow, Rachel worked for the Governor’s Director of Federal Funds and Infrastructure, who leads a recently formed office housed within the Executive Office for Administration and Finance and is tasked with driving the administration’s competitive efforts around federal funding. This summer Rachel focused on developing processes and management systems to support federal funding efforts in the state. Specifically, she helped to establish a process for prioritizing, tracking, and supporting federal grant applications. In addition, Rachel researched and recommended a process to streamline state matching funds requests.

Name: Samantha Berlus
Graduate School: Brandeis University
Undergraduate School: Suffolk University
Agency: Massachusetts Office for Transitional Assistance
Supervisor: Eric Hansson, Research Manager
Mentors: Linda Dorcena Forry, Vice President for Northeast Region on Diversity, Inclusion, and Community Relations, Suffolk Construction and former Rappaport/Boston Urban Scholar and Alison Collins, Health Systems Advisory at USAID and Former Rappaport Public Policy Fellow
Project Description: Samantha had the opportunity to work at the Department of Transitional Assistance, where she participated in the creation of the Policy Academy, an educational course intended for potential hires at DTA. Because DTA hiring staff noticed a knowledge gap in regard to their hires and welfare programs like SNAP and TANF, the idea to fill in those gaps came about. In addition, the course would hopefully make hiring within DTA more competitive, hiring those who not only have the background knowledge in TANF and SNAP, but those who also understand the historical and cultural context of these programs. The goal would also be to hire those who can make meaningful connections to the work that is done at DTA, along with wanting to make a difference within the communities and individuals that DTA impacts. The 10-week course would ultimately give participants within the Policy Academy the skill sets needed to apply to their daily career work, whether within DTA or not. Samantha helped build and create the course, which has never been done within DTA's offices for new hires. Some of the work that she did included creating a curriculum outline, collaborating with DTA staff on the project, and helping create next steps for the project in the future. But what was most important to Samantha in doing this work was making sure that it was done with an anti-racism framework in mind, making sure that the course considered the historical, particularly the racial context of welfare in both the country and the Greater Boston area. 

Name: Michael Bueno    
Graduate School: Harvard Kennedy School
Undergraduate School: Texas A&M University
Agency: City of Boston, Mayor’s Office of Housing
Supervisor: Joe Backer, Housing Development Officer
Mentors: Amy Dain, Dain Research Consulting and Former Rappaport Public Policy Fellow
Project Description: Michael worked for the Boston Mayor’s Office of Housing conducting research to help inform the development of a pilot program to fund deep energy retrofits for affordable housing properties in the City. Mayor Michelle Wu and the Boston City Council committed in American Rescue Plan Act funds to stand up this initiative with the goals of improving energy efficiency, energy affordability, and climate resilience in deed-restricted housing, naturally occurring affordable housing, and public housing. Michael conducted interviews with housing property developers and experts in the field to understand where the City’s dollars can be additive to existing state and federal incentive programs for energy efficiency upgrades, bridging financing gaps that would otherwise limit implementation of these measures. He also provided recommendations for the agency’s (AOP) to align requirements with criteria for Mass Save’s , ensuring future properties that go through AOP will be eligible for free energy efficiency assistance and upgrades.

Name: Melissa Bustillo
Graduate School: Boston College School of Social Work
Undergraduate School: Harvard University, Extension School 
Agency: Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Mentors: Lissy Medvedow, Executive Director, Rappaport Center for Law and Public Policy at Boston College Law School and Emy Takinami, Racial Justice Policy and Community Engagement Manager at FXB Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University and Former Rappaport Public Policy Fellow
Project Description: At the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), Melissa supported the development of the Playful Learning Institute by assisting in centering racial and linguistic equity in the design and expectations of the new initiative. In addition, Melissa reviewed Social-Emotional Learning and Mental Health Wellbeing continuation grants to identify themes and understand advancement and prevention strategies schools and districts are implementing to support students, staff, and families. Lastly, Melissa organized the information to comprehensively present how schools and districts interact with the identified themes and trends and the types of partnerships they are initiating to make their grant plans possible.

Name: Claudia Diezmartinez
Graduate School: Boston University Department of Environment
Undergraduate School: Tecnológico de Monterrey
Agency: City of Boston, Department of the Environment
Supervisor: Hannah Payne, Carbon Neutrality Program Manager    
Mentors: Vivien Li, Rappaport Institute Advisory Board Member and Kara Runsten, Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness Manager, Massachusetts Executive Office for Energy and the Environment
Project Description: Claudia worked for the Carbon Neutrality team at the City of Boston's Environment Department, supporting the development of regulations and environmental justice metrics for Boston's Building Emissions Reduction and Disclosure Ordinance (BERDO 2.0). Claudia helped prepare a community engagement plan to ensure that Boston residents, environmental justice leaders, and other relevant stakeholders could participate in the creation and revision of regulations for BERDO 2.0. Claudia also conducted research and interviews across city departments to identify what type of data and indicators are available to monitor the impacts of BERDO 2.0 on environmental justice populations, including effects on air quality, energy costs burdens, displacement, and green workforce development.

Name: McKenzie Humann    
Graduate School: MIT
Undergraduate School: Tufts University
Agency: Boston Transportation Department    
Supervisor: Vineet Gupta, Director of Planning
Mentors: Stephanie Groll, Parking and Transportation Demand Manager, City of Cambridge
Project Description: This summer McKenzie worked with Boston’s Transportation Department (BTD) on two projects. In the first project she updated the City’s evaluation and analysis framework used to assess dedicated bus lanes. Using different data sources, she compiled metrics to evaluate the changes in throughput, traffic impact, and transit reliability over time for BTD to use to assess current and future bus corridors. In the second project, McKenzie evaluated the City’s resident parking permit (RPP) program based on data analysis of resident permit issuance, research on similar programs in other cities, and interviews with current program administrators in the City of Boston. Based on her evaluation, she recommended changes to the RPP program in order to achieve the City’s broader transportation and climate change mitigation goals.

Name: Alejandro Jimenez Jaramillo    
Graduate School: MIT
Undergraduate School: Harvard College
Agency: City of Boston Department of Innovation and Technology
Supervisor: Jeff Lambart, Director of Analytics
Mentors: Nigel Jacob, Visiting Fellow, Taubman Center for State and Local Government 
Project Description: As a Rappaport Public Policy Fellow embedded within Boston’s Department of Innovation & Technology, Aleja was tasked with investigating how Boston could improve its data governance practice. At a high level, data governance is the set of behaviors that City workers utilize to manage information, ranging from how they label data assets internally to community engagement efforts shaping the underlying value frameworks that guide how city data is used. Aleja's goal this summer was to help DoIT identify the end-state of its data governance system and prioritize interventions to get them there efficiently. To do this, Aleja analyzed the approaches that peer cities had taken to prototype or formally establish institutional systems supporting data governance. Aleja used these  findings to update Boston’s Open Data Policy, draft a data governance charter and committee structure, and define pilot projects that Boston City government could run to test implementation.

Name: Musa Kamara    
Graduate School: Boston College School of Social Work
Undergraduate School: UMass Boston
Agency: Massachusetts Department of Mental Health    
Supervisor: Daniela Harrigan, Director Community Engagement
Mentors: Emike Agudile, Senior Epidemiologist, Massachusetts Department of Public Health and Former Rappaport Public Policy Fellow
Project Description: Musa will work with the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health on accessing services for immigrants children with special needs. 

Name: Aja Kennedy    
Graduate School: Tufts University
Undergraduate School: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Agency: Massachusetts Housing Partnership
Supervisor: Tom Hopper, Director of Research and Analytics
Mentors: Jessica Vonashek, Chief of Economic and Community Development, Norwalk, CT
Project Description: Aja Kennedy used Massachusetts Housing Partnership’s new “Residensity” dataset to quantatively analyze the relationship between residential density and economic outcomes in Eastern Massachusetts. This project represented the first project making use of the new dataset, and supported MHP Research and Policy Team’s efforts to provide technical support for Massachusetts state and municipal governments as they prepare to implement the . Aja's final project can be viewed .

Name: Madeleine Levin    
Graduate School: Harvard Graduate School of Design
Undergraduate School: Columbia University
Agency: City of Medford Department of Energy and Environment
Supervisor: Alicia Hunt, Director of Energy and Environment
Mentors: Ben Forman, Director of Research, MassInc and Former Rappaport Public Policy Fellow
Project Description: Madeleine worked with the City of Medford’s Office of Planning, Development, and Sustainability on Municipal Solid Waste (also known as trash). The City of Medford’s current waste hauling contract will expire in June 2023 and in planning for the next contract, the City appointed a nine-member citizen Taskforce to understand the needs of Medford residents. Through research comparing and interviewing nearby municipalities, exploration of a wide range of waste diversion strategies across the country and world, and discussions with the Solid Waste Taskforce, Madeleine created a final report assessing the Existing Conditions of Medford’s waste and recommending next steps for making it more sustainable and equitable. She also assisted implementation of near-term small-scale diversion and education strategies for waste streams in Medford including textiles, mattresses, and a compost subsidy program.

Name: Oscar Mairena
Graduate School: Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Undergraduate School: University of California Berkeley
Agency: Boston Mayor’s Office of Recovery Services    
Supervisor: Jennifer Tracey, Executive Director of Recovery Services
Mentors: Ramon Soto, Director of Government Advocacy, Boston Medical Center    
Project Description: As a Rappaport Fellow in the Mayor’s Office of Recovery Services and the Boston Public Health Commission, Oscar focused on identifying opportunities and challenges to expanding harm reduction services for people who use and inject drugs in Boston. Oscar worked on landscape and policy analyses to identify gaps in services, challenges to expanding services at harm reduction organizations, community and public health needs, and policy opportunities to improve conditions for people who use drugs. He also led several discussions with key harm reduction, clinical, policy and non-profit stakeholders in Boston. His work culminated in a report and presentation synthesizing his findings and providing recommendations for the City of Boston to expand harm reduction services in line with the 2019 Massachusetts Harm Reduction Commission recommendations.

Name: Kimberly Rhoten
Graduate School: Boston University
Undergraduate School: University of California, Berkeley
Agency: Boston Mayor’s Office for New Urban Mechanics
Supervisor: Sabrina Dorsainvil, Director of Civic Design    
Mentors: Ed Davis, Ed Davis Consulting 
Project Description: This summer, thanks to the exceptional generosity of the Rappaport family, Kimberly worked in the Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics on reimagining post-incarceration reentry services for the City of Boston. Operating for several years on a small budget and with few staff, the Mayor’s Office of Returning Citizens (“ORC”) regularly sees and supports 1 in 10 of all Bostonians returning from jail or prison. Recently, thanks to the key leadership of Mayor Michele Wu and Boston’s City Council, the ORC will receive a 700% increase in their operational budget for FY2023. Kimberly's project this summer was and to engage key stakeholders at the City, County, and State levels to improve reentry services in Boston. They also explored and developed collaborative formal partnerships across City and State offices to reduce administrative burdens on Boston’s returning citizens.  

Name: Maryam Salihu
Graduate School: UMass Boston
Undergraduate School: University of Wisconsin Superior
Agency: Boston Mayor’s Office for Women’s Advancement
Supervisor: Alexandra Valdez, Executive Director
Mentors: Brian Doherty, General Agent, Secretary Treasurer, Building and Construction Trades Council of the Metropolitan District and Setarreh Massihzadegan, UMass Boston and Former Rappaport Public Policy Fellow
Project Description: Maryam worked with the Mayor’s Office for Women’s advancement. She worked on a project that examined what other progressive cities were doing to advance women’s social and economic rights. This project also involved reviewing existing programs by the City of Boston Office of Women’s advancement and highlighting opportunities for improvement. Maryam’s final report underscored the following key areas: childcare and elder care, intimate partner violence, doula services, and universal basic income. She also highlighted the importance of information derived from communities, since communities often possess tacit knowledge that may aid policy making.  Finally, she provided evidence-based policy recommendations on how to continue to make the city of Boston more equitable for women.

Name: Aanandita Shrestha
Graduate School: Boston College School of Social Work
Undergraduate School: Marist College
Agency: Boston Mayor’s Office for Immigrant Advancement
Supervisor: Renato Castelo, Immigrant Integration Initiatives Manager
Mentors: Carol Leon, Rappaport/Boston Urban Scholar and Sasha Albert, Senior Researcher, Health Policy Commission and Former Rappaport Public Policy Fellow
Project Description: At the Mayor’s Office for Immigrant Advancement in the City, Aanandita focused on multiple components that addressed mental health wellbeing and civic engagement for immigrant communities in the Greater Boston area. Her first component involved working on the agency’s first mental health mini-grants initiative with the leadership team. Understanding that accessing traditional mental health services can be challenging for immigrant communities because of barriers from language and culture, the mini-grants supported seven immigrant-serving grassroots organizations that currently provide or incorporate non-clinical mental health interventions in their programming. Aanandita co-led the development of the program and the disbursement of grants to organizations that engaged in peer-led and community-based wellness interventions such as expressive arts, traditional medicine, spirituality, or body-centered activities. Through this work, she hopes that non-clinical practices promote well-being and reduce the potential escalation and severity of mental health conditions of immigrant communities and inform the City of Boston’s long-term support for mental health initiatives. The second component of her work was co-evaluating the agency’s Immigrants Lead Boston (ILB) program, a civic engagement course for 20 selected immigrant residents who wish to take more civic ownership in their community. Her evaluation highlighted the successful outcomes of the 2021-22 cohort and any factors that ILB may wish would continue to address for its participants. Her final component was creating the City Hall Tours Initiative Handbook that aims to increase the immigrant community’s spatial familiarity to City Hall and create a sense of community pride and ownership.

Name: Bailey Siber    
Graduate School: Harvard Kennedy School
Undergraduate School: Tufts University
Agency: Boston Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics
Supervisor: Amy Mahler, Applied Policy Fellow
Mentors: Kelsey Edmond, UMass Boston and Former Rappaport Public Policy Fellow
Project Description: During her fellowship with the Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics, Bailey explored opportunities to build cohesion between learning and movement in the City of Boston by connecting public library (BPL) and public transit (MBTA) offerings. She leveraged community-based participatory research methods to engage directly with library patrons and public transit riders, particularly transit dependent ones, about what they wanted to see result from BPL and MBTA collaboration. Respondents overwhelmingly indicated that BPL offerings would bring joy to public transit, and would even prompt them to opt to take public transit more often. Distinct findings for subsets of respondents by spoken language, neighborhood, public transit mode, and other factors were also identified and heavily informed suggested next steps. Recommendations for near term efforts to create a stronger public library and transit ecosystem included displaying real time public transit information at BPL branches, installing “pop up libraries” at bus shelters and on buses, and expanding language access across BPL and MBTA services.

Name: Bukiwe Sihlongonyane
Graduate School: Boston University School of Public Health
Undergraduate School: Dartmouth College    
Agency: Boston Public Health Commission    
Supervisor: PJ McCann, Deputy Chief of Staff and Former Rappaport Public Policy Fellow
Mentors: Renee Landers, Professor of Law, Suffolk University Law School
Project Description: This summer Buki worked with PJ McCann, Deputy Director of Policy and Planning at the Boston Public Health Commission, on evaluating city-wide policy interventions during the COVID-19 pandemic. She focused on key challenges around both internal and external stakeholder communication, with an eye towards both procedural and structural solutions. Buki used the valuable lessons she learned to inform the recommendations she presented, which we hope will inform future frameworks for shaping policy responses to not only the next pandemic, but to other public health emergencies as well.

Name: Julia Sproul    
Graduate School: Harvard Graduate School of Education    
Undergraduate School: University of Massachusetts Amherst
Agency: Massachusetts Board of Higher Education    
Supervisor: Keith Connors, Program Director for Academic Affairs and Student Success
Mentors: Valerie Eisenson, Harvard Kennedy School and Former Rappaport Public Policy Fellow
Project Description: Julia worked for the Department of Higher Education  (DHE) creating a Basic Needs Security (BNS) Action Resource Guide. This guide helps colleges and universities create or enrich existing BNS practices and resources to aid college students facing food insecurity, housing insecurity, lack of transportation, lack of childcare, etc. The DHE’s focus on Basic Needs Security showcases the Commonwealth's commitment to ensuring that students are not only able to get to college but to stay enrolled in college and eventually graduate. By addressing many of the BNS barriers that make it difficult for students to stay enrolled in college and providing resources to help with these hurdles, persistence and graduation rates will likely rise throughout the state. Addressing BNS is critical to ensuring that historically marginalized communities and non-traditional students are receiving an equitable education. The BNS Action Resource Guide will help shift the mindset from creating “college-ready students” to creating “student-ready colleges.” Learn more about Basic Needs Security .

Name: Vincent Sweeney
Graduate School: Boston College School of Social Work
Undergraduate School: College of the Holy Cross
Agency: Boston Mayor’s Office of Housing
Supervisor: Jim Greene, Assistant Director for Street Homelessness Initiatives
Mentors: Adrianna Spindle-Jackson, Boston University School of Social Work and Former Rappaport Public Policy Fellow
Project Description: Vincent’s summer was spent at the Boston Mayor’s Office of Housing comparing stabilization models of agencies providing services to the formerly unsheltered homeless living on the streets of Boston. Information was gathered through a series of in-depth interviews with leadership at partner agencies and a weekly working group to determine best practices and recommendations to scale up services. Focus groups with newly housed, formerly unsheltered homeless individuals were conducted for input to improve the housing process. 

Name: Valentina Tovar
Graduate School: Harvard Graduate School of Education    
Undergraduate School: Texas A&M University
Agency: Boston Mayor’s Policy Office    
Supervisor: Tali Robbins, Deputy Chief of Policy
Mentors: Samantha Batel Kane, Harvard Graduate School of Education and Former Rappaport Public Policy Fellow and Christine Dahnke, Senior Director of Research, Accountability, and Grants, Orange County Public Schools and Former Rappaport Public Policy Fellow
Project Description: Valentina worked in the Boston of Mayor’s Policy Office in the Green New Deal for Boston Public Schools. Many of BPS school buildings lack the basic infrastructure, technology, and resources for a world-class education. To deliver on a quality guarantee, build healthy and nurturing physical environments, and align with our broader civic goals of equity, opportunity, and engagement the Green New Deal has been created. Valentina researched and developed key recommendations for creating a Master Facility Plan that encompasses renovations, mergers, new buildings and ultimately touches every school in BPS.  As the Facility Conditions Assessment and Design Study will share our future decision-making it has been valuable to gather research from peers in the field, analyze patterns and conclude on best practices moving forward.  Throughout the process of prioritization of facility renovation, she was able to create a rubric of prioritization for the district and provide a framework of community engagement in the rolling out and implementation of the plan. Additionally, she helped in the foundational context for the creation of a Children’s Cabinet. By creating a Children’s & Youth Cabinet (CYC), which coordinates city-based programs and services that increase equity, opportunities and reduce disparities for the children and youth of Boston. Valentina attended a conference with leaders of this work and researched peer cities to provide recommendations of best methods of practice and ultimately present a proposal on the framework for the cabinet, leadership and membership.

Name: Armando Vizcardo-Benites
Graduate School: Brandeis University
Undergraduate School: University of Massachusetts Boston
Agency: Massachusetts Treasury
Supervisor: Samantha Perry, Deputy Director of Economic Empowerment
Mentors: Mitchell B. Weiss, Richard L. Menschel Professor of Management Practice at the Harvard Business School
Project Description: This summer Armando interned at the Office of Economic Empowerment (OEE) at the State Treasurers office where he assisted on 2 initiatives. The first was to kickstart a grant and educational training program that would provide $4,500 to 14 individuals in Lynn/Springfield to start a home daycare program. In addition to providing grantees with on-going assistance, participants will get training on how to start their own childcare program and business-oriented classes. The second initiative Armando supported and will be continuing to assist throughout the fall is the development of a baby bonds proposal for the state of Massachusetts. This summer we convened a task force consisting of various stakeholders to recommend pieces of the baby bonds legislation we’re hoping to file by the end of the fall. He is leading two out of the four subcommittees – from coordinating the meetings and providing technical support to conducting a literature review on past program designs and a landscape analysis of other enacted/proposed baby bond programs across the US – there was and there is a lot to be done.

Name: Hill Landon Wolfe
Graduate School: Boston University School of Public Health
Agency: Boston Office of Veteran’s Services
Supervisor: Commissioner Robert Santiago
Mentors: Dan Futrell, Chief Executive Officer, Pat Tillman Foundation and Former Rappaport Public Policy Fellow
Project Description: Hill Wolfe worked with the Mayor's Office of Veteran Services developing a strategic outreach plan and engagement resource guide for building and sustaining relationships with veterans, especially from underrepresented groups in the greater Boston area. Hill’s project includes a relationship building model to assist individuals in becoming linked to critical services and experience a sense of belonging with the local veteran community.

2022 Rappaport Public Finance Fellows

Name: Charuvi Begwani    
Graduate School: Harvard Graduate School of Design
Undergraduate School: School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi
Agency: MBTA
Supervisor: Christina Marin, Deputy Director of Treasury Services and P3 Finance
Project Description: Charuvi completed the Rappaport Finance Policy fellowship with MBTA this summer where she continued work on the Greater Boston Applied Field lab project from Professor Bilmes’ class on looking at alternative uses and transit-oriented development (TOD) for the underutilized Lynn Commuter Rail Parking Garage. She conducted a high-level needs assessment of what the MBTA required from the Lynn Garage site and what kind of development proposal they would expect from a private developer. Working closely with the Finance, Real Estate and Parking teams, she provided a better understanding and detailed documentation of needs, limitations, key questions and decision points in terms of land uses, parking, bus and rail infrastructure, amenities, utilities, post-deconstruction state, etc. as well as future considerations and a potential timeline. Her final deliverable was a framework for a detailed and structured Invitation to Bid document to guide MBTA in drafting and releasing an improved ITB to be able to source better responses from private developers for a potential TOD project and lead to better project outcomes and partnerships. This framework may also be used by the MBTA for several other TOD projects lined up for the future.

Name: Jordan Biggers
Graduate School: Harvard Kennedy School
Undergraduate School: Spring Hill College
Agency: Boston Digital Equity Team
Supervisor: Peter Favorito, Broadband and Digital Equity Advocate
Mentors: Kelsey Edmond, UMass Boston and Former Rappaport Public Policy Fellow
Project Description: Jordan worked for the City of Boston’s Department of Innovation & Technology, partnering with intradepartmental stakeholders to establish the City’s digital equity & resilience strategic framework and project management plan for building the pillars of digital equity & resilience. This project supported the City’s longstanding efforts to close the digital divide for low-income and vulnerable communities as exacerbated by the Pandemic. Throughout the summer, Jordan implemented various components of the plan such as, weekly progress reviews and process interventions, a rebranding and marketing strategy for the digital equity fund and affordable connectivity program (ACP), digital equity fund impact reporting form, and ACP Digital Navigator Data Security Protocols.    

Name: Zeina Majdalani
Graduate School: Harvard Kennedy School
Agency: Boston Department of Energy and Environment
Supervisor: Kathryn Carlson, Executive Director, Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston and Hannah Payne, Carbon Neutrality Program Manager
Mentors: Kathryn Carlson, Executive Director, Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston
Project Description: Zeina continued a project that came out of coursework with the City of Boston’s Environmental Department and created an energy efficiency survey for inspectors to use to capture energy conservation opportunities and cost savings from retrofits in Boston’s building stock.

Name: Rozalyn Mock
Graduate School: Harvard Kennedy School
Undergraduate School: Oregon State University
Agency: City of Lynn
Supervisor: Professor Linda Bilmes, Harvard Kennedy School
Mentors: Amy Dain, Dain Research and Former Rappaport Public Policy Fellow
Project Description: Finance Policy Fellow, Rozalyn Mock researched housing issues related to inclusionary zoning in Lynn and Revere and authored a white paper on how these communities can better implement these policies. The paper is a tool for practitioners and communities to use when thinking about exploring inclusionary zoning as an approach to increasing the number of affordable housing units. Cities with characteristics like those of Lynn and Revere can see how these two communities laid the foundation for implementing an inclusionary zoning policy and how to determine the feasibility and impact of inclusionary zoning on local development.

Name: Isabela Reis
Graduate School: Harvard Kennedy School
Agency: Insper Instituto de Ensino e Pesquisa
Supervisor: Dimple Rana, Director of Community Health and Dr. Nathalee Kong, Chief of Public Health and Human Services
Project Description: This summer, Isabela worked with the City of Revere, conducting research on the non-profit space in the city. She identified, interviewed and surveyed multiple non-profit leaders that serve Revere to pinpoint their strengths, challenges, threats, and opportunities; with the overarching goal of understanding ways in which the City Government can better support these organizations and foster a thriving non-profit space in the city. The research also includes some actionable ideas for the City Government that could leverage non-profits in the city. Throughout the research, these interviews introduced her to a community that deeply cares about the city and is committed to improving the lives of Revere residents.

Name: Megan Willis-Jackson
Graduate School: Harvard Graduate School of Design
Undergraduate School: UMass Amherst
Agency: City of Lynn
Supervisor: Professor Linda Bilmes
Project Description: Megan Willis-Jackson, along with Rozalyn Mock, researched housing issues related to inclusionary zoning in Lynn and Revere and authored a white paper on how these communities can better implement these policies. The paper is a tool for practitioners and communities to use when thinking about exploring inclusionary zoning as an approach to increasing the number of affordable housing units. Cities with characteristics like those of Lynn and Revere can see how these two communities laid the foundation for implementing an inclusionary zoning policy and how to determine the feasibility and impact of inclusionary zoning on local development.

William Atkinson
Graduate School: MIT
Undergraduate School: Princeton University
Interest Area: Environmental Policy
Mentors: Vivien Li, Rappaport Institute Advisory Board and Rees Sweeney-Taylor, Harvard Kennedy School and former Rappaport Public Policy Summer Fellow
Placement: Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and the Environment
Supervisor: Benjamin Miller, Global Warming Data Analyst
Project Description: Will focused on transportation equity within the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs. He built an analytical framework to assess questions of “who benefits” from clean transportation policies – evaluating key metrics chosen on the basis of stakeholder feedback. By integrating local vehicle data with nearly 100 demographic variables at the neighborhood scale, the framework can be used to evaluate the equity of key transportation policies and highlight where and how complementary policies can address inequitable impacts. Side projects included reviews of “co-benefit” metrics (like pollution and congestion relief), social cost of carbon measures, and expert interviews around green building finance.

Olivia Britton
Graduate School: Boston University
Undergraduate School: Union College
Interest Area: Civic Engagement and Immigration Policy
Mentors: Jim Segel, Chair, Rappaport Institute Advisory Board Member and Mariangely Solis Cervera, Constituency Director Michelle Wu for Boston and former Rappaport Public Policy Fellow
Placement: Mayor's Office for Immigrant Advancement
Supervisor: Carol León, Programs Manager
Project Description: During her time as a Rapport Fellow for the City of Boston Mayor’s Office for Immigrant Advancement (MOIA), Olivia Britton focused on developing civic engagement tools for Immigrants Lead Boston (ILB), a course for emerging immigrant leaders who wish to become advocates for their communities. One of her key projects was developing a two-fold civic capstone project. First, participants will engage in session exercises to navigate the City website to find resources. Second, participants will complete three homework assignments that offer them the opportunity to practice communicating with city officials, advocating for community needs, and engaging with the community at large.  Olivia also designed Photographs as Documentation, a project for ILB participants to create and reflect on a visual project that communicates their civic engagement experiences. This project allows MOIA to better understand the patterns and differences in people's lived experiences of civic life and interactions with City of Boston officials and services. Through photographs and testimonies shared within this project, MOIA can gain insight into how City of Boston officials and entities can create and strengthen their relationships with the diverse immigrant communities in Boston.

Lauren Craik
Graduate School: MIT
Undergraduate School: Queen's College
Interest Area: Transportation Policy
Mentors: Monica Tibbits-Nutt, Executive Director, 128 Business Council and Rappaport Institute Advisory Board Member and Kathleen Mayell, Transportation Planning Manager, City of Minneapolis and former Rappaport Public Policy Fellow
Placement: Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority
Supervisors: Reggie Ramos, Director of Pilots and Innovation and Andrew Stuntz, Senior Manager of Fare Policy Analysis
Project Description: Lauren worked with the MBTA Policy team on outlining a fare policy strategy to accompany the Rail Transformation, designing a pilot proposal for off-peak fares on commuter rail and building a model to examine the ridership, revenue and Title VI impacts of different future fare scenarios. Lauren also worked on pilot policy, creating a series of principles, checklists and processes to streamline how pilots get proposed and evaluated.

Miguel Dávila Uzcátegui
Graduate School: MIT
Undergraduate School: University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Interest Area: Housing Policy
Mentors: Phil Puccia, Senior Vice President for Education and Not-for-Profit Banking, JP Morgan and Rappaport Institute Advisory Board and Max Wynn, Program Manager for NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development and former Rappaport Public Policy Fellow
Placement: Department of Neighborhood Development, Boston
Supervisor: Jessica Boatright, Deputy Director, Neighborhood Housing Development Division
Project Description: Miguel joined Boston's Department of Neighborhood Development. There, he designed a tool aimed at tracking the hard costs of affordable housing construction during the COVID-19 pandemic. He also helped provide a comprehensive policy update to the Acquisition Opportunity Program's Request for Proposals notice. Miguel's work has facilitated monitoring COVID-19 impacts on the City's affordable housing development portfolio as well as applying practical policy solutions to protect more Boston residents from displacement and gentrification.

Valerie Eisenson
Graduate School: Harvard Kennedy School
Undergraduate School: Yale University
Interest Area: Education Policy
Mentors: Carol Burns, Taylor Burns Architects and Rappaport Institute Advisory Board Member and Christine Dahnke, Senior Director, Research, Accountability, and Grants, Orange County Public Schools and former Rappaport Policy Fellow
Placement: Chelsea Public Schools
Supervisor: Dr. Aaron Jennings, Equity, Diversity & Excellence Officer
Project Description:  This summer, Valerie conducted a qualitative research project with the Chelsea Public Schools to deepen the district’s understanding of the student perspective on engagement, inclusion and belonging, and remote learning. Incorporating student voice is a necessary and challenging component of successful educational institutions. Throughout the summer, she interviewed and surveyed over fifty students and twenty-five educators at the two high schools within the city. This qualitative data was then used to identify key themes, trends and potential next steps that the district and high schools can take to improve student outcomes.

Parsa Erfani
Graduate School: Harvard Medical School
Undergraduate School: Columbia University
Interest Area: Public Health Finance Policy
Mentors: Renee Landers, Professor of Law, Suffolk University  Law School and Rappaport Advisory Board Member and Ravi Parikh, Staff Physician and Medical Oncologist, Philadelphia VA Medical Center and former Rappaport Public Policy Fellow
Placement: MassHealth
Supervisor: Clara Filice, Associate Medical Director for Payment and Care Delivery Innovation
Project Description:  Parsa Erfani is a 5th year medical student at Harvard Medical School. During his time at MassHealth, he evaluated the efficacy of the Hospital Equity Initiative in reducing health disparities across Massachusetts hospitals. His work was used to guide the design of future health equity pay for performance programs at MassHealth. Additionally, he worked on policies to expand Medicaid coverage for individuals who are incarcerated in Massachusetts. He will be pursuing an internal medicine residency after graduation.

Marcela Familiar-Bolaños
Graduate School: Boston College School of Social Work
Undergraduate School: Skidmore College
Interest Area: Social Services Policy
Mentors: Helene Solomon, Solomon McCown and Rappaport Institute Advisory Board Member and Alexis Yohros, Northeastern University and former Rappaport Public Policy Fellow
Placement: Massachusetts Office of the Child Advocate
Supervisor: Melissa Threadgill, Director of Juvenile Justice Initiatives and former Rappaport Public Policy Fellow
Project Description: Marcela worked with the Office of the Child Advocate studying the children requiring assistance (CRA) system in Massachusetts.  Marcela developed a memo analyzing and comparing the CRA structure with those adopted by other states. She also documented the various kinds of services that can be provided to youth in the CRA system and developed a proposal for how the OCA could work with partner agencies to further study service referrals and availability based on her framework.

Shaunesse' Jacobs
Graduate School: Boston University School of Theology
Undergraduate School: Emory University
Interest Areas: Health Finance Policy
Mentors: Renee Landers, Suffolk University Law School and Rappaport Institute Advisory Board Member and Yareliz Diaz, Boston University School of Public Health and former Rappaport Public Policy Fellow
Placement: Massachusetts Executive Office for Elder Affairs
Supervisors: Dr. Elizabeth Chen, Secretary for Elder Affairs and Patricia Yu, Senior Director of Healthcare Workforce Policy
Project Description: As a Rappaport Public Policy fellow, Shaunesse’ engaged in research informing Massachusetts’s long-term care workforce. She specifically analyzed multiple states’ curriculum and certification frameworks for certified nursing assistants, home health aides, and other long-term care workers. This analysis was combined with previous research conducted by Massachusetts staff on the concerns and crises facing Massachusetts’ workforce allowing her to propose a new framework that increases worker retention, pay, skills acquisition, and opportunities to move forward along a career pathway. Engaging in regular meetings with staff from offices, including the Executive Office of Elder Affairs, Health and Human Services, and the Healthcare Collaborative, she was taught the history and development of the state’s workforce, the many partners involved in moving the state forward in long-term care, and the gaps that challenge the expansion of the workforce. This knowledge allowed her to constructively analyze the work of other states across the nation and provide an informed career pathway model for certified nursing assistants and home health aides in Massachusetts.

Katherine Marcincuk
Graduate School: Boston College School of Social Work
Undergraduate School: Boston University
Interest Area: Social Services Policy
Mentors: Lissy Medvedow, Executive Director, Rappaport Center for Law and Public Policy, Boston College Law School and Rappaport Institute Advisory Board Member and Tara Pavao, DC Health Homes Director, Mary’s Center and former Rappaport Public Policy Fellow
Placement: Mayor's Office for Women's Advancement, Boston
Supervisor: Alexandra Valdez, Executive Director
Project Description:  Katherine worked at the Mayor's Office for Women’s Advancement in Boston, creating content regarding the barriers pet owners face when exiting abusive relationships.   She interviewed various stakeholders including the statewide domestic violence hotline, providers of DV services, veterinary staff, and survivors themselves, to create a training geared toward teaching veterinary staff how to recognize and react when they see signs of interpersonal violence in families.

Setarreh Massihzadegan
Graduate School: University of Massachusetts Boston
Undergraduate School: Assumption College
Interest Area: Elder Care Policy
Mentors: Ben Forman, Policy Director, MassINC, Rappaport Institute Advisory Board Member and former Rappaport Policy Fellow and Julie Miller, Research Scientist, MIT AgeLab and former Rappaport Policy Fellow
Placement: Department of Neighborhood Development, Boston
Supervisor: Jessica Boatright, Deputy Director, Neighborhood Housing Development Division
Project Description:  Setarreh worked with the Neighborhood Housing Development Division within the City of Boston's Department of Neighborhood Development. Setarreh analyzed costs to operate supportive housing for older adults and created a descriptive analysis of findings with benchmarks to inform future DND underwriting policies. Setarreh provided input into the City’s annual Request for Proposals for housing development, and she authored guidance for DND development officers working through proposals with supportive housing developers. In her second project, Setarreh investigated creative approaches to finance affordable housing development and preservation with municipal funding sources. Following research and interviews with housing leaders in cities nationally, Setarreh assembled findings and recommendations for DND.

Ayanna Miller-Smith
Graduate School: Northeastern University
Undergraduate School: John Jay College of Criminal Justice
Interest Area: Criminal Justice Policy
Mentors: Helene Solomon, Solomon McCown and Rappaport Advisory Board Member and Kimberly Blair, Manager of Public Policy and Advocacy, National Alliance on Mental Illness of NYC and former Rappaport Public Policy Fellow
Placement: Massachusetts Office of the Child Advocate and Massachusetts Department of Youth Services
Supervisor: Melissa Threadgill, Director of Juvenile Justice Initiatives and former Rappaport Public Policy Fellow
Project Description:  This summer, Ayanna was jointly placed at the Office of the Child Advocate and the Department of Youth Services. She engaged in an exploratory project examining racial and ethnic disparities in youth arrests in Massachusetts. Her project had multiple components, the first being a literature review of racial and ethnic disparities in youth arrests to better understand the issue at hand. Utilizing findings from the literature review to guide her research questions, Ayanna then conducted analyses of Massachusetts youth overnight arrest data, identifying patterns and decision points that could be contributing to racial and ethnic disparities. She presented her findings to the research team at the Department of Youth Services. The third component of her summer project involved researching and brainstorming potential policy interventions that can target these disparities. In addition to reviewing online reports, research briefs, and evaluations of initiatives implemented in other jurisdictions, Ayanna also spoke to various criminal justice stakeholders, researchers, and experts about their thoughts and suggestions around the issue of racial and ethnic disparities in youth arrests.

Tauren Nelson
Graduate School: Brandeis University
Undergraduate School: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Interest Area: Equity Policy
Mentors: Jessica Vonashek, Chief, Economic and Community Development, Town of Norwalk, CT, Rappaport Institute Advisory Board Member and former Rappaport Public Policy Fellow and Deja Moore, Comprehensive Human Sexuality Education Program Coordinator, Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and former Rappaport Public Policy Fellow
Placement: Massachusetts Department of Public Health
Supervisor: Sabrina Selk, Director of Health Equity
Project Description: This summer, Tauren worked with the Department of Public Health and its COVID Community Impact Survey (CCIS) Team on projects concerning health equity and variations of structural violence. She assisted in the development of Focus Group guides for population specific data uplifting the needs and concerns of marginalized populations on the impacts of COVID-19 and systemic inequity. Tauren also created resources on structural determinants of health for both internal and external use, department wide access, and population dissemination. The resources created ranged and detailed mass incarceration, housing inequity, wealth inequity, food apartheid, education inequity, environmental racism and other systems of violence that cause and perpetuate health inequities. For each resource guide on systemic violence, Tauren provided action-oriented policy recommendations for both immediate and sustainable solutions pertaining to structural determinants of health.

Nancy Sandoval
Graduate School: Boston College School of Social Work
Undergraduate School: University of San Diego
Interest Area: Food Security and Immigration Policy
Mentors: Jeffrey  Sánchez, Senior Advisor, Rasky Partners, Inc., Rappaport Institute Advisory Board Member and former Rappaport/Boston Urban Fellow and Takia Myers, former Rappaport Public Policy Fellow
Placement: Chelsea Department of Housing and Community Development
Supervisor: Alexander Train, Director
Project Description:  Nancy spent the summer interning at the Department of Housing and Community Development for the City of Chelsea working on childcare and early childhood initiatives. Nancy developed and conducted a survey to understand the needs of mothers with young children and the barriers they face in accessing affordable childcare and re-entering the workforce. She also facilitated focus groups with mothers and interviewed childcare providers and early childhood educators to better understand the childcare landscape. Her final project resulted in the creation of a report, assessing the needs and current state of childcare and early education in Chelsea. She provided recommendations on how to move towards the City’s ultimate goal of universal access to childcare.

Mekka Smith
Graduate School: Harvard Graduate School of Education
Undergraduate School: Amherst College
Interest Area: Education Policy
Mentors: Stephen Chan, The Boston Foundation and Rappaport Institute Advisory Board Member and Kelsey Edmond, UMass Boston and former Rappaport Public Policy Fellow
Placement: Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Supervisor: Jackie Gantzer, Director of Remote Learning
Project Description: Mekka worked with the Remote Learning team at the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, which was created in the spring of 2020 to provide technical assistance to districts in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. During the summer of 2021, Mekka supported this team’s strategic planning process to transition to a sustainable Educational Technology (EdTech) team. She provided comparison research data, facilitated planning protocols with education and technology consultants, and synthesized information from internal and external stakeholders. Her deliverables included a SY22 work plan for the DESE EdTech Team, featuring a new mission and vision supported by defined goals and metrics.

Adrianna Spindle-Jackson
Graduate School: Boston University School of Social Work
Undergraduate School: California State University – Monterey Bay
Interest Area: Housing Policy
Mentors: Ramón Soto, Director of Government Advocacy, Boston Medical Center,  Rappaport Institute Advisory Board Member and former Rappaport/Boston Urban Scholar and Leila Quinn, Senior Consultant, Zelus Consulting and former Rappaport Public Policy Fellow
Placement: Office of Representative Natalie Higgins, former Rappaport Center for Law and Public Policy Fellow
Supervisor: Representative Natalie Higgins
Project Description: Adrianna worked in the office of State Representative Natalie Higgins this summer where she supported homelessness and housing legislative. This included compiling a digital housing resource packet for constituent services that will streamline how the office supports getting constituents housed. She also led efforts related to homelessness legislation filed this session, which included compiling multiple briefs, memos and graphics and meeting with stakeholders and community agencies to support pushing the legislation forward.

Madeline Stump
Graduate School: Boston University School of Public Health
Undergraduate School: University of Massachusetts Amherst
Interest Area: LGBTQ+ Policy
Mentors: Jeffrey Sánchez, Rasky Partners, Inc., Rappaport Institute Advisory Board Member and former Rappaport/Boston Urban Scholar and Ashley Barnes-Cocke, ACI Project Director, A Way Home Washington and former Rappaport Public Policy Fellow
Placement: Massachusetts Commission on LGBTQ+ Policy
Supervisors: Sasha Goodfriend, Commission Chair; Chastity Bowick, Executive Director, Transgender Emergency Fund
Project Description: Madeline’s fellowship this summer was with the Transgender Emergency Fund of Massachusetts (TEF), through the Harvard Kennedy School’s Rappaport Institute, and in collaboration with the Massachusetts Commission on LGBTQ Youth. In total, Madeline produced three reports for TEF this summer relating to the organization's upcoming transitional housing project. Madeline’s first report, based on a Community Needs Assessment TEF conducted, is being used to define many aspects of this housing project. Then she condensed existing research on homelessness among trans communities into a second report, to be used in discussions with key stakeholders to bolster arguments about the necessity of developing this housing project. And finally her third report, based on a series of interviews she conducted with representatives of other organizations running their own housing projects for trans people, translates these interviews into achievable recommendations for TEF regarding the operation of their future transitional housing project.

Jessica Tang
Graduate School: Harvard Graduate School of Design and Harvard Kennedy School
Undergraduate School: Hamilton College
Interest Area: Economic Development and Planning Policy
Mentors: Amy Dain, Dain Consulting, Rappaport Institute Advisory Board Member and former Rappaport Public Policy Fellow and Colleen Dawicki, Deputy Director, Working Cities Challenge, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and former Rappaport Public Policy Fellow
Placement: MassDevelopment
Supervisors: Laura Christopher, Real Estate Innovation Officer and Noah Koretz, Director, Transformative Development
Project Description: This summer at MassDevelopment, Jessica conducted preliminary research to help the organization identify additional geographical areas it could reach. A major focus of this research was using data to prepare for the scaling of the Transformative Development Initiative (TDI) to non-Gateway municipalities and rural entities. Another focus was beginning analysis on One Stop application data to understand how municipalities' programs of interest align with MassDevelopment's services and financial tools. Ultimately, this research will help inform targeted strategies to revitalize and sustain economies across Massachusetts.

Judy Touzin
Graduate School: Harvard Graduate School of Education
Undergraduate School: New York University Steinhardt School of Education
Interest Area: Equity Policy
Mentors: Brian Doherty, General Agent/Secretary Treasurer of the Building and Construction Trades Council of the Metropolitan District and Rappaport Advisory Board Member and Chrystal Lopez Haynes, former Rappaport Public Policy Fellow
Placement: Massachusetts Office of the Child Advocate
Supervisor: Melissa Threadgill, Director of Juvenile Justice Initiatives and former Rappaport Public Policy Fellow
Project Description: Judy Touzin worked with the Office of the Child Advocate (OCA)’s Juvenile Justice Policy and Data (JJPAD) Board  to study the Child Requiring Assistance (CRA) system.  Specifically, she explored the relationship between schools, courts, and local Family Resource Centers (FRCs) to identify ways they might collaborate to help reduce the filing of truancy based CRA petitions. She concluded her fellowship by presenting to the Community Based Intervention (CBI) subcommittee and drafting a final report summarizing preliminary findings and recommendations on ways the system can be improved.

David Velasquez
Graduate School: Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard Business School and Harvard Medical School
Undergraduate School: University of Southern California
Interest Area: Public Health Finance Policy
Mentors: Bill Walczak, President and CEO, South End Community Health Center and Andreas Mitchell, Internal Medicine Resident at University of California Medical Center
Placement: Massachusetts Department of Public Health
Supervisor: Ben Wood, Director of Division of Community Health and Prevention
Project Description:  David worked with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health to identify approaches and methods to address persistent health and racial inequities, how hospitals are considering and addressing upstream factors of social determinants of health, and how hospitals consider structural racism as a contributor to health inequities. Using a series of interviews and background research on hospitals across Massachusetts, he ultimately developed a comprehensive report for internal and external stakeholder use.

Mengni Amy Yao
Graduate School: Boston University School of Social Work
Undergraduate School: Lehigh University
Mentors: Tech Leng, Director, Planning and Community Development, City of Revere, Rappaport Institute Advisory Board Member and former Rappaport Public Policy Fellow and Tariana Little, CEO and Cofounder, EmVision Productions and former Rappaport Public Policy Fellow
Placement: Mayor's Office of Food Access, Boston
Supervisor: Catalina Prada Valderrama, Outreach and Communications Director
Project Description: Amy Yao worked with the Mayor’s Office of Food Access to promote food security in the Boston area and beyond. Specifically, Amy addressed underutilization of food-assistance programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). She conducted stakeholder interviews to understand the extent of and barriers to program utilization, and analyzed the impact of recent policy changes to SNAP and COVID-relief policies on program participation. In addition, Amy led outreach efforts and offered recommendations to help destigmatize nutritional assistance programs and simplify the application process for residents.

Aditya Achanta
Graduate School: Harvard Medical School
Undergraduate School: University of Michigan
Interest Area: Public health equity issues
Mentors: Jim Segel, Chair, Rappaport Institute Advisory Board and Audrey Morse Gasteier, Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector and former Rappaport Public Policy Summer Fellow
Placement: COVID-19 Command Center
Supervisor: Ryan Schwarz, Director of Policy for Accountable Care, Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services
Project Description:Aditya assisted with the COVID-19 response. Since late-March he interned at Commonwealth of Massachusetts COVID-19 Command Center's procurement and testing teams. He created and maintained a tracker for medical equipment, diagnostic equipment, and personal protective equipment offers, evaluated offers for medical equipment by regulatory requirements, technical specifications, and demand estimates, and gave recommendations for purchasing decisions. He also answered scientific and supply chain related questions for the testing team about various topics such as saliva based testing strategy, sensitivity of PCR testing during different periods of the disease course, and 3-D printed swab viability. For his final project, he wrote a white paper about government led coordination of 3-D printing capabilities to respond to medical equipment and device shortages.

Xiomara Alvarez
Graduate School: MIT
Undergraduate School: University of California Berkeley
Interest Area: Environmental Issues
Mentors: Carol Burns, Principal, Taylor Burns Architects and Rappaport Institute Advisory Board Member and Amanda Formica, National Grid and former Rappaport Public Policy Fellow
Placement: Boston Department of the Environment
Supervisors: Peyton Jones, Climate Resilience Program Coordinator and Zoe Davis, Climate Resilience Project Coordinator
Project Description: This summer, Xio worked with the Climate Ready Boston team on questions of equity and engagement when it comes to resilience in the city. Officially, she was brought on to develop equitable engagement guidelines and digital engagement strategies as separate deliverables; but as the summer wore on she had more and more trouble separating the two. The natural hazards of climate change, much like COVID-19, disproportionately impact Black and Brown communities in the city. The barriers to power for these communities are not unique to the world of zoom open houses. What was more useful was to consider the ways that engagement can change and adapt now to reach residents who are still not accounted for in the zoom world, and to build a definition of engagement that prioritizes not just equity but justice. As a deliverable, she wrote a memo which designed a sort of modular, plug-in-what-is-appropriate set of strategies for engagement that center community empowerment in the resilience efforts of the city. These options used the circumstances of the pandemic to highlight where existing engagement strategies were already weak, and suggested ways that the city could support residents now that would translate into even more robust engagement and relationships in a post-COVID world. They were also written into the RFPs and grants she had the opportunity to be a part of writing over the course of the summer, which was exciting!

Gray Babbs
Graduate School: Boston University School of Public Health
Undergraduate School: Carleton College
Interest Area: LGBTQ+ Policy
Mentors: Jeffrey Sanchez, Rasky Partners, Inc. and former Rappaport/Boston Urban Scholar and Sasha Albert, Brandeis University and a former Rappaport Public Policy Fellow
Placement: Massachusetts Department of Youth Services
Supervisor: Lisa Belmarsh, Director of Policy and Training
Project Description: Gray’s project supported the Department of Youth Services to facilitate positive change in LGBTQ+ youth in DYS custody and care. Nationally, LGBTQ+ youth involved in the juvenile justice system face unique challenges. Gray conducted 18 interviews with DYS youth, staff, and administrators and analyzed five years of DYS data. They made recommendations on how DYS can improve data collection and analysis around sex, sexuality, and gender. They also created a new measure to capture a sense of how well DYS-involved youth are doing. Currently, youth success is understood through recidivism rate, and DYS hopes to paint a picture of youth success and well-being that is based on a less punitive model. The new measure will serve as a tool for DYS to compare experience across demographic groups and identify disparities to focus on closing moving forward.

Nick Brenner
Graduate School: Harvard Kennedy School/MIT Sloan School of Management
Undergraduate School: University of North Carolina
Interest Area: Workforce Development
Mentors: Stephen Chan, The Boston Foundation and Rappaport Institute Advisory Board and Reilly Kiernan, The Bridgespan Group and former Rappaport Public Policy Fellow
Placement: Mayor's Office of New Urban Mechanics, Boston
Supervisor: Jaclyn Youngblood, Chief of Staff
Project Description: This summer, Nick worked in the Boston Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics, helping pilot a new technology to map and analyze the city’s curb regulations (think loading zones, parking restrictions, etc.). Understanding these regulations is extremely valuable for planners and other city employees to improve public transportation access, improve safety, make public space more welcoming, and create streets that meet the city’s goals around sustainability, equity, and safety. To test the platform, he walked ~50 miles of Boston’s curbs while taking pictures of street signs, hydrants, and other features that govern how a curb is used. He then evaluated how well the technology translated his data into a geospatial format, identified where this data would be valuable for the city, and recommended how Boston should move forward with implementing a curb data solution after the conclusion of his fellowship.

Somala Diby
Graduate School: MIT
Undergraduate School: Columbia University
Interest Area: Housing
Mentors: Mary Jo Meisner, MJM Advisory Services and Rappaport Institute Advisory Board Member and Marcus Mello, Boston Planning and Development Agency
Placement: Department of Neighborhood Development, Boston
Supervisor: Marcy Ostberg, Director of Operations
Project Description: As a fellow with the City of Boston’s Department of Neighborhood Development (DND), Somala spent the summer helping the agency reflect on its COVID-19 response efforts and prepare for future crises. She pursued this work through two key projects. The first was an internal report documenting DND’s crisis response activities between the City’s initial shut down in March 2020 through the present day. Compiling feedback from semi-structured staff interviews, discussions with DND leadership, planning documents, and performance data, the report shed light on key lessons and challenges from this unprecedented crisis. The report culminated in a work plan for the agency to prepare its systems, programs, and staff for future surges in COVID-19 cases. Through her second project, Somala designed a process for DND to measure equity within the city’s COVID-19 housing recovery programs. This involved designing an equity assessment of existing programs, developing equity-focused logic models for each program, and generating data collection plans to keep the agency accountable to its equity goals. She concluded this project by offering a series of recommendations for how DND can maintain and scale this work across the agency.

Ehab Ebeid
Graduate School: MIT
Undergraduate School: Cornell University
Interest Area: Transportation Issues
Mentors: Monica Tibbits-Nutt, 128 Business Council and Rappaport Advisory Board Member and Andrew McFarland, MBTA and former Rappaport Public Policy Summer Fellow
Placement: Office of City Councilor At Large Michelle Wu, City of Boston
Supervisor: Boston City Councilor Michelle Wu and former Rappaport Center Law and Public Policy Fellow
Project Description: Ehab served as the transit policy fellow in the Office of Michelle Wu, Boston City Councilor At-Large. In this capacity, Ehab prepared a report on the benefits and costs of fare-free bus transit in the post-COVID context, departing from the precedence that the MBTA set by mandating rear-door boarding and not charging fares on buses during the COVID-19 pandemic. The report details the reasons for adopting fare-free bus service and reassesses its potential costs and other effects, including equity benefits, lost revenue, changes in passenger behavior, and interactions with other modes such as the subway and The Ride. Ehab additionally assisted with the office’s efforts to develop the transit dimension of a just and equitable COVID recovery and wrote city council resolutions on transportation topics.

Kelsey Edmond
Graduate School: University of Massachusetts Boston
Undergraduate School: University of Delaware
Interest Area: Governance and Digital Equity Issues
Mentors: Amy Dain, Dain Research, Rappaport Institute Advisory Board Member and former Rappaport Public Policy Fellow and Grace Ogilby, Altman Villandre and Company and former Rappaport Public Policy Fellow
Placement: Department of Innovation and Technology, Boston
Supervisor: Anne Schweiger, Broadband and Digital Equity Advocate; Reilly Zlab, Director of Product Manager; and Jeanethe Falvey, Chief Digital Officer
Project Description: Kelsey Edmond was a fellow with the City of Boston’s Department of Innovation and Technology, where she conducted research on Boston’s growing digital divide amid the coronavirus pandemic. In mid-March, the world was forced to suddenly flip everything to a remote model overnight, which exacerbated the disparity between those who have access to information and communication technologies, and those that do not. Kelsey interviewed 11 organizations or city departments that have an education or workforce development focused mission to better understand their needs throughout their transition, the experience of their adult learners or constituents, and how the city can best assist with mitigating the digital divide moving forward. She centered anti-racism in her work by primarily interviewing organizations whose target demographics are immigrants, people of color, low-income, unemployed or underemployed individuals or historically under-served and marginalized communities.

Alexis Farmer
Graduate School: Harvard Kennedy School
Undergraduate School: University of Michigan
Interest Areas: Economic Development
Mentors: Dan Kennedy, Northeastern University School of Journalism and Rappaport Institute Advisory Board and Alex Ciomek, Harvard University and former Rappaport Public Policy Fellow
Placement: Office of Returning Citizens, Boston
Supervisor: Kevin Sibley, Executive Director
Project Description: This summer, Alexis worked with the City of Boston’s Office of Returning Citizens. The COVID-19 pandemic prompted the rapid release of inmates, and the process revealed serious gaps that are critical for a successful reentry, including, non-shelter housing options, continuity of health care services, and obtaining identity documents to name a few. In Boston, the limited options of finding a safe and stable place to land on the first night out places a hardship on returning citizens during one of the most vulnerable and critical times of their reintegration – immediately upon release. To help solve this problem for not only the pandemic, but also in the long-term Alexis wrote a report detailing how the City of Boston can implement a temporary transitional housing program for returning citizens. She also wrote an advocacy piece encouraging the Department of Corrections and Secretary of the Commonwealth to ensure parolees left a correctional facility with a MassID in hand. Lastly, she inputted data about gender and zip codes for the office to understand the demographics of people the office served and where people most often lived post-incarceration.

Kateline Fonseca
Graduate School: Simmons School of Social Work
Undergraduate School: Federal University of Ceara, Brazil
Interest Area: Immigration Policy
Mentors: Ramon Soto, uAspire and Rappaport Institute Advisory Board, Mariangely Solis Cervera, Transforming Education and former Rappaport Public Policy Fellow and Crystal Lopez Haynes, Boston College School of Social Work and former Rappaport Public Policy Fellow
Placement: Office of Rep. Natalie Higgins, Massachusetts House of Representatives
Supervisor: Rep. Natalie Higgins, former Rappaport Center Law and Public Policy Fellow
Project Description: As a Rappaport fellow, Kateline collaborated with various agencies and organizations to support homeless individuals during the COVID-19 outbreak. Through extensive interviews with multiple agencies and constituents, gaps in services and challenges emerged for unaccompanied homeless adults. Kateline found that issues such as poverty, high cost of living, low-wage jobs, lack of affordable housing, mental illness, physical illness, substance use disorders, discrimination against homeless individuals, and lack of adequate shelters all create barriers to care for providers and constituents. Although agencies and providers implement distinct strategies in their system of care, homeless individuals do not receive all the services that they need because they have to seek help from multiple providers. Potential solutions suggested by agencies representatives and constituents relate to the reallocation of resources. The consensus from providers and homeless individuals is for robust investment into more social workers, caseworkers, and stabilization workers. Additionally, funding should be allocated to building more housing units rather than shelters. Investing in tiny houses and more domestic violence prevention programs is also viewed as a long-term solution to this crisis. Participants view shelter as an entity that contributes to the homelessness issue because of the short-term strategies and lack of comprehensive care. Constituents and providers agreed that permanent housing with supportive services would address the basic needs of single homeless adults and alleviate burdens for everyone. There is also a need for more funding to sustain programs such as the Residential Assistance for Families in Transition (RAFT) and Homebase.

Florence Glynn
Graduate School: Boston University School of Social Work and School of Theology
Undergraduate School: College of William and Mary
Interest Area: Governance
Mentors: Brian Doherty, Building and Trades Council of the Metropolitan District and Rappaport Institute Advisory Board Member and Jessica Hamilton, Boston University School of Theology and former Rappaport Public Policy Fellow
Placement: Mayor's Office for Immigrant Advancement, Boston
Supervisor: Carol Léon, Programs Manager
Project Description: At the Mayor's Office for Immigrant Advancement (MOIA), Flo helped develop the curriculum and logistics for a program to promote emerging immigrant leaders’ civic engagement with the City of Boston’s government. MOIA will launch the pilot for this program this year. The program will include a multi-session course, with interactive speakers, projects and activities designed to advance equity and immigrant leadership in city government. Through this program, MOIA will provide opportunities for participants to 1) build skills and knowledge to strategically engage with and navigate local government; 2) connect with city officials and other immigrant leaders; and 3) actively address issues facing their communities.

Emma González Roberts
Graduate School: MIT
Undergraduate School: University of Chicago
Interest Area: Economic Development
Mentors: Phil Puccia, JP Morgan and Rappaport Advisory Board Member and Margaret Keaveny, LISC and former Rappaport Public Policy Fellow
Placement: Department of Economic Development, Boston
Supervisors: Natalia Urtubey, Director of Small Business and Executive Director of Imagine Boston 2030
Project Description: As a fellow with the City of Boston’s Office of Economic Development, Emma González Roberts supported the implementation of the city’s Outdoor Dining Pilot, developed a Salesforce training guide, prepared a Current State of Boston Main Streets report, and processed Reopen Boston Fund applications. Through the Outdoor Dining Pilot, she worked with the Small Business Unit to provide technical assistance, free equipment, and $5,000 grants to 20 restaurants in low-income communities. She created a previously non-existent Salesforce training manual, presented it to the team, and made recommendations for improving Salesforce protocols. She interviewed team members and conducted demographic research for a report that will the support the forthcoming Re-Imagining Boston’s Main Streets project. Lastly, Emma reviewed hundreds of Reopen Boston Fund applications and reached out to small businesses to request missing documentation.

Enjoli Hall
Graduate School: MIT
Undergraduate School:Princeton University
Interest Area: Health equity policy
Mentors: Jeffrey Sanchez, Rasky Partners Inc and Rappaport Institute Advisory Board and Tariana Little, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and former Rappaport Public Policy Fellow
Placement: Massachusetts Bureau of Environmental Health
Supervisor: Jennifer Robertson, Policy Director
Project Description: Enjoli will be working with the Massachusetts Bureau of Environmental Health to develop a strategic plan for advancing environmental justice within the Bureau’s programs and for anticipated agency-wide adoption by the Department of Public Health. The plan will be specific to public health and align with the state-wide Environmental Justice Policy.

Greer Hamilton
Graduate School: Boston University School of Social Work
Undergraduate School: University at Buffalo, State University of New York
Interest Area: Social services policy
Mentors: Ben Forman, Director of Research, MassINC, Rappaport Advisory Board Member and former Rappaport Public Policy Fellow and Dewin Hernandez, Boston College School of Social Work and Carroll School of Management
Placement: MassDevelopment
Supervisor: Andrew Levine, TDI Operations Officer
Project Description: During the summer Greer had the opportunity to work on two projects during her time as a Transformative Development Initiative (TDI) intern. The first project she completed was the development of an equity toolkit for the new Mass Housing Neighborhood Stabilization Hub. The second project was the development an inclusive leadership framework to support the ongoing work of TDI to make their partnerships more representative of the Gateway Cities the TDI districts are located in. The framework resulted the development of a final report that includes the equity tool. In addition to these projects, TDI allowed her to facilitate a lunch and learn series on racial equity and the built environment and follow-up conversation on the same topic during the annual retreat.

Salman Khan
Graduate School: Harvard Graduate School of Education
Undergraduate School: Rutgers University
Interest Area: Education issues
Mentors: Kevin Sullivan, Babson College and Rappaport Advisory Board Member and Nick Woolf, Tufts University and former Rappaport Public Policy Fellow
Placement: Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Supervisors: Matthew Deninger, Director of Resource Allocation Strategy and Planning
Project Description: This summer, Salman developed dashboards that underscore opportunity and achievement gaps within schools across a number of measures. He presented his work to the Senior Associate Commissioner for Strategic Initiatives as well as key stakeholders across the state. He also supported the analysis of the new state-wide Early College program.

Osamu Kumasaka
Graduate School: MIT
Undergraduate School: Lewis and Clark College
Interest Area: Environmental Issues
Mentors: Vivien Li, Rappaport Advisory Board Member and Kara Runsten, Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and the Environment and Former Rappaport Public Policy Fellow
Placement:Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and the Environment
Supervisor: Mia Mansfield, Director of Climate Adaptation and Resilience
Project Description: Osamu will be working at the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and the Environment on developing an environmental justice training and outreach materials for the Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness program. He will also be updating the Massachusetts Climate Assessment with a new engagement plan which is more detailed and customized to both geographic regions and sectors of the economy.

Alexander Lebovitz
Graduate School: Brandeis University
Undergraduate School: Northeastern University
Interest Area: Public Health Finance Policy
Mentors: Abby Kim, Office of Senator John Keenan and former Rappaport Public Policy Fellow
Placement: Joint Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies
Supervisor: Daniel Wood, Staff Attorney
Project Description: Alec completed his fellowship with the Committee on Economic Development & Emerging Technologies in the Massachusetts State Legislature. Over the course of ten weeks, he worked with Committee staff and legislators to re-tool a major economic development bond bill to respond to the twin public health and economic crises unleashed by the COVID-19 pandemic. He conducted an environmental scan of other state’s economic development strategies, developed an evaluative framework for lawmakers delineating what an equitable recovery strategy for the Commonwealth should look like, and ultimately offered policy recommendations for inclusion in the final bill.

Takia Myers
Graduate School: Boston College School of Social Work
Undergraduate School: University of Massachusetts Boston
Interest Area: Social service policy and equity
Mentors: Renee Landers, Suffolk University Law School and Rappaport Advisory Board Member and Ronesha Williams, Brandeis University and former Rappaport Public Policy Fellow
Placement: Office of City Councilor At Large Michelle Wu
Supervisor: Michelle Wu, Boston City Councilor and former Rappaport Law and Public Policy Fellow
Project Description: Takia will work for the Office of City Councilor at Large Michelle Wu. Takia’s project focuses on analyzing how current school administrative practices disproportionately affect students of color and other marginalized identities. She will gather and evaluate data on the PUSHOUT of Black girls in Boston Public Schools and to update existing policies, guidelines, and practices regarding discipline and behavioral procedures.

Christine Peterson
Graduate School: Harvard Kennedy School
Undergraduate School: Illinois Wesleyan University
Interest Area: Criminal Justice Policy
Mentors: Sarah Zaphiris, former Rappaport Boston Urban Scholar and Jessica Simes, Boston University and former Rappaport Public Policy Fellow
Placement: MassDevelopment
Supervisors: Andrew Levine, TDI Operations Officer
Project Description: This summer Christine worked on program evaluation for the first round of TDI Local COVID Emergency Grants that were distributed to small businesses and used the evaluation to design the next round of small business support. She is also working on a program evaluation strategy for the broader TDI program.

Rees Sweeney-Taylor
Graduate School: Harvard Kennedy School
Undergraduate School: University of North Carolina
Interest Area: Environmental Issues
Mentors: Tom Keane, Rappaport Institute Advisory Board and Arah Schuur, Acadia Center and former Rappaport Public Policy Fellow
Placement: Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and the Environment
Supervisor: Claire Miziolek, 80x50 Study Manager
Project Description: Rees Sweeney-Taylor worked at the State’s Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs helping to develop policy recommendations for decarbonizing Massachusetts’ economy by 2050. His primary project was modelling how a price on carbon could help meet this mandate while also distributing revenues equitably. Additionally, he researched the relationship between heating fuels for Massachusetts homes and geographic location and income. This led to the development of a tool that can be used to focus heat pump conversion efforts in neighborhoods with low-income residents and/or high usage of fuel oil. Finally, he worked one day each week for the Department of Public Utilities, writing a report comparing several jurisdictions’ approaches to microgrids and potential next steps for Massachusetts; he presented these findings to the Department Commission.

Noor Toraif
Graduate School: Boston University School of Social Work
Undergraduate School: Boston University
Mentors: Lissy Medvedow, Rappaport Center for Law and Public Policy and Rappaport Institute Advisory Board Member and Alexis Yohros, Northeastern University and former Rappaport Public Policy Fellow
Placement: Massachusetts Office of the Child Advocate and the Committee for Public Counsel Services
Supervisor: Melissa Threadgill, Director of Juvenile Justice Initiatives and Joshua Dohan, Committee for Public Counsel Services
Project Description: This summer, Noor completed a joint placement with the Youth Advocacy Division (YAD) of the Committee for Public Counsel Services (CPCS) and the Office of the Child Advocate (OCA). At YAD, she developed an Adolescent Development training curriculum for public defenders, including modules on Positive Youth Development and trauma, resilience, and trauma-informed legal advocacy. She also created a resource with further reading and other materials on trauma-informed public defense and the latest research on Positive Youth Development as applied to the Juvenile Justice System. At the Office of the Child Advocate, Noor completed a number of projects including contributing to the OCA’s report on COVID-19 and child mental health and developing surveys for schools, congregate care, and child care settings to get more information on how the OCA can best support them during the reopening process. Her two largest projects at the OCA included adapting the OCA’s Trauma-Informed and Responsive Framework into toolkits for various child-serving sectors, and developing content for a parent support website – including resources on grief, suicidal intent, ideation, and attempts, mental health symptomology, and COVID-19 conversation starters for children and teenagers.

Ashley Barnes-Cocke
Graduate School: Harvard Graduate School of Education
Undergraduate School: Hamline University
Interest Area: LGBTQ+ and Homelessness issues
Mentors: Megan Costello, Rappaport/Boston Urban Scholar and Techrosette Leng, City Planner, City of Revere and Rappaport Advisory Board Member
Placement: Department of Neighborhood Development, City of Boston
Supervisor: Courtney Trudell, Assistant Director of Supportive Housing
Project Description: Ashley Barnes-Cocke’s project focused on increasing identification and support for students experiencing housing instability and not in the care of a legal guardian. Working at the City of Boston’s Department of Neighborhood Development (DND) and partnering closely with Boston Public Schools (BPS), they conducted interviews of BPS and DND staff, community partners, and young people who experienced homelessness and attended Boston Public Schools. They used this information to visually map BPS’ resource referral process and to create a resource referral tool for BPS staff to identify students in need and more effectively connect students to services that address those needs. Ashley compiled their findings in reports to both BPS and DND, focusing on opportunities for policy changes and collaboration in the following areas; increasing identification of students with housing instability; ensuring appropriate resource referrals are made; coordinating entry access; and suggesting future opportunities for youth-focused housing resources. In addition, Ashley supported several non-profit agencies to refine grant applications and clarify proposed program models for youth-specific housing programs funded by DND.

Samantha Batel
Graduate School: Harvard Kennedy School/Harvard Graduate School of Education
Undergraduate School: Princeton University
Interest Area: Education Issues
Mentors: Phil Puccia, Senior Vice President for Education and Not-for Profit Banking at JP Morgan and Rappaport Institute Advisory Board Member and Diana Serrano, Research Associate, Education Development Center and Former Rappaport Public Policy Fellow
Placement: Boston Public Schools
Supervisors: Will Eger, Strategic Project Manager, Boston Public Schools and Kristen Daley, Director of Special Programs and Initiatives, Boston Public Schools
Project Description: Samantha Batel worked with Boston Public Schools’ (BPS) Chief Academic Officer to develop a multi-tiered system of support framework (MTSS) for the district. This project required collaboration across several BPS departments and culminated in a presentation for schools receiving district support to make transformative improvement. Supported by district experts, this work will be foundational for BPS’ future MTSS work.

Timothy Bishop
Graduate School: Harvard Kennedy School/Sloan School of Management
Undergraduate School: Williams College
Interest Area: Veterans’ Issues and Performance Management
Mentors: Amy Dain, Dain Research and Former Rappaport Public Policy Fellow and Dan Futrell, Chief Executive Officer, The Pat Tillman Foundation
Placement: The Strategic Innovation Group,  Office of Governor Charlie Baker
Supervisor: Jean-Louis Rochet, Director of Strategic Innovation and former Rappaport Law and Public Policy Fellow
Project Description: The Strategic Innovation Group (SIG) is a cross-functional team within the Governor’s Office that helps execute the Governor’s priority reforms, program innovations, and operational improvements. The Rappaport Fellow would work with a range of stakeholders, including secretariat and agency leadership, to advance a policy initiative or operational improvement through a combination of strategic advising, management consulting, data analysis, policy research, and project management. The Fellow would facilitate stakeholder communication across organizational boundaries and levels of oversight to monitor outcomes and ensure steady progress.

Kimberly Blair
Graduate School: Boston University School of Public Health
Undergraduate School: Georgetown University
Interest Area: Women’s health issues
Mentors: Renee Landers, Professor of Law, Suffolk University Law School and Rappaport Institute Advisory Board Member
Placement: Office of Rep Jay Livingstone
Supervisor: Caitlin Duffy, Legislative Aide, Office of Rep. Jay Livingstone
Project Description: During her time in the Office of State Representative Jay Livingstone, Kimberly conducted cost research in support of the I AM. bill (H.1959/S.1274), an act to increase access to disposable menstrual products in Massachusetts public schools, homeless shelters, and prisons. Her final cost analysis report concluded that passing the bill would impact approximately 231,545 potentially menstruating students across 849 schools as well as approximately 10,001 menstruating homeless individuals and 505 menstruating inmates. She projects the associated costs to be about $2,630 to $3,250 per school, $9,600 per shelter, and $47,300 for all state prisons for the first year of implementation. Her recommendation is to view these items as start-up costs, especially in schools looking to install dispensers. In terms of other work products this summer, Kimberly also assisted in editing testimony for the ROE Act (H. 3320/S.1209) hearing and in drafting a bill proposal to address informational gaps and diagnostic delays for young students dealing with painful menstrual disorders, such as endometriosis. Finally, Kimberly helped build membership support for the Massachusetts Menstrual Equity Coalition by preparing a list of potential stakeholders for the President of NOW's Massachusetts Chapter.

Thanks to Representative Jay Livingstone's Office and the President of Mass NOW, Kimberly has since been able to present her research before the Joint Committee on Public Health at a hearing and before Senate House staff at a legislative briefing, as well as on the 10/17 episode of Boston Neighborhood Network News (at 20:16) and at the 10/19 Massachusetts National Period Rally held in front of City Hall.

Robert Bohler
Graduate School: Brandeis University
Undergraduate School: University of Georgia
Interest Area: Opioid Addiction and Recovery Issues
Mentors: Jim Segel, Rappaport Institute Advisory Board Chair and Abigail Kim, Legislative Aide, Office of Senator John Keenan and Former Rappaport Public Policy Summer Fellow
Placement: Office of Representative Jon Santiago
Supervisor: Cory Azmon, Legislative Aide, Office of Rep. Jon Santiago
Project Description: Robert spent the summer with Representative Jon Santiago’s office at the Massachusetts State House working on developing tools that will inform future opioid legislation. Rep. Santiago represents the 9th Suffolk District, which contains the Mass and Cass area, a population that has been disproportionately affected by the opioid crisis. Robert’s first task was to meet with a variety of stakeholders in this area, ranging from medical providers, directors of governmental service providers, and drug users, and identify barriers to engagement and make policy recommendations that would improve the lives of those struggling with chronic homelessness and addiction as well as alleviate neighborhood burden. Next, Robert created a database of scientific papers and resources on selected interventions to the opioid crisis, making evidence-based policy recommendations based on the literature. Some of the topics included medication-assisted treatment (MAT) in jails and prison, MAT in emergency departments, civil commitments, and safe consumption sites. This database will be a tool that can be made available to all state legislators. In addition to these two research projects, Robert also attended legislative sessions, hearings, neighborhood meetings, and constituent meetings on behalf of the Representative.

Karyn Bruggeman
Graduate School: Harvard Kennedy School
Undergraduate School: College of William and Mary
Interest Area: Workforce Development
Mentors: Brian Doherty, Building and Trades Council of the Metropolitan District and Rappaport Advisory Board Member and Reilly Kiernan, Case Team Leader at The Bridgespan Group and former Rappaport Public Policy Summer Fellow
Placement: Mayor’s Office of Workforce Development, City of Boston
Supervisor: Katy Gall, Deputy Director of Workforce Development
Project Description: Karyn will be working on the City of Boston’s Tuition Free Community College program.

Amy Couture
Graduate School: Harvard Kennedy School
Undergraduate School: Dartmouth College
Interest Area: Economic Development and Criminal Justice Issues
Mentors: Melissa Threadgill, Director of Juvenile Justice Initiatives, Massachusetts Office of the Child Advocate and Former Rappaport Public Policy Fellow
Placement: Office of Senator James Eldridge
Supervisor: Michael Carr, Chief of Staff, Office of Senator James Eldridge
Project Description: Amy spent the summer in State Senator Jamie Eldridge’s office and assisted Senator Eldridge and his team on matters pending before the Joint Committee on the Judiciary for the House and Senate. Over the course of the summer, Amy researched and wrote policy memos on solitary confinement reform and online sexual harassment, drafted talking points and letters of testimony, and assisted the staff in meetings and committee hearings. Her work contributed significantly to draft bill SD.2532, which enhances procedural protections for individuals in solitary confinement in Massachusetts prisons.

Yareliz Diaz
Graduate School: Boston University School of Public Health
Undergraduate School: Tufts University
Interest Areas: Emergency preparedness and public health equity
Mentors: Vivien Li, Rappaport Institute Advisory Board and Tariana Little, Harvard School of Public Health and former Rappaport Public Policy Fellow
Placement: Boston Public Health Commission’s Office of Public Health Preparedness
Supervisor: Courtney Grey, Director of Disaster Behavioral Health
Project Description: Yareliz Diaz spent her summer at the Boston Public Health Commission’s Office of Public Health Preparedness (OPHP). There she had the opportunity to attend the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency’s annual conference and learn from industry leaders across the country. She also got certified as a national weather spotter! Her work over the summer surrounded conducting research on the increasing suicide rates for young Black men across the country and culminated in a literature review and report with findings and preliminary recommendations for future preventative interventions. OPHP also received a Barr grant that focuses on climate resilience in the city and will create Community Resilience Networks (CRN) in different neighborhoods across Boston. Yareliz developed the initial survey for the members of the CRN in order to gather baseline data and understanding of what are immediate community needs and what they are already doing in their own neighborhoods to support each other during times of climate related emergencies.

Jessica Hamilton
Graduate School: Boston University School of Theology
Undergraduate School: Northeastern University
Interest Area: Racial Equity
Mentors: Leila Quinn, Brandeis University and former Rappaport Public Policy Fellow
Placement: Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission
Supervisor: Julie Johnson, Director of Research
Project Description: Jessica will work with the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission's Research Department supporting efforts to meet research requirements of Chapter 55: An Act to Ensure Safe Access to Marijuana. In particular, she will aid in understanding the social and economic trends of marijuana use in the Commonwealth. She will also work on research related to the Commission's social equity agenda for the cannabis industry.

Carl Hedman
Graduate School: MIT
Undergraduate School: Reed College
Interest Area: Housing
Mentors: Tim Warren, The Warren Group and Rappaport Institute Advisory Board Member and Monique Gibbs, Policy Innovation Associate, MassHousing and former Rappaport Public Policy Fellow
Placement: Department of Neighborhood Development, City of Boston
Supervisor: Jessica Boatright, Deputy Director for Neighborhood Housing Development
Project Description: Carl Hedman worked for the Boston’s Department of Neighborhood Development in the Neighborhood Housing Division, the team that oversees the City's investment in affordable housing development and preservation. Rising costs to build affordable housing are making it increasingly challenging to meet the needs of a City in the midst of a housing affordability crisis. With this in mind, Carl's first task was to research cost containment guidelines for affordable housing development in Boston. Drawing on this work, he developed a series of recommendations for the City's fiscal year 2020 funding awards aimed at maximizing the number of affordable units funded and incentivizing deeper affordability. Carl also supported work to revise and expand the Acquisition Opportunity Program, the City's primary tool for meeting it's 2030 goal of preserving 1,000 naturally affordable units from private market speculation and deed restricting them. In that work, he developed a set of recommendations with the goal of making the program more responsive to market conditions and encouraging greater program participation.

Dewin Hernandez
Graduate School: Boston College School of Social Work/ Boston College Carroll School of Business
Undergraduate School: Berklee College of Music
Interest Area: LGBTQ+ policy and mental health
Mentors: Ben Forman, Policy Director, MassINC and Rappaport Advisory Board Member and former Rappaport Public Policy Fellow and Mariel Novas, Harvard Graduate School of Education and former Rappaport Public Policy Fellow
Placement: Massachusetts Department of Mental Health
Supervisors: Crystal Collier, Chief of Staff and Joy O’Connell, Diversity Officer
Project Description: Dewin will be at the Department of Mental Health Central Office site working with Crystal D. Collier (Chief of Staff) and Joy Connell Diversity Officer as part of their Race, Equity and Inclusion Steering Committee and LGBT Policy workgroup.

Crystal Lopez Haynes
Graduate School: Boston College School of Social Work
Interest Area: Social services issues
Mentors: Tom Keane, Rappaport Institute Advisory Board and Kara Jeter, Boston University School of Public Health and former Rappaport Public Policy Fellow
Placement: Massachusetts Interagency Council on Housing and Homelessness
Supervisor: Alice Colegrove, Consultant for the Executive Office of Health and Human Services
Project Description: This summer, Chrystal worked at the Massachusetts Interagency Council on Housing and Homelessness. She really enjoyed working at ICHH because it allowed her to work collaboratively with others and learn from her colleagues, which was something she was looking for in addition to her coursework. She had the chance to improve her research skills by developing a literature review, producing questions for an interview protocol, and facilitating interviews with homeless youth providers throughout the state. She then analyzed this data to present to the ICHH team. She was excited that her work was considered in recommendations to Secretary Sudders. Overall, she learned the importance of working with a team that builds on each other's strengths to serve a common cause, in this case, working to prevent and end youth homelessness.

Andrew McFarland
Graduate School: Tufts University
Undergraduate School: Boston University
Interest Area: Transportation issues
Mentors: Monica Tibbits-Nutt, Executive Director, 128 Business Council and Rappaport Advisory Board Member and Kelly Blynn, Senior Analyst, Meister Consultant Group
Placement: Office of Boston City Councilor Michelle Wu
Supervisor: Kerry Richards, Policy Director
Project Description: Andrew McFarland worked in the Office of Boston City Councilor At-large Michelle Wu, where he researched opportunities for improving public transit and growing ridership in Metro Boston by advancing policy shifts in fare collection, bus priority implementation, and governance.

Danielle Mulligan
Graduate School: Tufts University
Undergraduate School: Tufts University
Interest Area: Housing issues
Mentors: Ramon Soto, Director of Policy, Massachusetts at uAspire and Rappaport Advisory Board Member and Margaret Keaveny, Senior Program Office for Lending, LISC and former Rappaport Public Policy Fellow
Placement: Boston Planning and Development Agency
Supervisors: Raul Duverge, Project Manager and Jonathan Greeley, Director of Development Review
Project Description: Danielle primarily worked on assessing a wide range of potential impacts of the One Charlestown Project, the transition of the Boston Housing Authority's Bunker Hill housing into mixed income housing, on Boston Public Schools and BHA residents with school-aged children. Her research included interviewing local stakeholders, BPS and BHA administrators, and administrators in public housing and education in other cities across the US. Danielle presented her findings and recommendations for the next steps of the One Charlestown project, as well as future similar public housing redevelopment projects, to the Development review team at the BPDA, as well as administrators at BPS.

Rishya Narayanan
Graduate School: Northeastern University
Undergraduate School: Clark University
Interest Area: Environmental Issues
Mentors: Vivien Li, Rappaport Advisory Board Member and Dan Kennedy, Northeastern University School of Journalism and Rappaport Advisory Board Member and Kara Runsten, Sustainability Specialist, Kim Lundgren Associates and Former Rappaport Public Policy Fellow
Placement: Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries
Supervisor: Story Reed, Permitting and Statistics Program Manager
Project Description: Rishya worked on the Division’s Port Profile initiative, which summarizes data collected in each port regarding its status and infrastructure. Port Profiles provide an overview of the commercial fishing activity and infrastructure within Massachusetts’ ports, and are part of a larger port report. These profiles fill a data gap within the Division and Massachusetts at large: there exists no concise summary of each port’s value and infrastructure status for local fishing communities and important industry stakeholders. The Port Profiles will be used as a tool to support local fishing communities and preserve the working waterfront, providing these communities with a tool for self-advocacy and lobbying within the industry. Rishya also worked on restructuring the Division’s Revolving Loan Fund, a program aimed at economically supporting small, local groundfishermen operating in sectors. Her research culminated in a proposal to repurpose that will be submitted to the program’s federal partner, NOAA Fisheries, for discussion of and action on its future. The proposal aims to find new, more effective ways to better economically support these groundfishermen. Finally, Rishya worked on a variety of side projects, including (but not limited to) photography campaigns, digital media management and analytics, audience engagement, and field research.

Mariangely Solis Cervera
Graduate School: Harvard Graduate School of Education
Undergraduate School: Mount St. Mary’s College
Interest Area: Immigrant Issues
Mentors: Jeffrey Sanchez, Rappaport Advisory Board Member and Collyn Chan, MIT and former Rappaport Public Policy Fellow
Placement: Mayor’s Office for Immigrant Advancement, City of Boston
Supervisor: Agnes Chang, Interim Director
Project Description: This summer at Mayor Walsh’s Office for Immigrant Advancement (MOIA), Mariangely had the opportunity to collaborate with Boston Public School staff, teachers and parents. The community outreach coordinator at MOIA and Mariangely conducted focus groups around the district to better understand the challenges and opportunities facing our immigrant students and families in BPS schools. Their findings led to the creation of a) a brief resource guide organized by need and neighborhood for school staff, b) a MOIA led workshop focused on policies and laws impacting immigrant youth and c) a report for the new BPS superintendent, Dr. Cassellius. Their efforts this summer led to established partnerships between MOIA and schools in East Boston, Brighton and Roxbury. This ongoing collaboration can result in holistic impact for immigrant youth and families in our city.

Emy Takinami
Graduate School: Boston University School of Education/Boston University School of Social Work
Undergraduate School: University of Vermont
Interest Area: Education issues
Mentors: Kevin Sullivan, Vice President, Strategic Corporate Relations and Engagement and Rappaport Advisory Board Member and Jill Benevides, Tufts University and former Rappaport Public Policy Fellow
Placement: Boston Public Schools, Office of Opportunity Gaps
Supervisor: Harold Miller, Director of Opportunity Gaps and District Transformation
Project Description: Emy Takinami spent her summer at the Boston Public Schools’ Office of Opportunity Gaps, supporting their policy and implementation plan, which works to implement cultural proficiency across the district, dismantle structural barriers and provide greater access to opportunities in order to close the opportunity gap for students from historically marginalized backgrounds. Emy drafted a memo for the new superintendent, which summarized the role of the Office and outlined the next steps in the Implementation Plan, including the next steps for the new Superintendent in supporting the work of eradicating opportunity gaps at BPS. The memo included data at the student, school and system/district levels that highlighted the pressing need for full district support. Other projects Emy supported include: Developing a one-pager for the new superintendent on eliminating disproportionate discipline of students of color; Compiling and producing a list of recommendations from the OAG Task Force; and producing a one-pager for the Office of Opportunity Gaps, catered toward students and families as part of the Office’s wider goal of enhancing their marketing and communications plan.

Ronesha Williams
Graduate School: Brandeis University
Undergraduate School: Gordon College
Interest Area: Education issues
Mentors: Lissy Medvedow, Executive Director, Rappaport Center for Law and Public Policy at Boston College Law School and Rappaport Institute Advisory Board Member and Maksim Wynn, Harvard Kennedy School and former Rappaport Public Policy Fellow
Placement: Mayor’s Office for New Urban Mechanics
Supervisors: Jaclyn Youngblood, Chief of Staff and Sabrina Dorsainvil, Director of Civic Design
Project Description: At the City of Boston’s Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics, in partnership with the Department of Youth Engagement and Employment(DYEE), Ronesha worked to rethink and propose a new model for the Youth Lead the Change initiative. Youth Lead the Change is the City of Boston’s youth-led participatory budgeting initiative that allows youth ages 12-22 to decide how to spend $1 Million of the City’s capital budget. After holding feedback sessions with youth participants and multiple city departments throughout the summer, Ronesha worked with DYEE to draft a proposal that would address the current challenges in the process and propose changes that would allow the program to run more efficiently and create a larger impact.

Nicholas Woolf
Graduate School: Tufts University
Undergraduate School: Tufts University
Interest Area: Education Policy
Mentors: Tom Keane, Rappaport Institute Advisory Board and Antoniya Marinova, Senior Program Officer, The Boston Foundation and former Rappaport Public Policy Fellow
Placement: Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Supervisor: Kristen McKinnon Service-Learning Specialist & Student Engagement Coordinator at the Center for Educational Options
Project Description: As a Rappaport Fellow at the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), Nick Woolf helped to support a cross-functional team that was tasked with revision the state’s Comprehensive Health Framework. This set of standards, which has not been updated since 1999, outlines what students at each grade-level are expected to know with regards to physical, emotional, and mental health. In his role, he acted as an internal content expert on social-emotional learning, evaluating standards related to mental health and – ultimately – collaborated with the Center for Instructional Support to create a reference guide to help educators in other content areas (e.g., mathematics, English, history) understand overlaps between the social and emotional competencies within the revised Health Framework and key practices within their respective subject of expertise. This “cross-walk” document will be used as part of DESE’s implementation strategy and distributed to public schools across the state in order to aid educators in integrating SEL into daily instruction. In addition, he was involved in a number of ancillary projects related to DESE’s social-emotional learning initiatives, including: • Redesigning the agency’s webpage on social and emotional learning in Massachusetts • Presenting updates on the Comprehensive Health Framework revisions to Jeff Riley, the Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education • Coordinating meetings with a panel of public-school health educators to solicit feedback on the new health standards • Integrating resources from major organizations (CASEL and The Aspen Institute) onto DESE’s website to increase accessibility for educators and school leaders • Proposing a plan to create an online course for Massachusetts educators and school leaders on social and emotional learning

Alexis Yohros
Graduate School: Northeastern University
Undergraduate School: Florida State University
Mentors: Dan Kennedy, Northeastern University School of Journalism and Rappaport Institute Advisory Board Member and Joanna Abaroa-Ellison, Policy Analyst at the Crime and Justice Initiative at Community Resources for Justice and former Rappaport Public Policy Fellow
Placement: Massachusetts Office of the Child Advocate
Supervisor: Melissa Threadgill, Director of Juvenile Justice Initiatives
Project Description: This summer Alexis worked at the Office of the Child Advocate under the supervision of Melissa Threadgill, the Director of Juvenile Justice Initiatives. One of her main projects involved working on a juvenile justice data website. This aims to be a public facing website where policymakers, members of the public, and other stakeholders can go to learn detailed information about the juvenile justice system in Massachusetts. In addition, she analyzed a community-based intervention survey, which examined referral gaps in evidence-based services for youth. As Massachusetts does not have standardized youth diversion practices in place, she also researched and presented on different diversion models from other states in the hopes of generating discussion on how these practices can apply to MA. Finally, Alexis created a policy memo and presentation on how these evidence-based practices and diversion models can be funded at the state level. This was presented by Melissa at the latest Community-Based Interventions Subcommittee meeting.

Sasha Albert
Graduate Degree: Brandeis University
Undergraduate Degree: Vassar College
Area of Interest: Public Health Issues
Mentors: Ben Forman, MassINC and Rebecca Lobb, Family Reach
Agency: Massachusetts Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector
Supervisor: Audrey Morse Gasteier, Chief of Policy and Strategy
Project Description: Sasha Albert's projects supported the Health Connector’s work to ensure that Massachusetts residents have timely and comprehensive health insurance. She drafted a memo on – and policy recommendations to resolve – gaps in health insurance coverage for newborns that can leave new parents with large and unexpected medical bills. These coverage gaps occur due to overlaps in Health Connector and MassHealth eligibility for pregnant people, and mismatches in when new parents are required to report their babies for insurance coverage. The Health Connector aims to share this information with MassHealth, and to work to implement a policy solution. The Health Connector also aims to take a more proactive role in ensuring that the benefit designs and formularies of the health plans on its shelf are non-discriminatory; to support this work, she developed a comprehensive brief defining benefit design discrimination, the history of pre- and post-Affordable Care Act nondiscrimination protections, and options for the Health Connector’s future role in nondiscrimination. She also developed a memo offering considerations and recommendations for collecting gender, sex, and pregnancy eligibility information on applications for health insurance coverage in a more inclusive way. Other projects included developing graphs and charts to depict insurance coverage rates and types in Massachusetts over the past 23 years and researching the history of insurance carrier participation in the Massachusetts exchange.

Vishal Arora
Graduate Degree: Harvard Medical School
Undergraduate Degree: Harvard College
Area of Interest: Public Health Issues
Mentors: Kevin Sullivan, Babson College
Agency: MassHealth
Supervisor: Ishan Shrestha, Director of Strategy and Special Projects and Matthew Klitus, CSO/CFO
Project Description: Vishal spent his summer working for MassHealth’s Strategy Team, designing policy reforms to restructure care and payment models for long-term care providers and services, which has annual spend of $1.6B. Many of these reforms were aimed to improve the quality of care for seniors throughout the Commonwealth over the next five years. He was also responsible for preliminary modeling to determine the costs of these policy solutions for MassHealth. While designing these reforms, he also collaborated with leadership from the Office of Long Term Services and Supports as well the Executive Office of Elder Affairs.

Jill Benevides
Graduate Degree: Tufts University
Undergraduate Degree: University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Area of Interest: Social Services Issues
Mentors: Mary Jo Meisner, Rappaport Institute Advisory Board and Heidi Sulman, Brandeis University
Agency: Massachusetts Department of Public Health
Supervisor: Kate Roper, MECCS Project Director
Project Description: Jill Benevides spent her summer at the Department of Public Health working in Early Childhood Services.  Jill modernized the Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Training Compendium compiling, organizing and formatting the training data to include relevant professional development from across colleges and universities, state agencies and private non-profit institutes, aligning it with new national standards, and disseminating the Guide to a range of child-serving professionals.  In addition, she was involved with project LAUNCH, specifically focused on the integration of behavioral health and primary care, as well as the Massachusetts Early Childhood Comprehensive System’s Data and Racial Equity Initiative, working to determine how to best capture and measure child developmental health and family well-being in an integrated early childhood data system. To learn about these initiatives as well as view the Early Childhood Mental Health Training Compendium, please visit .

Chelsea S. Bruck
Graduate Degree: MIT
Undergraduate Degree: Northwestern University
Area of Interest: Arts
Mentors: Carol Burns, Taylor Burns
Agency: Mayor's Office for Arts and Culture, City of Boston
Supervisor: Kara Elliott-Ortega, Director
Project Description: Chelsea’s fellowship was with the Boston Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture (MOAC), where she spent her summer conducting a cultural equity study to inform how the City supports Boston’s underrepresented artists and cultural organizations. Her study began by mapping and analyzing existing data on artists and arts organizations that have previously applied for MOAC’s programs and resources. After identifying gaps in representation in MOAC’s applicant pool, Chelsea continued the study by conducting interviews with over 20 key internal and external stakeholders. She then developed a report of her findings, which recommended various strategies and tactics to make MOAC’s resources more accessible. In addition, Chelsea developed equity-specific questions to help MOAC better evaluate grant applicants, and she also designed a survey in support of efforts to monitor and evaluate MOAC’s reach more effectively.

Collyn Chan
Graduate Degree: MIT
Undergraduate Degree: University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
Area of Interest: Environmental Issues
Mentors: Vivien Li, Rappaport Institute Advisory Board and Jennifer Haugh, Greener U
Agency: Office of Boston City Councilor Michelle Wu, City of Boston
Supervisor: Michelle Wu, Boston City Councilor
Project Description: Collyn’s fellowship was with the Office of Boston City Councilor Michelle Wu where she worked on a report for the upcoming East Boston Master Plan process. An historically low-income and immigrant community, East Boston’s most pressing challenges include accelerated housing development, housing affordability and displacement, high risk of flooding and sea-level rise, and high barriers to civic participation from its non-English speaking population. The focus of the project was to build an understanding of what East Boston community members envision for their future, and the values and policies that should drive the master planning process. Through interviews with local organizations and municipal staff, a survey of over 150 community members, site visits and an analysis of existing and comparable policies – Collyn developed a final report and set of policy and process recommendations for city council and municipal offices to prioritize. The report informs actions that can be taken to address cross-cutting policy areas, including the creation of affordable housing units, adequate zoning and financial requirements for district-level climate impacts, and increasing immigrant and minority participation in civic process.

Matthew Claudel
Graduate Degree: MIT
Undergraduate Degree: Yale University
Area of Interest: Government Innovation
Mentors: Phil Puccia, Rappaport Institute Advisory Board and Devin Quirk, Chief of Operations, Department of Neighborhood Development, City of Boston
Agency: Mayor's Office of New Urban Mechanics, City of Boston
Supervisor: Stephen Walter, Program Director and Michael Evans, Program Director
Project Description: Beta Blocks is a public, co-creative exploration of civic technology. My intention this summer was to set the stage for Beta Blocks, before it is formally begun in partnership with the project team (lead by the Emerson eLab). Matthew's work included case studies of past MONUM projects, focusing on what those precedents suggest for public engagement, regulation, finance, and temporality. Furthermore, a literature review, and a list of foreign precedents and inspirations, provide academic and non-academic grounding. Building on these – and much informed by conversations with the project team and my experience at MONUM – Matthew wrote a number of short draft essays that outline his own perspective on dimensions of Beta Blocks, such as Defining Civic Technology, the Paradox of Institutions and Scaling, and articulating what Beta Blocks is NOT. This work is well-summarized in the  that he wrote, as well as in a zine that he created.

Luc Figueiredo Miller
Graduate Degree: Boston University School of Public Health
Undergraduate Degree: University of Massachusetts, Boston
Area of Interest: Housing Issues
Mentors: Jessica Casey, Chief Officer for Operations Policy and Oversight, MBTA
Agency: Department of Neighborhood Development, City of Boston
Supervisor: Marcy Ostberg, Director, Mayor's Housing Innovation Lab and Katherine Brady, Program Manager, Office of Housing Stability
Project Description: Luc spent the summer working for the City of Boston’s Department of Neighborhood Development (DND). His main project was with the Housing Innovation Lab where he made developed recommendations for a pilot program called “Good Landlord Loans.” This proposed product would offer small landlords financial assistance to small landlords to do critical home repairs in exchange for maintaining affordable rents for their tenants. Luc researched best practices in other cities, and interviewed 10 small landlords across the city in order to understand their experiences, their needs and their interest in the proposed Good Landlord Loan program. Taking this information, Luc collaborated with internal partners to create a feasible policy that would be easily adaptable to existing programs at DND. Luc also supported the Office of Housing Stability at DND on a number of projects that address the displacement of Boston residents. He assisted writing a policy that would require larger developers and property managers to decrease their eviction rates in their properties in order to receive city funds for projects.  He also helped with writing a grant that would expand the “Stable Ground” project which focuses on the trauma of displacement through participatory community-based art and cultural programming to inform the work of the Office of Housing Stability.

Amanda Formica
Graduate Degree: Tufts University
Undergraduate Degree: George Washington University
Area of Interest: Environmental Issues
Mentors: Tom Tinlin, Howard Stein Hudson and Neil Veilleux, Meisters Consulting Group
Agency: Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources
Supervisor: Ian Finlayson, Senior Climate Policy Analyst and Alex Pollard, Energy Efficiency Commercial Program Manager
Project Description: Amanda Formica worked at the Department of Energy Resources (DOER), in the Energy Efficiency Division, leading stakeholder engagement, strategic planning, and data analysis for the MassSave® Three Year Energy Efficiency Plan process.  She also co-led the development of a tool that will help companies introduce their new energy efficiency technologies into the Mass Save® programs, proposed a data structure to streamline a new innovative residential energy efficiency program, and worked to optimize processes for public participation in the statewide Energy Efficiency Advisory Council. Amanda represented DOER at the Carbon Free Boston Social Equity Working Group, and her stakeholder engagement around better addressing the needs of moderate income families in energy efficiency programs led to a meeting between electric and gas utility companies, non-profits, and municipalities to incorporate more strategies for this population in the Three Year Energy Efficiency Plan.

Caroline Hedberg
Graduate Degree: Fletcher School of International Law and Diplomacy
Undergraduate Degree: Middlebury College
Area of Interest: Education
Mentors: Ramon Soto, Rappaport Institute Advisory Board and Mary Burkhauser, Harvard Graduate School of Education
Agency: Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Supervisor: Carrie Conaway, Associate Commissioner for Planning, Research and Delivery Systems
Project Description: Caroline's fellowship placement was with the Office of Planning and Research (OPR) in the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. As a summer fellow, she conducted research to support the  which encourages educators to build, use, and share evidence about practice to inform policies and programs that maximize the likelihood of student success. She conducted interviews with school districts across Massachusetts to better understand how districts currently build, use, and share evidence. Caroline then drew on national scholarship about evidence use in education to make recommendations for OPR as they build resources and tools for districts to make it easier to leverage evidence to improve student outcomes.

Michael Ho
Graduate Degree: Harvard Graduate School of Education
Undergraduate Degree: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Area of Interest: Education
Mentors: Tom Keane, Rappaport Institute Advisory Board and John Hansen, Harvard Graduate School of Education
Agency: Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Supervisor: Carrie Conaway, Associate Commissioner for Planning, Research and Delivery Systems
Project Description: During his fellowship at the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, Michael Ho conducted research on the state of attendance and chronic absenteeism in the Commonwealth. He synthesized data for all 1.1 million public school students in Massachusetts to write a research brief detailing subgroup absenteeism statistics, where students were disproportionately absent, and the association of absenteeism with short and long-term academic outcomes to inform statewide education policies.

Kara Jeter
Graduate Degree: Boston University School of Public Health
Undergraduate Degree: United States Military Academy
Area of Interest: Public Health Issues
Mentors: Dan Kennedy, Associate Professor, Northeastern University School of Journalism and Julie Miller, Boston College School of Social Work
Agency: Massachusetts Executive Office of Elder Affairs
Supervisor: Robin Lipson, Chief of Staff and Lynn Vidler, Assistant Director of Home and Community Programs
Project Description: As part of the Rappaport Public Policy Fellowship, Kara had the privilege of working under Robin Lipson, Chief of Staff and Chief Strategy Officer at Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Executive Office of Elder Affairs.  Her main policy focus was social isolation, loneliness and depression in older adults.  As part of this, she drafted a report for Fiscal Year ’18 Behavioral Health Initiatives comprising of all programs and actions of the Executive Office of Elder Affairs related to Behavioral Health in older adults.  This provided a good base to launch her main report focusing on problem of social isolation, loneliness and depression in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts: defining the issue and the importance of addressing the situation; current initiatives; and best practices the Commonwealth can pursue.

Sonie Johnson
Graduate Degree: Boston College School of Social Work
Undergraduate Degree: University of Texas at San Antonio
Area of Interest: Social Services Issues
Mentors: Tiziana Dearing, Professor of Macro Practice, Boston College School of Social Work and Emeka Agudile, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health
Agency: Department of Neighborhood Development, City of Boston
Supervisor: Katherine Brady, Program Manager, Office of Housing Stability
Project Description: Sonie’s fellowship at the Office of Housing Stability (OHS) involved analyzing and providing recommendations for city programs to strengthen outcomes for families at risk for homelessness. As a result of this placement and research, Sonie was able to identify daily stressors, which affect the health and well-being of staff and residents. She also identified issues of poverty that contribute to displacement and homelessness for individuals in the Family Safety Net Program.

Abigail Kim
Graduate Degree: Boston University School of Public Health
Undergraduate Degree: Northeastern University
Area of Interest: Public Health
Mentors: Jim Segel, Rappaport Institute Advisory Board and Rep. Jeffrey Sanchez, House Ways and Means Chair, Massachusetts House of Representatives and former Rappaport/Boston Urban Scholar
Agency: Office of Senator John Keenan
Supervisor: Senator John Keenan, Massachusetts State Senate and Rappaport/Boston Urban Scholar and Alejandro Alves, Chief of Staff
Project Description:Abby spent her fellowship in the office of State Senator John Keenan as the state sought passage of a comprehensive bill addressing the opioid crisis. Her primary focus was on the inclusion of language that would require emergency departments and prisons/jails to provide medications for addiction treatment and legislation authorizing a pilot harm reduction site for injection drug users to use pre-obtained drugs; evidence-based legislation that would increase access to addiction treatment and decrease the harms associated with substance use. To further this goal, she prepared talking points, briefs and a caucus presentation to inform conversations regarding the proposed legislation. She also created a detailed data brief through collaboration with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and researchers to demonstrate the burden of opioid use on individual cities and towns in the state, including multiple measures of opioid use, overdose, and HIV/Hep C rates and prevalence. She participated in meetings with other legislators and their staff, stakeholders and advocates to understand the variety of perspectives and opposition to the legislation. Further, she compiled an organized document mapping the iterations of the opioid bill from its conception by the Governor to the final version that was passed, helping to inform the staff and Senator of the bill’s progression.

Tariana Little
Graduate Degree: Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (PhD)
Undergraduate Degree: University of Massachusetts, Boston
Area of Interest: Public Health
Mentors: Monica Tibbits-Nutt, Executive Director, 128 Business Council
Agency: Mayor's Office of New Urban Mechanics, City of Boston
Supervisor: Jaclyn Youngblood, Program Manager
Project Description:Tariana worked with the City of Boston Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics (MONUM), the City's civic research and design team, and the Office of Food Access to design a scalable weekend food backpack prototype for homeless youth and their families in Boston Public Schools. This initiative, implemented at the Lilla G. Frederick Pilot School and Project Hope, with the help of the Boston Red Cross Food Pantry, is an extension of the successful yearlong “Boost Bag” prototype at the Thomas A. Edison K8 School in Brighton and is inspired by Food For Free’s Cambridge Weekend Backpack Program in Cambridge, MA .

Deja Moore
Graduate Degree: Boston University School of Public Health
Undergraduate Degree: University of Denver
Area of Interest: Public Health
Mentors: Renee Landers, Professor of Law, Suffolk University Law School and Alex Nally, Law Intern, Massachusetts Department of Higher Education
Agency: Massachusetts Department of Public Health
Supervisor: Corey Prachniak-Rincon, Director, Massachusetts Commission on LGBTQ+ Commission
Project Description: As a 2018 Harvard Rappaport Public Policy Summer Fellow, Deja had the opportunity to work with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MDPH) Office of HIV/AIDS (OHA) in partnership with AIDS Action Committee and Fenway Health on the June 15th, 2018 Getting to Zero Coalition HIV Innovations in Action Conference. For the conference, she developed moderator guides for all 16 sessions, compiled notes, reported on the key findings from the Men Who Have Sex With Men track session, and assisted with the final report. For OHA, Deja helped them with their Advisory Board Committee Focus Groups 2018 Membership Application. In addition, she worked with the MDPH Office of Sexual Health and Youth Development in partnership with the HealthCare For All (HCFA) led Protect Access to Confidential Healthcare (PATCH) Alliance to yield fact sheets on the PATCH Act, updated their Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) Division of Insurance Bulletin for consumers, and did a brief on the formative research findings on confidential billing for Health Resources in Action. Lastly, Deja assisted the Commission on LGBTQ Youth with their 2019 fiscal year annual policy recommendations.

Mariel Novas
Graduate Degree: Harvard Graduate School of Education
Undergraduate Degree: Yale University
Area of Interest: Education
Mentors: Linda Dorcena Forry, Vice President for the Northeast Region on Diversity, Inclusion, and Community Relations, Suffolk Construction and Amy Moran Lowe, Senior Analyst, Government Accountability Office
Agency: Mayor's Office for Immigrant Advancement, City of Boston
Supervisor: Celina Barrios-Millner, Immigrant Integration Fellow
Project Description: As a fellow with the Mayor’s Office for Immigrant Advancement, Mariel Novas partnered with stakeholders and community members inside and outside the Boston Public Schools to create and elevate a series of interventions in support of immigrant students. As deportations and ICE enforcement have nearly tripled in the region, more students are directly impacted than ever.To address this reality,convened a working group of BPS administrators and proposed a support plan that included resource guides for educators and families, trainings for various constituencies, and publicly available webinars. These guides detailed both the legal, educational, and social services available to families in different neighborhoods as well as a checklist for schools to reference in the event that a student or a family member is detained or deported.

Grace Ogilby
Graduate Degree: Harvard Kennedy School
Undergraduate Degree: Carleton College
Area of Interest: Technology and Innovation
Mentors: Danielle Cerny, Assistant Director, Government Innovation Lab, Harvard Kennedy School
Agency: Massachusetts Governor’s Office of Strategic Innovation
Supervisor: Greg Norfleet, Director of Strategic Innovation
Project Description: Grace worked in the Office of Strategic Innovation within the Office of Governor Charlie Baker. She focused her work on advancing the Governor’s Open for Business initiative. The initiative seeks to find the highest and best use of state properties and assets that are underutilized. Grace's work focused specifically on telecommunications policy.

Leila Quinn
Graduate Degree: Brandeis University
Undergraduate Degree: Mt. Holyoke College
Area of Interest: Housing
Mentors: Katherine Craven, Chief Administration Officer, Babson College and Colleen Dawicki, Working Cities Manager, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston
Agency: Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development
Supervisor: Brendan Goodwin, Director, Bureau of Rental Assistance and Gretchen Haupt, Program Coordinator
Project Description: During her time with DHCD, Leila worked on three projects, each in a different division of the agency. Leila assisted staff from the Public Housing Bureau the ongoing inter-agency Learn to Earn project which seeks to smooth out the “cliff effect” that families experience when earned income increases, and they suddenly lose public benefits. Leila’s research and recommendations were incorporated into recommendations to make it easier for Massachusetts residents to navigate the patchwork of safety nets. Second, with the Bureau of Housing and Rental Assistance, she is creating the first-ever public-facing “community report” on DHCD’s Moving to Work programs. The agency can now share a compelling narrative of their work promoting economic self-sufficiency and affordable housing. The report will serve as a template for future annual updates. Lastly, with the Bureau of Housing Development and Construction, Leila drafted an RFP which will allow DHCD to conduct an assessment of public housing’s vulnerability to climate change.

Maia Woluchem
Graduate Degree: MIT
Undergraduate Degree: University of Pittsburgh
Area of Interest: Government Innovation
Mentors: Amy Dain, Dain Research and Monique Gibbs, Housing Development Officer
Agency: City of Boston’s Citywide Analytics Team
Supervisor: Stefanie Costa-Leabo, Project Manager
Project Description: This summer, Maia was an Analytics Fellow with the Department of Innovation and Technology at the City of Boston, tasked with helping the Office of Fair Housing and Equity tell the story of their work through data. The Office of Fair Housing and Equity does incredible work on a myriad of issues relating to housing stability, but this particular project was focused on the Investigations and Enforcement team, which deals with complaints of housing discrimination throughout the city. Over ten weeks, she used ArcGIS to create an interactive mapping platform that visualizes the past ten years of fair housing and inspectional services cases in the City of Boston. One can visualize trends in discrimination complaints against other maps of Boston, including those showing measures of social vulnerability, to better imagine how policy, neighborhood change, and an increasingly difficult housing market affect the landscape of fair housing throughout the city.

Maksim Wynn
Graduate Degree: Harvard Kennedy School
Undergraduate Degree: University of California, Los Angeles
Area of Interest: Housing
Mentors: Brian Doherty, Secretary/Treasurer, Building and Construction Trades Council of the Metropolitan District
Agency: Department of Neighborhood Development, Boston
Supervisor: Marcy Ostberg, Director, Mayor’s Housing Innovation Lab
Project Description: Housing with Public Assets is an inventive program aimed at helping address Boston’s housing crisis by developing affordable housing on top of city owned assets like libraries and fire stations. Working with the City of Boston’s Department of Neighborhood Development, the Housing Innovation Lab and the Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics, Maksim Wynn analyzed a large portfolio of assets to determine where redevelopment would produce the greatest public benefit. He did this through a combination of spatial and data analysis and by conducting interviews with community members, city officials, as well as for- and non-profit developers. Maksim’s work will help policy makers determine the right asset to redevelop first and then will help them expand the pilot in a strategic, flexible way that can meet a wide range of development priorities.

Joanna Abaroa-Ellison
Graduate Degree: Boston College School of Social Work
Undergraduate Degree: University of Pennsylvania
Area of Interest: Criminal Justice Issues
Mentors: Christine Cole, Community Resources for Justice and Alexandra Rabasco, Boston College School of Social Work
Agency: Somerville Police Department
Supervisor: Patty Contente, Director, Community Outreach, Help, and Recovery Office
Project Description: Joanna spent her summer with the Somerville Police Department's Community Outreach, Help, and Recovery division. She researched the continuum of care for narcotics addiction in Somerville and the surrounding region. She was able to present her findings to the Mayor at the end of the summer at a data sharing meeting in City Hall. The research included evaluating accessibility of programs, both financial and travel-wise, services offered, and program capacity for those services. The findings will help the City identify needs for people with substance use problems and allow them to focus their efforts where those needs are. Joanna also attended crisis intervention trainings for police officers as well as recovery coach training for community members. She analyzed local police department policies regarding their crisis intervention teams in order to improve language and departmental practices.

Rachel Bishop
Graduate Degree: Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Undergraduate Degree: Brown University
Area of Interest: Public Health Issues
Mentors: Amy Dain, Dain Research and Ali Alhassani, Boston Children’s Hospital and Boston Medical Center
Agency: Office of Rep. Jeffrey Sanchez, House Chair of the Joint Committee on Public Health Finance
Supervisor: Rep. Jeffrey Sanchez and Erin Liang, Committee Counsel
Project Description: Rachel spent her fellowship in the office of State Representative Jeffrey Sanchez, who began the summer as Chairman of the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing and ended it as Chairman of the Joint Committee on Ways and Means. At the State House, Rachel worked on a series of issue briefs detailing how pending federal health care reform would impact Massachusetts, focusing on reproductive health and health equity. These briefs answered questions such as “which populations would lose contraceptive coverage?” and “how would the proposed Medicaid cuts exacerbate racial health inequities?” Because the ACA-repeal debate was so dynamic, Rachel updated these briefs throughout the summer to reflect current Congressional proposals. She also worked on a number of smaller projects to help provide the Chairman with the most accurate and up to date health policy information. These included writing summaries of reports from the State Auditor’s Office and the Health Connector and synthesizing testimony from hearings on Governor Bakers’ budget proposals. This work will inform future legislative efforts to improve health care quality and reduce spending growth in the Commonwealth.

Alison Collins
Graduate Degree: Brandeis University
Undergraduate Degree: Dickinson College
Area of Interest: Social Services Issues
Mentors: Stephen Chan, The Boston Foundation
Agency: Massachusetts Department of Transitional Assistance
Supervisor: Amy Kershaw, Associate Commissioner of Programs
Project Description: During her fellowship at the Massachusetts Department of Transitional Assistance (DTA), Alison helped the agency assess challenges and opportunities to improve the effectiveness of the delivery of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) services state-wide. Specifically, Alison conducted research and compiled in-depth analyses of other states’ TANF diversion programs and sanction policies to identify best practices for application in Massachusetts. Her research will assist DTA in designing and piloting new workforce development initiatives, providing critical support to DTA’s strategic planning efforts. To further support these efforts, Alison proposed strategies to improve engagement with DTA clients, support DTA staff, and increase DTA’s overall effectiveness at promoting work. Alison presented her findings and recommendations to multiple audiences within the agency, and expects that DTA will be able to take action on many of them in the near future.

Christine Dahnke
Graduate Degree: Harvard Graduate School of Education (PhD)
Undergraduate Degree: American University
Area of Interest: Education Issues
Mentors: Stephanie Hirsch, Consultant and Antoniya Owens, The Boston Foundation
Agency: Office of Rep. Jeffrey Sanchez, House Chair of the Joint Committee on Public Health Finance
Supervisor: Rep. Jeffrey Sanchez and Erin Liang, Committee Counsel
Project Description: Christine spent her summer partnering with State Representative Jeffrey Sánchez and his team as they sought passage of the LOOK (Language Opportunity for Our Kids) legislation. This bill, which passed in the House in June and the Senate in late July, will codify important changes for how English Learners (ELs) are served in the schools and districts across the Commonwealth. It proposes to amend Massachusetts’ public school policy by providing additional flexibility for districts to select the most appropriate, high-quality, research-based English Language programs for the students they serve. While on Beacon Hill, Christine provided practitioner insight, researched and reported on impactful qualitative and quantitative data, and interviewed various stakeholders in order to further efforts for collective action and encourage the bill’s passage.

Peter Damrosch
Graduate Degree: MIT
Undergraduate Degree: Yale University
Area of Interest: Transportation Issues
Mentors: Monica Tibbets-Nutt, 128 Business Council and Erick Guerra, University of Pennsylvania
Agency: Massachusetts Department of Transportation
Supervisor: Jules Williams, Manager, Sustainable Transportation
Project Description: Peter spent the summer at the Massachusetts Department of Transportation where he was a member of the Sustainable Transportation team. He worked on two main projects related to vehicle electrification. The first was a plan to expand the state’s network of charging stations for electric vehicles. Peter collected information on the locations of current charging stations to identify underserved areas where the state should install new ones. The second project was a study about the MBTA using electric buses. Peter used GIS to gather information about routes and garages that will be useful in deciding which bus lines are particularly good candidates for piloting electric buses. Both of these vehicle electrification projects aim to reduce the carbon footprint from the transportation sector which accounts for 40% of greenhouse gas emissions in Massachusetts.

Monique Gibbs
Graduate Degree: Northeastern University
Undergraduate Degree: Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy
Area of Interest: Community Development Issues
Mentors: Jessica Casey, MBTA and Abadur Rahman, Codman Square Neighborhood Development Corporation
Agency: Department of Neighborhood Development, City of Boston
Supervisor: Devin Quirk, Chief of Staff
Project Description: Through the Rappaport Fellowship, Monique had the opportunity to work for the Housing Innovation Lab at the City of Boston’s Department of Neighborhood Development. Sheworked on two exciting projects that helped improve constituent access to affordable housing resources. She created an affordable housing guide page for the City of Boston website. The page will help residents understand and find available resources to fit their individual housing needs. Her other project involved developing a framework for a universal affordable housing application portal. With the help of stakeholders in City Government and external partners, she recommended several policy options to improve the affordable housing application process for Boston residents.

Leah Igdalsky
Graduate Degree: Boston College School of Social Work
Undergraduate Degree: Brandeis University
Area of Interest: Social Services Issues
Mentors: Dan Kennedy, Northeastern University and Kaiti Jones, Boston College School of Social Work
Agency: Commission for Persons with Disabilities, City of Boston
Supervisor: Jessica Doonan, Mayor's Commission on Disabilities
Project Description: Leah spent this summer in the Mayor’s Commission on Disabilities, designing and launching a survey on accessibility priorities for city residents with disabilities. Leah worked with the Chief of Staff and Commissioner to design and refine questions and then created an online survey and designed an outreach plan to reach underserved residents with disabilities. Leah launched the survey at the city’s Annual Americans with Disabilities Act Day. Leah also attended Disability Commission Board meetings and interfaced with constituents in need of commission services.

Misti Jeffers
Graduate Degree: Brandeis University (PhD)
Undergraduate Degree: East Tennessee State University
Area of Interest: Social Services Issues
Mentors: Tiziana Dearing, Boston College School of Social Work and Justin Pasquariello, East Boston Social Centers
Agency: Massachusetts Department of Youth Services
Supervisor: Lynsey Heffernan, Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative
Project Description: Misti’s fellowship was at the Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative (JDAI) at the MA Department of Youth Services where she primarily supported efforts to mark the 10-year-anniversary of the JDAI implementation in Massachusetts by exploring the successes and challenges of the initiative and its impact on youth development and public safety. The JDAI is a public safety partnership focusing on reducing the unnecessary and harmful use of secure detention for low-risk juveniles. JDAI ensures that “the right youth, is in the right place, for the right reasons” through strategies that engage public, private, community, and family partners. Using data from DYS, DCF, probation, and the courts, Misti worked to highlight major accomplishments of JDAI as well as areas of disproportionate impact to suggest recommendations for future work. Specifically, this report provides evidence for a continued commitment to innovating collaborative service delivery approaches for special populations of youth across Massachusetts, including youth of color, females, and youth who have concurrent or past histories of contact with child welfare services at the time of their admission to detention. In line with her primary project, Misti compiled a policy and research brief highlighting national best practices for better serving youth dually-involved with child welfare and juvenile justice systems. She also assisted with mapping state practices onto the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s better conditions for confinement guidelines. This mapping project will allow DYS to explore areas in which Massachusetts may focus on with greater intentionality to better serve youth in care.

Reed Jordan
Graduate Degree: MIT
Undergraduate Degree: Carleton College
Area of Interest: Housing Issues
Mentors: Brian Doherty, Building and Construction Trades Council of the Metropolitan District and Zoe Weinrobe, Jewish Community Housing for the Elderly
Agency: Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development
Supervisor: Cate Mingoya, Director of Policy and Program Development
Project Description: Reed's fellowship was with the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) where he worked on three projects for the agency. In the first project, Reed assessed how DHCD can monitor and support the operations and management of the state funded affordable housing program. Through site visits to local public housing agencies, analysis of administrative data covering 250 agencies, and interviews with public housing staff, Reed developed a set of recommendations on how DHCD can prioritize and direct its resources to support the preservation and long-term sustainability of public housing through the Commonwealth. For the second project, Reed helped design a new DHCD program that uses a lease-purchase contract ("lease-to-own") to support homeownership for households with low income. He interviewed local and national lease-purchase providers to learn best practices for a tenant friendly program model that would support households who wish to transition into homeownership. For the third project, Reed researched mechanisms and opportunities for DHCD to support communities in the Commonwealth that have identified high rates of vacant and abandoned properties as a major housing issue.

Andrew Kim
Graduate Degree: Harvard Medical School
Undergraduate Degree: Brown University
Area of Interest: Public Health Issues
Mentors: Renee Landers, Suffolk University Law School and Jessica Hohman, Harvard Medical School
Agency: Massachusetts Executive Office of Elder Affairs
Supervisor: Jill Morrow-Gorton, Director of Clinical Services, OLTSS
Project Description: Andrew’s first major project aims to understand the advanced care planning process specifically in vulnerable populations that lack decision making capacity, including those with disabilities, mental health disorders, and/or vulnerable legal status. This will likely involve a multi-institutional study, which he hopes to publish as an academic paper and/or a white paper to guide future policy around this issue.

Michael McClurkin
Graduate Degree: Harvard Medical School
Undergraduate Degree: University of Buffalo, The State University of New York
Area of Interest: Public Health Issues
Mentors: Travis McCready, Massachusetts Life Sciences Center and Danny Vazquez, Harvard Medical School
Agency: Office of Rep. Jeffrey Sanchez, House Chair of the Joint Committee on Public Health Finance
Supervisor: Rep. Jeffrey Sanchez and Erin Liang, Committee Counsel
Project Description: Michael spent his summer with the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing working on two projects of critical importance. In his first project, he compiled official statements from over 100 stakeholders on the American Health Care Act of 2017 and Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017. For his second project, Michael drafted a memo for the Co-Chairman of the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing which assessed how plans to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act would impact healthcare in the Commonwealth.

Julie Miller
Graduate Degree: Boston College School of Social Work (PhD)
Undergraduate Degree: Northeastern University
Area of Interest: Social Services Issues
Mentors: Ben Forman, MassINC and Colleen Dawicki, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston
Agency: Massachusetts Executive Office of Elder Affairs
Supervisor: Robin Lipson, Chief of Staff
Project Description: Julie completed her fellowship with the Massachusetts Executive Office of Elder Affairs. In this role, Julie helped to curate findings from a statewide stakeholder input process about challenges and opportunities afforded by an aging state. She contributed to qualitative analysis of listening sessions involving older adults, caregivers, and representatives of public, private, and not-for-profit organizations, all of whom have a stake in the state’s age-friendliness. Expanding on feedback, Julie contributed to research about local, national, and international trends and programs of promise related to housing, transportation, economic security, caregiving, work and civic engagement. This work will be utilized by the Governor’s Council to Address Aging in Massachusetts, ultimately to make recommendations to the Governor to refine aging policies and programs. Also related to this work, Julie facilitated a working group of statewide executive directors of Aging Service Access Points in order to understand and help articulate their most complex business challenges. She “pitched” these findings at a PULSE @ MassChallenge event to draw entrepreneurial interest in technological innovations that keep older adults safe, happy, and healthy in their homes for as long as possible.

Kara Runsten
Graduate Degree: MIT
Undergraduate Degree: Stanford University
Area of Interest: Environmental Issues
Mentors: Vivien Li, RiverLife and Holly Elwell, Trust for Public Land
Agency: Department of Environment, Energy, and Open Space, City of Boston
Supervisor: Mia Mansfield, Climate Preparedness Program Manager
Project Description: Kara spent her summer as a fellow at the City of Boston Environment Department working on projects related to Climate Ready Boston. She managed the day-to-day operations and developed recommendations for the future of the Climate Ready Boston Leaders program, an outreach program designed to increase awareness and understanding of the climate impacts Boston faces by training community leaders to give presentations to their constituents. She also created and published a public-facing, web-based tool to track the progress toward implementation of the recommendations outlined in the Climate Ready Boston report. This is the first such tool for the City's climate resiliency efforts and one of the first progress tracking tools City-wide.

Morgan Shields
Graduate Degree: Brandeis University (PhD)
Undergraduate Degree: Kent State University
Area of Interest: Social Services Issues
Mentors: Tom Keane, Consultant and Andreas Mitchell, Harvard Kennedy School and Harvard Medical School
Agency: Office of Rep. Kay Khan
Supervisor: Rep. Kay Khan and Caroline Medina, Legislative Director
Project Description: Morgan is conducting research and advising on legislation related to mental healthcare.

Kanika Singh
Graduate Degree: Harvard Kennedy School
Undergraduate Degree: Trinity University, San Antonio, Texas
Area of Interest: Government Innovation
Mentors: Phil Puccia, Consultant and Anna Isaacson, Boston University
Agency: Department of Innovation and Technology, City of Boston
Supervisor: Anna Schweiger, Broadband and Digital Equity Advocate
Project Description: Kanika’s fellowship was at the City of Boston’s Department of Innovation and Technology, within the broadband and digital equity team. She worked on determining how to best use digital tools to address newly arrived refugees’ needs. This project involved interviewing diverse stakeholders and understanding the refugee services ecosystem in the city, researching best practices elsewhere, and proposing targeted interventions. She worked with direct service providers to ensure that any information tackled user needs. For her final deliverables, Kanika created an online repository of information and services for boston.gov, proposed short-term tactical interventions, and suggested long-term policy recommendations.

David Tisel
Graduate Degree: MIT
Undergraduate Degree: Oberlin College
Area of Interest: Housing Issues
Mentors: Jim Segel, Jim Segel LLC and Margaret Keaveny, Cambridge Housing Authority
Agency: Rep. Denise Provost
Supervisor: Rep. Denise Provost and Jordan Neerhof, Legislative Aide
Project Description:This summer, David worked with State Representative Denise Provost on her bill for a Local Option for Tenant Right of First Refusal. This bill would allow Massachusetts cities and towns to opt into a program granting tenants a window of time where they have a first right to purchase their homes when they are on the market, modeled on the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act (TOPA) in the District of Columbia. Since 1980, TOPA has preserved thousands of units of affordable housing and helped to prevent tenant displacement in D.C. Having worked in this program prior to graduate school, he suggested amendments to the bill based on my experience with TOPA. He also organized a legislative briefing within the Statehouse and met with dozens of advocates in Greater Boston to build momentum for the bill’s passage.

Kelly Blynn
Graduate Degree: MIT
Undergraduate Degree: Middlebury College
Area of Interest: Transportation Issues
Mentors: Erica Simmons, Volpe and Phil Puccia, JP Morgan Securities
Agency: MA Department of Transportation and MBTA
Supervisor: Scott Hamwey, Manager of Long Range Planning, MA DOT and Laurel Paget-Seekins, Director of Strategic Projects
Project Description: Kelly worked on two data analysis projects for the Office of Performance Management and Innovation (OPMI) at the MBTA and the Office of Transportation Planning at MassDOT. The first project at OPMI involved research and analysis of the potential for the MBTA to offer means-tested fares as a way to offset the impact of future fare increases on low income riders. The second project was part of Focus 40, the MBTA’s long-range capital plan. Kelly analyzed and visualized where the Rapid Transit lines and bus routes are approaching or exceeding capacity during the morning peak today, and conducted a preliminary analysis of where those routes are likely to be over capacity in 2040 given regional land use forecasts. Working in consultation with staff from MassDOT’s Office of Transportation Planning, CTPS, MBTA Service Planning, and OPMI she accessed automatically collected data from the MBTA to analyze the transit system’s demand and capacity in the baseline year in a variety of ways, including the capacity according to schedule, capacity as the transit system is actually operated, and capacity if planned improvements and investments are made. She then used GIS to analyze and visualize future land use data to understand the relationship of future job and housing growth to today’s transit capacity constraints, and flagged parts of the system that are likely to be over capacity in the future. This analysis helped highlight for internal stakeholders and the public where the transit system is currently experiencing capacity issues and where additional investments may be required as part of the Focus 40 plan.

Jasper Frank
Graduate Degree: Harvard Kennedy School
Undergraduate Degree: Yale University
Area of Interest: Criminal Justice Issues
Mentors: Jim Segel, ADS Ventures and Jake Horowitz, Pew Charitable Trusts
Agency: Office of Governor Charles Baker
Supervisor: Adam Weikel, Director of Special Projects
Project Description: Jasper worked at Massachusetts' Executive Office of Public Safety and Security (EOPSS) on an array of issues, including compassionate release and prison hospice policies, the implementation of best practices in reentry programming, and improved information sharing between federal, state, and local law enforcement. His main project was a scan of the current data collection and analytic capacity within EOPSS and a set of recommendations - informed by research on disparate practices and organizational structures across states - on how that capacity could be augmented and better coordinated.

John Hansen
Graduate Degree: Harvard Graduate School of Education
Undergraduate Degree: University of Puget Sound
Area of Interest: Education Issues
Mentors: Steph Hirsch, Consultant and Antoniya Owens, The Boston Foundation
Agency: MA Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Supervisor: Carrie Conaway, Director of Research and Policy
Project Description: John worked with the Office of Planning and Research (OPR) at the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. John analyzed dual enrollment in Massachusetts and found that approximately 7% of Massachusetts public high school students concurrently enroll in a postsecondary institution while in high school. He also found that dual enrollment at Massachusetts community colleges approximately doubled since 2008. The above-average student enrolling at a local college to earn college credit is the most common type of dual enroller, but other student profiles exist is substantial numbers. Examples include early enrollers in developmental coursework and students who are not on a traditional four-year graduation timeline. A key finding was that dual enrollment appears to be a more powerful lever for getting students on track for college success than it is for accelerating time to degree among high-achievers.

Brandy Henry
Graduate Degree: Brandeis University
Undergraduate Degree: Boston University
Area of Interest: Criminal Justice Issues
Mentors: Ben Forman, MassINC and Robey Champine, Yale University
Agency: MA Department of Correction
Supervisor: Rhiana Kohl, Executive Director, Department of Strategic Planning and Research
Project Description: Brandy worked at the Massachusetts Department of Correction Office of Strategic Planning & Research. Brandy helped the department better understand the role that substance use and mental illness play in the commission of crime. She started by conducting an extensive literature review, and key informant interviews with research staff. She also attended relevant meetings and hearings to frame the issue. These experiences culminated in the design and implementation of a long term interview based study of inmates which is ongoing and will inform her doctoral dissertation. She intends to publish study findings in a peer reviewed journal in addition to using them to make recommendations for preventive and rehabilitative policies.

Anna Isaacson
Graduate Degree: Boston University Questrom School of Management
Undergraduate Degree: Oberlin College
Area of Interest: Economic Development and Innovation Technology
Mentors: Amy Dain, Dain Research and Devin Quirk, Department of Neighborhood Development, City of Boston
Agency: City of Boston Department of Innovation and Technology
Supervisor: Kelly Mackey, Business Analyst
Project Description: Anna worked at the City of Boston’s Department of Innovation and Technology. In order to make the permit application process easier for constituents, the City of Boston is moving permit applications to the new Boston Permits & Licenses portal at boston.permits.gov. This summer, Anna furthered this work by moving four fire department applications onto the portal. Customers currently complete these four applications by hand and submit them in person at the fire department office, and so the online submission option will be a substantial process improvement for both customers and fire department staff. As part of the transition to the online portal, she also worked with the business owner at the fire department to make these four applications’ permit review workflows more efficient. Finally, she developed tools and documentation that the permitting team at Boston’s Department of Innovation & Technology can use in similar work on other permit types and at other departments.

Kaiti Jones
Graduate Degree: Boston College School of Social Work
Undergraduate Degree: Belmont University
Area of Interest: Immigration Issues
Mentors: Dan Kennedy, Northeastern University School of Journalism and Ksenia Kaladiouk, McKinsey Associates
Agency: Office of Resilience and Racial Equity
Supervisor: Atyia Martin, Chief Resilience Officer
Project Description: Kaiti working for the City of Boston in the Mayor’s Office of Resilience & Racial Equity (MORRE). Working under Chief Resilience Officer Dr. S. Atyia Martin, Kaiti worked to lend key operational support and develop infrastructure for the new office. Kaiti’s served in a multifaceted role at MORRE. She oversaw planning and execution of two daylong workshops for the Boston Resilience Collaborative, where more than 100 partners internal and external to City Hall convened to develop citywide initiatives for the Boston Resilience Strategy. Additionally, she worked to develop the Research & Evaluation Collaborative, comprised of top researchers from around the city, to ground the Boston Resilience Strategy in relevant and current data and metrics. Lastly, Kaiti worked alongside HR&A Consultants and 100 Resilient Cities and played an integral role in the development of the strategic planning and vision document for the Boston Resilience Strategy.

Reilly Kiernan
Graduate Degree: Harvard Kennedy School/Harvard Business School
Undergraduate Degree: Princeton University
Area of Interest: Workforce Development Issues
Mentors: Jennifer James, MA Office of Workforce Development
Agency: Mayor's Office of Economic Development, City of Boston
Supervisor: Meghan Haggerty, Director of Operations
Project Description: Reilly Kiernan spent the summer in the City of Boston’s Office of Economic Development, where she researched the potential for new public-private financing tools that could help the City move toward a more holistic and proactive paradigm of investing in communities. To support her recommendation, she conducted interviews and read internal documents to understand the nature, scope, and scale of OED’s neighborhood transformation and inclusive economic growth goals. She created an inventory of the wide array of public-private tools the City currently has at its disposal to finance this type of work (compiling examples of developer incentives, Federal/State/Local funding streams, tax credits, etc.). She used this inventory to understand how existing tools could be better coordinated as well as what gaps exist in the toolkit that a new tool should address. Then Reilly profiled examples of innovative public-private community investment in other contexts, distilling key lessons to inform Boston’s approach. Finally, to respond to OED’s goals, given gaps and external case studies, she proposed a high-level recommendation for a new type of tool Boston could explore, articulating the next steps for fleshing out its design and implementation.

Minjee Kim
Graduate Degree: MIT
Undergraduate Degree: Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea
Area of Interest: Economic Development Issues
Mentors: Vivien Li, Riverlife and Laura Delgado, MIT
Agency: Boston Redevelopment Authority
Supervisor: Jonathan Greeley, Director of Development Review
Project Description: Minjee worked at the Boston Redevelopment Authority’s Development Review team. In response to the Agency’s desire to improve its interface with the members of the community when potential new developments are being reviewed, she conducted a comparative analysis of the BRA’s public review procedure for reviewing private real estate developments with practices from Boston’s peer cities. As a result of her analysis, she suggested strategic ideas for restructuring the Agency’s development review system. The goal was to suggest a framework that can assure that the participation from the public becomes an integral part of the advancement of development proposals and a mutually beneficial consensus is reached at the end of the review process.

Techrosette Leng
Graduate Degree: Tufts University
Undergraduate Degree: Harvard University
Area of Interest: Community Development Issues
Mentors: Jessica Casey, Plymouth Regional Economic Development Foundation and Colleen Dawicki, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston
Agency: MassDevelopment and City of Revere
Supervisor: David Bancroft, Senior Vice President, Community Development
Project Description: Tech worked with MassDevelopment’s Transformative Development Initiative (TDI) team and the Mayor’s Office in the City of Revere. Tech worked on a number of projects related to strategic planning and development in the city, with a focus on advancing neighborhood revitalization initiatives in the Shirley Avenue TDI District. Her primary project involved leading the planning and implementation of a technical assistance panel that convened affiliates of Boston’s Urban Land Institute and the city’s administration in conversation with a diverse range of local stakeholders, culminating in a presentation of strategic investment, development, and design recommendations for the TDI district’s revitalization. This involved research of past plans and funding initiatives, regular briefings of district partners, and engagement of community stakeholders. Following the panel, Tech worked closely with the district manager and city administration on initial implementation of recommendations such as placemaking activities, small business coaching, and storefront improvement programs. In addition to this project, Tech contributed preliminary research related to governance and leadership within a planned city visioning process in Revere, participated in municipal development review processes, explored innovative community development models and their replicability in the TDI district, and participated in best practice sharing with other TDI districts across the Commonwealth.

Andreas Mitchell
Graduate Degree: Harvard Medical School
Undergraduate Degree: Washington University in St. Louis
Area of Interest: Mental Health Issues
Mentors: Representative Jeff Sanchez, House Chair of Joint Committee of Public Health Finance and Melissa Threadgill, Community Resources for Justice
Agency: MA Office of Health and Human Services
Supervisor: Leslie Darcy, Chief of Staff
Project Description: Andreas worked with the Special Commission to Investigate and Study State-Licensed Addiction Treatment Centers at the Massachusetts Department of Health and Human Services. This commission was created by the Act Relative to Substance Use Treatment, Education and Prevention, which was signed into law by Governor Baker in March 2016. Andreas worked with commission members to establish a plan for collecting data and making recommendations in a report to be submitted by January 2017. He researched questions posed by the commission with respect to ten separate topic areas, organized and facilitated focus groups to solicit information from key stakeholders, and synthesized the data gathered in presentations to the commission. In addition, Andreas played a coordinating role in setting up commission meetings, preparing materials, and communicating with commission members to ensure representation of all members’ ideas in the process.

Sana Shaikh
Graduate Degree: Brandeis University
Undergraduate Degree: University of California, Berkeley
Area of Interest: Education Issues
Mentors: Tom Keane, Consultant and Kristen Joyce, Mathematica
Agency: Boston Public Schools
Supervisor: Jonathan Sproul, Director, School/Community Partnerships
Project Description: Sana worked in the Office of School-Community Partnerships at Boston Public Schools. Sana initially did an extensive literature review, specifically focusing on how school districts defined partner, partnership, and quality standards. She researched and culled partnership tool kits to help BPS identify best practices throughout the country. Because Boston Public Schools wanted to create coherent and consistent definitions within the school district, Sana was charged with developing a comprehensive definitional framework. To achieve this deliverable, Sana interviewed 15 respondents: academics, BPS employees, and partner organizations. She developed a survey that was disseminated to funded partners and a subset of partner organizations. That data was then analyzed and helped solidify BPS’s quality standards. Throughout this process, Sana had regular check-ins with her director and BPS’s senior leadership team, to understand and get feedback on her final deliverable.

Gail Waterhouse
Graduate Degree: Northeastern University
Undergraduate Degree: Northeastern University
Area of Interest: Community Development Issues
Mentors: Brian Doherty, Boston Metropolitan District Building and Trades Council and Brendan Goodwin, MA Department of Housing and Community Development
Agency: MA Department of Housing and Community Development
Supervisor: Mark Southard, Community Development Manager
Project Description: Gail worked with the Department of Housing and Community Development reassessing their Community Wide Needs Score, which is part of the overall application process for cities and towns in Massachusetts to receive Community Development Block Grant money. She analyzed the current Community Wide Needs Score, gathered feedback from internal and external stakeholders, researched other community development needs indicators, found and collected relevant existing statistical data, and tested potential new factors for an updated score. At the end of the summer, she presented a new Community Wide Needs Score that more accurately captured community and individual need, and proposed it be implemented as part of the application process. Additionally, she gathered data and mapped municipal poverty over a 15-year period for the Community Services division of the DHCD, which acted as a first step in the division’s goal of more effectively disbursing federal aid money to communities.

Emeka Agudile
Graduate Degree: Harvard Graduate School of Public Health
Undergraduate Degree: College of Medicine, University of Nigeria
Area of Interest: Immigration Issues
Mentors: Usra Ghazi, Harvard Divinity School
Agency: Office of New Bostonians, City of Boston
Supervisor: Celina Barrios-Millner, Office of New Bostonians
Project Description: Emeka's fellowship involved working with the Mayor’s Office of New Bostonians (MONB) on its Immigrant Integration and Empowerment Project. The overarching goal of the project was to create and replicate successful practices in welcoming and empowering immigrants to fully participate in the social, economic, and civic life of the City. Towards this goal, therefore, he worked to conduct a research on the best practices on immigrant integration. Based on this research, he was able to develop immigrant integration measurement indicators for the City of Boston. Using these indicators, then, he developed an immigrant integration survey and evaluation instrument for community conversation with immigrant populations in different Neighborhoods of Boston. With these questionnaires, the MONB was able to conduct a survey for community leaders of different immigrant serving organizations in Boston. The aim of these surveys was to help identify gaps and disparities in how the City of Boston serve the immigrant communities and also to give the communities an opportunity to weigh in on the best approaches to immigrant integration and empowerment. At the same time, he helped in the design, development and implementation of another survey tool for community members in different Boston Neighborhoods. The findings from both of these surveys formed the basis for the policy recommendations to the Mayor of Boston on immigrant integration. The overall goal was to establish a process through which city leadership both embraces and encourages the full engagement of immigrants in the power dynamic.

Alexandra Ciomek
Graduate Degree: Harvard University
Undergraduate Degree: University of Pennsylvania
Area of Interest: Criminal Justice Issues
Mentors: David Friedman, Boston Red Sox and James Barrett, Wrentham Police Department
Agency: Boston Police Department
Supervisor: David Carabin, Director of the Boston Regional Intelligence Center
Project Description: Alexandra’s fellowship was at the Boston Regional Intelligence Center at the Boston Police Department. She worked on evaluating the utility of Risk Terrain Modeling (RTM) as a crime analysis and prediction tool for the Boston Police Department. RTM involves analyzing the features of places to identify areas that are most conducive to crime. This can be used as a method to predict crime that goes beyond being based primarily on past crime patterns. Using statistical and mapping software, she worked with the BRIC to identify and map conditions of social space that are correlated with crime problems and show which areas of Boston are most vulnerable. These analyzes helped identify spatial factors that are most related to crime, which not only helps the BPD identify areas in need of greater police attention, but also can help give them more information as to what the BPD can do to change these factors. With the BRIC, she compared the effectiveness of RTM compared to the usual hot spots analyses and determined there was added value in identifying the exact conditions that can affect crime, which can help the BPD in formulating a plan to reduce it in the most vulnerable areas of the city.

Marie Gay
Graduate Degree: Tufts University
Undergraduate Degree: Simmons College
Area of Interest: Economic Development Issues
Mentors: Kathy Kottaridis, Historic Boston, Inc. and Zoe Weinrobe, Recap Real Estate Advisors
Agency: MassDevelopment
Supervisor: Richard Henderson, Executive Vice President, Real Estate and Marty Jones, President and CEO
Project Description: As a Rappaport Fellow Marie acted as Mass Development Financing Authority’s (MDFA) primary liaison to other agencies  in the working group, as well as to the Governor’s office. Specific tasks included taking an inventory of surplus properties and state agency occupied and underutilized, properties; analysis of the feasibility of development of identified properties; coordination of outreach to agencies where the identified developable parcels are located; and facilitating partnering opportunities among state agencies, developers and municipalities regarding the conveyance of these parcels for development. This project aligned with many of MDFA’s organizational goals in areas of economic and community development.  The state surplus property disposition process was a collaborative partnership between multiple agencies in which MDFA could assume its role as a developer and a land bank authority. This opportunity allowed the organization to showcase many of its successful projects including the acquisition and renovations of four mental state hospitals, 100 Cambridge St in Downtown Boston, and the Springfield District Courthouse just to cite a few examples. Other projects that  Marie was also involved in assisting during her time at the MDFA consisted of research on best community-engagement practices for the Transformative Development Initiative (TDI) on Gateway Cities of Massachusetts and the Community Redevelopment Fund (CRJ) research where she compiled data to survey successful funding models for community development work throughout the state.  All three projects presented themselves as opportunities for the MDFA to engage and contribute to, both in technical expertise and in lending practice.

Philip Kreycik
Graduate Degree: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Undergraduate Degree: Harvard University
Area of Interest: Transportation Issues
Mentors: Kevin Sullivan, JP Morgan Securities and Erica Simmons, Volpe, The National Transportation Systems
Agency: Mayor's Office of New Urban Mechanics and Department of Transportation, City of Boston
Supervisor: Kris Carter, Mayor's Office of New Urban Mechanics and Charlotte Fleetwood, Department of Transportation
Project Description: Philip spent his summer in the Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics (MONUM) working on two projects of critical importance to Boston Transportation Department (BTD). In his first project, Philip scoped out the challenges associated with parking policy decisions in the absence of easily accessible data on existing regulations, and wrote an RFP to create and populate a living database and map of all parking and traffic rules in the city. He worked extensively with the Department of Innovation and Technology, as well as the Engineering Division, Operations Division, and Parking Clerk within BTD. He helped BTD come up with a plan for evaluating proposals and managing the project. For his second project, Philip designed and carried out a study of ten high crash and high traffic violation intersections. The study included analysis of crash risk factors at each location and analysis of red light compliance. Philip presented his findings and recommendations to the Vision Zero Task Force and a broad audience at BTD, and expects that BTD will be able to take action on many of them in the near future.

Marcus Mello
Graduate Degree: Harvard Graduate School of Design
Undergraduate Degree: Swarthmore College
Area of Interest: Planning and Economic Development
Mentors: Carol Burns, Taylor Burns Architects and Jennifer Haugh, Iconic Energy Consulting
Agency: Massachusetts Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development
Supervisor: Anne Haynes, Director of Transformative Development, MassDevelopment and Paul McMorrow, Policy Director, MA Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development
Project Description: During his time at the Massachusetts Development Finance Agency (MassDevelopment), Marcus worked to support the  (TDI) in a variety of ways. TDI is a place-based and systems-based approach to redevelopment in Massachusetts' Gateway Cities. As part of this initiative, Marcus helped advance the goals of the TDI program in Downtown Peabody, one of the program's ten districts. Marcus analyzed a market study conducted of the downtown, met with city officials and core partnership members, and created a market implementation strategy to push forward recommendations for the district. Marcus consulted past reports, interviewed various community members, and researched best practices for the major challenges facing Downtown Peabody. His report and framework can be used by MassDevelopment to advance the goals of TDI in Peabody and other cities participating in the program. In addition, he assisted with the TDI Places Placemaking Grant process, which awards grants to Gateway Cities that support small-scale, highly visible projects that help build community identity and improve public spaces.

James Ostis
Graduate Degree: University of Massachusetts, Boston
Undergraduate Degree: University of Massachusetts, Lowell
Area of Interest: Economic Development
Mentors: Phil Puccia, JP Morgan Securities and Colleen Dawicki, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston
Agency: Massachusetts Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development
Supervisor: Jay Ash, Secretary of Economic Development
Project Description: During his summer as a Rappaport Fellow, James worked with Secretary Jay Ash in the Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development on a number of projects with a primary focus on leadership and development in Gateway Cities.  His main project for the summer was working with EOHED and state and local representatives from Lynn, Mass. on the ongoing redevelopment of the city’s waterfront area.  This involved research of past initiatives, plans, and legislation, the creation of a property owners map, and convening meetings and site visits to the area.  A second major project was the creation of an Economic Development Rural Community Go Team program to assist the 170 rural and small towns in the Commonwealth.  In addition to strategizing the concept, he was tasked with the development of an initial resource guide to be used as part of the program.  Finally, he also was involved in helping craft the “Preparing Communities for Success” section of the Governor’s Economic Development plan, working at a regional roundtable discussion and contributing to drafts of the plan.

Alexandra Rabasco
Graduate Degree: Boston College, School of Social Work
Undergraduate Degree: University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Area of Interest: Criminal Justice Issues
Mentors: Tiziana Dearing, Boston College School of Social Work and Melissa Threadgill, Community Resources for Justice
Agency: Massachusetts Office of Health and Human Services
Supervisor: Leslie Darcy, Deputy Chief of Staff
Project Description: Alexandra Rabasco aided in the efforts of Governor Baker’s Opioid Working Group by completing projects on behalf of the Executive Office of Health and Human Services. For example, Alexandra created a database by compiling information from multiple state agencies as a means of assessing the number and types of treatment beds offered to individuals struggling with substance misuse throughout the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Alexandra also researched the various forms of medication-assisted treatment, edited policy drafts, completed literature reviews and drafted guidelines on drug prevention education for student athletes and their guardians. In addition, Alexandra networked across multiple agencies under the Executive Office of Health and Human Services, shadowed social workers placed in various positions within state government, and had the privilege of meeting many positive mentors and colleagues along the way.

Diana Serrano
Graduate Degree: Brandeis University
Undergraduate Degree: Willamette University
Area of Interest: Immigration and Education Issues
Mentors: Julie Boatright Wilson, Harvard Kennedy School and Antoniya Owens, Center for Education Policy Research
Agency: The Children's Trust, Massachusetts Department of Education
Supervisor: Sarita Rogers, Director of Home Visiting
Project Description: During her time at the Children’s Trust, Diana worked to construct a measurement tool that assesses parental capacity. The initial weeks of her placement she met with organization members and did an extensive literature review. Once she identified the dimensions of parental capacity, she worked with her supervisor to identify data availability within the organization that measure factors that directly and indirectly impact parental capacity, these included: parental mental illness, substance misuse, intimate partner violence – to name a few. Based on the identified risk factors, she was able to create three family profiles using latent profile analyses. Based on these profiles service providers can better tailor service delivery to meet the specific needs of families.

Theodora (Teddi) Simon
Graduate Degree: Harvard Kennedy School
Undergraduate Degree: University of San Francisco
Area of Interest: Women's Advancement Issues
Mentors: Dan Kennedy, Northeastern University's School of Journalism and Amy Moran Lowe, Government Accountability Office
Agency: Office of Women's Advancement, City of Boston
Supervisor: Megan Costello, Commissioner
Project Description: Tedde spent the summer with the Mayor’s Office of Women’s Advancement (MOWA) at Boston’s City Hall. She worked alongside staff of the Mayor’s Office of New Bostonians in an effort to broaden city efforts to combat wage theft, especially in immigrant and low-wage industries. Through this research, she had the opportunity to meet with a multitude of community organizations, workers centers, and advocates addressing these issues, and connect these community groups with liaisons at the city for long-term coordination. She participated in the development of a long-term campaign for diversification of city procurement, with MOWA and the Office of Diversity, to increase Boston’s spending with women and minority-owned businesses.

Heidi Sulman
Graduate Degree: Boston University School of Public Health
Undergraduate Degree: Harvard University
Area of Interest: Mental Health Issues
Mentors: Joan Wallace-Benjamin, The Home for Little Wanderers and Justin Pasquariello, Children's HealthWatch
Agency: Massachusetts Group Insurance Commission
Supervisor: Commissioner Dolores Mitchell
Project Description: As a Fellow at the Group Insurance Commission, Heidi conducted a study regarding care integration and managed behavioral health organizations. She spoke to over 75 different stakeholders – including legislators, numbers state government officials, academics and policy experts, providers / health systems, insurance executives, and advocacy organizations – to determine their opinions and ascertain best practices for incentivizing integration. She ultimately wrote a white paper with policy recommendations for the GIC, a condensed version of which she intends to publish in a peer-reviewed journal.  She also wrote internal memos suggesting improvements to the agency’s current behavioral health contracts.

Danny Vazquez
Graduate Degree: Harvard Medical School
Undergraduate Degree: University of Arizona
Area of Interest: Health Care Finance Policy
Mentors: Renee Landers, Suffolk University Law School and Daniela Delgado, Harvard Medical School
Agency: Office of State Representative Jeffrey Sanchez, House Chair of Public Health Finance
Supervisor: Massachusetts State Representative Jeffrey Sanchez, House Chair of Public Health Finance and Sarah Sabshon, Chief of Staff
Project Description: During his summer on the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing at the Office of Representative Jeffrey Sánchez, Danny was heavily involved in the Working Group on Medicaid Managed Care Organizations (MMCOs), which are the health insurance plans that MassHealth, the Massachusetts state Medicaid agency, contracts with. The MMCOs are responsible for the quality and cost of health care for their Medicaid population, and influence cost and quality by implementing a variety of “managed care” techniques to reduce overall health care costs and enhance coordination of care for medically complex patients. The Working Group on MMCOs was started to examine the success and impact of MMCOs on health care in Massachusetts and culminate in policy recommendations for the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing that will impact MMCOs as Massachusetts moves forward with health care payment reform. While on the Joint Committee for Health Care Financing, Danny conducted research on MMCOs; met and communicated with various stakeholders to learn more about the issues surrounding MMCOs from the health plan perspective, including MassHealth, MMCO health plan leaders, and MAHP; and also met and communicated with several research organizations, including CHIA, to obtain critical information necessary for the proper function of the Working Group on MMCOs. He synthesized the information from these and other sources to inform the Working Group’s discussion of MMCO issues, to inform the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing as they craft policy recommendations in September, and to suggest his own policy recommendations to the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing.

Lindsay Woodson
Graduate Degree: Harvard Graduate School of Design
Undergraduate Degree: Syracuse University
Area of Interest: Environmental Issues
Mentors: Vivien Li, The Boston Harbor Association and Nathan Sanders, Legendary Entertainment
Agency: Office of State Representative Denise Provost
Supervisor: Massachusetts State Representative Denise Provost
Project Description: Lindsay worked with State Representative Denise Provost (D-Somerville) and a team of experts led by Dr. Doug Brugge from Tufts Medical School to draft state legislation regarding design strategies for minimizing health impacts from near roadway air pollution. During her time at the State House, Lindsay also hosted a legislative briefing to inform Massachusetts Representatives and Senators about air pollution concerns and design solutions to garner support. She also wrote testimony for related environmental bills. Lindsay was also able to contribute to Doug’s team through research, by generating several fact sheets and summary documents. As a designer it critically important to care for the built and natural environment, responsibly. Lindsay appreciated the opportunity to inform policy through design.

Suveer Bahirwani
Graduate Degree: Tufts University
Undergraduate Degree: University of Mumbai
Area of Interest: Environmental Issues
Mentors: Neil Veilleux, Meister Consulting Group
Agency: Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources
Supervisor: Birud Jhaveri, Deputy Commissioner, Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources
Project Description: Suveer’s anchor project at the MassDOER was the management and coordination of the Carbon Tax Study. Working closely with the project’s consultants, Suveer oversee all aspects of the technical work and the stakeholder process so as to inform its analysis. In the stakeholder work, he ensured that the study is accompanied by a process that includes a wide range of interests, environmental non-profits to private institutions and business associations, all vested in the introduction, implementation and impact of a carbon tax. This work will assist the state and legislature’s full consideration of the tax. More information on the study can be found at: 

Additionally, Suveer worked with the Renewables Team on three other projects: On the Residential Solar Loan program, Suveer was task with providing analytical support by developing key decision-making scenarios. This work offered the team visibility into the range of possibilities that would result from the credit enhancement tools available to the state agency; in effect, maximizing the leverage of a $30 million program budget for credit enhancement. Drawing on his past experience, Suveer also played a consultative role on the team assessing barriers and opportunities, particularly in energy finance in the current marketplace. On the Battery Storage project, Suveer wrote an Internal Memo apprising the Renewables team on the current state of the battery storage industry in Massachusetts, as well as its potential for in meeting the Commonwealth clean energy and electric reliability goals.Furthermore, as part of an Inter-Departmental (MassDOER & MassDEP) team, Suveer provided research and analytical support on EPA’s Proposed Rule 111(d) as it impacts Massachusetts.

Charles Brackett
Graduate Degree: University of Massachusetts Boston
Undergraduate Degree: McGill University
Area of Interest: Criminal Justice Issues
Mentors: David Friedman, Boston Red Sox and Robey Champine, Tufts University
Agency: Mayor's Office, City of Boston
Supervisor: Patricia Boyle-McKenna, Director of Internships
Project Description: Between June and August 2014, Charlie will conduct extensive one-on-one interviews and workshops with employers and staffing firms to determine the sources of their criminal background checking policies and garner insights and recommendations for the Mayor on how to leverage city resources to improve ex-offender hiring outcomes. He will use data to analyze ex-offender performance in relation to a non-offender control group. The purpose of this project is twofold. First, to gain a better understanding of the sources of employer preferences in setting background check policies. Second, testing the effectiveness of a structured skills development program in improving ex-offender job performance. The data gathered from this project will help City officials understand how major employers in Boston can be induced to hire ex-offenders and show a path for future city investment in ex-offender integration.

Tolani Britton
Graduate Degree: Harvard Graduate School of Education
Undergraduate Degree: Tufts University
Area of Interest: Education Issues
Mentors: Joan Wallace Benjamin, The Home for Little Wanderers and Tessa Bridge, The King Open School
Agency: Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Supervisor: Carrie Conaway, Associate Commissioner, Office of Planning and Research
Project Description: Tolani explored whether the expressed preferences for college enrollment in eighth grade change by tenth grade, after a student has taken high school courses, and how well the preferences revealed in eighth and tenth grade are realized by students after graduating from high school. She used state level data from Massachusetts, which allowed her to explore aspirations in junior high school and senior high school and their links to actual college enrollment. Understanding how student’s educational expectations change during high school is a pressing question, given that much of high school reform seeks to better prepare students for college enrollment (Carnoy, Elmore, & Siskin, 2013). Using a first difference strategy, she found that students who plan to attend a four year college are more likely to enroll in college and attend a four year institution than their peers who did not plan to attend a four year institution. Students who plan to attend a two year college in both eighth and tenth grade are less likely to enroll in any type of college. In terms of demographic differences, both Black and Latino students are less likely than their White peers to have college enrollment outcomes that mirror their expressed preferences, even when we control for academic preparation.

Rebecca Cudmore
Graduate Degree: Northeastern University
Undergraduate Degree: Boston College
Area of Interest: Criminal Justice Issues
Mentors: Renee Landers, Suffolk University Law School and James Barrett, Wrentham Police Department
Agency: Mayor's Office, City of Boston and Women's Commission
Supervisor: Megan Costello, Commissioner, City of Boston's Women's Commission
Project Description: Rebecca’s summer fellowship was at the City of Boston Mayor’s Office of Women’s Advancement. The office promotes equal rights and opportunities for women and girls in the city of Boston. Specifically, Rebecca worked on projects involving sexual exploitation (i.e. sex trafficking and prostitution) in the city. Rebecca’s primary summer project was an examination of how the hotel industry in the city of Boston comes into contact with victims of sexual exploitation. The goal was to gain a better understanding of the scope of sexual exploitation in the city and develop a plan for training hotel employees to recognize and respond to sexual exploitation in their workplaces. This work included collaboration with relevant stakeholders, including staff from the Mayor’s office, the Boston Police Human Trafficking Unit, and a local non-profit. In addition, Rebecca conducted focus groups with law enforcement, hotel security and management personnel, and survivors of sexual exploitation. The final project consisted of a report to Mayor Walsh with concrete recommendations for how the city can work to end sexual exploitation in Boston hotels.

Daniela Delgado
Graduate Degree: Harvard Medical School
Undergraduate Degree: University of Miami
Area of Interest: Public Health Issues
Mentors: Audrey Morse Gasteier, Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector and Araceli Gutierrez, Harvard School of Public Health
Agency: Office of Jeffrey Sanchez, Massachusetts House of Representatives
Supervisor: Representative Jeffrey Sanchez
Project Description: This summer, Daniela worked at the office of Representative Jeffrey Sánchez, the House Chair of the Joint Committee on Public Health. The bulk of her time was spent on a project about the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy, which is a program through which U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services gives lawful status to youth who entered the country before they were 16 years old. Youth must complete an application process and pay a fee, after which they receive a driver’s license and a work permit. Daniela brought the importance of this issue to the attention of the Chairman and his staff and worked to bring together about 40 different providers in the greater Boston area, from community organizations, to school representatives and academics, to discuss ways to help the youth. She was responsible for the planning logistics of a luncheon where providers shared ideas on the needs and challenges of this population in greater Boston. Furthermore, she is coordinating the development of a strategic plan to host DACA renewal clinics and outreach, and the formation of a regional network of providers that collaborates on this immigration issue. In addition, Daniela was given the task of keeping the Chairman informed on the current Medicaid Waiver, and she met with the Commonwealth’s Medicaid experts and wrote several debriefings for the Chairman.

Kassie Dumlau Bertumen
Graduate School: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Undergraduate Degree: University of California, Berkeley
Area of Interest: Housing Issues
Mentors: Carol Burns, Burns Taylor Architects and Zoe Weinrobe, Recap Real Estate Advisors
Agency: Massachusetts Executive Office for Housing and Economic Development Supervisors: Erica Kreuter, Director of MassWorks Infrastructure Program
Project Description: As a Rappaport Fellow, Kassie assisted the Permit Regulatory Office at Massachusetts Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development (EOHED) on a report that documents how targeted investments made through the state's MassWorks Infrastructure Program (MassWorks) have benefited growing and revitalizing communities throughout the Commonwealth. 

To complete this work, Kassie administered a combination of site visits and telephone interviews with MassWorks grant recipients and other project stakeholders, including municipal officials, developers, regional planning agency staff, business owners, and community leaders to learn what direct outcomes and spillover effects resulted from MassWorks-supported projects. Kassie also analyzed grantee applications, quarterly reports and other relevant documents to supplement the primary information she collected. 

Her final deliverable included an overview of the MassWorks program—including how it was created, how it is implemented and the types of projects it supports; in addition to six case studies, which highlight exemplary revitalization projects, that have experienced tremendous success in spurring private investments, attracting new businesses, reactivating inner cities, and stimulating job growth in the area. Kassie was also exposed to some of the Office’s other strategic initiatives, including Housing That Works and regional planning.

Conor Gately
Graduate Degree: Boston University
Undergraduate Degree: Wesleyan University
Area of Interest: Transportation Issues
Mentors: Kevin Sullivan, JP Morgan and Nick Carney, Harvard Kennedy School
Agency: Mayor's Office of New Urban Mechanics, City of Boston and the Central Transportation Planning Council
Supervisors: Chris Osgood, Mayor's Office of New Urban Mechanics and Scott Peterson, Central Transportation Planning Staff
Project Description: Conor's fellowship this summer involved two main projects: 1) Using a collection of unique datasets to quantify the spatial and temporal variation of traffic congestion across the Boston metropolitan area; and 2) calibrating and validating the performance of parts of the CTPS travel demand model as part of an ongoing model review process. The first project focused on systematically identifying the key corridors in the City of Boston that suffer from persistent and severe traffic congestion, in order to inform the development of traffic management policies within the Boston Transportation Department’s planning division. This was achieved through the use of high-resolution traffic data obtained from multiple sources, including private companies and state and municipal agencies. By developing a city-wide benchmark based on a consistent data-model, transportation planners and traffic engineers will be able to assess the impact of future policies and developments on traffic conditions across the City of Boston. This large data-model framework was also used on the second project, which aimed to test the performance of the traffic simulation models used by CTPS to forecast traffic demand in response to future urban development and changing patterns of travel behavior. His analysis resulted in some modest improvements to the model’s performance on heavily congested roads, while also providing an empirical confirmation that most of the model parameters are correctly tuned to reproduce the peak period traffic conditions across eastern Massachusetts.

Usra Ghazi
Graduate School: Harvard Divinity School
Undergraduate Degree: DePaul University
Area of Interest: Immigration Issues
Mentors: Tiziana Dearing, Boston College and Antoniya Owens, Center for Education Policy and Research
Agency: Office of New Bostonians
Supervisor: An Le, Community and Policy Affairs Advocacy Coordinator
Project Description: Usra Ghazi served as a policy fellow at the Mayor’s Office of New Bostonians (MONB). In addition to providing staff support on MONB’s ongoing initiatives to promote civic engagement and citizenship among Boston’s immigrant communities, Usra conducted outreach to faith-based organizations and leaders. She researched and produced policy proposals on how the City of Boston can implement best practices of faith-based engagement. One of these proposals was signed and authorized by the Mayor’s Office resulting in the first-ever Ramadan holiday celebration at City Hall with Mayor Walsh and over 200 of the city’s Muslim civic leaders and community members. She served as a liaison to the Mayor’s Special Advisor on Violence Prevention and Public Safety to launch an inaugural faith-based advisory council. She was invited to stay on staff at MONB as a policy fellow for the duration of the 2014-2015 academic year.

Ksenia Kaladiouk
Graduate Degree: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Undergraduate Degree: Cornell University
Area of Interest: Immigration Issues
Mentors: Helene Solomon, Solomon McCown and Amy Moran Lowe, GAO
Agency: Office of New Bostonians
Supervisor: An Le, Community and Policy Affairs Advocacy Coordinator
Project Description: Ksenia spent her summer as a Rappaport Fellow at the Department of Neighborhood Development in the Office of Business Development (OBD). Her objective was to help the City of Boston to develop a better understanding of the immigrant entrepreneurship experience in Boston—including business owners’ needs, challenges and successes. Her key objective was to provide a set of recommendations for how the City could better serve and support the foreign-born business owner community on the basis of her findings. Because she was not jumping in to help with an existing project but rather starting, executing on and wrapping up a standalone initiative in the course of her summer with OBD, she chose to treat the experience as somewhat of a test-run at consulting for a city agency. Running her own business doing consulting engagements for non-profits or public sector agencies is a career path that she has been actively exploring, so her work with OBD seemed like a perfect opportunity to try her hand at executing on a project in this manner.

Carolina Koch
Graduate Degree: Brandeis University
Undergraduate Degree: University of Massachusetts Amherst
Area of Interest: Community Development Issues
Mentors: Phil Puccia, JP Morgan and Margaret Keaveny, Cambridge Housing Authority
Agency: Department of Neighborhood Development, City of Boston
Supervisor: Devin Quirk, Director of Operations and Donald Wright, Deputy Director of the Real Estate Management Division, DND
Project Description: During her time at the Department of Neighborhood Development (DND), Caroline worked on a student housing initiative to improve the quality and safety of student housing in Boston. As part of this initiative, Caroline was responsible for managing and analyzing all off-campus student housing data that Boston colleges and universities submitted to the City. Caroline’s analysis of the student housing data was used by the Department of Inspection Services to identify areas with overcrowding and unsafe conditions in Boston. In addition, the student housing data and analysis will be used by Mayor Walsh’s office to establish best practices for student housing in the future. Caroline also worked with the Real Estate Management Division and the Neighborhood Housing Development Division at DND to enhance the community process model in order to better engage DND staffers and constituents in the sale of city owned property throughout the Boston community.

Gilberto Lopez
Graduate Degree: Harvard School of Public Health
Undergraduate Degree: California State University, Fresno
Area of Interest: Public Health Issues
Mentors: Renee Landers, Suffolk University Law School and Kia Davis, Harvard School of Public Health
Agency: Boston Public Health Commission
Supervisor: Dr. Huy Nguyen, Medical Director and Rita Nieves, Director, Bureau of Addiction Prevention, Treatment, and Recovery
Project Description: Gilberto Lopez is a doctoral student in the department of social and behavioral sciences at the Harvard School of Public Health. As a Radcliffe/Rappaport Summer Doctoral Fellow, Gilberto was hosted by the Boston Public Health Commission’s Bureau of Addictions Prevention, Treatment, and Recovery Support Services. Gilberto’s role was twofold; (1) rotate throughout the various programs and services within the bureau and (2) research how print media frames the issue of substance overdose in the Boston metro area. The first project consisted of spending a week in each of the departments within the bureau, including prevention, needle exchange, rehabilitation services, men’s services, and women’s services. Participating in the various programs allowed for a holistic understanding of how services work together in assisting individuals and populations as they attempt recovery. The second project researched how media framed the issue of overdose in the Boston area, consisting of analysis of over 800 newspaper articles. The aim of the project was to understand how print media (newspapers) have written about overdose cases in the Boston area over the past 10 years. The project focused on the relationships between demographics, geography, and temporality in the writing of overdose cases.

Rohan Mascarenhas
Graduate Degree: Harvard Kennedy School
Undergraduate Degree: Amherst College
Area of Interest: Performance Management Issues
Mentors: Amy Dain, Dain Research and Devin Quirk Department of Neighborhood Development
Agency: SomerStat Office, City of Somerville
Supervisor: Daniel Hadley, Director of SomerStat
Project Description: This summer, Rohan worked in Somerville for the Mayor's Office of Innovation and Analytics, otherwise known as SomerStat. The division handles the city's performance management, which allows staff to coordinate initiatives using data and coordinated teamwork. Rohan worked on a variety of data-related projects: he investigated the possibility of using behavioral economics and randomized experiments to improve parking citation collection rates; he researched and drafted an open data ordinance; and he evaluated research on casinos' economic impact.

Kelly Vitzthum
Graduate Degree: Harvard School of Public Health
Undergraduate Degree: University of California, Berkeley
Area of Interest: Public Health Issues
Mentors: Ben Forman, MassINC and Ruth Sappelt, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Agency: Massachusetts Department of Public Health
Supervisor: Gail Hirsch, Office of Community Health Workers
Project Description: This summer, Kelly worked at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, in the Office of Community Health Workers as well as the Office of Oral Health. She helped compile and summarize key research on the efficacy of Community Health Workers (CHWs) on specific disease areas in reducing healthcare costs and improving population health, work that will be included in a toolkit for Prevention and Wellness Trust fund grantees. She also developed documents for public consumption that detail best practices in the organizational integration of CHWs and address stakeholder concerns with Massachusetts’ current efforts to certify this emerging health profession. Kelly’s work with the Office of Oral Health included planning for a revision of the Status of Oral Disease in Massachusetts report; evaluation development for a medical-dental linkage pilot in community health clinics across the Commonwealth; and the drafting of a Department policy statement on community water fluoridation.

Lauren Yoshizawa
Graduate Degree: Harvard Graduate School of Education
Undergraduate Degree: Swarthmore College
Area of Interest: Education Issues
Mentors: Dan Kennedy, Northeastern University School of Journalism and Mary Burkhauser, Harvard Graduate School of Education
Agency: Massachusetts Board of Higher Education
Supervisor: Winnie Hagen, Director for Educator Policy and Susan Lane, Senior Director of Alignment and Engagement
Project Description: During her Radcliffe/Rappaport Public Policy Doctoral Fellowship at the Department of Higher Education, Lauren worked on multiple projects of policy alignment with Winnie Hagan, the Director of Educator Policy, and Sue Lane, the Senior Director of Alignment and Engagement. Her primary focus was on the Common Core standards and PARCC assessments. Lauren supported the work of the Regional Readiness Centers and Campus Engagement Teams to interpret how these changes in K-12 instruction will affect public higher education. DHE, in collaboration with DESE, supports higher education campuses as they prepare to integrate PARCC and the Common Core into their teacher preparation programs, placement policies, and K-12 partnerships.

Tara Aubuchon
Graduate Degree: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Undergraduate Degree: Washington University, St. Louis, MO
Area of Interest: Housing Issues
Mentors: Amy Dain, Dain Research and Ellen Ward, Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development
Agency: Cambridge Housing Authority
Supervisor: Kathleen Evans, Senior Program Manager for Policy and Technology
Project Description: During her Rappaport Summer Fellowship at the Cambridge Housing Authority (CHA), Tara investigated rent payment alternatives and incentives for public housing residents’ to use mainstream financial services. CHA identified three goals for the project:

• Provide convenient rent payment options to residents, while supporting residents’ use of mainstream financial institutions.
• Identify cost effective solutions that save residents and CHA time and money.
• Streamline processes to harness technology better, including timely posting of rent.

Tara reviewed CHA’s current practices, researched alternative technologies, and spoke with other housing authorities to identify alternatives and potential pilot programs. These included designing a clearer ledger, changing reporting software that will save significant staff time, and considering policies to avoid unnecessary delinquency proceedings. She worked with staff to propose three pilot programs including incentivizing direct draw, creating an online rent payment system, and reducing paper statements. She also helped initiate a plan to host a financial education fair to improve residents’ financial literacy and to solicit feedback on CHA’s rent payment initiatives.

Sara Brown
Graduate Degree: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Undergraduate Degree: Dartmouth College
Area of Interest: Economic Development Issues
Mentors: Kathy Kottaridis, Historic Boston, Inc. and Devin Quirk, Boston About Results
Agency: City of Boston Department of Neighborhood Development
Supervisor: Carol Owens, Director of Marketing
Project Description: During her time at DND, Sara worked to design a Tax Title Dashboard that coordinated data between the Assessing Department, Law Department, and DND in order to help track and prioritize properties through the tax title and disposition processes. The goal of the Dashboard is to enable DND to better anticipate and plan for the properties it receives through tax foreclosure. She also worked on making DND’s existing property inventory database more searchable and useful, to improve property classification and enable faster reuse. In addition, she generated a set of recommendations for how to strengthen DND's communication to the public, including explaining how DND acquires and sells property, and how and when community members can participate in the disposition process. As part of this, she prepared content for DND's external website, including a new Open Spaces section covering community gardens, urban agriculture, and other alternatives. Furthermore, she served on DND's Open Space Working Group, and prepared the initial draft of DND's Open Space Plan to guide the agency's future efforts to support green space on city-owned vacant land. Finally, she wrote a white paper on strategies to address distressed properties, where owners are missing in action or unresponsive to fines, based on best practices from around the United States to complement the efforts of the Problem Properties Task Force.

Mary Burkhauser
Graduate Degree: Harvard Graduate School of Education
Undergraduate Degree: Cornell University
Area of Interest: Education Issues
Agency: Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Supervisor: Heather Peske, Associate Commissioner, Office of Educator Policy, Preparation and Leadership
Project Description: Mary was a Radcliffe/Rappaport Doctoral Policy Fellow in the Office of Educator Policy, Preparation, and Leadership (EPPL) at the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (ESE). Mary worked closely with Associate Commissioner Heather Peske and her team on 3 exciting projects:
1. The EPPL team is responsible for implementing the Massachusetts Framework for Educator Evaluation. Mary helped draft model contract language that districts can use as they work to meet the state's educator evaluation regulations;
2. In addition to Educator Evaluation, ESE is focused on implementing frameworks aligned to the Common Core. Mary worked on a proposal for an online tool for educators that would house a variety of resources linking the Common Core with ESE’s indicators of educator effectiveness;
3. EPPL is also responsible for teacher licensure. Mary wrote a memo to the Commissioner outlining recommendations for how to address concerns in the Deaf community that prelingually deaf individuals are struggling to become licensed to teach in Massachusetts.

Nick Carney
Graduate Degree: Harvard Kennedy School
Undergraduate Degree: Davidson College
Area of Interest: Transportation Issues
Mentors: Phil Puccia, Consultant and Matt Mayrl, City of Boston Department of Public Works
Agency: Massachusetts Department of Transportation
Supervisor: Mike Lambert, Deputy Administrator and Assistant to the General Manager
Project Description: As a fellow working at the Rail and Transit Division of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, Nick worked on a variety of projects, all related to improving transit operations throughout the Commonwealth and the institutional capacity of MassDOT. One of his primary tasks involved analyzing the current state of the Commonwealth’s fifteen Regional Transit Agencies (RTAs) and previous efforts towards refining their operations and planning capabilities. Additionally, he began writing the first statewide capital improvement plan for the RTAs, a standard procedure for any well-run transit agency that has not previously occurred. Additionally, he systematically inventoried and remedied issues with the vehicle ownership titles for vans and buses in the Commonwealth’s Mobility Assistance Program; was introduced to capital asset management and transit operations; and was exposed to the fascinating relationship between a regulatory state agency and the public sector and private entities that it is charged with monitoring. The knowledge and skills that he acquired run the gamut from practical management skills to high-level policy implementation, and all provide an essential foundation for future career endeavors.

Robey Champine
Graduate Degree: Tufts University
Undergraduate Degree: Smith College
Area of Interest: Criminal Justice Issues
Mentors: Bruce Western, Director, Malcolm Wiener Center for Social Policy and Jessica Simes, Harvard University
Agency: Massachusetts Department of Youth Services
Supervisor: Peter Forbes, Deputy Director
Project Description: As a Radcliffe/Rappaport Doctoral Policy Fellow at the Massachusetts Department of Youth Services (DYS) during the summer 2013, Robey worked primarily with the Subcommittee on Positive Youth Development (PYD) to explore how the agency can promote positive and healthy functioning among youth in the juvenile justice system and measure cognitive, emotional, and social indicators of thriving. In support of the Department’s strategic mission and goals, Robey provided feedback on a proposed PYD framework to help inform strength-based DYS programs and practices, and provided guidance on important outcome areas and corresponding measurable indicators to include in the model. She also developed a protocol for conducting focus groups with staff to collect their feedback on the proposed framework and better understand how they operationalize PYD. In addition, Robey worked on different program policies and manuals that suggest how staff at all levels within the agency can promote thriving among youth in their care through engaging educators, families, and community providers. Following completion of her fellowship, Robey hopes to continue to work with DYS to pre-test and implement an empirically-supported measure of PYD that can be used to identify individual and ecological development assets associated with thriving among juvenile offenders. 

Araceli Gutierrez
Graduate Degree: Harvard School of Public Health
Undergraduate Degree: San Francisco State University
Area of Interest: Public Health Issues
Mentors: Dahianna Lopez, Harvard School of Public Health
Agency: Office of Representative Jeffrey Sanchez, House Chair of the Joint Committee on Public Health
Supervisor: Representative Jeffrey Sanchez
Project Description: Araceli worked in the Office of Rep. Jeff Sanchez (D-Boston) who is the House Chair of the Joint Committee for Public Health. Her main project examined how the implementation of provisions in Massachusetts’ payment reform, including global payments and market impact reviews, could complement the Affordable Care Act’s community benefits provisions. During her summer she worked on a large survey of residents of the Bromley-Heath housing project and ran a number of community meetings.

Jennifer Haugh
Graduate Degree: Harvard Graduate School of Design
Undergraduate Degree: University of Minnesota
Area of Interest: Environmental Issues
Mentors: Carol Burns, Taylor Burns Architects and Josh Bagnato, First Wind
Agency: Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources
Supervisor: Eric Friedman, Director, Leading by Example Program
Project Description: During the summer, Jennifer reported to the program established by Governor Deval Patrick's Executive Order 484 "Leading by Example: Clean Energy and Efficient Buildings," and provided program support and analysis for energy-efficiency installations and measures in state-owned facilities. Her projects included developing research and recommendations on the IRS Section 179D tax deduction for energy-efficient buildings, performing a data analysis on the energy use intensity (EUI) of 28 state-owned LEED-certified buildings, and conducting qualitative research and reporting on the results of Massachusetts’ $55 million American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 State Energy Program.

Melissa Majerol
Graduate Degree: Harvard School of Public Health
Undergraduate Degree: Binghamton University
Area of Interest: Health Care Finance Issues
Mentors: Renee Landers, Suffolk University Law School
Agency: Massachusetts Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector
Supervisor: Audrey Morse Gasteier, Director of Research and Policy
Project Description: Melissa spent her summer working at the Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector Authority (“the Health Connector”), Massachusetts’s health care exchange, which has served as the model for state exchanges opening nationwide in response to national health reform. Melissa is interested in the drivers of health care costs in the United States, specifically how different payment models affect the behaviors of health care providers and, ultimately, the cost of health care. With Chapter 224 of the Acts of 2012, Massachusetts passed several regulations that were designed to address the high cost of health care in the Commonwealth and called upon the Health Connector, among other state agencies, to promote and implement alternative payment methodologies. Helping the agency comply with this regulation, Melissa’s project explored alternatives to fee-for-service, the predominant payment methodology in Massachusetts and nationwide. She researched payment reform experiments and independent studies measuring the efficacy of such models. She also interviewed insurance companies on the Health Connector’s shelf to learn what they’re doing to advance payment reform among provider organizations, and to get their insight about the possible pitfalls of alternative payment methodologies. Melissa presented her findings to the Policy and Communications team and proposed a course of action for how better to promote payment reform in the Commonwealth in accordance with state regulations.

Abadur Rahman
Graduate Degree: Northeastern University
Undergraduate Degree: Northeastern University
Area of Interest: Economic Development Issues
Mentors: Stephanie Bloch, Boston Municipal Research Bureau
Agency: Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development
Supervisor: Larry Field, Special initiatives and Project Manager
Project Description: This summer Abadur had the opportunity to work at the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’s Department of Housing and community Development. The Commonwealth’s secretary of housing and economic development Gregory Bialecki planned a series of events to highlight the development opportunities in the communities of ‘Metro North’. The ‘Metro North’ communities include Boston neighborhoods East Boston and Charlestown; and cities including Chelsea, Winthrop, Revere, Everett, Medford, Malden and Somerville. This purpose of the tour is to highlight opportunities in the region, where lower land costs, a history of mixed-use development and a desire to grow will help create housing, jobs and foster economic vitality. His role was to assist in coordinating the tour and to identify housing opportunities, creative and innovative businesses in ‘Metro North’ communities, and draft event briefs for Secretary Bialecki. He drafted a PowerPoint presentation showing collaboration between EOHED, EOEEA and MassDOT, and other materials for the Multi-Family Housing Summit . He assisted with developing and mailing building permit survey for tracking Governor Patrick’s 10,000 multi-family housing goal. He identified housing opportunities for the task force DHCD is leading comprised of public and quasi-public housing agencies. Additionally he had the opportunity to attend three conferences: 1) Planning ahead for growth 2) Planning & Community Development Conference 2013 ( 3) Multi Family Housing Summit.

Mirza Ramic
Graduate Degree: Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University
Undergraduate Degree: Bowdoin College
Area of Interest: Education Issues
Mentors: Joan Wallace Benjamin, The Home for Little Wanderers and Robert Goodspeed, MIT
Agency: Massachusetts Board of Higher Education
Supervisor: Dr. Carlos Santiago, Senior Deputy Commissioner for Academic Affairs and Academic Policy
Project Description: This summer, Mirza worked at the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education on several projects. The bulk of his time was spent on preparing for the upcoming Vision Project conference, which will highlight the initiatives at public higher education institutions funded by the state’s Performance Incentive Fund grant. Along with reviewing and assessing hundreds of school proposals and grant reports, he also helped conceptualize and design a special technology session that will highlight the various campus ed tech programs, initiatives, and tools. He will be moderating this session at the Vision Project conference in October. In addition, Mirza helped write a piece for the upcoming Vision Project annual report discussing a graduation retention program at one of the state’s public institutions. Finally, he conducted research on distance learning and for-profit institutions, including examining existing regulations and practices as part of a special Task Force. This motivated him to write an article about the topic, which he hopes to publish in the coming months.

Nathan Sanders
Graduate Degree: Harvard University
Undergraduate Degree: Michigan State University
Area of Interest: Environmental Issues
Mentors: Neil Veilleux, Meister Consulting Group
Agency: Office of Senator Pat Jehlen and Office of Representative Denise Provost
Supervisor: Tim Snyder, Chief of Staff, Office of Sen. Patricia Jehlen and Mark Kennedy, Office of Rep. Denise Provost
Project Description: Nearly three billion gallons of untreated and partially treated sewage is diverted into rivers and streams in the Commonwealth annually, and citizens often has no way to know when a discharge has occurred. Because bacteria in sewage can cause hepatitis and other infectious diseases, these discharges present a significant risk to public health in addition to damaging the river ecosystems they pollute. Working with Rep. Denise Provost and Sen. Pat Jehlen (both of Somerville), Nathan investigated the problem of wastewater discharges from combined sewer overflows (CSOs) into public waterways. He wrote a bill that would require all CSO outfall operators to monitor their discharges and report them immediately to the public through a state website. We worked together with community organizations and legislators from across the state to raise awareness of this issue and raise support for the bill. You can find more information here:

Ruth Sappelt
Graduate Degree: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Undergraduate Degree: University of California, Berkeley
Area of Interest: Housing Issues
Mentors:T im Warren, The Warren Group and Laura Delgado, City of Boston Department of Neighborhood Development
Agency: Office of Representative Kevin Honan, House Chair of the Joint Committee for Housing
Supervisor: Kurt Stiegel, Office of Representative Kevin Honan
Project Description: Ruth spent her summer in the office of Representative Kevin Honan (D, Allston-Brighton), who is co-chair of the Joint Committee on Housing in the Massachusetts State Legislature. She augmented the Committee’s research of two bills, H.44 and H.1094, which propose substantive, though very different, reforms to public housing administration. She joined Committee members at numerous site visits and public hearings on the proposed reforms. She also personally interviewed public housing experts, administrators and staff to gain a nuanced understanding of the issues and receive candid input from all stakeholders. Ruth developed a framework for qualitative analysis of a broad array of recommendations. In the fall, she will return to work with the Committee to synthesize its findings and determine how the Committee can best support public housing residents and their surrounding communities around the state.

Melissa Threadgill
Graduate Degree: Harvard Kennedy School
Undergraduate Degree: Oberlin College
Area of Interest: Performance Management
Mentors: Meghan Haggerty, MassPort
Agency: Massachusetts Department of Youth Services
Supervisor: Crystal Collier, Chief of Staff
Project Description: This summer Melissa worked with the Massachusetts Department of Youth Services (the Commonwealth’s juvenile justice agency) on two key projects. First, she developed a proposal for a performance management system DYS could use to track community outcomes for youth in their care. This involved developing a list of outcomes to be measured, drafting sample reports demonstrating how the information could be used once collected, and creating a series of automated spreadsheets that could be used to collect and aggregate this information. Second, she interviewed 50+ DYS staff members in all 5 regions of the state (from entry-level staff to the Commissioner) to diagnose problems the agency had been having with recruitment, turnover, morale and divisional silos and then recommended solutions for overcoming these challenges.

Candy Brakewood
Graduate Degree: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Undergraduate Degree: Johns Hopkins
Area of Interest: Transportation Issues
Mentors: Paul Scapicchio, Senior Vice President at ML Strategies and Devin Quirk, Boston About Results Program
Agency: MBTA
Supervisor: Josh Robin, Director of Innovation and Charles Planck, Senior Director of Innovations
Project Description: As a Rappaport Public Policy Doctoral Fellow at the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, Candy conducted a significant amount of research to inform the MBTA’s Mobile Strategy. Transit riders in Boston are rapidly adopting smartphones, which can be used to provide transit information and, in the future, to pay transit fares. Her summer research gauged the customer perspective for using mobile technologies on the Commuter Rail. In June, she led an on-board survey on two Commuter Rail lines - the Worcester and Newburyport/Rockport - to assess adoption of real-time information available on smartphone applications Candy also helped lead a series of focus groups with Commuter Rail riders for the Mobile Ticketing project, which was featured in the Metro newspaper. Her research has informed the MBTA’s mobile strategy and helped to promote implementation of innovative technologies that will be used by transit riders in Boston.

Cara Ferrentino
Graduate School: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Undergraduate School: Harvard University
Areas of interest: Environmental Issues
Mentors: Vivien Li, President of The Boston Harbor Association and Keith Cialino, Doctoral Student, UMass Boston
Placement: Massport
Supervisor: Andrew Hargens, Senior Project Manager
Project description: Massport’s EP&D oversees the long-term planning and daily management of almost 600 acres of waterfront property in South Boston, East Boston, and Charlestown. During Cara's time at EP&D she became familiar with a variety of the department’s projects, but her work focused primarily on the future development of a 20 acre stretch of the South Boston Seaport. She investigated the relationship between a proposed roadway reconfiguration project– intended by Massport to improve truck routes to and from Conley Truck Terminal in South Boston– and the design and development of nearby parcels (currently dominated by surface parking lots). Her work explored potential tensions between Massport’s interest in improving vital truck routes with competing interests in facilitating the transformation of the Seaport from industrial to residential, commercial, and industrial uses. This project provided her the opportunity to engage with a variety of planning issues, including transportation, zoning, real estate development, and permitting, while examining the potential for pedestrian and bike amenities, maritime industrial activities, Convention Center expansion, and landowner and residential community interests to align and be of mutual benefit. In addition, she developed scenarios for how the roadway reconfiguration project could simplify the existing patchwork of land ownership and create more valuable development parcels. She also proposed several development scenarios, incorporating urban design considerations, and synthesized my findings and proposals in documents, maps, and images.

Katherine Foo
Graduate School: Clark University
Undergraduate School: Williams College
Areas of interest: Environmental and Landscape Issues
Mentors: Carol Burns, Principal, Taylor Burns Architects and Jessica Simes, Doctoral Student, Harvard University
Placement: Mayor's Office, City of Boston and Boston Parks Department
Supervisors: Toni Pollak, Commissioner of the Boston Parks Department, Barbara Berke, Senior Advisor to the Mayor, and Flavio Daveiga, Office of Neighborhood Services
Project Description: As a Rappaport Doctoral Public Policy Fellow, Katherine worked with Energy and Environmental Services, Parks Department, Boston Urban Forest Coalition (BUFC), Department of Neighborhood Development (DND), and the Bowdoin-Geneva Neighborhood Response Team (NRT) to strengthen Boston’s 100,000 trees initiative. The governance of Boston’s urban forest heavily relies upon the coordinated efforts of public, private, and civic sectors, and emerging data visualization technologies have the potential to facilitate data-driven governance through cross-sector partnerships. Katherine’s summer work recommended ways for Energy and Environmental Services and the Parks Department to establish an integrated data management system that enables greater knowledge and governing capacity by BUFC partners. Her work also sought ways to promote community-based approaches to tree planting in city neighborhoods. Limited space for tree planting on city-owned land makes community-based approaches critical to increasing the urban tree canopy. However, allied resources are not integrated to support community-based greening projects, and core planning districts with low tree canopy cover possess high density residential types that severely restrict the spatial distribution of trees able to be planted. Working with DND and the Bowdoin-Geneva NRT, Katherine also developed a draft protocol to enable temporary greening strategies on DND properties.

Margaret Keaveny
Graduate School: Northeastern University
Undergraduate School: Acadia University, Nova Scotia
Areas of interest: Economic Development
Mentors: Phil Puccia, Morgan Stanley Securities and Kate Moloney, Doctoral Student, University of Albany
Placement: Massachusetts Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development
Supervisor: Victoria Maguire, State Permit Ombudsman and Director
Project description: This summer Margaret had the opportunity to work in the Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development. Her major project was the crafting of a guidebook that focused on four public financing programs that target infrastructure investment. The sole objective was to provide community leaders, developers and business owners with a working knowledge of the process of implementing and utilizing public financing programs that support neighborhood revitalization and to allow communities and businesses to evaluate which program best fits their needs and goals. The public financing programs identified in the report, give communities and developers the tools needed to establish a funding mechanism to address local needs to support economic development. The Business Improvement Districts (BID), District Improvement Financing (DIF), Infrastructure Investment Incentive Program (I-CUBED) and the newly created Local Infrastructure Development Program are all designed to promote new investment in targeted areas where infrastructure, community assets, and transit opportunities are operational. These targeted public financing programs aim to renew the vitality, livability, and sustainability of the area by empowering municipalities with the tools to finance local infrastructure improvements through assessments, bond issuance, and tax increment financing. The initiative allowed her not only to speak and meet with individuals from MassDevelopment, the Executive Office of Administration and Finance, the Department of Housing and Community Development, and members from communities across the State, but it gave her the opportunity to see government in action. The guidebook, A Guidebook of Massachusetts Public Financing Programs for Infrastructure Investment, will be launched on the Executive Office of Housing and Economic website and will be accessible to all municipalities, agencies and individuals in October 2012.

Ifedayo Kuye
Graduate School:Harvard Medical School
Undergraduate School: Harvard University
Areas of interest: Public Health Finance
Mentors: Renee Landers, Suffolk University Law School and Ravi Parikh, Harvard Medical School Student
Placement: Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services
Supervisor: Oliver Rothschild, Medicaid Chief of Staff
Project description: This summer Ifedayo worked at the Executive Office of Health and Human Services in the Office of Medicaid (MassHealth). MassHealth provides public insurance for low- to medium-income residents of Massachusetts. He worked on an initiative to design and implement an alternative payment methodology that would pay providers who served Medicaid patients in a manner that differed from the current fee for service system. Alternative payment methodologies such as the Blue Cross Blue Shield Alternative Quality Contract and the CMS Innovation Centre Pioneer ACO models are popular strategies to combat the low quality and high cost that have been linked to fee for service payment systems. The goal of MassHealth was to design a payment system that provided providers with enough flexibility to improve access to primary care, to promote patient experience with care coordination and management, to improve value and to integrate behavioral health care with primary care. Ifedayo worked on various aspects of the payment initiative. He interviewed executive leaders in hospital organizations across Massachusetts to assess their current experiences with alternative payment methodologies and to identify features they had found successful. He wrote up my results and recommendation in a white paper. He performed a review of other Medicaid agencies across America that had adopted alternative payment methodologies in order to generate best practices on risk management, IT strategy and clinical data management relationships. He also conducted an analysis on quality metrics used in other alternative payment methodologies.

Matthew La Rocque
Graduate School: Harvard Kennedy School
Undergraduate School: University of California, Berkeley
Areas of interest: Education
Mentors: Tiziana Dearing, Boston Rising Inc.
Placement: Boston Public Schools/Boston Teacher Residency
Supervisors: Shoma Haque, Chief Operating Officer, Boston Plan for Excellence and Marcie Osinsky, Curriculum Director, Boston Teacher Residency, Boston Public Schools
Project description: In his role with BPE and the Boston Public Schools' Boston Teacher Residency, Matthew researched ways in which BPE can strengthen their revenue streams in the years to come. Specifically, he analyzed earned income models and human resource practices of similar organizations across the country, and proposed strategies to BPE's senior leadership team. His research culminated with a presentation to BPE’s CEO and COO on the strategies that he felt they should pursue. Along the way, he learned that non-profit organizations like BPE need to work in close partnership with their local government counterparts if they hope to be successful. The conventional wisdom is that the non-profit sector is there to address what government cannot. But the non-profit and government sectors don’t have to be siloed – they can work together.

Dahianna Lopez
Graduate School: Harvard School of Public Health
Undergraduate School: University of California, Berkeley
Areas of Interest: Public Health
Mentors: Ben Forman, MassInc.
Placement: Mayor's Office of the City of Boston, Department of Transportation, Boston Police Department, Boston Department of Innovation and Technology
Supervisor: Patricia Boyle-McKenna, Director of Internships, City of Boston, Charlotte Fleetwood, Transportation Planner
Project Description: This summer Dahianna worked with the Office of the Mayor in Boston, the Boston Transportation Department, the Boston Police Department, and the Boston Department of Innovation and Technology to elucidate the magnitude of bicycle- and pedestrian-related crashes. The analysis of this project will help prevent such crashes in an interdisciplinary way. Urban planners and engineers will be better able to identify areas in the city that are in need of safety improvements. Public Health practitioners will be able to target specific populations and intervene with health education and encouragement campaigns. And finally, police officers will be able to target hot spot locations that could use increased policing and law enforcement of road laws.

Thomas Lovatt Martin
Graduate School: Harvard Graduate School of Design
Undergraduate School: Oxford University
Areas of interest: Housing
Mentors: Chrystal Kornegay, Urban Edge and Lauren Lambie-Hanson, Doctoral Fellow, MIT
Placement: Cambridge Housing Authority
Supervisor: Carolina Lucey, Director of Communications
Project Description: This summer, Tom worked with the Cambridge Housing Authority to plot a future direction for rent reform and rent policy efforts. The CHA has begun to move on from consolidating the gains garnered from earlier years’ rent reform efforts towards a new period of policy innovation with regard to public housing rent policy. The CHA has been designated a Moving to Work agency by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, and as such has been allowed substantial dispensation from HUD administrative regulations and guidelines. The innovative work that the CHA has done with this MTW authority has become nationally recognized, and the CHA has become particularly known as an exemplar of best practice among American public housing authorities. In order to produce a final report that plots out some potential future directions for the CHA’s efforts, he conducted focus groups, interviewed senior staff, met repeatedly with residents, observed recertification meetings, analyzed the budgetary impact of various policy efforts, and consulted with other practitioners regarding the policy efforts that other MTW-designated agencies are currently designing and implementing.

Emily Monea
Graduate School: Harvard Kennedy School
Undergraduate School: Boston University
Areas of interest: Performance Management
Mentors: Amy Dain, Dain Research
Placement: SomerStat
Supervisor: Daniel Hadley, Director, SomerStat
Project Description: This summer Emily worked for SomerStat, Somerville’s performance management office. Under the leadership of Mayor Curtatone, Somerville was one of the first cities to embrace performance management, a practice that allows mayors to systematically manage city departments through data. Daniel Hadley, the director of SomerStat, asked Emily to embrace the spirit of performance management by analyzing his office’s performance (in other words, by “stat-ing” SomerStat). She began by evaluating the office’s weaknesses, then researched best practices and talked to directors of performance management offices around the country, and ultimately developed a set of recommendations for improving the office’s – and, by extension, the city’s – efficiency and efficacy.

Ana Maria Nieto
Graduate School: Harvard Graduate School of Education
Undergraduate School: Los Andes University, Colombia
Areas of interest: Education
Mentors: Joan Wallace Benjamin, The Home for Little Wanderers and Antoniya Owens, Center for Education Policy Research
Placement: Somerville Public Schools
Supervisors: Sarah Davila, District Administrator of English Learner Education / Family and Community Partnerships
Project description: This summer Ana Maria worked with Somerville Public Schools in their adult education programming. As part of this district’s commitment to engage family and community members in children’s education, each year the English Language Learner (ELL) Program offers a 4 week-long free Summer Program for Somerville parents consisting of free English classes, workshops and parent gatherings. This year the program expanded to include weekly computer classes and bi-weekly literacy classes for parents and other community members, as well as a new program for families of English Language Learner transitioning from Head Start to kindergarten. During the summer Ana Maria was in charge of conducting the outreach for the new Head Start to school transition program. As the program started she helped coordinate and document the implementation process. More than 100 adults benefited from the summer program. The results from the documentation process signaled that Somerville’s efforts to strengthen relationships between parents are a fundamental step in increasing engagement with schools. The documentation process was also the starting point of an ongoing planning process that will continue to improve family and community engagement in this school district. In addition to her practical experience in program implementation and documentation her summer experience also gave her the opportunity to learn more about early childhood policies.

Tessa (Orbach) Bridge
Graduate School Undergraduate School: Reed College
Areas of interest: Education
Mentors: Nicole Simon, Doctoral Student, Harvard Graduate School of Education
Placement: Cambridge Public Schools
Supervisor: Lori Likis, Chief Planning Officer
Project Description: Tessa completed her Rappaport Fellowship in the Office of the Superintendent of Cambridge Public Schools District where she supported the implementation of the district's transformation plan, the Innovation Agenda. During her time at CPSD Tessa created a report about how to support students through the transition from 5th to 6th grade and 8th to 9th grade. This involved conducting a literature review of how transitions impact adolescents and best practices for schools to support students at these times, as well as interviewing several principals from neighboring districts about how their schools support students through school transitions. Tessa presented these findings to the superintendent's cabinet. Tessa also supported the development of a cross-system approach to how Out of School Time programming can effectively complement four new Upper School Campuses opening in the fall of 2012. This involved assessing and supporting data input procedures to help detail which offerings are currently available in Cambridge and how they line up with students' developmental needs. She also facilitated a work group of Out of School Time providers and district staff to develop a passport designed to both document middle school students' engagement in Out of School Time experiences, as well as to help create a framework for providers to define learning competencies that students are expected to attain when they successfully complete a program or project.

Meghan Overton
Graduate School: Tufts University
Undergraduate School: Hollins University
Areas of interest: Food policy and economic development
Mentors: Larry DiCara, Nixon Peabody and Brandy Brooks, The Food Project
Placement: Office of Business Development, Department of Neighborhood Development, City of Boston
Supervisors: Rafael Carbonell, Deputy Director and Bik Ng, Senior Business Manager
Project Description: This summer Meaghan worked with the Boston Main Streets program in the City of Boston’s Office of Business Development on a pilot initiative to support farmers’ markets in Boston Main Streets Districts. Boston Main Streets began in 1995 as an innovative program to encourage community economic development, historic preservation, and neighborhood revitalization. Over the last 17 years, Boston Main Streets has helped generate over 4,000 jobs and supported the creation of more than 700 new businesses in Boston’s neighborhoods. But the Main Streets program is about more than opening new bricks-and-mortar stores. To create healthier, more livable communities, many Main Streets Districts have become active partners in other community activities and programs. For her summer fellowship, Meaghan worked with three Boston Main Streets Districts that were interested in growing their farmers’ markets.
Research has suggested that farmers’ markets provide many benefits to local communities, including increased access to healthy food and enhanced economic activity in the areas surrounding farmers' markets. However, farmers' markets must generate adequate foot traffic and sales for vendors if they are to remain vibrant centers of community economic activity. In addition, many markets struggle to comply with local and state regulations. The Boston Main Streets markets were no exception. To address the needs of these markets, she completed several projects during the course of her fellowship. She collected data on attendance, customer spending, and vendor sales at each market to give market managers better information about the current state of their farmers’ markets. She also completed a permitting and licensing roadmap that will become a useful market planning tool on the Boston Business Hub. Finally, she worked with each Main Streets Director to increase promotion of the markets through print and social media.

Erica Simmons
Graduate School: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Undergraduate School: Stanford University
Areas of Interest: Transportation Issues
Mentors: Kathy Kottaridis, Historic Boston, Inc. and Stephanie Groll, Cambridge Department of Parking and Transportation
Placement: City of Boston Transportation Department
Supervisor: Charlotte Fleetwood, Transportation Planner
Project Description: This summer Erica worked for the Boston Transportation Department on two main projects. The first project was to research how the City of Boston can evaluate projects designed based on the City’s Complete Streets Guidelines, which call for streetscape projects to be multimodal, green and smart – safely accommodating multiple users (e.g., automobile drivers, bicyclists, pedestrians, and transit), as well as incorporating sustainable construction techniques (such as permeable pavements and stormwater drainage) and smart technologies (such as electric vehicle charging stations or smart phone technology). For this project, Erica researched best practices from other cities’ streetscape evaluation efforts and collected baseline data prior to the construction of the planned East Boston Central Square Redesign. Her other project was to develop Boston Playways, a program to promote small-scale, recurring, neighborhood-organized street closures for active recreation. The goals of the Playways project are to help neighborhood residents rethink their streets, while bringing physical activity to the streets where children live. She coordinated with several different city departments to develop policy recommendations to streamline the permit process and sustain a long-term program and partnered with a neighborhood association in the Bowdoin-Geneva area of Dorchester to organize a pilot event

Ashali Singham
Graduate School:Harvard Kennedy School
Undergraduate School: Yale University
Areas of Interest: Municipal Finance
Mentors: Lisa Calise, The Perkins School for the Blind and Matt Mayrl, City of Boston Department of Public Works
Placement: Massachusetts Executive Office for Administration and Finance
Supervisor: Greg Mennis, Assistant Secretary for Finance and Infrastructure
Project Description: Ashali spent this summer working at the Massachusetts Executive Office for Administration and Finance. She worked on two projects: the Other Post-Employment Benefits (OPEB) Commission and the Infrastructure Investment Incentive program (I-Cubed). The OPEB Commission is looking at retiree benefits aside from pensions, which includes retiree healthcare benefits. The Commission was established at the end of 2011, and will produce any final materials by the end of November of 2012. Over the summer, she worked on materials for two OPEB Commission meetings and produced follow-up materials for her agency in preparation for the following meeting. Her research included looking at other states’ eligibility requirements for health insurance subsidies and the amount of health insurance subsidies that these states provided. Additionally, she worked with her supervisor to develop an Excel model that estimates the cost savings of different options for retiree health benefit reform. She also helped coordinate logistics for the two meetings she attended. Her second project was on the Infrastructure Investment Incentive Program, which is an infrastructure program run through the Executive Office for Administration and Finance. She developed documents on the I-Cubed approval process and looked at the inclusion of construction tax revenue in I-Cubed calculations.

Ali Alhassani
Graduate School: Harvard Medical School
Undergraduate School: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Areas of interest: Health Care Finance
Mentors: Phyllis Rappaport, Chair, Phyllis and Jerome Lyle Rappaport Foundation and Kaitlyn Kenney Walsh, Manager, Policy and Research, Commonwealth Housing Insurance Connector
Placement: Office of Senator Richard T. Moore
Supervisors: Kim Haddad, Legel Counsel and Shawn Collins, Chief of Staff
Project Description: This summer Ali worked for State Senator Richard Moore, Chairman of the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing. The state is moving to pass significant legislation on provider payment reform, including the promotion of Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) as a prominent delivery and payment system. Ali studied the new Medicare program being set up to similarly promote the formation of ACOs as well as private sector ACO models in order to help determine what an ACO system in the Commonwealth might look like. He also included in his research an analysis of the testimonies regarding setting up ACOs in the state from the broad spectrum of stakeholders in the health care sector.

Stephanie Bloch
Graduate School: Boston University
Undergraduate School: Yale University
Areas of interest: Community and Economic Development
Mentor: Kathy Kottaridis, Executive Director, Historic Boston Inc.
Placement: Mayor's Office, City of Boston
Supervisor: Abi Vladeck, Mayor's Office and Christopher Osgood, co-chair, New Urban Mechanics Program
Project Description: This summer, Steph was a Rappaport fellow placed in the City of Boston Mayor’s Office. She was working to help small businesses unravel the permitting process and found several ways to tackle this. She helped the Office of Business Development and Boston Redevelopment Authority to launch a joint website that will go live in mid-October; wrote and graphically designed several information packets to be placed in a forthcoming Licensing & Permitting Office; and produced a Boston News Network program featuring a panel discussion about the processes involved in obtaining various permits.

Danielle Cerney
Graduate School: Harvard Kennedy School/Georgetown Law School
Undergraduate School: Brown University
Areas of interest: Social Services Initiatives
Mentor: David Friedman, Senior Vice President/Special Counsel, Boston Red Sox
Placement: Massachusetts Executive Office of Administration and Finance
Supervisors: Greg Mennis, Assistant Secretary for Finance and Infrastructure and Tina Brooks, Undersecretary of the Department of Housing and Community Development
Project Description: This summer Danielle worked in the Executive Office of Administration and Finance to help Massachusetts become the first state in the country to formally pursue a comprehensive social innovation financing program. Social innovation financing, which includes social impact bonds and pay-for-success contracts, is a creative approach to supporting innovative service delivery programs. Such innovative, or potentially “high risk,” programs often have difficulty securing government funding because of the lengthy time needed to demonstrate outcomes. At the same time, tight budgets can make state governments weary of spending money on untested programs. Social innovation financing helps counteract these hurdles by typing payments to performance metrics, thereby allowing states to pay only for proven, rather than promised, results. Given the length of time often required to accurately measure outcomes, pay-for-success contracts will sometimes be coupled with social impact bonds. In such an arrangement, social investors provide the upfront capital to finance non-profits’ expenses and absorb most, if not all, of the associated financial risk. To help the State implement its first social innovation financing arrangements, Danielle worked with Agency heads and non-profit leaders to identify the most promising early applications of social impact bonds, and ultimately drafted the Request for Response that will be used to procure vendors and investors for these projects.

Kia Davis
Graduate School: Harvard School of Public Health
Undergraduate School: Washington University
Areas of interest: Public Health Disparities
Mentor: Joan Wallace Benjamin, Executive Director, The Home for Little Wanderers
Placement: Massachusetts Office of Health Disparities
Project Description: Kia Davis worked for the Office of Health Equity (OHE). OHE at Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) is committed to reducing health disparities while promoting health equity in the Commonwealth. Kia led a policy analysis to understand the distribution of commercial industry and health promotion resources (e.g. parks, fast food outlets, grocery stores, liquor stores, etc.) in the Commonwealth and how it might impact health. The analysis focused primarily on East Somerville to inform the community engagement component of the Health Disparities Elimination program leading to policies related to the built environment. Kia conducted qualitative informational interviews with staff across Bureaus at DPH as well as affiliates in other sectors (housing, transportation, etc.) to inform the analysis. The interview of our affiliates also addressed interest, opportunities and challenges in working cross-sector on health related issues. This work was used to inform development of cross-sector partnerships to use institutional transformation in efforts to reduce disparities and promote health equity in Massachusetts.

Colleen Dawicki
Graduate School: University of Massachusetts - Dartmouth
Undergraduate School: Brown University
Areas of interest: Community and Economic Development
Mentors: Phil Puccia, Executive Director with J.P. Morgan Securities Tax Exempt Capital Markets and Benjamin Forman, Director of Research, MassINC
Placement: Office of Housing and Community Development, City of New Bedford
Supervisor: Patrick Sullivan, Director
Project Description: As a Rappaport public policy fellow during the summer of 2011, Colleen worked with New Bedford's Office of Housing and Community Development to develop the foundation of a comprehensive revitalization strategy for one of the city's high-need, high-opportunity neighborhoods. Her efforts included familiarizing herself with the theory and practice of neighborhood revitalization, with an emphasis on investigating successful programs in other cities (and the way in which such efforts were funded). At the same time, she met with local stakeholders to understand the history of such efforts in New Bedford, along with existing assets and challenges that will inform a planning process going forward. The end result is a report that details her findings from both her internal and external research and includes a set of recommendations that the city can employ in order to make this strategy a reality. The report will be shared with both the City of New Bedford as well as the many stakeholders who participated in the process in order to encourage a collaborative planning process that is necessary for turning these ideas into action.

Dan Futrell
Graduate School: Harvard Kennedy School, University of Virginia School of Business
Undergraduate School: Gonzaga University
Areas of Interest: Veteran's Affairs
Mentor: Larry DiCara, Nixon Peabody
Placement: City of Boston's Office of Veteran's Affairs
Supervisor: John Callahan, Interim Commissioner, Office of Veteran's Affairs
Project Description: Throughout Summer 2011, Dan worked for Mayor Menino in his Veterans’ Services Department to meet his goal of increased outreach to the younger veteran community of Boston. He aligned my efforts to meet the five major issues facing veterans in Boston and around the country: employment, physical & mental health, education & benefits, homelessness & housing, and reintegration. During his work, Dan was learned a great deal about the work being done by a wide variety of different government, non-government, and private organizations to improve outcomes in these five areas, top among them being the Home Base Program, a partnership between Massachusetts General Hospital and the Red Sox Foundation. In addition to these outward-facing tasks, Dan was able to improve processes within the 13 person department in order to set the stage for an incoming commissioner. He learned there’s a great deal of work to be done in providing a forum for collaboration between the many different service organizations, and that this issue can very well be solved with the commitment of the leaders in place today in Boston.

Zachary Hughes
Graduate School: Harvard Kennedy School
Undergraduate School: Princeton University
Areas of interest: Performance Management
Mentors: Jerome Lyle Rappaport, Founder and Funder, Phyllis and Jerome Lyle Rappaport Charitable Foundation and Amy Dain, Consultant
Placement: Department of Administration and Finance, City of Boston Boston About Results Program
Supervisor: Devin Lyons-Quirk, Senior Project Manager for Performance
Project Description: Zachary Hughes spent his Fellowship working in the Office of the Mayor of the City of Boston on several different projects. Working mainly out of the Office of Administration and Finance, Zack's largest undertaking was the writing, designing, and overseeing of a survey of over a thousand constituents who had recently contacted the City with a service request. In collaboration with Devin Lyons-Quirk, a former Rappaport Fellow and the current head of Boston About Results, Zack conducted extensive analysis of the survey results to develop actionable information for the Mayor, his Chief of Staff, and other City managers. Other performance-related projects that Zack worked on included developing performance metrics for the Mayor's Office of Emergency Management and helping Boston About Results prepare a comprehensive communications strategy in advance of the launch of its new website.

Xavier Lazcano
Graduate School: University of Massachusetts - Boston, Boston College School of Social Work
Undergraduate School: Wells College
Areas of interest: Social Services Issues
Mentors: Vivien Li, Executive Director, The Boston Harbor Association and Elissa Flynn-Poppey, Mintz Levin
Placement: Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources, Division of Animal Health
Supervisor: Michael Cahill, Director, Division of Animal Health
Project Description: Xavier Lazcano’s placement was at the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources in the Animal Health Division. His project focused on developing and writing the regulations for the operation of Animal Rescue Organizations. He compiled research on the policy initiatives of more than 20 states and reviewed their potential efficacy in addressing barriers faced here in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. In addition, he assisted the state’s Chief Veterinarian, other field staff, and officers of the MSPCA on investigations of suspected inhumane conditions at animal shelters. His research in conjunction with this exposure enabled Xavier to appreciate the magnitude of unsanitary practices impacting the vulnerable canine and feline shelter population. Xavier’s subsequent final draft of regulations, submitted for promulgation and approval by the Governor’s office, puts forth crucial recommendations to improve the health and quality of life for shelter animals while protecting the native population from out-of-state infectious agents.

Tori Okner
Graduate School: Tufts University
Undergraduate School: University of Michigan
Areas of interest: Environmental Issues
Mentor: Carol Burns, Principal, Taylor Burns Architects
Placement: Mayor's Office, City of Boston
Supervisor: Edith Murnane, Director of Food Initiatives
Project Description: Tori spent the majority of her fellowship working on the urban agriculture pilot project for the Office of Food Initiatives in the Mayor’s Office and the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA). The City of Boston planned to lease three vacant properties in Dorchester to individuals or organizations interested in running an urban farm for commercial purposes, education, and/or donation. In response to the concerns of local residents regarding the impact of urban farms on their community, the Director of Food Initiatives, the Department of Neighborhood Development, and the BRA ramped up communications. The drafting, publication, and dissemination of the communication tools were an exercise in leadership, collaboration, City administration, and most significantly, the importance of community engagement. Overall, Tori thoroughly enjoyed being on the Director of Food Initiative’s team and having the opportunity to employ her analytical and organizational skills to actualize a vision for urban agriculture.

Eric Schultheis
Graduate Degree: MIT
Undergraduate Degree: Wesleyan University
Areas of interest: Housing Issues
Mentor: Tim Warren, Chief Executive Officer, The Warren Group
Agency: Cambridge Housing Authority
Supervisor: Carolina Lucey, Communications and Policy Department
Project Description: Eric's Rappaport Fellowship placement was at the Cambridge Housing Authority (CHA). At CHA, he worked with CHA staff to evaluate CHA’s data management practices; he created a longitudinal dataset of CHA’s Section 8 participants to facilitate future research partnerships between CHA and academic institutions; and conducted a spatio-temporal analysis of CHA’s Section 8 participants. The spatio-temporal analysis included extensive GIS mapping and statistical analysis of residential location choices of Section 8 households. The analyses created a baseline of knowledge about Section 8 participants and identified several spatial and household characteristic trends in CHA’s Section 8 program that warrant further investigation.

Jessica Simes
Graduate Degree: Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences
Undergraduate Degree: Occidental University
Areas of interest: Criminal Justice Issues
Mentor: Tiziana Dearing, Executive Director, Boston Rising Inc.
Agency: Massachusetts Department of Corrections
Supervisor: Lisa Lorant Sampson, Deputy Director, Research and Planning Division
Project Description: As a Rappaport Fellow working at the Massachusetts Department of Correction, Jessica spent the summer working on a variety of projects, one of which was published on the Department’s website. Her work focused on topics ranging from studying the average institution length of stay for the active population of inmates, consulting and preparing a report on a DOC management survey seeking to find out the most important competencies for training new managers, and evaluating research requests from those outside of the Department. Her final project used data from the 2009 and 2010 Admissions (criminal commitments only) and Releases (“to the street,” i.e. not transferred to another jurisdiction). She performed a spatial analysis that took into account important historical variables. This paper is still being reviewed, but will also be published as a DOC report.

Nicole Simon
Graduate Degree: Harvard Graduate School of Education
Undergraduate Degree: Cornell University
Areas of interest: Education Issues
Mentor: Mary Jo Meisner, Vice President of Communications, The Boston Foundation
Agency: Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Supervisor: Karla Baehr, Deputy Commissioner, Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Project Description: Nicole was a Rappaport Fellow in the Commissioner’s Office at the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Her work centered around the state’s new Educator Evaluation Regulations, which were being revised for the first time since 1995. Since her fellowship overlapped with the public comment period – she began working shortly after the Commissioner announced the proposed regulations, and completed her fellowship just after they passed – she focused on building public understanding of the proposed regulations and garnering, synthesizing, and responding to feedback from educators, students, parents, and community members across the state. In addition, she worked on the development of DESE’s model evaluation system that districts can choose to adopt or adapt. It was an exciting time to be working at DESE!

Jessica Vonashek
Graduate School: Northeastern University
Undergraduate School: Ryerson University
Areas of interest: Housing
Mentor: Paul Scapicchio, Mintz Levin Strategies
Placement: Massachusetts Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development
Supervisor: April Anderson Lamoureux, Assistant Secretary for Economic Development
Project Description: From May 2011 to September 2011, Jessica worked with the Assistant Secretary for Economic Development, in the Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development on two projects. The first project was to draft an Executive Order that, if signed by the Governor, will mandate state agencies to direct technical assistance and infrastructure investments to identified areas for housing and economic growth. The objective of this draft Executive Order is to encourage cities and towns to collaborate with regional planning agencies to plan ahead for growth by participating in a comprehensive planning process. The second project that she worked on over the summer was leading the launch of the online application tool used by cities and towns to complete and submit MassWorks Infrastructure Program grant applications. Through a series of online "lunch & learn" information sessions and online documentation, cities and towns learned about the MassWorks Infrastructure Program and how to apply, edit, and submit applications using the online application tool. Overall, she was able to spend my summer collaborating with a number of state agencies to gain experience in policy development, as well as gain experience leading the development and implementation of a policy initiative. It was a great summer!

Ellen Ward
Graduate Degree: MIT
Undergraduate Degree: Wake Forest University
Area of Interest: Housing Issues
Mentor: Chrystal Kornegay, Executive Director, UrbanEdge
Agency: Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development
Supervisor: Lizbeth Heyer, Acting Associate Director of Public Housing and Rental Assistance
Project Description: This summer Ellen had the unique opportunity to work for the State of Massachusetts in the Department of Housing and Community Development. She says unique, because she was able to work on a team of seven people to design, develop, and implement a new program, HomeBASE, that completed the reform of the State’s Emergency Assistance System. Targeted to extremely low-income families who are facing homelessness, this program provides a housing-first response to families in an effort to stabilize their housing situation and set them on a path toward economic self-sufficiency. It is the first ever housing-first program to be adopted at a statewide level and is projected to produce significant cost savings for the State while better serving homeless families. Her specific roles included managing the data, reporting, and evaluation of the program, training program staff, and working with the legal team to develop and institute the documents necessary to effectively administer the program. As part of the data collection and evaluation, she developed a reporting framework that includes both qualitative and quantitative measures to accurately assess the impact of the policy change. Going forward, the framework will be a tool for other states and municipalities interested in adopting a housing-first response to homelessness.

Lalita Booth
Graduate Degree: Harvard Kennedy School/Harvard Business School
Undergraduate Degree: University of Central Florida
Areas of interest: Social Services Issues
Mentor: Tiziana Dearing, Executive Director, Catholic Charities of Boston
Agency: Department of Youth Services
Supervisor: Edward Dolan, Deputy Commissioner of Youth Services and Amy Seeherman, Project and Grants Manager
Project Description: Lalita assisted the Massachusetts Department of Youth Services write a report on the Community System Case Study Project. She focused on questions such as how and why DYS implemented the system, to what extent it has been implemented, why some parts have not been implemented, what the intended and unintended outcomes have been caused by the implementation, and what courses of action are recommended for DYS to follow.

Brandy H.M. Brooks
Graduate Degree: Suffolk University
Undergraduate Degree: Boston Architectural College
Areas of interest: Community and Economic Development
Mentor: Chrystal Kornegay, Chief Executive Officer, Urban Edge and Mary Jo Meisner, VP for Communications and External Affairs, The Boston Foundation
Agency: Cambridge Community Development Department
Supervisor: Susan Glazer, Acting Assistant City Manager for Community Development; Stuart Dash, Director of Community Planning
Project Description: Brandy's project for the summer was a feasibility study on the development of a public market at Lechmere Square in Cambridge, prepared for the City of Cambridge Community Development Department. She had a tremendous amount of autonomy in this project – from determining the appropriate content to conducting interviews and writing the final report – but she also had wonderful support from her supervisors, Susan Glazer and Stuart Dash, and the whole staff at CDD. Her work included research on public market development, governance and operations in markets across the country, as well as research on the history, planning, and development of Lechmere Square and its surrounding neighborhood. She was fortunate to be able to visit several public markets in other cities because of my personal travel plans, and these site visits and interviews were incredibly valuable for our research. The final report was presented to the City Council was also be shared with interested stakeholders in the community.

Kevin Feeney
Graduate Degree: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Undergraduate Degree: Harvard University
Interest Area: Workforce development and Labor
Mentor: Kathy Kottaridis, Executive Director, Historic Boston, Inc.
Agency: Massachusetts Department of Labor, Division of Career Services and Massachusetts Parole Board
Supervisor: David Sullivan, Massachusetts Department of Labor and Massachusetts Parole Board
Project Description: Kevin Feeney worked with the Massachusetts Department of Labor and the Parole Board on issues of job access for people with criminal records. He produced a memo on strategies for building employer demand for ex-offenders, a mid-year evaluation of a state reentry grant, and an outline of a pilot training and placement initiative for reentry candidates who wish to enter the building trades.

Robert Goodspeed
Graduate Degree: Massachusetts Instititute of Technology
Undergraduate Degree: University of Maryland
Area of Interest: Performance Management and Transparency
Mentor: Professor Dan Kennedy, Northeastern University
Agency: Mayor's Office of New Urban Mechanics, City of Boston
Supervisors: Nigel Jacob, Senior Advisor for Emerging Technologies and Chris Osgood, Senior Policy Advisor
Project Description: This summer Robert created an Open Government Strategy for the city, providing recommendations for how the City of Boston can lead by using the Internet to enhance city services and support citizen participation. Following the Obama administration’s Open Government Initiative, the strategy provides recommendations for how to make city data and information more transparent, conduct online participation, and use crowdsourcing to tackle public problems. In addition, he contributed to a number of ongoing initiatives of the Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics, including improving the city’s use of social media, beta testing a mobile app that detects traffic and pavement conditions, and evaluating citizens’ use of the Mayor’s 24-hour hotline. Robert says that the Rappaport Fellowship enabled him to explore a rapidly developing policy area, and collaborate closely with City of Boston staff to create highly customized recommendations. The experience also provided him an invaluable perspective into city government that will enrich his research for years to come.

Michael Honigberg
Graduate Degree: Harvard Medical School
Undergraduate Degree: Princeton University
Area of Interest: Health Care Policy
Mentor: Phyllis Rappaport, Chair, Phyllis and Jerome Lyle Rappaport Charitable Foundation
Supervisor: Amy Smalarz, Director of Performance Measurement
Project Description: This summer, Michael worked at the Massachusetts Division of Health Care Finance and Policy in the Health Systems Policy group. There, he developed and delivered a comprehensive briefing on health care quality measurement and reporting for the Commissioner and later delivered it to the entire Division. This research will be used heavily by the agency in future research, analysis, and public discussion on health care quality and cost. The Commissioner, in particular, will draw on this work in his position on the state Health Care Quality and Cost Council and also when he begins his chairmanship of a forthcoming state committee on quality measurement. Additionally, he researched and wrote a white paper on accountable care organizations (ACOs), a new model of organizing and paying for health care, recommended for implementation in Massachusetts by the 2009 Special Commission on Health Care Payment. Under the ACO model, groups of providers accept responsibility for the cost and quality of care delivered to a specific population of patients cared for by the group’s clinicians. Providers in ACOs will receive bonuses for controlling costs (a portion of savings below an established spending target) while meeting quality targets. ACOs are one possible tool in the state’s arsenal of strategies for combating high and growing health care costs.

Deepa Krishna
Graduate Degree: Boston University Scool of Management
Undergraduate School: New York University Tisch School of the Arts
Areas of interest: Education and Social Services Issues
Mentor: Jim Segel, Special Counsel to U. S. Representative Barney Frank
Agency: City of Boston's Circle of Promise Initiative
Supervisors: Judith Kurland, Chief of Programs and Partnerships, Marie St. Fleur, Chief of Advocacy and Strategic Investment, and Eliza Greenberg, Commissioner for Elderly Affairs
Project description: Deepa Krishna spent the summer working for the City of Boston in the Mayor’s Office primarily on the Circle of Promise, a neighborhood-based education initiative designed to improve student achievement, family engagement, and community outreach in the neighborhoods of Dorchester, Jamaica Plain, the South End, and Roxbury. Along with three other Rappaport Fellows, she defined the scope of the Circle, identified the City’s priority areas for Years 1-3, and built out an operating structure and timeline to oversee and coordinate future actions taken by the City. She also had the opportunity to work with the Boston EITC Coalition and MTAC on strategy and development related issues.

Lauren Lambie Hansen
Graduate Degree: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Undergraduate Degree: University of California, Berkeley
Areas of Interest: Housing Issues
Mentor: Karl Case, Wellesley University and Carol Burns, Principal, Taylor Burns Architects
Agency: City of Boston's Department of Neighborhood Development
Supervisor: Robert Gehret, Deputy Director for Policy and Research Development
Project Description: Lauren worked with the City of Boston's Department of Neighborhood Development on issues relating to bank-owned foreclosures in the city. She developed a database of foreclosed lots throughout the city as well as a list of absentee landlords.

Jeremy Levine
Graduate Degree: Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
Undergraduate Degree: University of Michigan
Areas of interest: Community and Social Services Issues
Mentor: Paul Scapicchio, Mintz Levin Strategies
Agency: Boston's Circle of Promise Initiative
Supervisors: Judith Kurland, Chief of Programs and Partnerships, Marie St. Fleur, Chief of Advocacy and Strategic Investment, and Eliza Greenberg, Commissioner for Elderly Affairs
Project Description: Jeremy Levine will be working with the City of Boston's Circle of Promise Initiative. Jeremy spent his summer working in the Office of Mayor Thomas M. Menino on Boston’s new place-based education initiative, the Circle of Promise. The geographic area of the Circle encompasses Mission Hill, Jamaica Plain, Roxbury, North Dorchester, and parts of the South End. The City intends to leverage local resources in conjunction with school reforms, and Jeremy created a database of local community-based organizations in these neighborhoods. Specifically, Jeremy analyzed the networks of inter-organizational partnerships, and assessed the distribution of local resources within the Circle. His research pointed to a number of geographic and service gaps to be filled by the City as they move forward with the initiative. He says that he had a tremendously informative summer as a Rappaport Fellow. His placement in Boston City Hall afforded him introductions to a number of department heads and influential policymakers. He shared office space with 7 other Rappaport and Boston Urban Mechanics Fellows, and the camaraderie alone made the experience worthwhile. Throughout the summer, he felt genuinely integrated into the policymaking process—including all the necessary bumps and hiccups along the way. He learned more about government—and the city of Boston—than he ever could have hoped for.

Amanda Maher
Graduate Degree: Northeastern University
Undergraduate Degree: Boston University
Areas of interest: Economic Development
Mentor: Jerome Lyle Rappaport, Chair, Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston
Agency: Executive Office of Economic Development and Housing
Supervisor: Stan McGee, Assistant Secretary for Policy and Planning
Project Description: Amanda worked on a variety of economic development projects including the proposed Holyoke Innovation District, an advanced manufacturing initiative, improving broadband connectivity in Western Massachusetts, and legislation related to casinos and gambling.

Ravi Parikh
Graduate Degree: Harvard Medical School
Undergraduate Degree: Harvard College
Areas of interest: Health care finance
Mentor: Renee Landers, Suffolk University Law School
Agency: Massachusetts State Legislature's Joint Committee on Public Health
Supervisors: Amaru Sánchez, Health Policy Research Analyst and Timothy O'Neill, Research Director
Project Description: This summer, Ravi worked as a research analyst for the Joint Committee on Public Health at the Massachusetts State House. His main project was to prepare a report for the Committee on workforce reform in the context of Massachusetts' proposed changes to health payment and delivery systems. His work involved briefing the Committee on existing structures of global payments and integrated delivery systems, comparing Massachusetts' legislation regarding allied health professions with those of other states, and speaking with various professional organizations about possibilities for reform in Massachusetts. In the end, he wrote a comprehensive report that included detailed overviews and state-by-state comparisons of workforce legislation in Massachusetts and legislative recommendations pertaining to future delivery system reform. He presented this report to the committee and will hopefully send the report to the Speaker of the House. He was also involved in research contributing to several bills that were enacted in this legislative session. Ravi says that working for the State House was rewarding because he contributed to legislation that was actually enacted or will be considered in future legislative sessions. It was exciting to be involved in an institution where "the action" happens, to see policy being designed and to observe how evidence competes with politics with regards to health policy. The last two weeks of the legislative session were particularly memorable – news regarding potential legislation was coming in constantly, and it was exciting to drop everything he was doing to respond to a particular concern. He also had the opportunity to sit in on meetings with lobbyists, professional organizations, and governmental institutions. These meetings allowed him to see where reform needs to occur to improve health delivery at the state level. Perhaps the greatest lessons he learned, however, were from speaking to groups of allied health professionals. As a future physician, it was a tremendous experience to be exposed to the practice and policy concerns of these groups. Having an understanding of these issues for both physicians and allied professionals will undoubtedly allow him to practice medicine as part of a team and help him become a better doctor.

Eugen Taso
Graduate Degree: Tufts University
Undergraduate Degree: Harvard University
Areas of interest: Environmental Issues
Mentor: Phil Puccia, JP Morgan Securities
Agency: MassPort
Supervisors: Lowell Richards, Chief Development Officer, Andrew Hargens, Senior Planner and Project Manager, and Deborah Hadden, Deputy Port Director
Project Description: As a Rappaport Fellow during the summer of 2010 Eugen worked for the Massachusetts Port Authority because he wanted to gain experience in public policy at a state level and learn about the different operations of an independent agency. He was very fortunate to share his ten weeks there between the Economic Planning and Development Department (EP&D) and the Maritime division. He was therefore exposed to not one but three very different projects which have allowed him to explore different aspects of his fields of interest: environmental policy, alternative energy, and business. Eugen's main assignment involved designing a study offering options and recommendations to Massport about the best approach to a clean truck program at its port facilities. The study included a comprehensive overview of other port programs already in place or under development through phone interviews with program administrators, an in-person fleet characterization survey at the container terminal, a technology overview of available options for truckers and a list of options and recommendations including legal considerations for implementing a clean truck program under different scenarios. His second assignment involved drafting a presentation for senior staff on the feasibility and applicability of investing in the development of a solar power installation at one of Massport’s facilities. Finally, he was tasked with conducting a due diligence study on the direct current transmission infrastructure and its applicability in the context of a proposed project on one of Massport’s recently acquired properties. Overall, he had a great experience and he is very grateful to the Rappaport Institute, the program administrators and his supervisors for making this such a successful and fulfilling summer.

Jennifer (Vorse) Wilka
Graduate Degree: Harvard Kennedy School
Undergraduate Degree: Williams College
Areas of interest: Community and Social Services Issues
Mentor: Larry DiCara, Nixon Peabody, LLP
Agency: Office of the Mayor, City of Boston
Supervisors: Judith Kurland, Chief of Programs and Partnerships, Marie St. Fleur, Chief of Advocacy and Strategic Investment, and Eliza Greenberg, Commissioner of Elderly Affairs
Project Description: Jennifer worked in the Mayor's Office in the City of Boston on the Circle of Promise initiative. The Circle of Promise is a collaboration between the Mayor’s Office and the Boston Public Schools, as well as other City departments and partners, to support educational achievement, family self-sufficiency, and community stability for students and families in some of Boston’s most disadvantaged neighborhoods. She began the summer by gathering and presenting descriptive data about the Circle of Promise to identify characteristics, assets, and challenges of these children, families, and neighborhoods; and to understand how the Circle of Promise differs from the City of Boston at large. Working with a team of Rappaport Fellows, she helped develop a theory of change and overarching strategy for the Circle of Promise, and outlined a work plan for the initiative’s first year.

Michael Zakaras
Graduate Degree: Harvard Kennedy School
Undergraduate Degree: Stanford University
Interest Area: Community development
Mentor: Vivien Li, Executive Director, The Boston Harbor Association
Agency: Office of the Mayor, City of Boston
Supervisors: Judith Kurland, Chief of Programs and Partnerships, Marie St. Fleur, Chief of Advocacy and Strategic Investment, and Eliza Greenberg, Commissioner of Elderly Affairs
Project Description: Michael spent his summer at the City of Boston working in the Mayor’s Office on two policy initiatives. The first was the Circle of Promise, a neighborhood-based education initiative, for which he helped develop a work plan for the city over the next several years. This involved identifying high-level goals, recommending priority areas for city intervention, and articulating next steps for an operations team – with an emphasis on ensuring quality out-of-school time and family engagement. Michael also worked to shape the Mayor’s fresh food agenda with a focus on farmers’ market viability in Boston, as well as strategies to make healthy local food more accessible to low-income communities.

Keith Cialino
Graduate Degree: UMass Boston
Undergraduate Degree: La Salle University
Areas of interest: Environmental Issues
Mentor: Vivien Li, President, The Boston Harbor Association
Agency: US EPA, New England, Region I
Project Description: Keith worked at the New England office of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. While there, he assisted with implementing the Regional Beach Strategy that focuses on collaboration with priority communities experiencing chronic beach closures due to poor water quality. In support of this, he developed Beach Action Plans for communities in the Greater Boston and Massachusetts Bay region. These Action Plans outline a strategy that builds and facilitates a consensus approach among local, state, and federal agencies to improve water quality at local beaches and protect human health.

Laura Delgado
Graduate Degree: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Undergraduate Degree: Williams College
Areas of interest: Affordable Housing Issues
Mentor: Carol Burns, Principal, Taylor Burns Architects
Agency: Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development
Supervisor: Amy Schectman, Director of Transition and Rental Assistance
Project Description: For her Rappaport Fellowship, she worked at the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) on how best to re-house and stabilize homeless families who are exiting shelter. With the transfer of Emergency Assistance from the Department of Transitional Assistance to DHCD this summer, plus the grant of several million dollars in stimulus funds devoted to reducing homelessness in Massachusetts, it was a really exciting time to work at DHCD. Specifically, she helped develop a Request for Responses for stimulus funding committed to homelessness prevention and re-housing that the State released near the end of her internship. As a part of this, she researched best practices, interviewed people in organizations currently working on re-housing and stabilization, and helped piece together what resources existed in which parts of the state and where services were most needed. She is excited to continue working on this and with DHCD for her thesis.

Sarah Fierberg Phillips
Graduate Degree: Brandeis University
Undergraduate Degree: Brown University
Areas of interest: Education
Mentor: Larry DiCara, Nixon Peabody, LLP
Agency: Executive Office of Education
Supervisors: JD LaRock, Policy Director, Beth Peabody, Policy Analyst, and Saeyun Lee, Policy Analyst
Project Description: Sarah Phillips spent the summer working at the Executive Office of Education. During the first week of her fellowship, she was able to influence public policy, successfully recommending that the Secretary of Education amend a proposed amendment to the University of Massachusetts’ quasi-endowment policy. With an early victory under her belt, Sarah spent the bulk of her fellowship writing a report on the Readiness Schools legislation. Part of Governor Patrick’s education reform package, this legislation will close persistent achievement gaps by jump starting long-overdue efforts to turn around low-performing schools as well as creating two new types of innovative in-district public schools. Sarah also wrote a series of memos that will help shape the Commonwealth’s application to several federal grant programs funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Brendan Goodwin
Graduate Degree: Tufts University
Undergraduate Degree: Xavier University
Areas of interest: Housing
Mentor: Amy Dain, Consultant
Agency: Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development|
Supervisor: Amy Schectman, Associate Director, Division of Public Housing and Rental Assistance
Project Description: Brendan Goodwin worked at the Department of Housing and Community Development on a project to strengthen the State’s public housing program by exploring an opportunity to federalize state-assisted public housing developments using funds from the stimulus bill. The department is now working with housing authorities to implement this strategy, which may preserve thousands of units of public housing in Massachusetts while saving the State significant resources that can then be used to better sustain the remaining portfolio by providing housing authorities with higher operating and capital funds.

Meghan Haggerty
Graduate Degree: Harvard Kennedy School
Undergraduate Degree: Harvard College
Areas of interest: Performance Management
Mentor: Kathy Kottaridis, Executive Director, Historic Boston, Inc.
Agency: Mayor's Office, City of Boston
Supervisor: Chris Osgood, Special Advisor to the Mayor and Matt Mayrl, Special Projects Associate
Project Description: Meghan's Rappaport Fellowship project was to create a work plan for Phase 3 of the City of Boston’s constituent relationship management and work order system (CRM/WOM). This system allows for call takers in the Mayor’s 24 Hour Constituent Service Center to create cases and gather work order information which is routed directly to frontline service departments. Through fuller utilization of this common work order and reporting system, the City has been able to improve responsiveness to constituent complaints, increase accountability, and gather more reliable and timely operational data on participating departments. In order to create this plan, she interviewed mid-level and senior management of Boston’s Public Works and Parks departments to understand how the system could be used to improve their internal operations.

Jessica Hohman
Graduate Degree: Harvard Medical School
Undergraduate Degree: Miami University
Areas of interest: Health Care Policy
Mentor: Phyllis Rappaport, Chair, Phyllis and Jerome Lyle Rappaport Charitable Foundation
Agency: Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector
Supervisor: Eric Dahlberg, Connector Associate and Kaitlyn Kenney Walsh, Senior Policy Analyst
Project Description: Jessica spent her summer working at the Commonwealth Health Connector Authority on a number of different projects. Although her original project proposal had been to examine the impact of the 2006 health reforms on realized health access in Massachusetts (particularly in relation to affordability, premium levels, and out-of-pocket payments), she encountered some data availability problems since the data she needed was not scheduled to be released until the fall. As such, she shifted her focus to working on a national health reform project, which worked out perfectly since insurance market regulation has long been a research interest of hers. As part of her project for the Connector, she examined the impact proposed federal legislation would have on the Connector and suggested ways the Connector could adapt. Her final products were a comparative grid and draft for a white paper on this issue .

Delia Kimbrel
Graduate Degree: Brandeis University
Undergraduate Degree: University of Kansas
Areas of Interest: Housing Issues
Mentor: Martha Weinberg, Consultant
Agency: Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development
Supervisors: Amy Schectman, Associate Director, Division of Public Housing and Rental Assistance and Gretchen Weismann, Homelessness Consultant
Project Description: Throughout the summer, Delia worked with DHCD to understand the challenges and best practices in case management in the Family Self-Sufficiency program. The limited understanding around housing based self-sufficiency programs raised questions for DHCD regarding what program characteristics and features help clients make progress toward self-sufficiency. This topic was explored in greater detail by looking at the case management practices of coordinators and the experiences of current clients at seven of the DHCD’s non-profit regional administering agencies. Throughout the summer, she interviewed coordinators and case managers in the FSS program as well as held focus groups to learn about participant perceptions about case management performance. The discoveries made will help inform case management in other housing programs that offer supportive services to families receiving housing assistance.

Michael Long
Graduate Degree: Harvard School of Public Health
Undergraduate Degree: Princeton University
Areas of interest: Nutrition in Schools
Mentor: Joan Wallace Benjamin, Executive Director, The Home for Little Wanderers
Agency: Boston Public Schools
Supervisors: Helen Mont-Ferguson, Director of Food and Nutritional Services and Shamil Mohammed, Deputy Director of Food and Nutritional Services
Project Description: Michael Long worked for the Boston Public Schools Department of Food and Nutrition Services to assess barriers to increasing student access to the school breakfast program and recommend actions that the district can take to increase student breakfast participation. Increasing breakfast participation will reduce childhood obesity, improve academic performance, and address the district’s current financial challenges. The project identified strong support among district stakeholders for improving breakfast policies as well as opportunities to address barriers to implementation. Michael will continue to work with BPS to make sure more Boston students start their day with a strong nutritional foundation.

Antoniya Owens
Graduate Degree: Harvard Kennedy School
Undergraduate Degree: Mount Holyoke College
Areas of interest: Immigration Issues
Mentor: Mary Jo Meisner, The Boston Foundation
Agency: Massachusetts Office of Refugees and Immigrants
Supervisors: Richard Chacón, Director and Samantha Schusterman, Chief of Staff
Project Description: Antoniya spent her fellowship working for the Massachusetts Office for Refugees and Immigrants, where she researched and wrote an extensive report about the state’s students with limited English proficiency(LEP). The report, which will be released later this fall, focuses on Massachusetts’ transition from bilingual education to sheltered English immersion as the primary model for educating limited English-proficient students. In particular, it examines the trends in enrollment of LEP students, their demographic characteristics, their school engagement outcomes, and their academic performance at the MCAS tests—in an attempt to evaluate how the policy change has influenced their performance at school relative to their English-proficient classmates.

Devin Quirk
Graduate Degree: Harvard Kennedy School
Undergraduate Degree: Harvard College
Areas of interest: Emergency Management
Mentor: Tom Keane, Consultant
Agency: Boston Emergency Medical Service
Supervisors: Chief Richard Serino, Jim Montgomery, Finance Director, and Adrianne Gerlach, Director of Policy and Planning
Project Description: During his placement at Boston Emergency Medical Services (EMS), Devin worked on a wide variety of policy, management, and operational issues which varied in scope from national, to local, to inter-departmental. At a national level, Devin worked closely with Chief Richard Serino to design a lobbying strategy to include EMS in congressional healthcare reform efforts and advocate for greater Federal EMS representation. At a local level, Devin met with representatives from local hospitals and the Boston Public Health Commission to address inefficiencies in the Boston EMS billing process. Identifying unnecessary hospital-based managed care contracts as a substantial drain on EMS funding, Devin worked with the Director of Finance to create an RFP for a new non-hospital billing contractor which, once awarded, should result in several million dollars in additional revenue for Boston EMS without increasing the fees charged to patients. Finally, at the departmental level, Devin worked with the Director of Policy and Planning to create a performance management system for the department. By the end of the summer, his efforts led to the successful launch of a web-based performance dashboard which tracks a number of key performance indicators on a daily basis and assists senior managers in achieving established performance goals.

Meghan Smith Young
Graduate Degree: Brandeis University
Undergraduate School: College of the Holy Cross
Areas of interest: Health Care Policy
Mentor: Tiziana Dearing, Director, Catholic Charities of Boston
Agency: Massachusetts Department of Public Health
Supervisor: Lea Ojamaa, Community Liaison Coordinator
Project Description: Meaghan worked with the Office of Community Liaisons within the MA Department of Public Health’s Prevention and Wellness Unit to provide practical policy recommendations for creating more livable communities for older adults in MA. She researched structural and environmental barriers to healthy aging at the local and state level and identified methods for implementing policy changes by examining Barnstable County’s "best practices." Barnstable County was chosen because of its concentrated aging demographic. She also worked with councils on aging in Barnstable County to both increase their awareness of the social determinants of health and to encourage them to rethink their role in shaping the built environment.

Neil Veilleux
Graduate Degree: Tufts University
Undergraduate Degree: Swanee: University of the South
Areas of interest: Economic Development and transportation
Mentor: Paul Scapicchio, Mintz Levin Strategies
Agency: Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources and the Massachusetts Renewable Energy Trust
Supervisors: Dwayne Breger, Division Director, Renewable and Alternative Energy Development, Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources and Carter Wall, Executive Director, Massachusetts Renewable Energy Trust
Project Description: During his fellowship, Neil analyzed the relationships between utilities, electric generators, ratepayers, solar developers, and regulators – with the goal of creating viable, production-based market incentives to stimulate solar photovoltaic (PV) development in Massachusetts. In his research, he described and evaluated methods (financial, structural, political, etc.) employed by other states to encourage solar. Ultimately, under the direction of senior policy-makers at the Department of Energy Resources (DOER), he formulated cost-effective policy options to stimulate solar PV development for Massachusetts.

Ashley Carlson Dickerson
Graduate Degree: Harvard School of Public Health
Undergraduate Degree: Duke University
Areas of interest: Public Health and Education
Mentor: Thomas Payzant, Professor of Practice, Harvard Graduate School of Education
Agency: Office of Rep. Alice Wolf
Supervisor: Jesse Dixon, Legislative Aide, Office of Representative Alice Wolf
Project Description: While interning with Representative Wolf at the Massachusetts State House, Ashley analyzed and evaluated various pieces of education and public health legislation. She calculated a cost-benefit analysis on smaller class size and prepared outreach information about new early education and care regulations for early child care providers. In her time at the State House, Ashley had an opportunity to research and give input into the creation of a Child and Youth Readiness Cabinet as part of Governor Patrick’s Readiness Project in the state. The purpose of this cabinet is to bring together the departments of education and health and human services to design a more effective system that will meet all of the needs of children and their families. Ashley hopes to continue her work on the Cabinet at the State House this year.

Holly Elwell Bostum
Graduate Degree: Tufts University
Undergraduate Degree: University of Vermont
Areas of interest: Environment
Mentor: Vivien Li, Executive Director, The Boston Harbor Association
Agency: Office of Ecosystem Protection, EPA New England, Region 1
Supervisor: Mel Cote, Manager, Oceans and Coastal Protection Unit
Project Description: As a Rappaport Public Policy Fellow, Holly was placed at the Environmental Protection Agency- Regional 1 (EPA). This is a federal environmental agency dedicated to the protection of human health and the environment. Her work at EPA focused on climate change and coastal water resources management. Specifically she was involved in planning and organizing the EPA Climate Change Forum which brought together federal, state, regional and local decision makers, area scientists and academics, and watershed and community based organizations from throughout New England to share data and information and identify key areas where additional tools and collaboration is needed. She was also involved in launching the Massachusetts Bays National Estuaries Program Climate Ready Estuaries Pilot Project. In this effort she identified actions for climate change adaptation that correlate with previously identified management goals. Her final project at EPA consisted of working with the Gulf of Maine Council Ecosystem Indicators Partnership to develop climate change indicators. She focused specifically on historic precipitation data and identified trends and anomalies. This information will be used by the Climate change Working Group to make recommendations for policy and management decisions.

Ryan Fattman
Graduate Degree: Tufts University
Undergraduate Degree: Suffolk University
Areas of interest: Housing
Mentor: Jim Segel, special counsel to U.S. Representative Barney Frank
Agency: MassHousing
Supervisor: Kevin Mello
Project Description: At MassHousing, under the supervision of Kevin Mello, Ryan Fattman researched several aspects of the recent foreclosure/ sub-prime lending debacle. First, he briefly researched MassHousing’s Home Saver program and pieces of legislation that address the foreclosure crisis, analyzing their successes and failures. He also inspected an alternative policy approach of promoting new and first time home ownership, as opposed to housing retention-oriented policies. Finally, he analyzed the housing market in Massachusetts, aggregating housing statistics, ranging from levels of homeownership, delinquency rates, foreclosures rates, and housing valuations. This data was used to determine if policies promoting first time home ownership of foreclosed properties are wise to consider for mitigation of the housing crisis.

Kristen Joyce
Graduate Degree: Harvard Kennedy School
Undergraduate Degree: University of Massachusetts - Amherst
Areas of interest: Economic Development and Social Services
Mentor: Joan Wallace Benjamin, Executive Director, The Home for Little Wanderers
Agency: Mayor's Office, City of Boston
Supervisors: Chris Osgood, Special Advisor to the Mayor and Mimi Turchinetz, Boston EITC Campaign Director
Project description: As a fellow in the Office of Mayor Thomas M. Menino, Kristen worked with the Boston Earned Income Tax Credit Coalition to analyze the tax preparation process at the two busiest free tax sites located in Roxbury and Dorchester. Her main research question was how these sites can provide increased asset development support services while helping the maximum amount of taxpayers. To find her answer, Kristen spent time at both sites interviewing the site directors and experiencing the processes first hand. She also conducted a best practices search by contacting site coordinators from across the country and learning about their operations. In the end, Kristen recommended an improved intake process and benefit screening program that should both increase participation at the sites and the quality and quantity of asset development services the tax payers receive next tax season.

Nicholas Maryns
Graduate Degree: Harvard Kennedy School
Undergraduate Degree: Saint Olaf College
Areas of interest: Performance Management
Mentor: Larry DiCara, Nixon Peabody, LLP
Agency: Mayor’s Office, City of Boston
Supervisor: Chris Osgood, Special Assistant, City of Boston
Project Description: Nicholas Maryns spent the summer working for the Office of Mayor Thomas M. Menino on a wide variety of projects, including: creating mechanisms to measure and increase the performance of the Mayor’s 24 Hour Hotline and basic city services; helping to plan a community-based response to foreclosures in Boston neighborhoods; identifying and quantifying ways in which wireless companies stick Bostonians with hidden charges and drafting a plan to address the issue, and; assisting is an outreach campaign for the Work Opportunity Tax Credit in Boston’s Empowerment Zone. In addition to these projects, Nick volunteered at Camp Harbor View, shadowed the Mayor, and earned the nickname "Clark Kent" for quickly changing into his suit and tie in a Superman-like fashion after biking to work every day.

Amy Moran Lowe
Graduate Degree: Harvard Kennedy School
Undergraduate Degree: Harvard College
Areas of interest: Immigration
Mentor: Kathy Kottaridis, Historic Boston, Inc.
Agency: Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA)
Supervisors: Alvaro Lima, Director of Research and Mark Melnick, Deputy Director of Research
Project Description: Amy worked in the Policy Development and Research Division of the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA). She spearheaded a study on Latino immigrant organizations in Greater Boston, with a focus on Brazilian, Colombian, Dominican, and Salvadoran groups. In the first phase she created an inventory of such organizations, from well-established and well-funded non profits to unincorporated grassroots groups. In the second phase, she collected qualitative data through site visits and in-person interviews in order to understand the role these organizations play in local immigrant communities. For her Kennedy School Policy Analysis Exercise, Amy analyzed this data and made policy recommendations to the City of Boston.

Lauren Nicoll
Graduate Degree: Northeastern University
Undergraduate Degree: Drew University
Areas of Interest: Economic Development
Mentor: Tom Keane, Consultant
Agency: Mayor's Office of Strategic Planning and Community Developement, Somerville
Supervisors: Rob May, Director of Economic Development and Stephen Houdlette, Senior Economic Development Specialist
Project Description: During her time this summer at Somerville's Office of Strategic Planning and Community Development (OSPCD), Lauren Nicoll researched the design industry in Somerville. Part of the overall "creative economy," the design industry is a source of good jobs employing talented, skilled workers. Since Massachusetts has the most architects and designers per capita, Lauren sought out those designers operating within the city of Somerville. She interviewed 21 architects, graphic designers, landscape designers, woodworkers, and other designers to find out their reasons for working in Somerville and what the city can do to help sustain and grow their industry. Lauren analyzed their answers and prepared a report outlining her research and policy recommendations. Working with the OSPCD and the Somerville Arts Council, Lauren plans to use this report to strategize ways that Somerville can support the design industry and grow their role in Boston's creative economy.

Justin Pasquariello
Graduate Degree: Harvard Kennedy School/Harvard Business School
Undergraduate Degree: Harvard College
Areas of interest: Social Services
Mentor: Mary Jo Meisner, The Boston Foundation
Agency: Department of Social Services
Supervisor: David Murphy, Director of Legislative Affairs
Project Description: Justin was a Rappaport Fellow with Dave Murphy, Legislative Director for the Department of Children and Families. In this capacity, he worked with Dave on the comprehensive child welfare act, signed by the Governor on July 8, 2008; advocating for the Department's $800 million budget to the Legislature; and on numerous other legislative issues that impact the Department. He also coordinated agency responses to questions from Senator Kennedy’s office on reauthorization of the Federal Child Abuse Protection and Treatment Act. In his final weeks, he focused on an implementation plan for the sweeping reforms of child welfare contained in the Commonwealth’s child abuse prevention act. He considered financial, staffing, and other implications of the bill, and developed a preliminary implementation plan for the Department. During his fellowship, he had the opportunity to work directly with the Commissioner, Members of the Legislature and many senior staff members. It was an exciting summer. As a former foster child himself, who has previously worked as the Executive Director of a mentoring agency that works closely with DCF, this was a particularly rewarding fellowship for him.

Tara Pavao
Graduate Degree: Suffolk University
Undergraduate Degree: Bridgewater State University
Areas of interest: Social Services
Mentor: Tiziana Dearing, President, Catholic Charities of Boston
Agency: Department of Social Services
Supervisors: Leslie Akula, Director of Policy Support, Susan Stelk, Education Director, and Donna Reulback, Assistant Commissioner for Practice and Policy
Project Description: Tara worked within the Policy Department at the Department of Children and Families. Her project was to research the education of foster care youth and further analyze if there is a disconnect in their educational continuity. As children enter foster care or are required to transition from foster home to foster home, they often have to transfer schools and register within their new school districts. In her years of experience as a social worker for the Commonwealth, there were times when children transferred to as many as three different schools within a single school year. As she researched further into this issue, she set forth to answer three questions: Are foster care youth graduating at the same rate as the general public? Does educational continuity contribute to a foster care youth’s academic success? Is it a cost benefit to transport foster care youth to their school of origin? The findings of her research conclude that foster care youth are not graduating at the rate of normalcy, as foster care students are about half as likely as other students to have graduated from high school. Educational continuity and school stability does promote successful school experiences and contribute to positive youth development. Finally, with interagency collaborations between the Department of Children and Families, Department of Transitional Assistance, and the Department of Education, social benefits outweigh the costs of transporting foster care youth to their school of origin under the McKinney-Vento Act.

Jillian Standish Flynn
Graduate Degree: Boston University School of Management
Undergraduate Degree: Bucknell University
Areas of interest: Housing
Mentor: Sue Tracy, The Strategy Group, Inc.
Agency: Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development
Supervisors: Mary-Anne Morrison, Director, Bureau of Rental Assistance, Amy Schectman, Associate Director, Division of Public Housing and Rental Assistance, and Jessica Berman Boatright, Special Assistant to the Associate Director
Project Description: One of the Department of Housing and Community Development’s (DHCD) primary foci for fiscal year 2009 is the Massachusetts Rental Voucher Program (MRVP), which provides rental assistance to low-income tenants across the Commonwealth. The program is a tremendous resource for providing additional affordable housing in Massachusetts but has not been used to its fullest potential, so DHCD is planning on redesigning it. To begin this process, she spent her ten weeks at DHCD conducting 32 listening sessions with MRVP’s stakeholders, including Local Housing Authorities, Regional Administering Agencies, tenant advocacy groups, and legislators, in order to find out how they envision a reinvigorated MRVP. Based on the information she collected during these meetings and her personal experience working with MRVP at my past job, she formulated a recommendation on how to redesign the program. As DHCD moves forward with the overhaul of MRVP, they will use the document she wrote as a roadmap to guide the extensive process of rebuilding MRVP.

Josh Wakeham
Graduate Degree: Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences
Undergraduate School: Williams College
Areas of interest: Social Services, Youth Issues
Agency: Department of Youth Services
Supervisor: Edward Dolan, Deputy Commissioner
Project Description: Joshua Wakeham spent the summer at the Department of Youth Services examining its sentencing process. He did this in two distinct ways: looking at overall trends and observing actual practices. He collected data from dozens of intake files about the assessment and eventual sentence of committed youth from DYS’s Metro Area Office. He also sat in on the actual sentencing hearings with the staff, the client, and the family to see how sentencing policy was actually implemented on a day-to-day basis. Preliminary results revealed some important and interesting patterns that merit further research. As a result of this initial project and the enthusiastic support of DYS, Joshua plans to continue this project throughout the school year. Early results show promise for both practical policy concerns and broader theoretical implications.
 

Victoria (Torrey) Wolff
Graduate Degree: MIT
Undergraduate Degree: Williams College
Areas of interest: Economic Development and transportation
Agency: Boston Redevelopment Authority
Supervisor: Jonathan Greeley, Community Planner
Project Description: While working with the Planning Division of the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA), Victoria Wolff focused on participatory planning in Roxbury. The Roxbury Strategic Master Plan Oversight Committee (RSMPOC), representing the diverse views of the community, wields an unusual amount of influence in working with the BRA to direct future development of the neighborhood. Following an RSMPOC- and BRA-led community process, Victoria helped to generate use and design guidelines for development of vacant parcels in Roxbury. These guidelines reflected community concerns and ideas ranging from stepped building heights to a preference for businesses that train and employ local residents. She also coordinated a report updating the Roxbury community on the RSMPOC's progress translating the community's objectives into action over the past four years. The completed report on the committee's successes will influence policies and procedures for participatory planning in other Boston neighborhoods.

Kathleen (Ziegenfuss) Mayell
Graduate Degree: MIT
Undergraduate Degree: Boston University
Areas of interest: Transportation
Mentor: Paul Scapicchio, Mintz Levin Strategies
Agency: Mayor's Office of Strategic Planning and Community Development
Supervisor: Melisa Tintocalis, Principal, Economic Development Planning
Project Description: Kathleen Ziegenfuss, an MIT Master of City Planning Candidate, researched various economic development tools the City of Somerville could use to help prepare for the impact of the MBTA Green Line extension from Lechmere Station into Union Square. Chief among the tools studied was the potential of using an Urban Renewal Plan for the redevelopment of the Boynton Yards and Union Square districts. Issues considered were: existing land uses and current conditions; the transportation-specific impacts of the Union Square Green Line Extension; the greater vision for the area; the community involvement process; the potential of using the Urban Renewal Plan in conjunction with a District Improvement Financing (DIF) plan; and the compatibility of land uses with the proposed rezoning of Union Square (which includes the provision of the Transit Oriented Development districts that cover much of the area being considered for the Urban Renewal Plan). The work Kathleen completed will allow the City to move forward in a community visioning process to help shape the future of the greater Union Square district.

James Barrett
Graduate Degree: UMass Boston
Undergraduate Degree: UMass Boston
Areas of interest: Criminal justice, race relations
Agency: Executive Office for Public Safety
Supervisor: Elizabeth Spinney, DMC Reduction Specialist
Project Description: During his placement at the Executive Office of Public Safety, James attended and participated in subcommittee meetings relating to disproportionate minority contact. He also sat on two grant review teams which released funds for new public safety construction and drug free and safe schools. His main project was preparing a report comparing Chelsea and Holyoke, two demographically similar cities that have very different rates of juvenile, minority confinement. The report consists of an analysis of best practices and practitioner interviews as well as the results of a survey designed to measure system bias. The report release date is TBD pending the results of the statewide practitioner survey.

Leah (Bowe) O'Neill
Graduate Degree: UMass Boston
Undergraduate Degree: University of Wisconsin – Madison
Areas of interest: Environmental issues
Agency: Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA)
Supervisor: Marian Orfeo, Director of Planning and Coordination, Joshua Das, Project Manager for Public Health, and Andrea Rex, Director of ENQUAD
Project Description: Studies in many countries have demonstrated the presence, and in some cases, negative effects of pharmaceutical products at trace levels in water streams. The major inputs of pharmaceuticals come from households and hospitals, due to excretion and improper disposal of unwanted or expired medications. This summer Leah worked with the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority to determine the inputs of pharmaceuticals to their service area, analyze prevention and treatment methods, and establish future policies. Several potential approaches to this issue are possible: relying on government regulation, implementing proper disposal methods, rethinking and redesigning sewage treatment, and/or developing more environmentally friendly pharmaceuticals. She believes the best approach to prevent trace contamination of pharmaceuticals in the environment and drinking water is to substantially reduce the quantities initially entering raw sewage. More research is needed to increase our knowledge and understanding of the fate of drugs in surface waters, their degradation products, the complexity of mixtures, and the role of environmental monitoring.

Corey Kurtz
Graduate Degree: Tufts University
Undergraduate Degree: Macalester College
Areas of interest: Immigration issues
Agency: Office of the Massachusetts Attorney General
Supervisors: Joanne Goldstein, Division Chief, Business and Labor Bureau and Jocelyn Jones, Deputy Division Chief, Business and Labor Bureau, Office of the Massachusetts Attorney General
Project Description: Corey researched ways for the Fair Labor Division to collaborate most effectively with local immigrant organizations on public education and strategic enforcement. Her research included conversations with experts in the field about best practices in other states and interviews with over twenty members of the Fair Labor Division staff and the staff of community organizations about how to improve the effectiveness of interagency partnerships. Additionally, she looked at how the office could improve its services for immigrant workers, developing a protocol for communicating with witnesses during the course of a case, and drawing up a comprehensive plan for increasing language access and outreach to immigrant communities. Finally, she helped liaison between the Division and referring organizations, coordinating communication on specific cases, organizing a training for community organization staff, and aiding in the revision of the non-payment of wage complaint form.

Rebecca Lobb
Graduate Degree: Harvard School of Public Health
Undergraduate Degree: Boston University
Areas of interest: Public health disparities
Agency: Massachusetts Department of Public Health
Supervisor: Mary Lou Woodford, Director, Women's Health Network
Project Description: Rebecca worked with the Women’s Health Network (WHN) in the Massachusetts Department of Public Health to complete two projects. The WHN is a program that provides free breast and cervical cancer screenings to low income women. The first project was to make recommendations to improve the measure of breast cancer screening assessed and reported in the Screening Mammography in Massachusetts Report, an annual report published by the state. The second project was to develop research questions for a contract the WHN was establishing with the Harvard University Department of Public Health Practice to analyze 10 years of cancer screening data on low income women. Activities related to this project consisted of searching existing research on breast and cervical cancer, reviewing the data structure and content of archived files from the WHN program, and monitoring the evolving regulations on coverage of medical services for low income women provided by the Commonwealth Health Plans and the Free Care Pool. Rebecca will continue to work with the WHN, throughout the remainder of her doctoral program, to oversee the implementation of changes she recommended for the Screening Mammography in Massachusetts Reportand completion of the deliverables outlined in the contract between the WHN and Harvard University.

Matthew Mayrl
Graduate Degree: Harvard Kennedy School
Undergraduate Degree: University of Wisconsin – Madison
Areas of interest: Economic development, public/private partnerships
Mentor: Robert Culver, MassDevelopment Office
Agency: Mayor’s Office, City of Boston
Supervisors: Judith Kurland, Chief of Staff, City of Boston and Chris Osgood, Special Assistant, Mayor's Office
Project Description: Matthew Mayrl spent his summer working in the Office of Mayor Thomas M. Menino with the Mayor’s Chief of Staff, Judith Kurland. The Mayor’s Office is interested in partnering with Boston’s major nonprofit institutions to provide expanded services for Boston residents. In his time with the City, Mayrl mapped how the City currently interacts with nonprofits, conducted research on city-nonprofit partnerships across the country, and provided a number of recommendations on how the City can better coordinate its internal processes to generate new and expanded partnerships. Mayrl plans on continuing his work with the Mayor’s Office throughout the year and will write his Policy Analysis Exercise on the topic of nonprofit-city partnerships.

Kate Moloney
Graduate Degree: Northeastern University
Undergraduate Degree: College of the Holy Cross
Areas of Interest: Housing
Agency: Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development
Supervisor: Amy Schectman, Associate Director, Division of Public Housing and Rental Assistance
Project Description: While at the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) Division of Public Housing and Rental Assistance, Kate Moloney assessed how DHCD can better support local housing authorities (LHAs) in their role as operators of the state-assisted public housing units and was part of a task force to determine the true cost of operating the state-assisted public housing. While evaluating DHCD’s supportive role, she interviewed Executive Directors and staff members of LHAs, tenant advocates, and DHCD staff members to find out how DHCD currently supports LHAs, identify common management problems that confront LHAs, and propose new ways in which DHCD can better support LHAs in the management of the public housing. As a member of the true cost working group, Kate assessed proposals and researched answers to questions asked by the other members and developed new strategies for determining the true cost of operating state-assisted public housing.

Audrey Morse Gasteier
Graduate Degree: Harvard School of Public Health
Undergraduate Degree: Mount Holyoke College
Areas of interest: Health care reform
Mentor: Rosemary Day, Chief of Staff, Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector
Agency: Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector Authority
Supervisors: Melissa Boudreault, Director of Commonwealth Care, Jamie Hammerling-Bern, Assistant Director of Commonwealth Care, and Robert Carey, Director of Planning Development
Project Description: While working at the Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector Authority ("the Connector"), a new state agency coordinating the new health care reform in Massachusetts, Audrey designed a study that sought to inform the Connector and other decision makers about the behavior and choices of people between 150% and 200% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL) who are eligible for state-subsidized health insurance but have not yet enrolled. This population is required to pay premiums and co-payments to be enrolled in the newly created Commonwealth Care plans, but is currently eligible for full free care through the Uncompensated Care Pool (UCP), so there has been some speculation that this will be a difficult population to enroll. She set out to better understand why those who are eligible but haven't yet enrolled have not signed up for coverage and what roll, if any, the UCP plays in that decision. In addition to conducting interviews with community-based health and outreach workers across the state that interface with this population, she developed a survey tool that she used to collect information directly from the population on their decision-making regarding their health care options. The data she collected will assist the Connector in finding new ways to increase enrollment among this population so that Massachusetts can reach more widespread health insurance coverage, the primary goal of health care reform.

Semil Shah
Graduate Degree: Harvard Kennedy School
Undergraduate Degree: University of Michigan
Areas of interest: Municipal finance and infrastructure
Agency: MassPort
Supervisors: Lowell Richards, Director of Port Planning and Development and Andrew Hargens, Senior Planner and Project Manager
Project Description: Semil's summer assignment at Massport— Massachusetts’ port authority—was well-timed. The Economic Planning & Development office began work on a long-term strategic plan for the Port of Boston. This project exposed him to many Massport departments to see how professionals from diverse backgrounds—planners, engineers, consultants, operators, developers, and so on—reach consensus on the management of port infrastructure. First, he assisted the senior project manager in charge of the strategic port plan. Second, he wrote a memo on whether it was feasible for Massport to cut emissions and improve air quality by providing container ships and cruise lines with shore-side electrical power, a transition some ships are making to reduce coal-based power generation. Third, he helped Massport’s Chief Development Officer develop a speech contrasting the maintenance of transportation infrastructure in Europe versus the U.S. Finally, his main contribution to Massport was to analyze how increased containerized trade between India and New England will grow over the next quarter-century and how it will affect the flow of commodities between these two markets. One issue facing U.S. container ports is how to plan for what many believe to be an inevitable surge in trade from India and the Indian subcontinent; his task was to figure out what exactly is in all those containers coming from India bound for New England, which shipping companies are carrying the cargo, and how growth within India could affect these trading routes.

Benjamin Solomon Schwartz
Graduate Degree: MIT
Undergraduate Degree: Harvard College
Areas of interest: Land-use planning
Agency: Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development
Supervisor: Greg Bialecki, Assistant Secretary and General Counsel, Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development
Project Description: Benjamin Solomon-Schwartz spent a productive summer at the Massachusetts Permit Regulatory Office, housed within the Commonwealth's Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development. Working with Greg Bialecki, the state's first permitting ombudsman, Solomon-Schwartz completed several projects that contribute to the primary goal of the MPRO: streamlining the state's development permitting processes in order to foster economic development within the context of the Governor Patrick's sustainability principles. Solomon-Schwartz's primary projects were the creation of a guide to existing state permitting processes for development projects and the creation of a roadmap for one-stop permitting in the Commonwealth. He was also fortunate to be exposed to the other projects of the office, including the South Coast Rail initiative, state zoning reform efforts, and assistance to individual projects navigating the permitting process.

Amanda Stout
Graduate Degree: MIT
Undergraduate Degree: Williams College
Areas of interest: Land-use and planning
Mentor: Judith Grant Long, Graduate School of Design
Agency: Office of Strategic Planning and Community Development, City of Somerville
Supervisor: Madeleine Masters, Director of Planning
Project Description: Amanda's fellowship placement was in the Office of Strategic Planning and Community Development in the City of Somerville, Massachusetts. She worked with the Director of Planning on a specific project: examining regulatory and policy solutions to develop a parking strategy for the city. Somerville, the most densely populated city in New England, is in a period of growth and change. She learned that one of the greatest obstacles to economic development—particularly the redevelopment of small lots in dense squares and neighborhoods—is the parking regulations outlined in the Somerville Zoning Ordinance. Since parking requirements are too high, policies that affect changes are too stringent, and relief measures are too cumbersome, it is clear that Somerville needs a parking strategy. In addition to qualitative research on parking, Amanda developed some specific recommendations for the city to pursue: proposed zoning language that would make parking regulations less restrictive, especially for smaller projects, and suggestions for how the city might incorporate other parking methods (such as structured parking, shared parking, off-site parking, in-lieu fess, and municipally-provided parking) into their plans. In considering the way that parking is zoned for, planned for, and paid for, Somerville must recognize and appreciate its fundamentally urban character. The city is full of thriving, mixed-use squares and traditionally dense, walkable residential neighborhoods—the characteristics that many towns wish they could recreate. Amending the current zoning ordinance and formalizing and codifying certain practices will ensure that Somerville maintains these assets and that local regulations are easier for citizens, developers, planners, and city staff to understand and navigate.

Hannah Thomas
Graduate Degree: Brandeis University
Undergraduate Degree: St. John's College, University of Cambridge
Areas of interest: Consumer credit regulation and community development
Agency: Department of Neighborhood Development, City of Boston
Supervisor: William Cotter, Deputy Director of Homebuyer Services and Robert Gehret, Deputy Director, Policy Development and Research Division
Project Description: Hannah worked with the City of Boston Department of Neighborhood Development's Foreclosure Prevention Program to research why families in Boston are getting into foreclosure. Her work included doing data collection from a variety of sources including interviews with families entering the foreclosure prevention program, analysis of City of Boston databases, and other available data sources to assess the variety of reasons for the current increase in foreclosures in Boston neighborhoods. She worked closely with Bill Cotter, who heads up the homeownership programs at the City, and Bob Gehret, Director of Research at the Department of Neighborhood Development.

Christina Wieland
Graduate Degree: Harvard Graduate School of Education
Undergraduate Degree: Dartmouth College
Areas of interest: Access and quality in early childhood education, quantitative methods
Agency: Boston Public Schools, Department of Early Childhood Education
Supervisors: Jason Sachs, Director, Department of Early Childhood Education and Margaret Angell, Special Assistant to the Chief Operating Officer
Project Description: Christina Weiland spent her summer working in the Boston Public Schools Early Childhood Department. She performed descriptive analyses of student demographic, student mobility, student attrition, and teacher data to inform the Early Childhood Department’s knowledge of its student population and its professional development offerings for teachers. She also researched study designs for longitudinal experimental research with the Department of Early Childhood and examined the data infrastructure needed to support such designs. This year, she is continuing her work for the Department and her doctoral research likely will grow out of this work.

Clemintina Cabral
Graduate Degree: Suffolk University, School of Management
Undergraduate Degree: University of Massachusetts, Boston
Areas of interest: Juvenile justice, domestic violence and crime
Agency: Office of Judge Magistrate Joyce London Alexander
Supervisor: Judge Magistrate Joyce London Alexander
Project Description: Under the direction of U.S. Magistrate Judge Joyce London Alexander at the District Court of Massachusetts, Tina examined the current punitive treatment of juvenile offenders and identified strategies which promote violence prevention and rehabilitation. Her research approach included interviews with juvenile justice judges, probation officers, extensive reviews of juvenile crimes and punishment, the political climate and leadership, alternatives to incarceration, and public policy. During the summer, Tina discovered that while juvenile court leaders may be sensitive to the unique demands of juvenile offenders; however, they seldom have the opportunity to explore alternatives to policies which impact the treatment of juvenile offenders. She believes that there is a need for policy makers to advocate for more fair and adequate funding of services that nurture the learning capacity and well-being of children. The primary conclusion to draw from her Fellowship is that the failure of policy makers to design and implement progressive and transformational approaches to crime and punishment has diminished the ability of juvenile justice leaders to act in the best interest of the child. Some of the statistical information which was used in her research was drawn from the following document: U.S. Dep’t of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.

Josh DeFlorio
Graduate Degree: MIT, Department of Urban Studies and Planning
Undergraduate Degree: Brandeis University
Area of interest: Transportation, housing, and development
Agency: MassPort
Supervisor: Lowell Richards, Chief Development Officer, Economic Planning and Development
Project Description: Josh DeFlorio worked in the Department of Economic Planning and Development of the Massachusetts Port Authority (Massport). He participated in the real estate disposition process for a waterfront parcel within Massport’s South Boston land holdings, which included researching the permitting, planning, and policy context and compiling the draft RFP. The property, called Parcel K, is positioned at the intersection of Commonwealth Flats, an evolving mixed-use district, and the Port of Boston. Development on the site will serve to facilitate the transition between the different, sometimes incompatible, land uses on either side and act as an important parking resource for both areas. The building or buildings will also complete the finely-grained, pedestrian-oriented streetscape east of D Street and will be ideally located to access the district’s new commercial, residential, retail, and open-space amenities. The RFP will be available in the Fall of 2006.

Natasha (Epissina) Stern
Graduate Degree: Harvard Kennedy School
Undergraduate Degree: Cambridge University, UK
Area of interest: Health care, particularly health care disparities
Placement: Boston Public Health Commission
Supervisors: Kristen Golden, Director of Policy and Planning, Boston Public Health Commission and Elaine Ullian, President of Boston Medical Center
Project Description: Natasha worked for Kristen Golden, Director of Policy and Planning at Boston Public Health Commission and Elaine Ullian, BPHC member, and President of Boston Medical Center. Natasha looked at what factors determine patients’ satisfaction with their in-patient hospital care, using Boston Medical Center as a case study. She also studied how patient’s socio-economic and ethnic backgrounds affect their satisfaction with the care received. Based on Boston Medical Center data, interviews with staff and patients and best practice information available from other medical facilities across the US, Natasha presented recommendations on how patient satisfaction can be improved for all patients. Her key conclusion was that a critical determinant of satisfaction is the quality of the personal interaction between the patient and the hospital staff that come into contact with patients. Patients expect to be cared for, but they rate hospital care especially highly when they feel cared about.

Ari Alowan Goldstein
Graduate Degree: MIT, Department of Urban Studies and Planning
Undergraduate Degree: University of California - Berkeley
Areas of interest: Housing
Agency: Office of State Representative Kevin Honan, House Chair of the Joint Committee on Housing
Supervisor: Jim McGlynn, Counsel, Joint Committee on Housing
Project Description: Ari Alowan Goldstein worked for the Massachusetts Legislature in the Office of State Representative Kevin Honan, chair of the Joint Committee on Housing. In collaboration with Jim McGlynn, Committee counsel, he drafted and released a report on the need for preservation and modernization of 50,000 units of state-sponsored public housing through the creation of an autonomous state bonding authority. He also crafted expiring-use legislation, effecting 90,000 units of housing throughout the Commonwealth, and engaged in policy meetings on the future funding of Chapter 40R and 40S, both intended to promote smart housing development.

Eric Guerra
Graduate Degree: Harvard University Graduate School of Design
Undergraduate Degree: University of Pennsylvania
Area of interest: Transportation and housing
Agency: City of Somerville, Office of Strategic Planning and Community Development
Supervisor: Lisa Lepore, Director of Infrastructure and Transportation
Project Description: Erick Guerra worked with the City of Somerville’s Mayor’s Office of Strategic Planning & Community Development. He worked directly under the Director of Infrastructure & Transportation, Lisa Lepore, P.E., on a variety of ongoing projects, pertaining to the interrelation between transportation improvements and economic development. He attended and participated in a wide range of regional, state and local meetings to promote bicycle and transit improvements in Somerville and wrote a scope of work for hiring consultants to redesign and improve the Union Square transportation system with a focus on reducing congestion, consolidating bus services, and facilitating biking and walking. He also wrote a scope of work to access a $1 Congressional earmark to be coordinated with the State’s Executive Office of Transportation. This scope detailed responsibilities for potential consultants to prepare access design and engineering to the Inner Belt industrial district, a planning study and engineering for the removal and redesign of the Lower McGrath elevated highway and an economic analysis to determine East Somerville’s competitive advantages and what the City can do to attract growth industries. Each of these three projects, at a different scale and a different stage in the planning process, involved the use of transportation and infrastructure improvements to spark economic development in Somerville. Complimenting this scope, Erick prepared a 40 page planning document including text and graphics to provide background information, to make design recommendations and to suggest potential financing options for a new Inner Belt access road. He found his experience with the City of Somerville and the Rappaport Institute informative and exciting. As he finishes his Master in Urban Planning at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design, he plans to maintain his relationship with the City of Somerville and to continue to focus on urban transportation systems, economic development and sustainable, transit-oriented growth patterns.

Rebecca Haessig
Graduate Degree: Harvard Kennedy School
Undergraduate Degree: University of Virginia
Areas of interest: Government performance management
Agency: City of Somerville, SomerStat Office
Supervisor: Stephanie Hirsch, SomerStat Director
Project Description: Rebecca Haessig worked in the Mayor’s Office of the City of Somerville at the SomerStat Department for the city’s SomerStat Director, Stephanie Hirsch. Her project built upon ongoing efforts to transform how the City of Somerville delivers customer service. Rebecca worked on developing a multi-year customer service improvement plan for the city. With the goal of developing a model that best serves the city’s customer service needs, this project entailed working with city departments that have contact with constituents to 1) take stock of existing procedures, staffing, and facilities; 2) analyze the volume of customer service activity; and, 3) survey constituent attitudes of customer service. These findings, in conjunction with best practices from other cities, served as the basis for developing a phased approach to customer service improvement, and helped establish Somerville as a national leader in municipal customer service delivery.

Kaitlyn Kenney Walsh
Graduate Degree: Northeastern University, PhD program in American Public Policy
Undergraduate Degree: Providence College
Areas of interest: Health care, particularly affordable health care access
Agency: Office of State Senator Richard T. Moore, Senate Chair of the Joint Committee on Health Care Finance
Supervisor: Brian Cournoyer, Legislative Aide
Project Description: During her fellowship, Kaitlyn worked in the office of Senator Richard Moore, Co-Chair of the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing. Her primary responsibility was to conduct a detailed examination of the recently passed health care reform bill. She conducted a meta-analysis of the various criticisms and concerns associated with the bill that have been published in scholarly journals and in popular press, and waged by numerous stakeholders, advocates, research organizations and think tanks. Ultimately, her final project considers the legitimacy of these concerns and provides recommendations, where appropriate, as to how revisions or amendments to the bill might be necessary to improve the efficacy of the law and/or to ensure the law is implemented according to original legislative intent. In addition to the above project, she was able to contribute to a Powerpoint presentation that provides an overview of the policy process that preceded passage of the health care reform bill and details the structure and impact of Chapter 58 of the Acts of 2006. Finally, she was able to assist the Senator and his staff with legislative summaries of relevant health care bills during the busy end of formal session season.

Audra Ladd
Graduate Degree: Tufts University, Department of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning
Undergraduate Degree: Smith College
Areas of interest: Arts/culture and economic development
Agency: City of Somerville, Office of Strategic Planning and Community Development
Supervisor: Dana LeWinter, Office of Strategic Planning and Community Development
Project Description: Audra Ladd designed an artist space development strategy for the City of Somerville that involved an artist needs assessment, a municipal real estate development proposal, a zoning amendment review, a proposed artist certification program, and encouraged an entrepreneurial focus on arts and economic development.

Matthew Murray
Graduate Degree: Harvard University, Kennedy School of Government and Harvard Law School
Undergraduate Degree: University of California, Berkeley
Area of interest: Higher education, town/gown relationships
Agency: Boston Redevelopment Authority
Supervisors: Linda Kowalcky, Mayor's Liaison to Higher Education and Gerald Autler, Project Manager
Project Description: Matthew Murray spent the summer at the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) working with Linda Kowalcky, the Mayor’s Liaison to Higher Education, and Gerald Autler, the BRA’s project manager in charge of institutional master planning for Boston colleges and universities. His main project was to research and provide recommendations regarding ways the BRA and the City of Boston might best leverage local colleges and universities to promote economic development in the life sciences sector, with a particular emphasis on how the city might best be able to take advantage of Harvard’s new campus expansion in Allston. He also spent time analyzing the number of college and university students living throughout each of the city’s neighborhoods, assisting with the BRA’s institutional master planning process for a variety of Boston institutions of higher education, and documenting programs at local colleges and universities that place students in internships or ask students to conduct consulting-style projects so the City may be able to best take advantage of such programs in the future.

Jeff Roth
Graduate Degree: Harvard Kennedy School
Undergraduate Degree: James Madison
Area of interest: Smart growth and land-use issues
Agency: City of Haverhill, Mayor's Office
Supervisors: Mayor Jim Fiorentini and Ted Van Nahl, Chief of Staff
Project Description: Jeffrey Roth will be working in the Mayor’s Office of the City of Haverhill under the direction of Mayor James Fiorentini, Mayor of the City of Haverhill and Ted Van Nahl, Chief of Staff. The Mayor has an aggressive agenda and needs someone to examine a few critical areas in terms of downtown redevelopment. Most critical is the parking requirement of the city’s current zoning laws. There are a number of redevelopment projects on hold because the developers do not want to pay for the massive parking requirements currently cited in the zoning ordinance. He will examine the parking situation in the city, make recommendations on possible zoning changes and help identify alternatives to parking in the city to help make this politically contentious issue more manageable. In addition, the Mayor would like to identify downtown areas as part of an " urban renaissance zone."

Bijal Shah
Graduate Degree: Harvard Kennedy School/Yale University Law School
Undergraduate Degree: Brandeis University
Area of interest: Social services including homelessness and immigration
Agency: City of Boston's Emergency Shelter Commission
Supervisor: Jim Greene, Acting Director, Boston's Emergency Shelter Commission
Project Description: Bijal Shah worked at the City of Boston's Emergency Shelter Commission under the direction of James Greene, Acting Director. The mission of the Emergency Shelter Commission is to coordinate a safety net of services for Boston's homeless and for persons in need of food assistance. Bijal worked on the following three initiatives: 1) The development of a Homelessness Prevention Early Warning System 2) Examination of the social cost of the current welfare regulations that deem families categorically ineligible for shelter if they are evicted from subsidized housing. 3) Analysis of shelter eligibility reform, including (for example) the costs/benefits of excluding people from shelter (the "hidden homeless") versus eliminating barriers to shelter access.

Diane Smith
Graduate Degree: Harvard Graduate School of Education
Undergraduate Degree: Kean University
Areas of interest: Special needs education
Agency: Boston Public Schools, Department of Unified Student Services
Supervisor: Carolyn Riley, Senior Director of Unified Student Services
Project Description: Diane Smith worked at the Boston Public School Department in the Unified Student Services Department under the direction of Carolyn Riley, Senior Director of Unified Student Services. The Unified Student Services Department focuses on creating a continuum of support for students with and without disabilities. The support focuses on mitigating barriers to teaching and learning, so that all students can reach citywide learning standards, graduate from high school, and have the tools to choose post-secondary education options and/or employment and contribute to the community. Her role over the summer was to analyze how Boston’s special education population performed on the 2006 Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS). She also identified trends of improvement in schools that have high poverty rates. By the end of this fellowship, she helped Boston’s USST analyze and interpret some of their voluminous MCAS data that pertains to special education and at the same time, gathered some statistical information for her dissertation research.

Kate Demase
Graduate Degree: Boston University School of Management
Undergraduate Degree: Wellesley College
Areas of interest: Health policy
Agency: Office of Senator Richard T. Moore
Supervisor: Helen Flaherty, Chief of Staff, Office of Senator Richard T. Moore
Project Description: Kate Demase worked in the office of Senator Richard T. Moore. She focused on two key bills concerning increased access to health care for the uninsured and under-insured in Massachusetts. She analyzed the two bills for content and clarity, and researched possible solutions to gaps in the bills. Ms. Demase also developed an analysis of testimony received during a Health Care Finance Committee Hearing that may be used in redrafts. Finally, she provided recommendations about potential opportunities to implement constituent’s suggestions for the bills.

Dennis Espejo
Graduate Degree: Boston University School of Public Health
Undergraduate Degree: University of California Los Angeles
Area of interest: Mental health, Medicaid, violence prevention
Agency: Office of Representative Kay Khan
Supervisor: Representative Kay Khan, Massachusetts House of Representatives
Project Description: Dennis Espejo worked in the office of State Representative Kay Khan with a focus on mental health policy. Representative Khan was entering her eleventh year in the Massachusetts House of Representatives and represents the Eleventh Middlesex District which includes Newton. His main project focused on her proposed legislation regarding the mental health needs of minors in the juvenile justice system. Responsibilities included researching policies that have been implemented or were being developed in other states, researching policies or services offered to this population in Massachusetts, assembling background information, developing fact sheets and testimonials, creating press briefings, and meeting with the new Commissioner of the Department of Youth Services. Dennis also researched and created supportive material for health status and services offered to women in prison. Finally, Dennis assisted State Representative Kay Khan to revamp the Mental Health Caucus that she has facilitated in the past.

Stephanie Groll
Graduate Degree: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Urban Studies and Planning
Undergraduate Degree: University of California, Santa Cruz
Area of interest: Transportation, smart growth, cars
Mentor: Fred Salvucci, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Agency: Office for Commonwealth Development
Supervisor: Tad Read, MBTA Transit Oriented Development Coordinator
Project Description: Stephanie Groll worked at the Office for Commonwealth Development (OCD). The Office for Commonwealth Development’s mission is to care for the built and natural environment by promoting sustainable development through the integration of energy, environmental, housing, and transportation investments policies, programs, and regulations. OCD enacts smart growth policies in the agencies directly responsible for the Commonwealth's infrastructure and environment. This office also oversees the executive offices of Housing and Community Development, Environmental Affairs and Transportation and encourages all three offices to work together to create sustainable plans for the Commonwealth. Stephanie’s supervisor was Tad Read who is the MBTA Transit Oriented Development Coordinator for the Office for Commonwealth Development. Stephanie worked on a project to develop and implement new transit-oriented development (TOD) guidelines to be used to grant State bond funds to public entities which follow these guidelines. This project is part of a major new TOD initiative that has been launched by the OCD in partnership with the Executive Office of Transportation and the Department of Housing and Community Development. The new funding program is part of a multi-pronged strategy to spur high quality transit oriented development in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Justine Kwiatkowski
Graduate Degree: Harvard Graduate School of Design
Undergraduate Degree: Middlebury College
Areas of interest: Environmental Issues
Agency: Department of Strategic Planning and Community Development, City of Somerville
Supervisors: Jim Kostaras, Director, Department of Strategic Planning and Community Development and Ezra Glen, Chief Planner, Department of Strategic Planning and Community Development
Project Description: Justine helped the Somerville Department of Strategic Planning and Community Development prepare for the Green Line extension by carrying out two urban planning projects. For the first four weeks of her fellowship, she projected growth scenarios on quarter-mile areas around future subway stops, with special attention to Union Square and the Inner Belt industrial district. The study identified potential development parcels around each stop in order to predict job growth, transit ridership, and tax revenues. Her goal was to help transform the Green Line into an engine of economic prosperity while improving the quality of life and of the environment. The team will present their findings to the State Office of Commonwealth Development in September. The remainder of her summer was spent developing a smart growth scorecard, a new policy that will help the city evaluate whether a proposed project will advance the long-term viability of the community or create negative impacts with little overall benefit.

Kai-Yan Lee
Graduate Degree: MIT, Department of Urban Studies and Planning/Harvard Kennedy School Dual Degree
Undergraduate Degree: University of California, Berkeley
Area of interest: Labor and off-shore trade
Agency: Office of Senator Jack Hart
Supervisor: Nathan Pham, Legislative Aide
Project Description: Kai-Yan Lee worked this summer at the Office of Senator Hart , who chaired the Joint Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technology. Kai-Yan’s project was to work on the draft of the new economic stimulus bill. He met with representatives of the private sector, community organizers, and public officials to solicit their input. He also consulted various legislative caucuses and the Senate President’s office during the legislative process. Kai-Yan drafted memos to analyze the issues, made policy recommendations, and crafted the overall policy framework for the stimulus bill. Some of his recommended policies were included in the Senate version of the bill, and he is eagerly waiting to find out if they will make it to the final bill.

Conor McEachern
Graduate Degree: Suffolk Sawyer School of Management
Undergraduate Degree: Bentley College
Areas of interest: Municipal finance, affordable housing, land use
Agency: Budget Office, City of Boston
Supervisor: Christopher Guiliani, Office of Budget Management
Project Description: This summer Conor McEachern worked at the City of Boston’s Office of Budget Management focusing on a report regarding trends and issues in municipal finance. The report and its recommendations were the product of the Municipal Finance Task Force, a group of public, private and non-profit leaders brought together by the Metro Mayors Coalition to review the state-local relationship and the fiscal pressures facing cities and town in the Commonwealth. The City of Boston is member of the Metro Mayor Coalition.

Maria Ortiz Perez
Graduate Degree: Suffolk University Sawyer School of Management
Undergraduate Degree: Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México, Mexico City, Mexico
Areas of interest: Economic Development
Mentor: Kathy Kottaridis, Executive Director, Historic Boston, Inc.
Agency: Department of Strategic Planning and Community Development, City of Somerville
Supervisor: Ezra Glenn, Deputy Director, Mayor's Department of Strategic Planning and Community Development
Project Description: Maria Ortiz-Perez worked in the Somerville Mayor’s Office in the Department of Strategic Planning and Community Development laying the groundwork for a Main Streets program in the East Broadway area. Much of her time was spent meeting with the area's diverse community leaders and business owners, as well as preparing for a community meeting with bilingual invitations and outreach on local radio. She also worked for the Director of Planning and Development to recommend future improvements on previous small business assistance programs.

Christina Rosan
Graduate Degree: MIT, Department of Urban Studies and Planning
Undergraduate Degree: Williams College
Areas of interest: Regionalism and metropolitan coordination
Agency: Metropolitan Area Planning Council
Project Description: Tina Rosan worked at the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) on a research project about the intersection of local planning and politics in the I-495 region. Tina interviewed state and local officials and citizens in four towns. She combined these findings with data gathered by the MAPC to form the basis for a future report on the state of local planning in Massachusetts. While at the MAPC, Tina also participated the MAPC's MetroFuture regional visioning project and assisted a study titled the Cost of Sprawl.

Clare Sanford
Graduate Degree: Harvard Kennedy School
Undergraduate Degree: St. Olaf College
Area of interest: Early childhood education
Mentor: Paul Reville, Harvard Graduate School of Education
Agency: Office of Representative Alice Wolf
Supervisor: Blair Brown, Legislative Aide, Office of Representative Alice Wolf
Project Description: Clare worked in the office of State Representative Alice Wolf (D-Cambridge) on early childhood education issues. Her main project culminated in a report provided to the Commissioner of the newly-created Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care. She interviewed several interests groups from a variety of regions and offered recommendations for the structural reorganization of Massachusetts’ Community Partnerships for Children (CPC) program, which distributes funds to over 160 community councils to local 3- and 4-year olds.

Duncan Shipley Dalton
Graduate Degree: Harvard Kennedy School
Undergraduate Degree: University of Essex
Area of interest: Crime prevention
Mentor: Jim King, Consultant
Agency: Boston Police Department
Supervisor: Kathleen O'Toole, Commissioner, Boston Police Department
Project Description: Duncan Shipley Dalton worked in the Boston Police Department on a number of projects under the supervision of Commission Kathleen O’Toole. His primary focus was to build a strategy to develop a homeland security component for Boston’s Neighborhood Crime Watch Unit. To achieve this task and to reinvigorate the operation of the unit, he reviewed the work of the Crime Watch Unit and recommended a number of management and organizational reforms. Duncan also worked on number of performance-management issues in the Bureau of Field Services and took part in various strategy meetings with senior department staff to assist in developing the department’s five-year strategic plan.

Kristy Wang
Graduate Degree: MIT, Department of Urban Studies and Planning
Undergraduate Degree: Yale University
Area of interest: Housing
Agency: Department of Housing and Community Development
Supervisor: Sarah Young, Deputy Director, Policy Development Department
Project Description: While working in the Policy Development Department of the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development, Kristy Wang wrote a portion of the department’s long-term strategic plan. She researched and wrote about barriers to housing development in Massachusetts, such as zoning, education costs, and financial barriers, and she recommended strategies for removing those barriers. These included encouraging communities to implement smart-growth strategies through campaigns and enhanced technical assistance, zoning reform, and education campaigns, as well as compensating communities through state aid for increased school enrollment costs due to new construction.

Yiaway Yeh
Graduate Degree: Harvard Kennedy School
Undergraduate Degree: American University
Areas of interest: Affordable housing finance, health care finance, public-private partnerships
Mentor: Jim King, Consultant
Agency: Finance Office, City of Somerville
Project Description: Yiaway worked in the City of Somerville's new SomerStat office in the Mayor's office and consulted with the Department of Public Works. The city sought to move its trash services from a line-item expense using property tax revenue, to a resident user fee that captured the actual cost of trash services. Yiaway researched the financing, organizational structure, legal constraints, and made recommendations on how to implement a Pay-As-You-Throw program, based on an activity-based costing analysis of trash services. Mayor Joseph Curtatone of Somerville approved the proposal for a Uniform Container program in the commercial sector and a Basic Service PAYT program in the residential sector, with implementation slated for July 2006. The projected cost savings for the City in the first year of the PAYT program is nearly $4 million.

Ariel Bierbaum
Graduate Degree: MIT, Department of Urban Studies and Planning
Undergraduate Degree: University of Pennsylvania
Areas of interest: Intergovernmental communication, metropolitan governance, social justice
Mentor: David Ellis, former president of the Museum of Science
Agency: Office for Commonwealth Development
Supervisor: Stephen Burrington, Deputy Secretary of Policy, Office for Commonwealth Development
Project Description: Ariel Bierbaum worked at the Office for Commonwealth Development focusing on three projects to increase the economic competitiveness of cities across the state. She researched municipal best practices across the country for expedited permitting and pre-development processes for encouraging private developers to invest in targeted urban areas. Bierbaum also developed an index of indicators that may be used in the future as a way to gauge the health of cities across a number of broad categories including civic life, education, environment, finance, housing, income, jobs, population, public health, and public safety. Finally, she provided background research about potential ways to implement this type of benchmarking system statewide.

Stephen Bird
Graduate Degree: Boston University, Graduate School of Management (doctoral candidate)
Undergraduate Degree: Harvard University
Area of interest: Land use, planning and development, environmental justice
Mentor: Jay Wickersham, former director of the Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act
Agency: Office of Technical Assistance in the Massachusetts Executive Office of Environmental Affairs
Supervisor: William McGowan, Director, Office of Technical Assistance
Project Description: Stephen Bird designed and implemented a risk-assessment and prioritization tool that the Office of Technical Assistance (OTA) and other environmental agencies can use to prioritize outreach and enforcement to maximize their resources. OTA, a sub-agency at Massachusetts’ Executive Office of Environmental Affairs, helps private and public facilities reduce chemical usage and implement pollution prevention measures across the state. The risk-assessment tool will also help agencies increase knowledge of their regional profiles, and identify non-filing facilities in their jurisdictions. The method rates a complete population of facilities that use threshold amounts of chemicals in the state, and allows for incorporation of less apparent risk factors such as a facility’s credit rating. Standard risk factors derived from chemical usage and the kind of facility are also used. While still unrefined in its initial design, the development of this method represents the first time a state agency has been able to gain a comprehensive risk assessment of facilities within its jurisdiction. Both the Environmental Protection Agency and the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection were briefed in late July. It is anticipated that they will be included in future policy development as the tool is refined further.

Leif Dormsjo
Graduate Degree: Harvard Kennedy School
Undergraduate Degree: Wesleyan University
Area of interest: Economic development, housing, CitiStat/government accountability
Mentor: Larry DiCara, Nixon and Peabody, LLP
Agency: Boston Public Schools
Supervisor: John McDonough, Chief Financial Officer
Project Description: Leif Dormsjo arranged for placement with the Boston Public Schools, reporting to the Chief Financial Officer, John McDonough. He focused on the school system's food service program. Over the last two years, the food service operation has suffered significant deficits on account of dropping participation, poor accountability systems, and aging equipment. Working with the program managers to identify specific areas in need of improvement, Mr. Dormsjo developed policy and operational recommendations for boosting participation, benchmarking performance, and overhauling production and serving activities. In addition to recommending in-house program enhancements, he collaborated with the procurement office to develop a request for proposals (RFP) for consulting bids to improve the attractiveness, variety, and nutritional quality of meal offerings.

Shoma Haque
Graduate Degree: MIT, Department of Urban Studies and Planning
Undergraduate Degree: University of Pennsylvania
Areas of interest: Economic development
Mentor: Jerry Rappaport, Jerome Lyle Rappaport Charitable Foundation
Agency: Department of Housing and Economic Development, City of Somerville
Supervisor: Ezra Haber Glenn, Director, Office of Strategic Planning and Community Development
Project Description: Shoma Haque worked at the City of Somerville’s Office of Strategic Planning & Community Development, focusing on economic revitalization initiatives for Union Square. Her main project was to act as the project manager for the implementation of the Union Square Main Street (USMS) program. USMS will be a non-profit organization with the goal of commercial district revitalization through historic preservation and economic development. This project required meeting with various stakeholders of Union Square in order to raise awareness about Main Street, organize them into a cohesive group, and begin the process of starting a Main Street program. An additional project was to lay the foundation for a farmers’ market in Union Square, to be launched in summer 2005. Ms. Haque met with dozens of farmers and organized community groups, and began the process of planning implementation. Both a farmers’ market and Union Square Main Streets will hopefully lead to a more livable and economically healthy Union Square.

Anne Herbst
Graduate Degree: MIT, Department of Urban Studies and Planning
Undergraduate Degree: University of Massachusetts - Boston
Area of interest: Smart growth initiatives, environmental justice, land use, transit-oriented development
Mentor: Vivien Li, Executive Director of the Boston Harbor Association
Agency: Department of Agricultural Resources
Supervisor: Susan Phinney, Department of Agricultural Resources
Project Description: As a Rappaport Public Policy Fellow at the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources (DAR), Anne Herbst’s work focused on farm impacts on water quality. Farm runoff can be a source of pollution of surface and groundwater resources. Farms have thus been subject to an increasing number of federal and state regulatory initiatives designed to protect water quality. Her work responded to the growing need for education, technical assistance, and financial support for farms to improve their environmental practices. She evaluated the current environmental programming of the Department of Agricultural Resources and proposed the launch of a systematic effort to: (1) Identify farms that may impact sensitive water resources, and (2) Provide education about best management practices, and compliance assistance to farmers. The proposed "Environmental Policy and Compliance Assistance Program" would utilize the expertise of the many DAR staff that visit Massachusetts farms on a regular basis. It offers a comprehensive and cost-effective approach to assessing and addressing farm impacts on water resources. With fully ten percent of Massachusetts land engaged in agricultural pursuits, such a program has the potential to deliver significant dividends in water-resource protection and improved environmental stewardship.

Shannon Hodge
Graduate Degree: Harvard Graduate School of Education
Undergraduate Degree: Harvard University
Areas of interest: Education
Mentor: Tom Keane, Boston Heraldcolumnist
Agency: Office of Strategic Planning, Boston Public Schools
Supervisor: Valerie Edwards, Director, Office of Strategic Planning
Project Description: Shannon Hodge wrote a case study for the Strategic Planning Team of the
Boston Public Schools analyzing the district's current efforts to engage the public in policy decision-making related to student assignment. Ms. Hodge attended a community forum; researched the history and present of student assignment in Boston; and interviewed key players in the review process -- including the superintendent, a representative from the mayor's office, school department personnel, education advocates, and community task force members. The interviews provided a variety of views on a number of challenges related to engaging the public, especially negotiating public mistrust of the school system, the intricacies of education and transportation policy, and the difficulty of the work of connecting the public to the decision-making process. By documenting this experience, she provided a resource for future-public engagement efforts by the Boston Public Schools.

Lauren Leikin Hogan
Graduate Degree: Harvard Kennedy School
Undergraduate Degree: Yale University
Areas of interest: Low income families and children, race, urban policy and education
Mentor: Elaine Ullian, President of the Boston Medical Center
Agency: Massachusetts Department of Social Services
Supervisor: Pamela Whitney, Family Representative, Massachusetts Department of Social Services
Project Description: Lauren Leiken worked for the Family Representative at the Massachusetts Department of Social Services, dividing her time between assessing parent- and family-involvement initiatives and helping with the redesign of intake and assessment policies. The Family Involvement Assessment Project, which is part of the Family Representative’s Action Plan, relied on interviews and an extensive survey to evaluate the various pilot programs underway at the 28 Area Offices in the state. We hope that this project will allow us to (1) gather accurate information regarding the progress of various family-based initiatives; (2) encourage communication and understanding between Central Office and the Area Offices; and (3) focus attention on those initiatives that are determined to be the most effective and successful. The intake and assessment project, renamed as "Right From the Start," also provided Ms. Leiken with an opportunity to work with people throughout the organization to prepare for briefings, a summit, and a long-term plan that will ultimately result in the reinvention of DSS’s intake and assessment policies.

Carmen Lopez
Graduate Degree: Harvard Kennedy School
Undergraduate Degree: Mt. Holyoke College
Areas of interest: Education, Title I high school reform, public schools
Mentor: Professor Richard Weissbourd, Harvard Graduate School of Education
Supervisor: Kathi Mullen, Director, Office of High School Renewal
Agency: Office for High School Renewal - Boston Public Schools
Project Description: Carmen Lopez worked for the Office of High School Renewal in Boston Public Schools this summer to convert large, comprehensive high schools into new, small schools. She facilitated the work of two teams competing to open new, small schools in fall 2005. She continued to work with them through October 2004.

Daniel Newberger
Graduate Degree: Harvard Kennedy School
Undergraduate Degree: U. S. Naval Academy
Area of interest: Municipal government, budget and finance, economic development
Mentor: James B. King
Agency: SomerStat program, City of Somerville
Supervisor: Janice Delory, Chief of Staff, City of Somerville
Project Description: Daniel Newberger worked for the Mayor of Somerville, launching SomerStat, the city’s version of Baltimore’s CitiStat performance-management system. SomerStat is an accountability and assessment tool that gives the mayor’s leadership team unprecedented "real time" data in order to develop strategies to improve service delivery, efficiency, and overall performance in the city’s various departments. Mayor Joe Curtatone gave him, "an amazing amount of responsibility and autonomy to get the program rolling." Mr. Newberger appeared before the Board of Aldermen with the Mayor as he requested funding for the SomerStat department, and fielded questions from the Board. After 100 percent of the requested funding was secured, Mr. Newberger worked to post job descriptions, screen resumes, and interview applicants for the future SomerStat director and analyst positions. By summer’s end, the City had hired two extremely qualified candidates to run the program full-time. Additionally, Mr. Newberger established pilot programs within the Departments of Public Works and Traffic and Parking. He assessed operational procedures and data-gathering capability, and worked with the City’s Information Technology department to develop an automated work-tracking system that will support SomerStat’s extensive data requirements. In the culmination of his summer’s efforts, four full-blown SomerStat "meetings" – the heart and soul of the program where department and divisional heads present data and trends to the Mayor in a formal "war room" setting – were successfully held.

Philip Oliff
Graduate Degree: Harvard Kennedy School
Undergraduate Degree: Wesleyan University
Area of interest: Education, minority test score disparities
Mentor: Professor Paul Reville, Harvard Graduate School of Education
Agency: Education Coalition of Greater Boston
Supervisor: Eileen McSwiney, Executive Director
Project Description: Phillip Oliff worked for the Education Collaborative for Greater Boston (EDCO), an organization representing 21 Boston-area public school districts. He assisted EDCO initiating a major research project investigating the racial achievement gaps within its member districts. The bulk of his work involved conducting interviews with an array of school personnel, including superintendents, principals, teachers and METCO directors. The purpose of the interviews was twofold. First they were designed to elicit a general sense of approaches to, and ways of thinking about the racial achievement gap within EDCO’s member districts. Second they were intended to gather information about best practices in educational interventions that might help to narrow the racial achievement gap. At the end of the summer Mr. Oliff wrote a major report detailing his findings and making recommendations as to how EDCO should proceed with its research initiative. The project aims to develop a better understanding of the racial achievement gap within EDCO member districts, to identify promising practices, to test them to see if they are effective and replicable, and to foster a spirit of cooperation.

Carli Paine
Graduate Degree: MIT, Department of Urban Studies and Planning
Undergraduate Degree: Columbia University
Area of interest: Urban forestry and urban wilds, innovative partnerships
Mentor: Valerie Burns, President of Boston Natural Areas Network
Agency: Office of Commonwealth Development
Supervisor: Sonia Hamel, Special Advisor
Project Description: Carli Paine worked in the Office for Commonwealth Development, focusing on developing policies for the recently passed Massachusetts Climate Protection Plan. This plan calls for transportation planning agencies and Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) to calculate and disclose the energy intensity and resulting greenhouse gas emissions of proposed plans and projects, with the aim that energy intensity and emissions from the transportation sector will decrease as a result of the policy. Ms. Paine’s work included examining the effectiveness of disclosure policies, and exploring precedents in the transportation sector. Using an initial methodology developed by New York State, she updated their methodology to reflect current fuel economy and emissions levels. Given that the policy is unfunded, she developed a set of recommendations for implementation that involved the users in the development of the policy in order to establish ownership, comprehension, and to ensure that the policy’s assumptions match MPO and agency abilities.

Arah Schuur
Graduate Degree: MIT, Department of Urban Studies and Planning
Undergraduate Degree: Yale University
Areas of interest: Community development through homeownership, affordable housing initiatives, rehabilitation of buildings
Mentor: Susan Tracy, The Strategy Group
Agency: Department of Neighborhood Development, City of Boston
Supervisor: Sheila Dillon, Deputy Director, Department of Neighborhood Development
Project Description: Arah Schuur worked for the Neighborhood Housing Development division of the Department of Neighborhood Development (DND). As the City of Boston’s community development agency, the DND disburses approximately $80 million in federal funds annually for projects, including the development and preservation of affordable housing. Ms. Schuur worked on a portion of the Mayor’s four-year housing strategy called Leading the Way II, which encourages benevolent landlords, primarily neighborhood community development corporations, to acquire existing rental housing in order to make it permanently affordable. Leading the Way II established a goal of making at least 300 units of existing rental housing permanently affordable by the end of 2007. Ms. Schuur researched the Boston housing market and other cities’ programs, analyzed project financing strategies, and interviewed lenders and developers in order to make financing and policy recommendations for the program to support housing acquisition projects.

Joshua Bagnato
Graduate Degree: Boston University, School of Management
Undergraduate Degree: Hamilton College
Areas of Interest: Renewable energy and natural resource protection
Mentor: David Ellis, former president of Museum of Science
Agency: Executive Office of Environmental Affairs
Supervisor: Ellen Roy Herzfelder, Secretary of Environmental Affairs, Stephen Pritchard, Program Director, Office of Public/Private Partnerships and Betsy Shure Gross, Special Assistant for Community Preservation
Project Description: As a Rappaport Fellow, Josh began working for Secretary of Environmental Affairs Roy Herzfelder within the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs (EOEA) in May, 2003. The EOEA is the office charged with managing all of Massachusetts’ state environmental offices. When he arrived the EOEA proposed merging the Metropolitan District Commission (MDC) and the Department of Environmental Management (DEM) to create a new entity, known as the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR).

Betsy Shure Gross, then a Special Assistant for Community Preservation at the EOEA, had proposed the formation of a new Office of Public Private Partnerships to support the newly created DCR. In early June, when the merger and subsequent proposal were approved by the legislature, Bagnato was asked by Ms. Shure Gross to submit a plan for this office’s structure. He spent the next six weeks researching and designing this framework. In late July, he formally submitted his proposal to both the Secretary and the transition team, the group responsible for the merger. Many of his ideas from this proposal were announced at an August 18, 2003 press conference announcing the Office of Public Private Partnerships to the public. Bagnato says that during this fellowship, he learned that to achieve change within the public sector, it is important to market your ideas to the constituent base. Since the structure does not allow for vertical communication of ideas from within the agencies, one also needs access to upper management to create change.

Eileen Chung
Graduate Degree: Harvard Kennedy School
Undergraduate Degree: Yale University
Areas of Interest: Crime and criminal justice, domestic violence issues
Mentor: Jerry Rappaport, Chairman of the Rappaport Charitable Foundation
Agency: Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety
Supervisor: Jane Wiseman, Executive Office for Public Safety
Project Description: Eileen provided policy recommendations to revamp the Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety’s administration of the federal Edward Byrne Memorial State and Local Law Enforcement Assistance Program (Byrne Program). The Byrne Program focuses on violent and drug-related crime and serious offenders. It also focuses on fostering multi-jurisdictional and multi-state efforts to support national drug-control policies. Since then, each state has received an annual Byrne grant, ranging from less than $2 million to more than $50 million, depending on the size of the state, population, crime problems, and a host of other factors. The state’s Executive Office of Public Safety (EOPS) Programs Division, responsible for allocating the Byrne fund, parcels out approximately $10 million annually to the Commonwealth’s subgrantees. Eileen contacted similar program divisions in all 50 states and compiled information based upon the 19 state programs who sent responses regarding tracking progress and financial reporting.

Benjamin Forman
Graduate Degree: MIT, Department of Urban Studies and Planning
Undergraduate Degree: Trinity College
Areas of Interest: Economic development
Mentor: Vivian Li, Executive director for the Boston Harbor Association
Agency: Mayor's Office, City of New Bedford
Supervisor: Michael McCormack, Chief of Staff, City of New Bedford
Project Description: While at the Mayor's office, Ben worked on a plan to revitalize the downtown area of New Bedford. Ben focused on the Greater Boston Satellite Cities (GBSC) and researched what they had to offer in revitalizing downtown areas and increase housing options. The satellite cities can also gain by cooperating rather than competing for economic development. Compared to large cities like Boston, the GBSCs have few resources to devote towards attracting new employers. Since they offer very similar environments to prospective businesses, they are frequently competing with one another by giving away tax incentives. The winning city often gains very little. If GBSCs work together they could market themselves as a group to industry groups. Sharing their resources would allow them to design more sophisticated sales strategies and promote a more unified image of the advantages of the region’s medium-sized cities.

GBSCs can also turn the fact that they have been abandoned by industry into an advantage. The GBSCs are relatively clean and quiet urban environments. They can market this advantage by creating "Green" campaigns. The cities could work together to tailor environmental plans that would generate energy and cost savings for the cities and their residents. These plans could be created by officials from each city working with students studying environmental planning at local universities. Greater Boston is an increasingly expensive area to live and do business. The danger is that the region will suffer as firms seek less expensive business environments. Fortunately there is an alternative vision. The recent recovery of inner-city neighborhoods in places like Boston, Cambridge and Somerville demonstrates that there is demand for dense urban living – demand that far exceeds the available supply. Medium-sized older historic cities offer vital attractive living environments to families and new dense nodes of activity to growing businesses. In order to achieve this vision, local leaders from GBSCs must cooperate and convince powerbrokers beyond their borders that their cities can become ideal destinations.

Jennifer (Hall) Orozco
Graduate Degree: Harvard Graduate School of Design
Undergraduate Degree: Stanford University
Area of Interest: Transportation and development
Agency: Boston Redevelopment Authority
Supervisor: John Dalzell, Planner
Project Description: Jennifer worked at the Boston Redevelopment Authority and focused on city efforts to foster transit-oriented development in Boston. The evolving South Boston Waterfront is perhaps the premier example of current transit-oriented development (TOD) in Boston. As a mixed-use extension of the city center, most of the 1,000-acre waterfront district is within a one-quarter mile walk of the new Silver Line transit service to South Station and Logan Airport. Frequent, high-quality transit and a limited parking requirements for developers has attracted high-end residential, office, retail, and hotel projects. Significant public investments – including a well-planned street grid, new waterfront open space, federal courthouse and convention center – have laid the framework for Boston’s newest pedestrian-friendly, transit-oriented district. These TOD successes, however, are not the result of a comprehensive transit-oriented development strategy. The Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA), as authorized by the Massachusetts Legislature and the Boston City Council, " is responsible for all planning and zoning functions as well as economic and industrial development efforts." Jennifer created a TOD planning overview for the City of Boston. She noted that seven kinds of players are important for transit-oriented development, including different levels of government, developers, community advocates, and regional-planning agencies. She also outlined some possible policy options for the Boston Redevelopment Authority to promote transit-oriented development that can be arrayed along a spectrum ranging from "passive" interventions such as requesting transit- friendly modifications to developer-initiated projects, to the crafting of "active" regulations to support specific TOD goals. The BRA can engage in "proactive" efforts to frame neighborhood and citywide strategic plans according to TOD principles and can even act as a "master developer" issuing requests for proposals for specific city-led transit-oriented developments.

Jake Horowitz
Graduate Degree: Harvard Kennedy School
Undergraduate Degree: Reed College
Areas of Interest: Crime prevention and enforcement, justice and welfare issues
Agency: Massachusetts Executive Office for Public Safety
Supervisor: Jane Wiseman, Executive Office for Public Safety
Project Description: Jake investigated the issue of disproportionate minority arrests and incarceration in the juvenile justice system.

Wynne Mun
Graduate Degree: Harvard Graduate School of Design
Undergraduate Degree: Yale University
Areas of Interest: Transportation Planning
Mentor: Alex Krieger, Harvard Graduate School of Design
Agency: Office of Commonwealth Development
Supervisor: Anne Tate, Office of Commonwealth Development
Project Description: Wynne researched options for transit-oriented development along the nodes of the MBTA proposed Greenbush line.

Diane Pokorny Wilson
Graduate Degree: Brandeis University
Undergraduate Degree: College of the Holy Cross
Areas of Interest: Families and children in need
Mentor: Charles Baker, CEO of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care
Agency: Strategic Planning Office, Boston Public Schools
Supervisor: Valerie Edwards
Project Description: Diane developed performance metrics for Boston Public School's developing registration system. Her goal was to identify and define a list of outcomes and indicators that could be used to assess whether the registration process is meeting its goals and objectives.

Rebecca (Pollard) Doolin
Graduate Degree: Harvard Graduate School of Education
Undergraduate Degree: Colby College
Areas of Interest: School reform
Agency: Massachusetts Board of Education
Supervisor: Aundrea Kelly, Massachusetts Board of Higher Education
Project Description: During her fellowship she conducted a survey of public college admissions staffs, high school guidance counselors, and other stakeholders about the information gaps between K-12 and preparation for higher education; compiled information about public institution admissions criteria, information about financial aid, and alignment of high school academic standards with college proficiencies. The conclusions were synthesized in a research paper on the barriers facing low-income, minority, and first-generation college goers in Massachusetts.

Amelia (Ravin) Pellegrin
Graduate Degree: MIT, Department of Urban Studies and Planning
Undergraduate Degree: Emory University
Areas of Interest: Conservation and energy issues
Mentor: Susan Tracy, The Strategy Group
Agency: Planning Department, City of Newton
Supervisor: Juris Alksnitis, Project Coordinator
Project Description: Amelia prepared a draft of an Energy Action Plan for the City of Newton to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and support more energy efficient policies. While at the City of Newton she was involved developing and refining a comprehensive energy policy for the City of Newton, Massachusetts. One of the most environmentally-progressive mid-sized cities in the nation, Newton engaged Ms. Ravin to modernize energy policy on a broad scale, coalescing the work of a number of departments, developing consensus across city agencies, involving community organizations, and driving the project to the point of implementation.

Lindsay Rosenfeld
Graduate Degree: Harvard School of Public Health
Undergraduate Degree: Brown University
Areas of Interest: Health disparities, health promotion and program design, health literacy and violence prevention
Mentor: Ellaine Ullian, President of the Boston Medical Center
Agency: Massachusetts Department of Public Health in the Violence and Injury Prevention Division
Supervisor: Beth Jacklin, Director, Violence and Injury Prevention Division
Project Description: Lindsay focused on two major projects. In one she crafted recommendations for a long-term plan concerning how the Department of Public Health and specifically the Violence and Injury Prevention Division will address youth violence, as well as created plain language, publicly available resources concerning youth violence. In the second project, she revised work plans and wrote memos to facilitate assessment processes in the CARE Communities Project, a demonstration project of localized service networks serving victims and children exposed to violence, and perpetrators of intimate partner violence in four geographic and culturally-based communities in Massachusetts.

Zoe Weinrobe
Graduate Degree: MIT, Department of Urban Studies and Planning
Undergraduate Degree: Cornell University
Areas of Interest: Affordable housing, economic/community development
Mentor: Marcia Lamb, Co-director of the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City
Agency: Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development
Supervisor: Cate Racer, Undersecretary of Housing
Project Description: Zoe conducted a study of affordable housing developments at-risk of losing units due to expiring affordability restrictions; developed a database of department-funded projects to create threshold criteria to analyze future projects.

Sonia Willingham
Graduate Degree: Suffolk, Sawyer School of Management
Undergraduate Degree: University of Massachusetts - Amherst
Areas of Interest: Juvenile justice and policing, fair housing and gentrification
Agency: Attorney General's Office, Civil Rights Division
Supervisor: Priscilla Duffy, Director, Civil Rights Division
Project Description: Sonia compiled statistical information for annual report and developed brochure and outreach material for the legal outreach program.

Jeff Adamson
Graduate Degree: Harvard Kennedy School
Undergraduate Degree: University of Louisville
Areas of Interest: Municipal governance, health insurance and labor management
Mentor: Carl Case, Wellesley College
Agency: Office of the Town Administrator, Town of Belmont
Supervisor: Joyce Munroe, Town Administrator
Project Description: Jeff assisted in the cost analysis of the early retirement incentive program and in the bargaining for a change in prescription drug benefits. He also analyzed health insurance, labor management, public information, general service delivery, and municipal finance issues.

Cassandra Arnaud
Graduate Degree: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Undergraduate Degree: McGill University
Area of Interest: Housing
Agency: Cambridge Community Development Department
Project Description: Cassie worked on housing issues at the Cambridge Community Development Department.

Charity (Bell) Lewitt
Graduate Degree: Harvard Kennedy School
Undergraduate Degree: New England Conservancy of Music
Areas of Interest: Social Services and children in need
Mentor: Patricia McGovern, Vice President of CareGroup at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Agency: Massachusetts Department of Social Services
Supervisor: Joy Aliss Cochran, Director, Human Resources
Project Description: Charity reviewed current availability of dental care for Department of Social Service foster/pre-adoptive children and devised plan to encourage greater participation in the MassHealth Dental plan by Dentists. Charity also developed survey for foster parents regarding the daily reimbursement rate for foster care, which assessed the cost of providing care for foster children. Finally in conjunction with the 5 Boston Area Offices, she developed and implemented yearlong foster parent recruitment plan.

Amy Dain
Graduate Degree: Harvard Kennedy School
Undergraduate Degree: Wesleyan University
Areas of Interest: Environmental policy
Mentor: Vivian Li, Executive director of the Boston Harbor Association
Agency: Massachusetts Executive Office of Environmental Affairs
Supervisor: Eric Friedman, Executive Office of Environmental Affairs
Project Description: Amy created a protocol for conducting an annual greenhouse gas inventory for state agencies, researched sustainability indicators, wrote a memo on outdoor lighting policy, and contributed to a state report on dioxin. She also helped put together a fact sheet on sustainable design, researched all sorts of sustainability factoids, and searched for many fun things on the web. After her placement, Amy Dain is headed up a project co-sponsored by the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston and the Pioneer Institute for Public Policy Research studying housing regulations and creating an on-line database. This comprehensive Internet database provides the information necessary to understand regulatory issues in every city and town in Massachusetts. By making the regulatory regime for housing "transparent" – clear and visible to all – opinion leaders and policy makers will have the tools they need to understand and act.

Bram Elias
Graduate Degree: Harvard Kennedy School
Undergraduate Degree: University of Michigan
Areas of Interest: Economic and racial integration
Mentor: Tom Keane, Boston Herald columnist
Agency: Massachusetts Water Resources Authority
Supervisor: Lise Marx, Massachusetts Water Resources Authority
Project Description: Bram was asked to obtain and summarize water and/or wastewater master planning documents from "peer" (to MWRA) utilities throughout the U.S. Besides reviewing and summarizing each plan, he was also asked to make judgments about the applicability of different approaches for MWRA’s purposes and to identify "Best Practices" for plan development. He also followed the ongoing regulatory and public participation process for development of combined sewer overflow control plans for the South Boston beaches.

Monica (Frattaroli) Shea
Graduate Degree: Boston University School of Management
Undergraduate Degree: College of the Holy Cross
Areas of Interest: Education reform
Mentor: Jerry Rappaport, Chairman of the Jerome Lyle Rappaport Charitable Foundation
Agency: Commissioner's Office of the Massachusetts Department of Education
Supervisor:  Elizabeth Pauley, Director of Research, Policy, and Evaluation
Project Description: Monica developed a seminar for school administrators to address leadership issues.

Lisa Greenfield
Graduate Degree: Harvard Graduate School of Design
Undergraduate Degree: Brandeis University
Areas of Interest: Urban Planning
Mentor: Marcia Lamb, Co-director of the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City
Agency: Boston Redevelopment Authority
Supervisor: Rebecca Barnes, Chief Planner, Boston Redevelopment Authority
Project Description: Lisa worked on several projects under the supervision of the Chief Planner at the Boston Redevelopment Authority.

Lisa Lattu
Graduate Degree: Harvard Graduate School of Design
Undergraduate Degree: Texas A&M
Areas of Interest: Neighborhood Revitalization
Mentor: David Ellis, former president of Museum of Science
Agency: Boston Redevelopment Authority
Supervisor: Rebecca Barnes, Deputy Director for Planning and Zoning
Project Description: Lisa worked on several projects under the supervision of the Deputy Director for Planning and Zoning at the Boston Redevelopment Authority.

Terese (Novak) Smith
Graduate Degree: Boston University School of Management
Undergraduate Degree: Smith College
Areas of Interest: Social injustice and health policies
Mentor: Ira Jackson, Consultant
Agency: Office of Intergovernmental Relations, City of Boston
Supervisor: Dina Siegel, Director, Office of Intergovernmental Relations
Project Description: Terese completed program development, research & writing of federal HHS grant for Early Learning Opportunities submitted by a collaboration of city/community early care providers. She completed a welfare/TANF research paper on Boston caseload demographics, drafting of TANF resolution and talking points for US Conference of Mayors meeting. She also created a PowerPoint presentation for group of private family funders on needs & challenges in the early care & education system in Boston. Finally, she was a grant reviewer for two city review panels: Safe Neighborhood Youth Fund & Child Care Quality Improvement Fund.

Larisa Ortiz
Graduate Degree: MIT, Department of Urban Studies and Planning
Undergraduate Degree: Wesleyan University
Areas of Interest: Rehabilitation of buildings
Mentor: Alex Krieger, Harvard Graduate School of Design
Agency: Boston Redevelopment Authority
Supervisor: Meg Kiely, Planner
Project Description: Larisa’s fellowship included assisting project managers with any and all tasks related to their work, ranging from writing RFP’s to assisting in the review of proposals. She also worked closely with Bruce Ehrlich, Senior Financial Analyst on a number of marketing and feasibility analyses. She focused primarily on projects that included a strong adaptive reuse component. Her specific projects include: Marketing and Feasibility Analyses, RFPs for the Bates School, research for a preservation grant for the Charlestown Navy Yard, participation on a Blue Ribbon Panel for BRA foundation partnerships and requests.

Sarah Potter
Graduate Degree: Suffolk University, Department of Political Science
Undergraduate Degree: Smith College
Areas of Interest: Social policy for families and children
Mentor: Susan Tracy, The Strategy Group
Agency: Executive Office of Health and Human Services
Supervisor: Dee Bertozzi, Executive Office of Health and Human Services
Project Description: Sarah worked for the Executive Office of Health and Human Services on a report on Children's Mental Health in the Commonwealth, a resource guide for mental health services, and a review of 1-2 DOE funded pilot projects working with children impacted by trauma within the school environment.

Allen Fernandez Smith
Graduate Degree: Harvard Kennedy School
Undergraduate Degree: University of Illinois
Areas of Interest: Education policy
Mentor: Charles Baker, CEO of Harvard Pilgrim Health Center
Agency: Boston Public Schools
Supervisor: Dishon Mills, Boston Public Schools
Project Description: Al worked for the Office of Curriculum and and Instructional Practices of the Boston Public Schools. He created Best Practices Journals to accompany Boston Public Schools’ (BPS’s) Bridging the Gap initiative, a training series for out-of-school time professionals. The Journals contained the information disseminated at the trainings. Al collected this information and organized it into a user-friendly format. Whenever necessary, he communicated with the trainers to get additional information. In addition, Al worked at one of our summer programs as a basketball coach. Al also helped out in all other areas of the BPS after school work.

Christopher Thomaskutty
Graduate Degree: Harvard Kennedy School
Undergraduate Degree: Birmingham-Southern College
Areas of Interest: Municipal governance
Mentor: Ben Taylor
Agency: Financial Office, City of Somerville
Supervisor: Pat McCormick, Chief Financial Officer
Project Description: Christopher worked for the Chief Financial Officer of the City of Somerville. He researched the feasibility of adapting Baltimore's CitiStat program in the City of Somerville. He also drafted the SomerStat program.

Jon Ablett
Graduate Degree: Babson College
Undergraduate Degree: McGill University
Area of Interest: Municipal Finance
Agency: Office of House Ways and Means
Supervisor: Massachusetts State Representative Thomas Finneran
Project Description: Jon focused on municipal finance issues while at the Office of House Ways and Means.

Merrel Aspin
Graduate Degree: Harvard School of Public Health
Undergraduate Degree: Vanderbilt
Areas of Interest: Public health
Mentor: Patricia McGovern, Vice President, CareGroup at Beth Israel Deaconness Medical Center
Agency: Massachusetts Division of Medical Assistance
Supervisor: Kate Willrich, Director, Managed Care System
Project Description: Merrell worked as an intern with the Massachusetts Division of Medical Assistance in the Managed Care Program, where she researched contracting issues for the Division's strategic planning process for their upcoming contracting process.

Paul Carney
Graduate Degree: Harvard Kennedy School
Undergraduate Degree: Stanford University
Areas of Interest: Community and economic development
Mentor: Susan Tracy, The Strategy Group
Agency: Massachusetts Housing Finance Agency
Supervisor: Nancy Andersen, Massachusetts Housing Finance Agency
Project Description: Paul interned at the Massachusetts Housing Finance Agency where he underwrote loans for the Massachusetts Affordable Housing Trust Fund. The state legislature created the Trust Fund to provide funding for affordable housing projects throughout the state. The Fund receives $20 million a year, $14.5 million of which is administered by MassHousing. Fiscal Year 2001, which ended July 1, 2001, was the first year of the Trust. Paul worked with Andrew Winter, the development officer who runs the trust, to process the applications for Trust funding. This involved underwriting the projects and evaluating the quality of the proposed projects. Paul then presented the projects to the Selection Committee, which was responsible for approving the projects. In total he worked on 14 projects and the Trust Fund met its goal of committing all of its funds by the end of the fiscal year. In addition to underwriting projects, he also worked with Andrew to improve the processing and recording of projects for the second year of the Trust. This included the creation of a database for all of the projects submitted.

Luz Cazares
Graduate Degree: Harvard, Kennedy School of Government
Undergraduate Degree: University of Chicago
Areas of Interest: Education
Mentor: Ira Jackson
Agency: Budget Office, City of Boston
Supervisor: Lisa Signori, Director, Budget Office
Project Description: Luz worked at the City of Boston's Budget Office.

Iliana (Georgieva) Gaffney
Graduate Degree: Boston University School of Management
Undergraduate Degree: St. Michael's College
Areas of Interest: Economic development
Mentor: Marcia Lamb, Initiative for a Competitive Inner City
Agency: Economic Development Office, City of Brookline
Supervisor: Amy Schectman, Director, Economic Development Office, City of Brookline
Project Description: Iliana researched and provided recommendations on public policies that will enhance Brookline's efforts in supporting small businesses in its commercial areas.

Jennifer James Price
Graduate Degree: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Undergraduate Degree: University of New Hampshire
Area of interest: Workforce Development
Agency: Office of Governor Jane Swift
Supervisor: Jane Swift, Governor of Massachusetts
Project Description: Jennifer worked in the Office of Governor Jane Swift on workforce development issues.

Rachel Klein
Graduate Degree: Harvard Kennedy School
Undergraduate Degree: Univeristy of Michigan
Areas of Interest: Education and poverty issues
Mentor: Christopher Gabrielli, Massachusetts 2020
Agency: Boston Public Schools
Supervisors: Marty Walz, Director of Human Resources and Rachel Curtis, Associate Director of Human Resources
Project Description: Rachel worked at the Boston Public Schools. She had two distinct projects that centered on teacher recruitment and training. First, She worked for the Director and Associate Director of Human Resources to develop a plan for substitute teacher recruitment, selection, training and retention. Although BPS only filled about 60% of their need for substitutes on any given school day, there was no formal plan for increasing the pool of subs, the quality of subs, or the quality of life for substitute teachers. She helped BPS think about all of these factors, and wrote an action plan that was approved and launched as the Substitute Teacher Initiative in August, 2001. Her second project was to help the Teaching and Learning group think about alternative certification programs for new teachers. Boston faces a teacher shortage, as do most school districts around the country, and has begun to think about ways to increase the pool of incoming teachers. Many school districts, including many large urban districts, have implemented alternative certification programs to train and certify new entrants to the teaching profession more rapidly than do traditional teacher education programs.

Rene Reyes
Graduate Degree: Harvard Law School
Undergraduate Degree: Harvard University
Area of Interest: Intergovernmental Relations
Agency: Office of Attorney General Thomas Reilly
Supervisor: Attorney General Thomas Reilly
Project Description: Rene worked in the Office of Attorney General Thomas Reilly

Josh Rubin
Graduate Degree: Harvard Kennedy School
Undergraduate Degree: University of Chicago
Areas of Interest: Mental health issues
Mentor: Jerry Rappaport, Rappaport Charitable Foundation
Agency: Office of State Representative Kay Khan
Supervisor: Representative Kay Khan
Project Description: Josh worked for State Representative Kay Khan. He focused on several issues relating to mental health issues.

Laura Siegel Critz
Graduate Degree: Harvard Kennedy School
Undergraduate Degree: Yale University
Areas of Interest: Housing, urban development, transportation
Mentor: Sam Bass Warner, MIT
Agency: Boston Redevelopment Authority
Supervisor: Rebecca Barnes, Chief Planner
Project Description and research links: Laura served her internship with Rebecca Barnes, Chief Planner of the Boston Redevelopment Authority. Laura also wrote a chapter on the environment for the 2002 edition of Governing Greater Boston: The Politics and Policy of Place.

Derek Sousa
Graduate Degree: Suffolk Sawyer School of Management
Undergraduate Degree: University of Massachusetts - Dartmouth
Areas of Interest: Economic development
Mentor: Charles Baker, CEO, Harvard Pilgrim Health Center
Agency: Executive Office of Administration and Finance
Supervisor: Robert Costrell, Chief Economist
Project Description: Derek worked at the Executive Office of Administration and Finance.

Elizabeth Spinney
Graduate Degree: Harvard Kennedy School
Undergraduate Degree: University of Maryland
Areas of Interest: Youth issues
Mentor: Tom Keane, columnist for the Boston Herald
Agency: Office of Boston City Councilor Paul Scapicchio.
Supervisor: Paul Scapicchio, Boston City Councilor
Project Description: Elizabeth worked for Boston City Councilor Paul Scapicchio.

Hallie (Torrell) Saxena
Graduate Degree: Harvard Kennedy School
Undergraduate Degree: State University of New York - Fredonia
Areas of Interest: Women's and children's health and welfare
Mentor: Elaine Ullian, President of the Boston Medical Center
Agency: Boston Public Health Commission.
Project Description: Hallie worked at the Boston Public Health Commission.