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.