This summer I worked on Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson’s education policy team, supporting his work with the National Conference of Black Mayors. My project gave me the opportunity to leverage my business background to do strategic and organizational planning. Although my project was interesting, it was only one facet of my summer. The Mayoral Fellowship with the Office of Mayor Kevin Johnson exposed me to different aspects of the city through participation in activities such as ride-alongs with the Sacramento Police Department, weekly city council meetings, and press conferences with local media.... Read more about Ash Center: HKS Student Roniesha Copeland Gains Key Skills Working for Sacramento Mayor Johnson
What motivates people across the globe to risk their lives in order to fight for democracy? At the January 28 film screening and discussion of documentary A Whisper to a Roar, panelists Egyptian Democratic Academy Activist Esraa Abdel Fattah, Slate Magazine Journalist William Dobson, Film Director Ben Moses, and HKS Professor Tarek Masoud sought to answer this elusive question and discuss why authoritarian regimes survive despite the recent expansion of democracy around the world.
Quinton Mayne recently joined Harvard Kennedy School’s Ash Center as an assistant professor of public policy. Previously, he had served as the Center’s inaugural Democracy Fellow. We sat down with Professor Mayne for a conversation on his upcoming spring course DPI 130 “Rethinking Policy Design,” which meets both SUP and DPI concentration requirements for MPP candidates.
Harvard Kennedy School Expands Commitment to Public Policy Research in China
By Kate Hoagland
Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) Dean David Ellwood this week will take part in a series of commemorative events in China along with other Harvard faculty to celebrate the School’s ongoing commitment to the study of public policy and governance in China. Commencing with the inaugural Alumni Public Policy Forum held Sunday (Jan. 13), the dean and others will sign agreements to deepen the School’s commitment to training and policy research and take part in several conferences on US-China relations later this week.... Read more about Ash Center: Harvard Kennedy School Expands Commitment to Public Policy Research in China
[The translation of the interview from English to Korean and back to English resulted in some ambiguities and awkward phrases. We have sought to remain close to the Korean text while inserting some bracketed phrases for clarity.]
William Overholt is a senior researcher at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Ash Center. Since the 1970s, he has served as an East Asia specialist focusing on Korea, China, and Japan. Following the Kwangju Democratization Movement of the 1980s, he expressed early optimism... Read more about Munhwa Ilbo (South Korea) Life & Story – William H. Overholt
HKS MPP Nikhil Gahlawat Studies Poverty with NYC’s Center for Economic Opportunity
By Nikhil Gahlawat
During my summer at the Center for Economic Opportunity (CEO) in New York City, I had the unique experience of working with both their research and program teams. The research team works on studying poverty in New York City, creating better ways to measure poverty and understand whom the poor are. The program office works to implement anti-poverty programs, first in the pilot phase and then later, if they are successful, in more scaled-up phases. However, rarely do the day-to-day activities of the two offices intersect. My fellowship granted me a unique opportunity to experience CEO... Read more about Ash Center: Notes from the Field
Ash Scholars Generate Policy Research to Build a Nation from the Ground Up
By Kate Hoagland – Communiqué: Fall 2012, Volume 11
On a hot summer evening, Ash Center Economist David Dapice sits cross-legged surrounded by a dozen poor farmers. They are in a soy bean field off of a dirt road in the north of Naypyidaw, Myanmar’s capital city. Except for the light from four small candles, it is pitch black, typical for many rural areas when only 25 percent of the country’s residents have access to electricity.
Cambridge, Mass. – Today the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard Kennedy School announced the launch of Data-Smart City Solutions, a new initiative aimed at using big data and analytics to transform the way local government operates. Bringing together leading industry, academic, and government officials, the initiative will offer city leaders a national depository of cases and best practice examples where cities and private partners use analytics to solve city problems.... Read more about Ash Center Launches Data-Smart City Solutions
HKS Faculty, Doctoral, and Post Doctoral Students Encouraged to Apply
Cambridge, Mass. – The Ash Center's Challenges to Democracy Grant program will award $150,000 in funding support for HKS faculty workshops and doctoral and post-doctoral fellowships. Kennedy School doctoral students and faculty as well as post-doctoral students from the wider academic community are encouraged to apply by April 1, 2013.... Read more about Ash Center Devotes $150,000 in Grants Exploring Democracy's Challenges
Alternative Sentencing Social Worker Program Commonwealth of Kentucky In the Alternative Sentencing Social Worker Program, social workers – with public defenders – develop and present individualized alternative sentencing plans to the court as options other than incarceration. Persons who would normally be jailed or imprisoned stay in the community, receive services, and become less likely to reoffend.
Cambridge, Mass. – Today the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard Kennedy School announced the launch of its Improving the Local Landscape for Innovation Paper Miniseries authored by Gigi Georges, Tim Glynn-Burke, and Andrea McGrath. As part of the Center’s broader Occasional Paper Series, this three-part publication serves as a practical handbook for city leaders formalizing their efforts to promote and support innovative solutions in their cities.... Read more about Ash Center Launches Three-Part Paper Series on the Innovation Landscape
