Even policy advisors in city hall have limited time to consider, never mind actively analyze, new approaches to current challenges. The Fellowships in Urban Policy will place students with host agencies--mayors’ and county executives’ offices--in full-time summer positions. At the end of their summer work, students will return to HKS and continue to work with their host agency as their client for the PAE (Policy Analysis Exercise).

The Urban Policy Advisory Group is a central part of the Institute’s strategic initiative to make local and state government more effective through innovation. The initiative creates and grows new arenas, focused on both research and policy, where academics and practitioners come together to work on and develop the most promising approaches to the challenges facing government. Harvard Kennedy School interns placed with the policy advisors are there not only to learn but to add value by sharing cutting edge trends and ideas learned at the Kennedy School. These internships also offer significant future job and relationship opportunities for graduates.

To apply, please complete the application and submit the following additional materials to bruce_jackan@ksg.harvard.edu, fax: 5-4948:

• Resume
• Transcript (unofficial is acceptable)
• Faculty recommendation (an email endorsement is acceptable)
• Short explanation (250 words) of why you are interested in this fellowship and how it complements your HKS studies

The application deadline is February 11, 2009 for 2009 summer fellowships.

Project Proposals

Boston - New Media: Fellow will develop a strategy for City’s use of cutting-edge new media technologies to enhance communication with Bostonians. Potential implementation projects may include a podcast educating new homeowners, a crowdsourcing website that generates new ideas for the City, a blog that promotes financial literacy, and more. In addition, the project may provide opportunities to connect Boston high school students to the latest new media technologies.

Boston - Efficiency in Parking Regulation: Fellow will help establish curbside parking policies and regulations that: result in a more efficient use and sharing of available on-street parking inventory; reduce “cruising” for bargain hunters; promote use of clean-fuel vehicles; and address the concerns of diverse users including residents, delivery trucks, and visitors.

Cleveland - International Trade: Fellow would help staff the Chief of Government Affairs on a daily basis as the Mayor's Office continues to sculpt its international trade and relations policy. Fellow would be expected to evaluate all government processes and help the staff develop a plan that optimizes their ability to serve the residents of the City of Cleveland and the region. Recommendations would include new public policy ideas and overall organizational evaluation in the form of a white paper report.

Indianapolis - Commercial Redevelopment: Indianapolis has several obsolete commercial areas that waste the land on lower value uses, thus lowering property values and property taxes collected by the city, suppress home values in adjacent areas, make the city a less desirable place to live as a whole, and offer fewer employment opportunities for local residents. Fellow is to develop a plan to transform an obsolete commercial area from low value uses to higher value uses.

King County - County Government Visioning: County governments serving large and diverse populations in expanded geographical areas face multiple difficulties siting critical public facilities. Fellow would conduct interviews with local officials, influencers, and stakeholders to develop two or more scenarios describing King County government in 10 and 20 years to advise elected officials regarding the siting of critical public facilities and the management of investment portfolios.

King County - Therapeutic Juvenile Justice: Therapeutic justice, treating both the presenting legal matter and the underlying social and personal causes, has been fully embraced, but not yet fully implemented, in King County. Fellow would conduct interviews with experts and practitioners in other jurisdictions and other states to produce a comparative analysis of family court screening practices within selected states.

Los Angeles - Clean Technology Strategy: Fellow will work on an initiative to build the green economy in LA. Potential projects include helping to develop policies and infrastructure to tie greening of the Hollywood studios to creating jobs and economic development; identifying highest impact leverage the City has (e.g., purchasing power and other assets) to further the development of the clean technology industry and make policy recommendations; and helping analyze and develop specific economic development components of the Solar LA plan (the largest solar program in the United States).

Louisville - Strategy for Youth Development: The Louisville Metro Office of Policy and Management proposes to work with an Ash Fellow in the summer of 2009 and through the following academic year on policy and data analysis and strategic planning for a proposed System for Youth Development.

Louisville - Jobs for a Green Economy: The Ash Fellow, working with a team of metro staff and collaborative partners, will analyze metro Louisville’s economic, environmental, and geographic climate in order to define appropriate “green jobs” for this region; inventory existing “green jobs”; and develop a strategy to create/attract new “green jobs.”

Louisville - Strategic Workforce Development: Fellow will support the development of a master plan to redefine 1,400-acre industrial area near Louisville city center to attract investment and stimulate job creation. Fellow will develop a strategy around one or all of the workforce recommendations and initiate implementation.

Louisville - Alternative 911 Emergency Medical Triage System: Louisville Metro Emergency Medical Services (LMEMS) provides 24-hour-a-day, 911 emergency medical care to Louisville Metro, the 16th largest city in the United States and was recently awarded a Passport Medicaid grant to investigate alternative triage of low-priority 911 calls to more appropriate sources of community health care. Fellow would assist in the ongoing development and implementation of this program, and would participate in the design, analysis, and interpretation of outcome measures to evaluate its benefits.

Orange County, FL - Primary Care Access Network: PCAN’s core mission is to increase access to healthcare services. Services have expanded beyond the basic primary care to include secondary care, behavioral health, dental care, and diagnostics for 1 in 10 County residents. The network also includes a volunteer physician component which offsets costs for acute and specialty care. Fellow will work with the Primary Care Access Network (PCAN) to evaluate and recommend improvements to PCAN's public education and outreach efforts and evaluate the feasibility of expanding the program to include area employees offering PCAN services to their employees as a health care benefit.

Philadelphia - Recovery/Resiliency in Children’s Drug Treatment: The Fellow would be responsible for reviewing two major projects of the Children’s Unit (inside the City's Department of Behavioral Health)—Target Case Management/Drug and Alcohol Case Management and the Madeline Moore Summer Camp Grant program—and making recommendations to effectively integrate the recovery/resiliency principles in them.

Philadelphia - Reducing Hunger in Philadelphia: The City of Philadelphia has the highest poverty rate of any of the ten largest cities in the nation. With the economy in recession and rising unemployment, food and energy prices, the City of Philadelphia wishes to develop an aggressive and innovative strategy to reduce hunger and food insecurity. The Fellow would report to Pauline Abernathy (KSG MPP94), Senior Advisor to the Mayor to review the City’s current anti-hunger efforts, surveying best practices in other cities, identifying practical reforms that would have the highest impact on hunger, developing recommendations, and helping to coordinate new strategies.

San Diego - Renewable Energy Initiative: New State legislation, AB 811 authorized cities and counties to provide up-front financing to property owners to install solar or other renewable energy-generating devices or make specified energy efficiency improvements to their properties through the use of contractual assessments. Fellow would work with the Mayor’s office, which is currently working to design the program and implement a pilot project sometime in the fall of 2009.

San Diego - CleanTech Strategic Initiative: Advances in technology, research methods, manufacturing, and communications have lowered the costs of environmentally sensitive technologies, bringing many into the economic mainstream. The key to making San Diego the center of the CleanTech boom is capital investment. Fellow would work with the Mayor’s office to attract capital investors and CleanTech firms as a perfect incubator for this emerging industry.

San Diego - Water Policy: As San Diego will continue to be in a drought next year, with the potential of additional water restrictions, San Diego anticipates a long list of anticipated, and perhaps unanticipated water related issues. Fellow would assist with research and policy analysis on water rates, emergency water regulations, and water reclamation strategies.