Our distinguished selection committee chose 14 Public Policy Fellows from approximately 100 candidates. The outpouring of interest in these programs confirms the great interest in state and local governance issues. Rappaport Public Policy Fellows spend 10 weeks working in state and local government offices in the Greater Boston area. The Fellows come from graduate and professional programs at local universities such as Harvard, Suffolk, MIT, Tufts, Northeastern and Boston University. To learn more about the program, visit our Eligibility page. If you work at a state or local government office interested in hosting an intern or fellow for next summer, please contact Polly O'Brien at (617) 495-5091.
2012 Rappaport Institute Public Policy Summer Fellows
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Candy Brakewood, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Undergraduate School: Johns Hopkins
Areas of interest: Transportation
Placement: MBTA
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 (http://www.mbta.com/rider_tools/apps/) and forecast demand for an upcoming Mobile Ticketing pilot program (http://www.mbta.com/fares_and_passes/passes/MobileTicketing/). 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 (http://www.metro.us/boston/boston/article/1148071--a-smarter-way-to-pay). 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.
Candy says that the Rappaport Public Policy Fellowship gave me the invaluable opportunity to gain hands-on experience at a public agency in Boston. By working with public officials this summer, I had a behind-the-screens look at how a major public agency runs on a daily basis. Moreover, the fellowship provided me the financial and institutional support to promote my ideas for improving the transit system in Boston. I was able to get involved with projects I am passionate about, provide input, and directly influence their outcomes. Being a Rappaport Public Policy Fellow was an enriching experience, and I would encourage other graduate students who want to get involved in the public sector to apply for this unique fellowship.
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Cara Ferrentino, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Undergraduate School: Harvard University
Areas of interest: Environmental Issues
Placement: Massport
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.
Cara says that my experience as a Rappaport Fellow at EP&D was simultaneously challenging, enriching, and rewarding. It challenged me to improve important skills in communications and graphics, enriched my understanding of the forces behind industrial South Boston’s ongoing evolution, and rewarded me with insights into the type of planner I hope to become. Without the Rappaport Fellowship Program, I’m not sure I would have so easily found as good a match for my interests and summer goals as Massport EP&D. I’m also very appreciative of the support of other Fellows, current and former, as well as program staff and mentors, who all provided helpful perspective on my project and on public policy work throughout the summer.
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Katherine Foo, Clark University
Undergraduate School: Williams College
Areas of interest: Environmental and Landscape Issues
Placement: Mayor's Office, City of Boston and Boston Parks Department
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.
Katherine says that the fellowship provided an extremely rich opportunity to link research and policy practice. She says, “It was an invaluable experience that gave me insight into the nuanced ways that urban geographical theories become articulated in practice. Rappaport fellows have the unique ability to work between departments in a way that strengthens cross-cutting themes, and I think this is particularly helpful to improve services with clear environmental objectives, such as neighborhood greening, food, and biking. I enjoyed meeting and learning from many people in City Hall and DND who are deeply committed to the improvement of public services, and future research partnerships with city governments are much more appealing to me now.”
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Margaret Keaveny, Northeastern University
Undergraduate School: Acadia University, Nova Scotia
Areas of interest: Economic Development
Placement: Massachusetts Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development
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.
Margaret says that the staff, faculty and mentors of the Rappaport Institute are a group of engaging, outgoing and thoughtful individuals who provide guidance and support to the Fellows. I am forever indebted to the Rappaport family and the Rappaport Institute for the opportunity to learn and work for a summer with members from the Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development, who inspire me through their dedication and unrelenting hard work. Finally, the Rappaport Fellowship introduced me to a myriad of future leaders in the Commonwealth. Their expertise added enormous value to my fellowship. The Rappaport Fellowship is truly an exceptional program. And I am forever grateful for this life changing opportunity.
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Ifedayo Kuye, Harvard Medical School
Undergraduate School: Harvard University
Areas of interest: Public Health Finance
Placement: Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services
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.
Ifedayo says that I enjoyed my experience working at MassHealth. As a future doctor, I have always been interested in understanding how the design of healthcare systems and payment methodologies translate into better healthcare for patients. It was exciting to watch academic research and stakeholder perspectives implemented into concrete policies that would change the lives of many. I was particularly glad that I got to work at an institution, which focuses on providing health care to low-income individuals. It was heartening to know that all the hard work of the team would translate into better care for undeserved populations. The weekly sessions that the Rappaport fellowship provides allowed me to build relationships with other fellows and explore parts of Boston that I had never seen before, adding tremendous value to my internship experience. |
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Matthew La Rocque, Harvard Kennedy School
Undergraduate School: University of California, Berkeley
Areas of interest: Education
Placement: Boston Public Schools/Boston Teacher Residency
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.
Matthew says that the Rappaport Fellowship is an extraordinary opportunity to not only gain insights into state and local government institutions in Massachusetts; it also affords fellows the chance to reimagine their public sector careers. Having worked in federal policy and national politics for several years prior to entering graduate school, I saw the Rappaport Fellowship as a perfect opportunity to learn more about the capacity for change at the local level, and the experience did not disappoint.
In addition to my work with BPE, the fellowship’s co-curricular programming introduced me to a diverse fellowship cohort and showed me the City of Boston in a more revealing way than I ever could have imagined. From a visit at an after-school arts program in South Boston to a tour of a wind turbine blade testing facility, I benefitted from an incredible "insider’s view" into what makes the city of Boston tick.
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Dahianna Lopez, Harvard School of Public Health
Undergraduate School: University of California, Berkeley
Areas of Interest: Public Health
Placement: Mayor's Office of the City of Boston, Department of Transportation, Boston Police Department, Boston Public Health Commission
Project Description: This summer Dahianna worked with the Office of the Mayor in Boston, the Boston Transporation 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.
Dahianna says that the Rappaport Fellowship provided a summer experience that she will never forget! She says, "As a fellow, I was able to spearhead my own policy project and not just 'help out' with one. City officials and colleagues respected my work and I felt a sense of belonging in the organizations in which I was placed. The professional relationships I built through this program are some that will outlive the duration of my PhD at Harvard - and for that, I am incredibly greatful. Overall, I am deeply satisfied with my experience this summer and with the enriched knowledge I gained by being a part of the political process at the municipal level. Because of this fellowship, I am now convinced that I will devote a good slice of my life to public service."
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Thomas Lovatt Martin, Harvard Graduate School of Design
Undergraduate School: Oxford University
Areas of interest: Housing
Placement: Cambridge Housing Authority
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. To learn more about the efforts of the CHA under HUD’s Moving to Work demonstration program, refer to the following website: http://www.cambridge-housing.org/About-the-CHA/Moving-to-Work . To learn more about CHA’s innovative Policy Lab, visit: http://www.cambridge-housing.org/PTLab .
Tom says that "For a student interested in public policy, there is absolutely no better way to spend the summer than to work and learn as a Rappaport Fellow. The incredibly strong network of alumni of the program has enabled students to match their interests with Boston’s many institutions that operate within the public and non-profit sectors. As a result, one gets the opportunity to engage with tough questions and produce innovative work that has real influence. The Rappaport Fellowship program couples the opportunity to do fascinating work in the Boston area with a deep support network. This support network pairs individual attention and mentorship with engaging and educational group activities. The incredible knowledge and devotion of Rappaport staff enabled me to find a placement, develop an innovative project that tackles a thorny, important question, and ultimately produce work of which I am enormously proud."
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Emily Monea, Harvard Kennedy School
Undergraduate School: Boston University
Areas of interest: Performance Management
Placement: 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.
Emily says that the Rappaport Fellowship was an incredibly rewarding experience for me. First and foremost, it allowed me to gain an insider's view into the workings of the public sector. My professional experience until this summer had been exclusively in the non-profit sector, so my time in Somerville – from attending morning staff meetings with the mayor to interacting with a wide range of city employees and residents – gave me a thorough education on what it's like to work for municipal government. While by no means glamorous and at times frustrating, it's also uniquely rewarding because you can actually observe how the work you do benefits the public. I feel grateful to be a part of the Rappaport Program’s considerable network of like-minded individuals seeking to improve the workings of state and local government. The summer sessions that the fellows attend together on a weekly basis were also fantastic experiences, allowing us to experience parts of Boston that many of us had never been to, and may never have been able to go to (like the MBTA Operations Control Center).
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Ana Maria Nieto, Harvard Graduate School of Education
Undergraduate School: Los Andes University, Colombia
Areas of interest: Education
Placement: Somerville Public Schools
Project description: This summer Ana Maria worked with Somerville Public Schools in their adult education programing. 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.
Ana Maria says "The Rappaport Fellowship program offered me an invaluable opportunity to work from the 'inside' of the system and learn more about local and state policies. Before applying for the Rappaport Fellowship I had a very vague idea of policies impacting young children’s wellbeing in the state of Massachusetts. My experience with the Somerville Family Learning Collaborative allowed me to work hand in hand with professionals who have been working in this area for decades. The Rappaport Fellowship also connected me to a mentor with extensive experience in social projects who was an inspiration and role model. My experience in the summer seminars provided me with the opportunity to learn from other fellows working in policy areas such as healthcare, public housing and urban planning that expanded my view even further."
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Tessa Orbach, Tufts University
Undergraduate School: Reed College
Areas of interest: Education
Placement: Cambridge Public Schools
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 imput 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.
Tessa remarks that the Rappaport Fellowship has been an amazing opportunity for her to see into the inner workings of an urban school district. She continues "prior to this summer I was following my hunch that I would enjoy working in a public school district, but since I had never had the opportunity to do so I had no way of knowing for sure. My time at CPSD has definitely confirmed by suspicions! I have learned so much from my supervisors and colleagues at CPSD, the Rappaport staff, and the other fellows. I will carry my experience this summer with me throughout my life and career."
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Meaghan Overton, Tufts University
Undergraduate School: Hollins University
Areas of interest: Community and economic development
Placement: Boston Department of Neighborhood Development
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.
Meaghan says "The Rappaport Fellowship was an amazing experience for me. I began my fellowship with the simple goal of learning more about how policy-making works in the 'real' world. After working closely with my supervisors and meeting with policymakers in various City departments, I think that I have developed a much deeper understanding of municipal government and a greater appreciation for the importance of collaboration in policy development and implementation. I met so many dedicated people who were looking for new ways to improve quality of life for residents in Boston. The Rappaport Fellowship also provided me with the incredible opportunity to connect with my peers from other disciplines and universities. It has been inspiring to learn about the work that other fellows are doing, and I’ve appreciated the rare chance to learn from others outside of a classroom setting."
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Erica Simmons, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Undergraduate School: Stanford University
Areas of Interest: Transportation Issues
Placement: City of Boston Transportation Department
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.
Erica says that through this summer, I learned how to develop a project from an initial idea into a pilot. "I also learned a lot about how different departments in Boston work, and how to organize an interdepartmental project. This was a particular challenge for me: when I started the summer I found the act of cold-calling professionals intimidating, but I had to learn how to reach out to a diverse range of professionals working for the City and for other organizations throughout Boston. Through this process, I learned that most people are very helpful and have valuable expertise, and that you can accomplish a lot through interdisciplinary collaboration. I also got a sense for how diverse and complex urban neighborhoods are, and for the importance of working with neighborhood residents to make sure a city initiative is appropriate to the needs and desires of the people who live there. My summer as a Rappaport Fellow has been a wonderful experience, and I have really appreciated the opportunities the fellowship has provided, both through my work at the Boston Transportation Department and through the weekly enrichment events the Rappaport Institute organized."
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Ashali Singham, Harvard Kennedy School
Undergraduate School: Yale University
Areas of Interest: Municipal Finance
Placement: Massachusetts Executive Office for Adminstration and Finance
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.
The OPEB Commission website is here: http://www.mass.gov/anf/opeb-commission.html
Ashali says "As a Rappaport Fellow, I was given work that was relevant for my agency and interesting to me. In my time at the Executive Office for Administration and Finance, I gained experience with fiscal policy issues, particularly issues relating to health benefits and infrastructure finance. One of the most valuable parts of the Rappaport Fellowship for me was the experience I gained working directly in a government agency. I had worked on state fiscal policy issues before, but not from inside a government agency, and the Rappaport Fellowship gave me the opportunity to see how fiscal policy is made in practice. Having this experience to draw on will be very useful for me in the future. Additionally, the value of the Rappaport Fellowship extended beyond my experience working at the Executive Office for Administration and Finance. The Rappaport seminars gave me opportunities to learn outside of my work at the agency. I got to interact with other Rappaport Fellows working in various agencies, and talking with them inside and outside of the Rappaport seminars gave me a broad view of the policy work being done in the Greater Boston area. Finally, I felt that I always had support from the Rappaport Institute, starting before the summer began, and that I will have connections with the Institute even after I graduate."
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