Rappaport Institute Public Policy Summer Fellowship

Harvard University’s Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston is now accepting applications for its summer 2010 Public Policy Fellowships. The fellowships offer 12 graduate students paid, 10-week summer internships in key state and local agencies in the Greater Boston area. Fellows also participate in a weekly seminar series with leading practitioners and scholars and are required to write a short essay related to their experiences. Fellows receive a $7000 stipend.

The fellowship program is a key component of The Rappaport Institute, which aims to improve the governance of Greater Boston by fostering better connections between the region's scholars, policymakers, and civic leaders. In addition to the Public Policy Program, the Institute develops and disseminates policy-relevant research in timely and accessible ways; fosters conversations between researchers and practitioners; hosts public events on regional issues; and offers training for local officials.

In previous years, fellows have worked on a diverse range of projects that include: school reform plans, environmental risk assessment, public-private partnerships, community development projects, performance-management systems, racial bias in the juvenile justice system, health coverage for foster children, and reduction plans for greenhouse gases.

What Our Fellows Say About the Program

"With the Rappaport Institute’s support, I was able to enter a world of public policy that I could not have accessed by myself.  I worked on the hottest education policy issue of the summer and was able to learn about policy formation while watching policy and politics collide before my eyes.  I was even able to see some of my recommendations acted upon immediately by my superiors." - Sarah Fierberg Phillips, 2009

"The Rappaport fellowship offered an unparalleled opportunity to work in the trenches of local government.  The experience gave me faith in the continuing efforts of the many government employees working to make Boston a better place.  At the same time, I recognized the fierce resistance to change posed by the history of ongoing government systems.  The Rappaport fellowship renewed my focus on leveraging academic research to support leaders within government as they seek to continually improve how systems work for people." Michael Long, 2009

"In a summer when hardly anybody was hiring, the Rappaport Fellowship enabled me to get so much more than just a summer job: It gave me the rare and valuable opportunity to work on a very interesting project, to learn what my agency does and how it fits within state government, to get to know my impressive fellow Rappaport Fellows, and to learn about Boston’s politics, history, and government from an array of field trips and talks with distinguished public officials." Antoniya Owens, 2009

Applying for the Rappaport Public Policy Fellowships

Eligibility: Graduate students at local schools, such as Harvard University, MIT, Boston University, Suffolk University, Northeastern University, UMass Boston, Brandeis and Tufts University, who are enrolled in programs with public-policy implications for the Greater Boston metropolitan area or the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and who will continue their studies in the 2010-11 academic year are eligible for the Rappaport Public Policy Fellow program. (Law students are eligible for a separate Rappaport fellowship program coordinated by Suffolk University’s School of Law. For more information, contact Susan Prosnitz, Executive Director, Rappaport Center for Law and Public Service)

Applications: Students should submit:

• A cover letter to the attention of David Luberoff, executive director of the Rappaport Institute, that includes a list of issues and public agencies that interest you;
• A resume;
• A statement of 500 to 1,000 words that describes a public policy issue or issues that you would be interested in working on, why the issue interests you and some preliminary thoughts on a project for the summer; and
• A writing sample, two to five pages in length, from any work that represents your ability to explore complex policy issues.

Please submit your application on single-sided paper, with a footer in the lower right corner of each page that states your name and "Fellowship Program."

Send applications to:

Fellowship Application
Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston
Kennedy School of Government
79 John F. Kennedy Street
Cambridge, MA 02138

Applications are due by January 22, 2010.

Applicants identified as finalists will be required to submit two letters of reference. Finalists will be notified by mail on February 5, 2010. Letters of reference must be received by February 15, 2010. Applicants will be notified of their status by mail on March 1, 2010.

For more information: To learn more about the Rappaport Institute Public Service Fellowship Program, please attend one of the Information sessions scheduled at eligible schools or review our list of Frequently Asked Questions. You may also contact Polly O'Brien at 617-495-5091 if your questions are not answered by our FAQ page or our information session.