By Mari Megias
WHEN LISA SLOANE MPA 1987 picks up HKS Magazine and reads about current HKS students, she recognizes the same energy she felt during her own time at the School. “Everybody was there because they were passionate about some aspect of public policy. HKS was a really positive experience for me and had a lot of personal and work-related impact.” This is why she has supported the HKS Fund each year for the past 35 years.
“I appreciate that graduates want to work at nonprofits or in the public sector, where they are not going to have high earnings, and they can’t leave school with a lot of debt. So, I feel good about giving, whether my donations support financial aid or provide students with an opportunity to do a summer internship that they wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford.”
Sloane came to HKS after working a few years for a Massachusetts housing nonprofit. “We developed affordable housing opportunities for seniors—many were coming out of nursing homes and had psychiatric disabilities.” She enjoyed working directly with tenants—something her undergraduate degree in psychology prepared her for—but she was surprised at how much she liked the management aspects of her job, including policy work.
“It was pretty simple: if you try to solve too many different problems at the same time, you may not solve any. It seems efficient but it is in the end often ineffective. I’ve certainly seen this challenge over and over again in my work.”
The Kennedy School was her next step. Sloane particularly remembers courses with economist William Apgar, who is now retired. “I learned how to problem solve in a different way,” she says. A case he taught left a particular impression, and she’s used its lessons throughout her career. “It was pretty simple: if you try to solve too many different problems at the same time, you may not solve any. It seems efficient but it is in the end often ineffective. I’ve certainly seen this challenge over and over again in my work.”
For the past two decades, Sloane has worked at TAC (“Technical Assistance Collaborative”), a national nonprofit that helps nonprofits and local and state governments across the United States implement policies and practices that empower people to live independently in the communities they choose. Her projects, which are often multiple-year engagements, have taken her to states including Louisiana, Maryland, Oregon, and Virginia.
She recalls her work in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. “Most of the people who died during or post hurricane were either older adults or people with disabilities. Louisiana was a state where there hadn't been a robust development of affordable housing opportunities. That really changed post Katrina. We helped to establish a 3,000-unit permanent supportive housing program across the state that included robust social services. We also spent a lot of time helping the state build public and nonprofit agency capacity at the local level.”
Sloane is grateful for a career where she has had a meaningful impact and is happy to pay it forward to the next generation of students so they can have a similar experience at HKS, noting, “If the School has given you a lot, it’s important to give back.”
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Portraits by Bethany Versoy