Two Ford School alumni awarded Strong Cities Strong Communities Fellowship | Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy

Two Ford School alumni awarded Strong Cities Strong Communities Fellowship

October 23, 2012

Ford School alumni Chris Dorle (MPP '07) and Betsy Palazzola (MPP '12) are recipients of the inaugural Strong Cities Strong Communities (SC2) Fellowship, which places highly-skilled professionals in U.S. cities to assist with planning and implementing socioeconomic policies.

The SC2 initiative is part of a federal pilot program created by President Obama to strengthen cities by improving economic vision and strategy at the local and regional levels. The new fellowship, which will be administered by the German Marshall Fund of the United States, is awarded to mid-career professionals with unique training and skills
that prepare them to address economic challenges at the local and regional level. Fellows are placed in one of seven U.S. cities and are provided training and mentoring throughout the two-year period.

Chris Dorle and Betsy Palazzola will undertake their fellowships in Detroit, Michigan. Dorle completed his BA in 2000 and MPP in 2007, both at the University of Michigan. Since then he has worked extensively with USAID in Afghanistan. Palazzola received her BS from the University of Michigan in 2007, and she completed her MPP and graduate certificate in Science, Technology, and Public Policy at the Ford School in 2012. She was also an inaugural recipient of the David Bohnett Foundation Public Service Fellowship.

Read the full release and see a full list of the fellows at www.gmfus.org.