Policy Pitch Competition: Full Video

 

Peter Vasher: I welcome everyone. We're going
to get started in a couple minutes I we know

we have people joining us from all around
the country in the world. But if you want

to tell us where you're zooming in to support
the Ford School tonight just drop that in

the chat.

Peter Vasher: And we'll get started here in
a couple minutes.

Peter Vasher: So if you're just joining us,
if you want to tell us where supporting the

Ford School from tonight.

Peter Vasher: I drop it into the chat and
welcome. We'll get started here in just a

couple minutes.

Elisabeth Gerber: Hello, hello, hello, hello.
Welcome, everybody. Welcome to this third

annual policy Pitch Competition.

Elisabeth Gerber: I'm Liz Garber, I'm the
director of the program and practical policy

engagement and a faculty member at the Ford
School and I'm so glad to see not exactly

see but know that you are all here with us.

Elisabeth Gerber: It's so fun to see all the
places that you're tuning in from. So thank

you. I'm delighted to be

Elisabeth Gerber: Co sponsoring this event
with the Ford schools graduate career services.

This is a great opportunity for all of our
students who are participating

Elisabeth Gerber: to hone some of their practical
skills and public speaking and pitching.

Elisabeth Gerber: It's also a great chance
for those of you who are joining us in the

audience to learn about some of the amazing
engaged experiences that our students have

had in their internships last summer.

Elisabeth Gerber: I want to thank everybody
that has helped make this event happen and

the great work from the graduate career services
staff from the program and practical policy

engagement staff.

Elisabeth Gerber: I want to thank the presenters
for being brave and bold and showing up and

sharing your work with us.

Elisabeth Gerber: I want to thank the judges
for taking time out of your evening and sharing

your insights and your feedback with our wonderful
students

Elisabeth Gerber: I like to thank the power
foundation for providing funding for much

of our engaged learning and other activities
and, most of all, I'd like to thank all of

you, our audience for being here to support
your friends and family and colleagues. We

really appreciate it.

Elisabeth Gerber: Participants good luck to
all of you. I'm looking forward to hearing

about your experiences. Thank you.

Peter Vasher: Thank you, as well. Thank you
everyone for joining us tonight from around

the country and around the world. But tonight.
We're gathered

Peter Vasher: To celebrate our community and
reflect on the impact that public policy can

have on the world.

Peter Vasher: And I want to thank our students
for their creativity and resilience in an

uncertain summer and an uncertain internship
dynamic

Peter Vasher: So we're looking forward to
hear their stories. I hear this evening and

I also want to thank them for their courage
for being willing to present especially being

willing to present in this virtual format.

Peter Vasher: Thank you to the Ford School
staff as well that have helped put this event

on and thank you all for tuning in tonight.

Peter Vasher: I but we do want to thank our
judges are going to have the tough tough job

tonight of selecting a first, second, and
third prize.

Peter Vasher: And then the audience as well.
You're going to have a tough job to select

the audience prize here at the end of our
pitches, but I want the judges to introduce

themselves at this time. So please start with
Katie

Katie Hall: Hi, good evening, everyone. Glad
to be here. Thanks for having me. I'm a proud

alumna of the Ford School MPa 2013

Katie Hall: And calling in from Grand Rapids,
Michigan. So I'm currently the founder and

CEO of Clara, which is a competency matching
platform that connects people to work.

Katie Hall: Instantly based only on what they
can do that work was inspired in part from

my time at the Ford School

Katie Hall: And so it's it's been a great
journey. I can tell you these pitch competitions

are invaluable in honing your communication
skills and it's fun for me to be on the other

side of the table tonight, instead of actually
pitching so looking forward to it.

Peter Vasher: Thank you. JD

We have brandy.

Peter Vasher: Herself

Brandy Johnson: Good evening, I'm Brandi Johnson,
I

Brandy Johnson: And I am also a proud alum
of the Ford School appropriately.

Brandy Johnson: Wearing my Ford School quarters
up this evening. I graduated in the class

of 2009 with my MP. I'm currently serving
as governor Whitman education policy advisor.

Brandy Johnson: Um, I actually had the pleasure
of doing my internship with Governor then

Governor Jennifer Granholm in 2008 and a half
the last two summers.

Brandy Johnson: hosted a Ford School intern.

Brandy Johnson: As the education policy advisor,
including Sam contract, who's still working

with me now. So really pleased to be here
and thanks for having me.

Peter Vasher: Thank you. Brandi.

Peter Vasher: Daniel. Could you introduce
yourself.

Daniel Rivkin: Good evening, I'm Daniel Rifkin
and I work in the Office of Communications

and Outreach at the Ford School where I've
been.

Daniel Rivkin: When I was in the office for
about three and a half weeks before we all

had to come home. I am not an alum of the
Ford School, but I am an alum of the University

of Michigan.

Daniel Rivkin: And I had a long career abroad
as a foreign correspondent and communications

advisor and I've been in our video for 10
years and I'm very happy to be here in the

Ford School and at this competition.

Peter Vasher: Thank you Daniel Alma

Alma Wheeler Smith: I should have been prepared
to unmute I'm Alma Wheeler smells like Daniel.

I'm a graduate of the University of Michigan.
I spent 14 years in the Michigan legislature.

I was put out by term. And that's

Alma Wheeler Smith: I have served as a mentor
for the engaged learning project. And it's

been my delight over the last few months to
serve on the citizens racial equity Washtenaw

Community, as we've looked at criminal justice
in the county

Peter Vasher: Excellent. Thank you all. So
just a couple of logistics. This is a active

participation event. So you will be voting
after the 12 pitches.

Peter Vasher: But there will be some opportunities
to give our presenters feedback and in the

terms of an applause So once our please have
your mute on during all pitches and you will

hear my voice.

Peter Vasher: Telling you when to mute and
unmute but at the conclusion of a pitch. We're

going to ask that you if you're inclined to
unmute and give a

Peter Vasher: Round of applause for our presenters.
So giving some positive feedback for the hard

work that they have put in

Peter Vasher: And once that applause is done,
then we'll move on to our next presenter and

ask you to meet at that time. So everyone
should have their mute on and we'll get started

with the competition so Clary

Peter Vasher: Thank you, Will. You'll be started
here shortly.

Clary Baudraz: Thanks, Peter. Good evening.
Can you hear me okay

Peter Vasher: Yes.

Clary Baudraz: Every three months.

Clary Baudraz: Of lockdown due to the coven

globally.

Clary Baudraz: The pandemic has caused widespread
education disruption with girls being more

likely to never return to school.

Clary Baudraz: And disruption to core child
protection services with economy downturn

that will lead to 13 million additional child
marriages in this decade.

Clary Baudraz: These are only some of the
most striking facts that I have gotten to

learn this summer as I worked as a global
agenda policy and advocacy Fellow at Save

the Children us

Clary Baudraz: Good evening. My name is Claire
Buddha and the second year Master of Public

Policy student here at the Ford School studying
international policy and women's rights.

Clary Baudraz: When applying to this fellowship
back in pre coven February I was really excited

to get to work on an issue that I'm really
passionate about, which is girls and Women's

Political participation in policymaking

Clary Baudraz: And of course, by the time
I started the pandemic had really transformed

our work and most of our priority projects
now had cove it and their title.

Clary Baudraz: But while I work was transformed
our priority issues didn't change much. In

fact, what better time than a crisis that
impacts girls and women disproportionately

Clary Baudraz: To advocate on their assistant
matic lack of opportunities to have their

voices heard in the policy decisions that
impact the most

Clary Baudraz: And I draw my interest on this
issue from my personal background of having

grown up in Switzerland in a political system
that's based on the principle that being a

citizen gives you a direct voice in the policy
decisions that impact your life.

Clary Baudraz: And from a young age. This
led me to have a lot of opportunities for

my civic development and political engagement.

Clary Baudraz: As we prove that somewhat embarrassing,
but nevertheless humbling video of the nine

year old me speaking about children's rights
on local TV news as a member of the children

council and my hometown.

Clary Baudraz: And now, obviously this is
not about me growing up in Switzerland. This

summer I got to learn from girl advocates
from around the world and listen to

Clary Baudraz: A lesson girls advocating to
their governments and the international community,

so their right to see their education protected
their physical and psycho social safety insured

and their role as active stakeholders recognized

Clary Baudraz: And these are the voices that
I work to empower as a lobbied for the girls

lead act of bipartisan bill that was introduced
in the US Congress to increase US foreign

aid efforts.

Clary Baudraz: To support girls participation
in policymaking and their leadership development.

Clary Baudraz: And well, this bill wasn't
written with coven in mind. It was a perfect

example of its principal if girls are facing
such impacts of a crisis like coven

Clary Baudraz: Why is it that we still systematically
overlook girls voices in the policy decisions

that will impact their lives and most and
even when we do talk about Women's Political

participation worldwide.

Clary Baudraz: And so my biggest takeaway
from my work this summer has been the realization

that as a woman's rights advocate. I had clearly
fallen in the all too common pitfall of considering

girls as an automatic

Clary Baudraz: subcategory of women. What
I was reminded of is that girls normally have

specific needs, but you need voices that will
be overlooked. If our policies overlook them.

Clary Baudraz: And so in this field emphasize
age as one of many lenses for intersection

ality and advocate for Strong disagree good
data robust analysis and

Clary Baudraz: My personal favorite, in terms
of jargon institutionalized capacity and mechanisms

for accountability, including at organizations
like USA ID.

Clary Baudraz: And what all of this comes
down to is that if you're working towards

more sustainable policies and towards gender
equality, we need to include the contributions

of all the individuals who experienced them,
including girls.

Clary Baudraz: And so, if anything, what I
encourage you to take away from this is that

code 19 has only exacerbated ongoing systemic
disparities that will go away with a pandemic.

Clary Baudraz: As advocates as policy professionals
as a member of civil society, I urge you to

join the call of organizations like

Clary Baudraz: Save the Children to ensure
that encoded and beyond the lived experiences

of girls children human beings Brendan's are
right for their voices to be heard in the

policy decisions that impact their lives.
Thank you.

Peter Vasher: Thank you. Clary if you want
to unmute and give clarity. Around of applause,

or a congrats.

Peter Vasher: Alright and now please welcome
to the stage. Mr. Emma.

Emma Kern: Thank you. Good evening, everyone.
My name is Mr. Kern I'm a second year NPP

student and this summer I interned with Hawaii
Appleseed Center for Law and economic

Kalena Thomhave: Justice

Emma Kern: Now, when you think of what you,
you probably think of. It's beautiful landscapes

and beaches and I do too. But I mostly think
of my grandparents aunties, uncles and cousins

are big family dinners with games and stories
and growing up I thought a boy. He is a second

home.

Emma Kern: But growing up in the mainland.
I wasn't aware of much of the social and political

environment throughout the islands like the
fact that roughly half of residents struggle

to get by living paycheck to paycheck pre
coated

Emma Kern: That Hawaii has one of the highest
cost of living in the nation. And you have

two thirds of all jobs offer less than 19
an hour and at the state disproportionately

incarcerates Native Hawaiians Pacific Islanders
and black people.

Emma Kern: The system, the systemic nature
of poverty is not unique to Hawaii, but the

islands have their own set of distinct circumstances
that make it difficult to address.

Emma Kern: So when I accepted my internship.
I was excited to spend more time with family,

but equally as excited to apply my social
policy coursework to real life situations.

Emma Kern: I interned in the Budget and Policy
Center with an Appleseed, which is a nonprofit

that in good engages in

Emma Kern: Policy development advocacy and
coalition building state level in order to

perpetuate change and local systems.

Emma Kern: So my main focus for the summer
was the poverty report, which takes a deep

dive into the economic barriers that residents
face and proposes a set of policy recommendations

to address them.

Emma Kern: Now the summer, as we all know,
was unlike any other. So I had the usual intern

tasks of data collection, but I was also responsible
for collecting stories of the coal miner or

locals.

Emma Kern: And searching for novel data sources
on how covert has and will continue to impact

those most vulnerable.

Emma Kern: And because what is economy is
mainly based in tourism at the beginning of

the pandemic, they close their borders, which
put almost half of the island out of work.

Emma Kern: There's also a spike in arrests
of folks experiencing homelessness for simply

sleeping on a park bench, which was then in
violation of the emergency proclamation

Emma Kern: So the pandemic has brought the
shortcomings of our system to the forefront,

but I had the opportunity to collaborate with
stakeholders at a time when he was trying

to reimagine more equitable policies for sustainable
reform.

Emma Kern: And because poverty is a multi
faceted issue there will be no silver bullet

to address it, which is why my final recommendation
span from raising the minimum wage and providing

universal pre K to

Emma Kern: Reforming the regressive tax system
and providing statewide broadband access to

support children learning from home.

Emma Kern: I truly believe that this report
will be an instrumental tool for government

officials to leverage when crafting their
economic recovery plan for the future.

Emma Kern: So while I spent my summer taking
meetings in blazer and sweatpants navigating

a six hour time difference

Emma Kern: My hope is to continue my work
with apple seed after graduation. But this

time, actually in Honolulu. And not only did
I walk away with more confidence in my quantitative

and analytical skills.

Emma Kern: But I stepped into deeper realm
of understanding of Hawaii and its rich history

as well as how to better serve my community
there. Thank you.

Peter Vasher: Thank you. I'm on. If you'd
like to unmute

Peter Vasher: And give a round of applause.

Paula Marie Lantz: 110 people Maria

Paula Marie Lantz: I'm on a call with her
today.

Mariatu Santiago: Hi I'm Maria to I'm a second
year NPP I believe storytelling should be

a policy tool used by economic and inner impact
driven organizations storytelling be at film

visual art or written accounts presents

Mariatu Santiago: A great opportunity to inform
communities and policymakers, I first came

to passion for storytelling during the bullet
pandemic.

Mariatu Santiago: I noticed that during this
tragic and scary times stories often failed

to mention that of the victims and the people
suffering from this pandemic were mothers

and fathers and children with hopes and dreams.

Mariatu Santiago: As a result, I noticed as
stories from media outlets often fostered

fear and in some cases resentment toward West
Africans.

Mariatu Santiago: So this inspired me to actually
try and practice storytelling and publishing

articles anywhere that I could

Mariatu Santiago: But as I was doing this,
I noticed I could do better. I could be a

better consumer of qualitative and quantitative
information. So I came to the Ford School

Mariatu Santiago: They have great courses,
but I also knew they offer me experiences,

one of which is what I'm here to talk to you
about today my time as a business development

fellow for the University of Virgin Islands
Research and Technology Park. The Rt park

for short.

Mariatu Santiago: RT Park is an economic development
organization dedicated to developing a thriving

tech ecosystem. And, you know, US Virgin Islands
through supporting tech entrepreneurship STEM

education programming and workforce development
programs.

Mariatu Santiago: Now during our downtime,
because we were virtual we had the opportunity

to develop projects and act on them. But don't
get me wrong, they gave us a lot to do.

Mariatu Santiago: Some of my projects included
writing testimony on the benefits of rideshare

services, helping accelerator companies with
their pitch decks for investors and helping

them identify their target markets as well
as helping right the federal fast grand but

Mariatu Santiago: Like I mentioned earlier
storytelling is something that I'm very interested

in

Mariatu Santiago: honing and practicing. So
I helped develop a the first of its kind,

for the RT Park eliminated blog series to
post on their website in the summertime.

Mariatu Santiago: I, along with my Ford counterpart
did this. Now the blog posts highlighted some

of the great things that the organization
was working on.

Mariatu Santiago: One blog post highlight
the work of an accelerator founder we on Perkins,

who was working to develop a mobile application
and another one who highlighted the work of

Sydney Paul who works for the RT Park.

Mariatu Santiago: She had gone to school in
the mainland us and then came back because

she really wanted to support her community.

Mariatu Santiago: And then some of the pieces
acted as references for the residents of the

community. So one talked about the benefits
of accelerator programs in the Caribbean specifically

Mariatu Santiago: But I wanted people to see
the RT park the RT park staff is passionate

about the work they do. And this was powerful
and refreshing to see, especially for an economic

development organization.

Mariatu Santiago: I wanted the community to
see more about who the organization was and

the people that made these decisions, these
very important decisions that can help individuals

likely on realize their dreams.

Mariatu Santiago: The blog series allowed
me to show the community, what the organization

was doing and put the value valuable knowledge
I gained from my first year at Ford into practice.

Mariatu Santiago: My short and brief memo
and editing experience for the journal, as

well as the importance of responsible community
engagement from qualitative methods helped

me write short focus pieces for the community.

Mariatu Santiago: The Rt Park is actively
working to engage with their community and

improve the economic opportunities for Virgin
Islanders, and I'm happy to have been a part

of that process and making a difference this
summer.

Mariatu Santiago: Through a series of blog
posts that hopefully will be continued in

future summers. Thank you.

Peter Vasher: Thank you very out to

Peter Vasher: If you'd like to unmute and

Casey Sullens: Yeah.

Eli Kabir Gold: Hi.

Eli Kabir Gold: Can you hear me all right.
Yep.

Peter Vasher: We can hear you.

Eli Kabir Gold: My name is Eli Kabir gold
and I'm a second year NPP I'm definitely a

non traditional student I'm 33 I have a masters
of Fine Arts and prior to come into forward.

I lived as a installation and performance
artists making my

Eli Kabir Gold: You know, come as a general
contractor in Detroit, where I've been living

since 2015 I made those seven decision to
shift careers and apply to Ford out of a desire

to fend off.

Eli Kabir Gold: The existential dread caused
by climate change. My plan was to get involved

in climate policy, this was a pretty vague
notion, but they let me in any way.

Eli Kabir Gold: And since arriving at Ford
I managed to make a profound connection between

the abstract thinking that makes a good contemporary
artists.

Eli Kabir Gold: And it even more abstract
thinking necessary to hold together the threads

of the regulatory system that governs energy
markets.

Eli Kabir Gold: So when I was looking for
an internship. I knew I wanted to I wanted

it to involve energy

Eli Kabir Gold: But the pandemic limited my
traveling options. So I reached out to a local

organization. I already knew well and respected
and asked for an internship.

Eli Kabir Gold: They gave it to me this organization
is named solidarity, that's a triple pun.

By the way, because solar spelled S Oh you
L and the other two pounds should be obvious.

Eli Kabir Gold: Solidarity was founded in
response to a single major injustice carried

out by DTE Energy in 2011 as Highland Park,
which is a city of about 10,000 residents

contained entirely inside of Detroit.

Safiya Merchant: You are you muted yourself.

Eli Kabir Gold: Oh,

Eli Kabir Gold: Where did that. Where was
I cut off.

Safiya Merchant: Highland Park.

Eli Kabir Gold: Highland Park.

Eli Kabir Gold: Highland Park is a city of
about 10,000 residents contained entirely

inside the geographic boundaries of Detroit.

Eli Kabir Gold: It was struggling to recover
from the 2008 recession and DC repossessed

over 1000 of Highland Park street lights for
non payment of their energy bill, leaving

the city literally in the dark.

Eli Kabir Gold: Since then, solar dirty has
become a well known environmental and energy

justice organization known for, among other
things, working to restore light the Highland

Park with community owned solar powered streetlights

Eli Kabir Gold: Because solidarity is such
a small organization.

Eli Kabir Gold: I did a lot of different things
to someone I helped administer a hyper local

utility Relief Program. I sat in on meetings
with DTE and members of the Michigan Public

Service Commission.

Eli Kabir Gold: But above all my work was
grant writing, which is boring, but also the

backbone of many small nonprofits. So I knew
it was righteous work.

Eli Kabir Gold: Now normally these pitches
close with something about what I've learned

or how I've changed, and I could do that.
But I've decided that since this is a pitch

competition. Here's a pitch.

Eli Kabir Gold: The last piece of work I did
for solar dirty was put together the wheel

at Avalon village crowdfunding campaign on
the patroness city platform.

Eli Kabir Gold: This campaign will fund the
installation of five solar powered Wi Fi connected

smart streetlights that will provide both
light and free Wi Fi to a full block of Highland

Park this campaign is current and we are working
to raise

Eli Kabir Gold: A total

Eli Kabir Gold: Of $37,500 that will be matched
by the Michigan Economic Development Corporation,

for a total of $75,000 and that will get these
streetlights online. So please, if you can

Google wheel it Avalon and donate to our campaign.
Thank you.

Peter Vasher: Alright, Eli. Thank you. You
like to unmute and give a round of applause

for Eli.

Peter Vasher: Hi. Oh, Hannah.

Hannah Rosenfeld: Go ahead. I'm him.

Hannah Rosenfeld: Oh, you can introduce me

You're good.

Yeah.

So,

Hannah Rosenfeld: All right, well, I'm I'm
Hannah Rosenfeld

Hannah Rosenfeld: As an interpreter was about
to say.

Hannah Rosenfeld: And I've been preparing
for my internship with the FDA for years.

I've always been interested in science and
technology and I got my first job is

Hannah Rosenfeld: Working with a research
lab for the United States Geological Survey

after classes when I was in high school. So
I started undergrad.

Hannah Rosenfeld: As a file major but doing
lab work never quite felt like enough for

me. So when I learned about public policy,
my first year of college, I decided on a long

term plan to stick with about agree.

Hannah Rosenfeld: Do a few years of work in
biotech in the biotech world to develop some

expertise and then to bring all that back
to a career and policy.

Hannah Rosenfeld: I really focused in on thinking
about how the FDA is going to regulate medical

devices as they start to leverage all of the
machine learning and AI and

Hannah Rosenfeld: Other cutting edge technologies
that are being developed in the consumer technology

industry.

Hannah Rosenfeld: For the plan. This summer
I worked at the FDA. The Food and Drug Administration.

It's a huge organization.

Hannah Rosenfeld: But I specifically worked
with a five person team called the compliance

and quality staff, which is responsible for
developing and overseeing policy.

Hannah Rosenfeld: For the quality of all medical
devices. And this was perfect for me because

I really wanted to learn on a day to day basis.
How does policy get made, and implemented

within the FDA, particularly when it comes
to medical devices.

Hannah Rosenfeld: When it comes to manufacturing.
I just want to clarify that quality has a

technical meaning. It isn't how good a product
is

Hannah Rosenfeld: Instead, in this world quality
means how consistently something is produced

within some set of

Hannah Rosenfeld: Specifications. So how often
does a bad heart stent get out the door, you

know, hopefully, never and and how many steps
do you have to scrap in the process of making

sure that only good stents ever make it to
patients.

Hannah Rosenfeld: And my team had been running
a pilot program to encourage manufacturers

to treat quality regulations, like a floor,
they should exceed rather than just hitting

the goals and moving on, so that patients
ended up getting better lower cost.

Hannah Rosenfeld: Medical devices and they
actually save money by not throwing so much

stuff away.

Hannah Rosenfeld: Instead of inspectors going
in and looking for problems and loving fines,

which is the traditional method under this
pilot companies come together with the agency

to discuss the

Hannah Rosenfeld: Quality challenges and goals
and FDA inspectors help them identify path

forward using all the institutional knowledge.

Hannah Rosenfeld: In practice, this requires
a lot of other policy changes to support that

new workflow. So I worked on one change like
that.

Hannah Rosenfeld: Which was a shortened review
period for manufacturing changes from 30 business

days down to five.

Hannah Rosenfeld: So that companies could
actually make those changes in response to

the meetings I perform document analysis on
the memos.

Hannah Rosenfeld: Proving almost 300 of the
changes that have happened so far into this

program.

Hannah Rosenfeld: I identified variables that
might become important and tracking these

in the future and developed a database to
track the outcome. So during that process.

I also did some qualitative analysis.

Hannah Rosenfeld: To identify several areas
where reviewers in different offices with

an FDA and needs to come into better alignment
to avoid giving out

Hannah Rosenfeld: Irregular guidance and irregular
responses and I could keyed in on some aspects

of the system that seemed to be confusing
companies. So my team could update external

guidance and I was able to confirm all these
findings.

Hannah Rosenfeld: I want to present to them
in a meeting of industry and stakeholders

and internal stakeholders and my last week,
which kicked off a very lively conversation

about potential fixes.

Hannah Rosenfeld: But beyond these policy
tweaks, the success of case for quality also

requires shifting the

Hannah Rosenfeld: Eternal FDA culture away
from the policing role and that's what I'm

really going to take away my team has been
working for almost a decade on education and

internal politicking

Hannah Rosenfeld: To convince internal stakeholders
that there would be, you know, no compromise

and the mission of the FDA if they moved from
an antagonistic culture to a cooperative culture.

Hannah Rosenfeld: And I watched as they continue
to strategize reach out, educate and think

forward about how to get everyone on board.
So I am interested in my career.

Hannah Rosenfeld: In making change that is
revolutionary in nature not evolutionary and

an organization that is so vast and and Byzantine
like the FDA.

Hannah Rosenfeld: I want to help the FDA develop
a framework to integrate powerful new technologies,

while protecting patients against

Hannah Rosenfeld: The kind of equity challenges
that have plagued the solutions in the consumer

space.

Hannah Rosenfeld: So these soft strategic
skills are what I'm going to need to bring

with me into my career to make that happen.

Hannah Rosenfeld: And right now I'm not sure
if I want to do that from within the agency

and academia or in industry, I am you know
more excited and more prepared than ever to

do work on the next challenge in the policy
of medical devices. Thank you.

Peter Vasher: Thank you, Hannah, please unmute
and give a round of applause.

Samuel Thomas Conchuratt: Whoa, whoa.

Peter Vasher: All right next to the stage.

Peter Vasher: Please welcome Carolina

Karolina Ana Ramos: Hi, everyone. Thank you
so much for being here. My name is Carolina

Ramos, and I am admittedly a little bit of
a social media addict.

Karolina Ana Ramos: This spring and summer
I saw my social media feeds transform from

a stream of cat videos to a flood of stories
of people navigating the financial unrest

of COPA at 19

Karolina Ana Ramos: I saw tweets describing
hundreds of unanswered phone calls to unemployment

agencies and Reddit posts of people expressing
fear of dwindling food assistance funds.

Karolina Ana Ramos: It was beyond clear to
me that people are asking to be heard what

was less clear is who was listening and it
was that question that guided my work this

summer as an intern at the Aspen Institute
financial security program.

Karolina Ana Ramos: The financial security
program explores challenges and advances solutions

to improving financial well being and closing
wealth gaps among American families.

Karolina Ana Ramos: This summer I was charged
with researching how governments can deliver

services in the social safety net core benefits
like food assistance and Medicaid.

Karolina Ana Ramos: By practicing human centered
design a process of bringing beneficiaries

into policymaking at the earliest stages.

Karolina Ana Ramos: The need for these services
is urgent, as I'm sure you all know since

March over 6 million new people have enrolled
in food assistance and over 30 million people

are collecting unemployment benefits.

Karolina Ana Ramos: As I dug through states
approaches to expanding benefits and revamping

application processes. I saw again and again
a disconnect between agencies and the needs

of the people they serve.

Karolina Ana Ramos: Contact forms only in
English, for example, with no information

on who is responsible for getting back to
you.

Karolina Ana Ramos: Or unemployment claim
processes that require you to call the agency

to verify your information at a time when
phone lines are buried under thousands of

calls disconnecting users from the line.

Karolina Ana Ramos: I found Facebook groups
created by beneficiaries for beneficiaries

for the sole purpose of answering questions
that people couldn't find answers to from

their own government officials.

Karolina Ana Ramos: As I researched. I saw
a few productive ways for people to seek recourse

through formal channels.

Karolina Ana Ramos: So I gather these insights
and these personal stories from social media

and produced a report that we fondly named
the power of complaint.

Karolina Ana Ramos: Exploring effective public
sector models to solicit public feedback and

then adjust services to meet people's needs
accordingly.

Karolina Ana Ramos: I drew inspiration from
a range of public sector groups from the Consumer

Financial Protection Bureau is public complaint
database to local government apps that track

potholes on the street riveting stuff.

Karolina Ana Ramos: But one of the strongest
examples of human centered policymaking actually

comes from Michigan.

Karolina Ana Ramos: Whose HUMAN SERVICES AGENCY
worked with a Detroit design firm to change

its benefits enrollment form from one of the
longest in the country to one that can be

completed in about 25 minutes

Karolina Ana Ramos: The first step in this
process should seem obvious, but is one that

a lot of governments are slow to pick up on.

Karolina Ana Ramos: Extensive interviews with
beneficiaries, the people who know best. The

good, the bad and the completely dysfunctional
of enrollment systems Michigan listened and

now has a more streamlined enrollments process
as a result.

Karolina Ana Ramos: My passion for this work
stems from my past as a beneficiary of the

services, my family got a boost from the safety
net. When my father lost his job after the

Karolina Ana Ramos: So I was excited for the
opportunity to research how to make the systems

work better for people

Karolina Ana Ramos: Because I know that when
they do work, they provide a baseline of financial

security that has allowed people like me to
take on new opportunities.

Karolina Ana Ramos: The challenges facing
facing the social safety net both predate

and are exacerbated by Cobra 19 and have solidified
my intention to continue to work in social

policy and on poverty alleviation.

Karolina Ana Ramos: My hope is first that
my procrastination habit of scrolling through

Twitter continues to be policy relevant somehow

Karolina Ana Ramos: But also that my research
can inform Aspen's ongoing recommendations

on how to make the social safety net more
human centered well beyond the phase of the

pandemic. Thank you.

Peter Vasher: Nicely done. Carolina

Peter Vasher: Please put your hands together
and give a round of applause.

Peter Vasher: All right. And we have a momentary
pause here for everyone just to take a nice

deep breath in.

Peter Vasher: Take a nice deep breath.

Peter Vasher: All right.

Peter Vasher: We will now.

Peter Vasher: Continue with the pictures.
So please welcome to the virtual Ford School

stage just them.

J'Taime Lyons: Good evening, everyone. My
name is Tim lions. I'm a second year MBA MBA

students from North Carolina focusing on poverty
alleviation and economic development and apologies

zoom can't find my hair occasionally

J'Taime Lyons: In high school I developed
a passion for education because I realized

the impact of participated in headstart had
on my life compared to my classmates who did

it.

J'Taime Lyons: I was the youngest, but the
first of my siblings to attend college. And

that's where I fell in love with sociology
with sociology, I was able to focus on research

with education within high poverty areas,
just like my hometown.

J'Taime Lyons: I then spent six years working
in Harvey elementary schools as a teacher

and students support, especially

J'Taime Lyons: I may, I was making an impact,
but it still felt reactive. I wanted to make

an impact more on a systems level. And that's
why I came to graduate school to get the tools

I needed to do so.

J'Taime Lyons: This summer I had the opportunity
to do exactly just that with dirhams children

Initiative, a collective impact organization
whose mission is to create a pipeline.

J'Taime Lyons: Of high quality services from
birth through high school graduation for children

and families living in Durham, North Carolina.

J'Taime Lyons: DCI was contracted by Durham
County to create a strategic plan for the

implementation of the North Carolina early
childhood action plan he kept

J'Taime Lyons: The goal that he kept his online
services for children and families birth to

eight years old, I was working on developing
Durham County. He kept strategic plan, but

specifically ensuring it was rooted and community
engagement.

J'Taime Lyons: You see the first ad my internship
was June 1. This is an emotional day for me

as a black woman, but all over the world because
those following the initial protest following

towards Floyd's murder.

J'Taime Lyons: My internship responsibilities
quickly shifted due to the organization's

awareness that is decision making table was
an equitable my goal became creating a community

engagement strategic plan to ensure that he
kept outcomes were equitable for all families.

J'Taime Lyons: My work focused on shifting
power dynamics for the he kept from a majority

white governing body to work group they included
decision makers representative of the community

members who are most adversely affected by
the existing policies.

J'Taime Lyons: I created a strategic strategic
plan they included action items for the five

phases of the CAP and beyond. This included
a variety of workflow meetings workflows memos

sample agendas and slide decks to support
he kept workers as they increase shared power

and share trust.

J'Taime Lyons: Over the summer, I realized
my own power, the power of my live experiences

in this moment in time, combined with the
skills I have learned from the forest school

and I'm going to continue to gain

J'Taime Lyons: I am more enthused about the
power of collective impact in alleviating

poverty and look forward to using the next
two years to gain more skills to be strategic

in this field so that all children are kindergarten
ready and capable of thriving. No matter.

There's your code just like me.

Peter Vasher: They use the term. If you want
to unmute and please give her a round of applause.

Peter Vasher: Alright our next presenter is
getting ready.

Peter Vasher: All right.

Peter Vasher: Please welcome to the virtual
stage Dylan.

Dylan Horwitz: My name is Dylan haurwitz and
I'm a senior here in the be

Dylan Horwitz: Both areas in criminal justice
policy and this summer that led me to the

United States Attorney's Office for DC

Dylan Horwitz: Now when I got this internship
in the before times I was excited because

I thought I would help prosecute high level
Federal cases in the district.

Dylan Horwitz: For example, my office was
prosecuting people like Roger stone. Of course,

this was before we learned that the rule of
law didn't apply to people like him. But I

digress.

Dylan Horwitz: But when covert hit all those
cool sounding federal court divisions decided

that they didn't want interns anymore.

Dylan Horwitz: So instead I was placed in
the local crimes division. Now, I'll be honest,

initially I was disappointed because I thought
it'd be like just another local district attorney's

office.

Dylan Horwitz: In reality, that change turned
out to be the best thing that could have happened

this summer for my public policy education.

Dylan Horwitz: You see, I'm interested in
learning about ways to reduce racial and socio

economic disparities and the criminal justice
system.

Dylan Horwitz: You know who isn't interested
in that veteran assistant US Attorney's and

all of those really cool sounding federal
divisions that I wanted to work in so badly.

Dylan Horwitz: For better or worse, you'll
never hear a homicide prosecutor asked himself,

do we treat all murders equally, are we being
too harsh on this murder.

Dylan Horwitz: But my division. On the other
hand, prosecuted minor crimes like gone and

drug charges. So these prosecutors were able
to take a step back and look at the larger

picture.

Dylan Horwitz: And they were also the youngest
least experienced attorneys in the office,

meaning they hadn't been jaded by the system,
yet they were still just as idealistic is

me but admittedly less naive.

Dylan Horwitz: So I got to work with them
to scrutinize the effects of their practices

on the large African American community in
DC.

Dylan Horwitz: I did what's natural for any
forward student I wrote memos memos that advise

them on whether to charge certain defendants
what sentences to seek and any other ways

that they could use their prosecutorial discretion
for good.

Dylan Horwitz: And what my memos obviously
lacked in legal expertise, they made up for

with policy analysis.

Dylan Horwitz: I analyzed how injustices brought
these defendants into the system and how the

choices before prosecutors in these cases
affected the community going forward.

Dylan Horwitz: Whether they cared what their
intern with no legal training had to say,

well, it's not important, because I got to
grapple with these issues.

Dylan Horwitz: And that deepens not only my
understanding of the problems, but also my

understanding of the potential solutions.

Dylan Horwitz: My main takeaway from this
internship is that I don't have to choose

between a career in law and a career affecting
public policy.

Dylan Horwitz: Because I saw firsthand people
doing my dream job. They weren't traditional

policymakers like legislators or nonprofits
their foot soldiers in a broken system doing

what they can to fix it. Thank you.

Peter Vasher: Thank you. Dylan, please unmute
him. Let's give a round of applause.

Peter Vasher: All right, just a few moments
here, folks. Thank you all for joining us.

Peter Vasher: This is your seventh inning
stretch for those watching the baseball playoffs.

Peter Vasher: As we have a couple more presenters
here to go is the third annual policy Pitch

Competition.

Peter Vasher: Without further ado, please
welcome to the fourth school virtual stage

barium.

Mariam Sayeed: Hi everyone, my name is my
MC eat. I'm a second year MBA student and

my policy interests lie in social policy,
specifically migration policy.

Mariam Sayeed: My policy interests and migration
stems from my own personal connection in an

attempt to learn more about my own family's
migration story I realize just how much the

story changes based on circumstance. I'm lucky
that my family had the opportunity to seek

Mariam Sayeed: safety and comfort. However,
this isn't true for most

Mariam Sayeed: This is where I was drawn to
policy to make my impact and creating systemic

change to ensure that the 79.5 million people
who currently identify

Mariam Sayeed: As displaced are given the
chance to live safely and access basic human

rights.

Mariam Sayeed: I chose to work with direct
relief for this very reason to learn how international

organizations impact communities that are
in the most need by sending resources and

care to local

Mariam Sayeed: organizations around the world
at direct relief my soul project was to understand

how cold it is affecting displace communities
to understand

Mariam Sayeed: Direction leaves mission and
how it can change accordingly to the needs

of those communities I delve into three geographically
different communities Yemen Bangladesh and

Venezuela.

Mariam Sayeed: To understand the underlying
issues at hand and how they're exacerbated

uniquely by this global pandemic.

Mariam Sayeed: Through this, I decided to
do a story map that involved arc GIS mapping

software research on data as well as conduct
interviews of partner organizations in different

communities.

Mariam Sayeed: For example, I was able to
highlight the incredibly PAC 10 homes in Cox's

bizarre Bangladesh by using our GIS and how
their code response and sanitation and physical

distancing looks accordingly.

Mariam Sayeed: This is important now more
than ever seeing the impact it has on these

communities where physical distancing is a
luxury.

Mariam Sayeed: My story map ended up being
published on RGS through direct relief and

is titled disease and displacement

Mariam Sayeed: showcasing what it's like to
ask someone to stay at home when they've been

forced to flee their own it addresses a needs
assessment through a comparative lens. The

main theme of my project. However, combat
the narrative that is often circulated that

of helplessness.

Mariam Sayeed: Instead I pushed the reality
of the deep and systemic stigma against migrant

communities and the other and undeniable resilience
that results.

Mariam Sayeed: While right writing this piece,
I realized that I was constantly playing catch

up updates on what was happening across the
world were constantly making me rewrite what

I had already written

Mariam Sayeed: A couple days before my presentation
that explosion in Lebanon left 300,000 people

displaced. I added this sudden event to showcase
that disaster does not stop for a pandemic.

Mariam Sayeed: My hope is that this project
assists director leaves future aid at a time

of rapid

Mariam Sayeed: I also hope to continue to
work in this important field by using my own

family story of migration that resulted in
safety and health and ensuring other stories

of migrations to result. Similarly, thank
you for your time.

Peter Vasher: All right.

Peter Vasher: A 
couple of pitches luck. Thank you for sticking

with us. And just a reminder to the audience
that

Peter Vasher: After the all pitches have concluded,
we will have a question and answer period.

So think about your questions that you may
want to ask to our presenters that will be

occurring right after our final two pitches,
which we will get to right now. So please

welcome to the stage Sophia

Safiya Merchant: Hello everyone, my name is
Sophia. Thank you for tuning in.

Safiya Merchant: A home is a building block
of someone's life but one's home is actually

about something bigger.

Safiya Merchant: Instead of a single building
home is synonymous with community. It's the

community that determines the opportunities
and resources you are afforded and consequently

the barriers, you have to overcome.

Safiya Merchant: This summer as an intern
for the city of Detroit's housing and revitalization

department as part of a team that addressed
one single question.

Safiya Merchant: As property values rise.
How do you design an inclusive community one

that preserves affordable housing and improves
the quality of life for the most vulnerable.

Safiya Merchant: It wasn't answering that
question about inclusive housing that I got

a lesson and inclusive policymaking and city
governance.

Safiya Merchant: Growing up in Chicago, a
city marked by stark residential segregation.

I've always been passionate about combating
the best inequities that family space based

on where they live.

Safiya Merchant: It was this interest in housing
policy that motivated me to choose the housing

department for myself. My replacement as a
Ford School Bonnette fellow

Safiya Merchant: The housing revitalization
department, also known as a tardy is dedicated

to ensuring access to affordable housing throughout
the Motor City.

Safiya Merchant: Most of my work centered
on one project helping the city team APPLY

FOR A CHOICE NEIGHBORHOODS grant from the
US Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Safiya Merchant: This competitive grant offers
up to $35 million dollars to revitalize public

or HUD assisted housing.

Safiya Merchant: By creating mixed income
communities strengthening neighborhood amenities

and providing social services to the housing
complexes current residents that address their

needs, related to education, health and financial
well being.

Safiya Merchant: Or application centers on
a small housing community nestled in a corner

of cork town is stored Detroit neighborhood
that is now seeing renewed economic growth.

Safiya Merchant: In my role I helped our team
develop a plan that was responsive to the

needs and dreams of the communities current
residents.

Safiya Merchant: I create a resident surveys
and analyze data to ensure all services were

created with community needs in mind.

Safiya Merchant: I wrote outreach materials
to keep residents informed even going door

to door with tenant organizers to share information.

Safiya Merchant: My summer was an exercise
and inclusive policymaking one where I learned

how to collaborate with a diverse set of stakeholders
in an effort to improve the quality of life

for residents.

Safiya Merchant: In a world where policy is
so often created far away from the communities

effects. I was inspired by the team's tireless
efforts to understand what barriers, our residents

were facing and what dreams, they had for
their future.

Safiya Merchant: The experience show that
while neighborhoods may change over time.

Local policymakers can actively choose to
ensure that residents aren't left behind.

Safiya Merchant: Although I've always known
I want to work on social policy issues, your

local or state government.

Safiya Merchant: My summer HIV strengthen
my belief in the kind of policy maker. I want

to be one that is inclusive and recognizes
the inherent strength and expertise in communities.

Safiya Merchant: Instead of working in hallowed
halls. I want to develop policy on someone's

home doorstep asking how can we work together
to create a better future for us all. Thank

you.

Peter Vasher: All right, let's go.

Peter Vasher: Alright.

Peter Vasher: Once again, thank you for sticking
with us.

Peter Vasher: So just a logistical note. Our
pitches are now complete our judges are going

to step away and to deliberate. They have
a very tough job.

Peter Vasher: And you as the audience also
have a very tough job as you get to determine

the audience Award winner. Right now we're
going to step into that and also going to

step into the question answer period with
our presenters. So I'm going to send it to

Claire

Claire Davidson: Right, thank you. Hunter.
So, as he shared, you'll see a call tricks

survey dropped into the chat momentarily Miriam
just dropped in there. So please take a moment

all audience members to

Claire Davidson: Launch that survey and go
ahead and choose who you felt had the best

pitch this evening, and it's going to be a
tough decision. But we'll just take a moment

briefly for folks to vote and then join us
back here. Before we get started with the

question and answer.

Claire Davidson: If you do have questions,
feel free to go ahead and drop them in the

chat and Casey and I will get started reviewing
them and preparing them to be asked to our

panelists and our presenters.

Claire Davidson: Will just take a moment here.

Vivian Kalumbi: So maybe voting right now.
We're waiting until after a Q AMP a different

out

Claire Davidson: Please vote now.

Claire Davidson: So as folks have questions.
If you just want to go ahead and drop them

in will review them, but go ahead and take
your time voting as well.

Oh,

Claire Davidson: And 
feel free for any of the questions to that

are written into the chat.

Claire Davidson: That we feel free to unmute
yourself and share verbally as well. So I

see, I see Jennifer has a question here about
some lessons student students learned about

working virtually so probably just

Claire Davidson: Pick a few of you. But as
other folks want to chime in, feel free to

do so. So I see Sophia first on my screen.
So, would you mind jumping in and sharing

a few lessons that you learned working remotely.

Safiya Merchant: working remotely.

Safiya Merchant: Mm hmm, I'm sure. I think
it is kind of a lesson that applies to in

person internships, as well. But you might
need to push yourself a little harder virtually

is

Safiya Merchant: You know, especially in an
internship, like I had a supervisor who was

quite busy and threw me on a very intense
project.

Safiya Merchant: But there were in like concrete
assignments. So I often have to step up to

the table and ask for

Safiya Merchant: Work and assignments and,
you know, get my hands dirty and you had to

have virtually, which is like a little more
difficult because you can't read dynamics.

Safiya Merchant: But then it was, it turned
out to be like that kind of initiative is

what city government wanted and what they
admired, and so I feel like that is one of

those lessons that you can apply to both settings,
which is that, especially in environments

where supervision looks different.

Safiya Merchant: Do you have to kind of advocate
for yourself.

Claire Davidson: Great, thanks. Yeah.

Claire Davidson: And if you want to speak
to

Claire Davidson: This

Claire Davidson: Feel free to go ahead

Hannah Rosenfeld: Yeah. Um, so I had a lot
of experience working remotely before in my

previous career. I worked like remotely for
three years, but

Hannah Rosenfeld: Everyone was used to working
remotely. So that was like our modus operandi,

but in this team. They had all just gone remote

Hannah Rosenfeld: The same time everyone else
did. And so one of the biggest challenges

that we had was that they all know each other
really well and I hadn't really met any of

them. So, so one of the big problems I had
up the beginning was up I was having really

regular meetings with my

Hannah Rosenfeld: Mind my direct manager.
So I had a meeting with the head of my department

every single morning. And so I was able to
kind of keep on track, but I didn't develop

relationships.

Hannah Rosenfeld: With the other team members
until a couple of weeks in, and we start to

have some like social things as well. And
then I felt more comfortable like asking them

for questions and I kind of understood a little
bit better how to communicate.

Hannah Rosenfeld: But because this team is
growing while I was there. We actually did

like a series of meetings dedicated to trying
to figure out how to improve our online.

Hannah Rosenfeld: Communications and what
might work for this team, and there were a

couple of things that we decide on that I
think would be

Hannah Rosenfeld: Very helpful in one. Is
that like it really can't wait to have social

events. People need to know each other to
work together, especially if they're going

to be working together for a long time.

Hannah Rosenfeld: So, just out of the gate.
It's really important to put aside some time,

whether that's like a coffee chat or a happy
hour or just like

Hannah Rosenfeld: Everyone having lunch together
to like build a relationship that allows you

to ask like casual questions.

Hannah Rosenfeld: To we have found ourselves
just doing updates and not you know we had

so many more meetings, now that we didn't
have time

Hannah Rosenfeld: Between projects so much
to get like casual questions answered. And

that was causing people to feel really siloed.
So we have to put aside extra time in meetings

and time specifically dedicated to bringing
our challenges forward.

Hannah Rosenfeld: And getting input from other
people on just the challenges, not just

Hannah Rosenfeld: Everyone doesn't necessarily
need to know where you are on your project.

It's like, what do you need from them on your
project. And so we can keep getting some of

that like

Hannah Rosenfeld: Outside perspective and
three understanding how people want to be

communicated with who just wants a call when
when is an email best and being really upfront

about what works best for you so that your
team members can communicate with you.

Hannah Rosenfeld: With you in that that optimal
way and kind of by bringing all those things

together in another organization I we also
probably would have said, have like some kind

of

Hannah Rosenfeld: Team management software,
but in the government, nothing is easy. So

that one was off the plate. But we were able
to to put those things into place and everything

just got a lot better from there.

Claire Davidson: GREAT TIPS. Yeah, thanks
for sharing him and that's super interesting.

Claire Davidson: I see another question from
Paula. What do you think is very interesting

as well. If any panelists or presenters would
like to speak to this, please feel free to

unmute yourself and share

Claire Davidson: What, in what ways did the
first year NPP core curriculum. In what ways

could the core curriculum could have prepared
you better for your internship and impact.

So, what, what would you like to learn first
year to prepare yourself better for your internship

experience.

J'Taime Lyons: I can answer this one thing
I will say that the in the forest, who curriculum

definitely prepared me to do. I took the writing
class with

J'Taime Lyons: Beth in the winter and one
of the one piece of feedback I continuously

got was, how will my writing was of a part
of my internship was like I mentioned a community

engagement plan and

J'Taime Lyons: The University of Michigan
has so many resources at my disposal for me

to tap into. So I would say maybe

J'Taime Lyons: If GCS or the for school have
a resource guide or even some type of informational

session.

J'Taime Lyons: To provide contents on how
the forest school specifically or the University

of Michigan. I'm has resources you can tap
to throughout her internship.

J'Taime Lyons: I fortunately was already working
with Claire and participating in some of the

GCS webinars and now we're presenting problems
for her and she was share those resources,

but I think

J'Taime Lyons: I'm a lot of my classmates
with great we have appreciated by just knowing

what they can tap into when they don't have
all the answers, but the answers do exists

within our master's program.

Claire Davidson: That's great gitane thanks
for raising that.

Claire Davidson: Any other thoughts.

Claire Davidson: About skills that you would
have loved to have refined during classes

that you were needed to know during your internship
experience. Also, I can't see everyone on

muting so feel free to just jump right in.

Clary Baudraz: I can jump in and add something
as well. Um, I think definitely echoing what

Tony was saying about the importance of the
writing skills and the writing.

Clary Baudraz: Really training that we get
in the first year and I think

Clary Baudraz: Personally, want some of the
skills that I use the most really had to do

with memo writing like almost every week I
will be writing memos or writing talking points

and really I mean all the different core classes
in course, I'm in. So we had

Dilara-vPeer: Enough time on Saturday.

Dilara-vPeer: In my goal.

Clary Baudraz: For things that

Clary Baudraz: I ended up winning the work
I do think that depending on which 510 you

had, you might have different focuses but
really that the writing skills and the reading

skills were skills. I use every single day
and I really don't think that I would have

Clary Baudraz: Made it through my fellowship,
the same way. Had I not had those

Clary Baudraz: So I would just a generally
anything that strengthen that part of the

curriculum and ensuring that any student regardless
of which section you take

Clary Baudraz: You get to practice all of
the different memo writing talking point writing

skills. I think I think would be really the
most powerful tool that we can be worked with

Clary Baudraz: And

Safiya Merchant: I were just quickly add a
class and survey methodology or and other

qualitative methods as a core requirement
would be useful.

Safiya Merchant: I've taken sure that those
qualitative methods which is fantastic.

Safiya Merchant: But survey methodology is
a lot is basically the bread and butter. When

it comes to getting like resident be back
specially like a local government and

Safiya Merchant: There was so much expertise
and understanding how to do surveys, well,

and get some trial and error over the summer.
And I think that'd be really useful to learn

as a part of the core curriculum.

Claire Davidson: Great, thank you. Sophia

Claire Davidson: I received another question
that I think would be interesting to also

Claire Davidson: Hear students perspective
about

Claire Davidson: This question asks where
you found unexpected joy within your internship

due to having a very uncertain summer or even
within an uncertain summer. Where did you

find where do you find joy in your work or
with your colleagues be interested to hear

perspectives from students

Mariatu Santiago: I, I can say something about
that. So for my

Mariatu Santiago: Internship, I was doing
it with another Ford student

Mariatu Santiago: And we were all virtual
and we weren't in the Virgin Islands and couldn't

chill by blue water. But what was great was
having a partner who

Mariatu Santiago: We were fully in sync with
our projects and, you know, the things that

we cared about.

Mariatu Santiago: And the one of the most
enjoyable parts about this partnership were

really small things like a call after lunch
to see like hey what's up. What are you up

to, like,

Mariatu Santiago: You know, what are some
things that you have planned for the day.

And we also coordinated these like daily check
ins with each other, just to see what was

on our to do list and

Mariatu Santiago: Even though that was work.
It was really enjoyable to have someone who

was on the same wavelength and pages you

Mariatu Santiago: And on a different note.
Another enjoyable thing was having like a

random YouTube clip that would make you laugh.
Some of that was pretty enjoyable for myself.

Claire Davidson: Thanks for sharing.

Claire Davidson: Me on to any other thoughts
presenters.

Dylan Horwitz: I'll add

To that

Dylan Horwitz: Maria to talk like you know
about relationship with the other interns,

I found a lot of joy, not only with my fellow
interns, but also the attorneys, I was working

for

Dylan Horwitz: I briefly mentioned this in
my speech, but I my division, since it was

like one of the lowest divisions in the office
was just all very young attorneys. They were

like, pretty much millennials so

Dylan Horwitz: Almost the same generation
as me, but there was a lot of camaraderie

with the people I was actually working for

Dylan Horwitz: And so that helped like them
build a relationship of trust with me. And

I could tell over time that like they were
more comfortable delegating more responsibility

to me.

Dylan Horwitz: And that didn't come like entirely
from me like producing like amazing work and

then them seeing that I was like had potential
like I wish I could say that.

Dylan Horwitz: But I attribute. A lot of it
to that, like we just had a lot of like great

calls that like weren't necessarily work related.
We were just like bonding as like Peters and

Dylan Horwitz: You had a lot of like fun moments
in that and that unexpectedly led to more

professional opportunities for me.

Thanks for sharing Dylan.

Claire Davidson: Any other places of unexpected
joy this summer.

Karolina Ana Ramos: Sure, I can share my team
instituted this very informal practice of

Friday like 45 minute lunch and learns where
staff could share about

Karolina Ana Ramos: Anything they wanted did
not have to be related to work. So I learned

about someone's trip to India.

Karolina Ana Ramos: One person did a live
demonstration of Dungeons and Dragons learned

a lot about that did not know about it before.

Karolina Ana Ramos: And it was just nice to
have this sort of their version. And it wasn't

compulsory and if you had other things to
do. That was no problem.

Karolina Ana Ramos: But it was just a space
on Fridays to kind of escape, in particular

when you're working with pretty heavy content
in a very dark time

Karolina Ana Ramos: So I think to Dylan's
point. I actually wound up connecting more

with folks on my team who I didn't work with
in the day to day

Karolina Ana Ramos: Because I just went to
those Friday lunch and learns and then had

conversations that spawned off from that.
So that was a really nice respite from the

world and from work that can be

Karolina Ana Ramos: Demanding and heavy

Claire Davidson: Definitely

Claire Davidson: Thank you. I have another
question that came through here. So again,

feel free to unmute yourself and share what
was your favorite professional development

opportunity outside of your immediate scope
of work, the summer.

Claire Davidson: I can

Hannah Rosenfeld: Maybe answer this

Hannah Rosenfeld: First, so I was, I was a
Pathways Internship intern with FDA which

pathways. If you don't know about it is a

Hannah Rosenfeld: Cross us agencies. It's
just like a way of getting interns into the

door and it's supposed to be a pathway to
getting you into working for the government.

Hannah Rosenfeld: And as such, it was very
it like there was a huge emphasis on my internship

on just getting me to be familiar with.

Hannah Rosenfeld: With the agency and like
getting me to go to any really any training.

I want to go to. So I had a good amount of
work, but I was always had a couple of hours

a day that I could I could use just like going
through all the internal

Hannah Rosenfeld: Databases going to any trainings
that I wanted to from FDA so they made sure

to leave a lot of scheduling time with that.
And I got to have meetings with people who

kind of

Hannah Rosenfeld: Were able to explain to
me how do you actually, what does a career

FDA look like, how do you progress through
these like all these technical things but

Hannah Rosenfeld: Government work is like
very opaque and confusing to me and I've never

really known kind of how that would work.
So I have to learn about all these like really

interesting programs.

Hannah Rosenfeld: Within FDA and what that
could potentially look like for me as a career.

Hannah Rosenfeld: But I also, I'm kind of
a nerd and I'm really into FDA and the regulation

of medical devices and things. So I was able
to go to like all these trainings that they

did internally on especially like digital
health

Hannah Rosenfeld: Which is like software as
as a as a solution.

Hannah Rosenfeld: But in the healthcare space,
which I'm really into so I got to go to these

trainings about

Hannah Rosenfeld: Digital Health and about
how they're thinking about using you know

data from the real world and integrating into
the regulatory process and and also obviously

it was really interesting to be able to attend
talks on

Hannah Rosenfeld: Cobra developments, because
we were my my exact apartment was doing a

lot of the work with Coca diagnostic tests
in particular.

Hannah Rosenfeld: Less so with like vaccines
and drugs, but also with like ventilators

and things like that. So I could sit in on
updates and kind of read through the resources.

Hannah Rosenfeld: On what happened with all
those coven devices. And I got to learn a

lot about

Hannah Rosenfeld: About that process and generally
just kind of I like looked up every like interesting

medical device that I've, I've been thinking
about

Hannah Rosenfeld: And saw, you know, how did
the FDA interact with those people and regulate

them and then I could just ask my teammates.
Can you, I don't understand what this like

response meant. Can you explain why this happened
or why did this take longer.

Hannah Rosenfeld: What pathway. Could this
have taken. So I got to really kind of like

answer all the questions I've been having
pent up about FDA.

Claire Davidson: Thanks for sharing. And it
sounds like the your internship was the perfect

Fit.

Hannah Rosenfeld: And yeah, it was. I wish
I had been there in person. I think it would

have been able to to meet a lot more people,
but it was a very, it was exactly spot on.

Yeah.

Hannah Rosenfeld: Yeah.

That's great.

Claire Davidson: Wonderful. Any other favorite
professional development opportunities that

folks like to share

Claire Davidson: Otherwise, we have an OH
GOOD.

Clary Baudraz: Sorry there.

Clary Baudraz: Just one thing I wanted to
share was one of the things I really benefited

from a lot was being in an organization that
was doing very

Clary Baudraz: Proactive intentional work
in terms of reflecting on diversity, equity,

and inclusion within the organization and
kind of internal

Clary Baudraz: Restructuring and really spending
time thinking, how do we do better of what

we're not doing a great job.

Clary Baudraz: And especially the summer we
had actually really interesting kind of dialogue

sessions, when it comes to racism and racism
in that specific workplace.

Clary Baudraz: Talking about decarbonizing
aid and it was really interesting getting

to be a part of those conversations and seeing
how they happen within an organization and

seeing all the limitations of those kind of
conversations but also seeing new ways that

are

Clary Baudraz: being tried in terms of

Clary Baudraz: Really interbreeding those
conversations within the workplace and within

an organization, both internally and also
through the programming that it does. And

that's really something I learned a lot of
I learned a lot about sorry

Clary Baudraz: That I wasn't necessary expecting
that I would have opportunities to learn a

lot about

Claire Davidson: Thank you. Clary for sharing.
And with that, our question and answer time

has wrapped up. So I'm going to pass it back
over to Peter to share some announcements.

Peter Vasher: Thank you all for sticking with

Peter Vasher: Us and thank you for your questions.

Peter Vasher: Are very fun night so far in
the moment that our presenters have been waiting

for. So yes, we have a drum roll. We're going
to start with our audience Award winner and

I invite Katie to make that announcement.

Katie Hall: Yeah, so thank you for letting
me make the announcement, our audience Award

winner is Miriam

Katie Hall: Nice work. I

Katie Hall: I could have guessed from the
applause after Miriam's presentation that

you might be the audience Award winner so
nicely done.

Katie Hall: Miriam we enjoyed your story very
much. I think one of the things that you did

really well was made it conversational. So
you looked at the camera you made us feel

like you were talking directly to us about
an experience that you had

Katie Hall: In pitches that are a little bit
longer. It's hard to not read but you did

a really nice job of talking to us. And also
we found your impact very tangible

Katie Hall: So the story map and the written
piece that you contributed to that was sort

of a direct line to your kind of being involved
with your organization. So congratulations.

Peter Vasher: You can unmute and give a round
of applause.

Mariam Sayeed: Thank you. Thank you.

Mariam Sayeed: restate it. I don't have a
speech so

Peter Vasher: No, you don't know speech necessary.

Peter Vasher: Alright, so I with our third
studio Prize award.

Peter Vasher: To the stage and welcome Alma
for the announcement.

Alma Wheeler Smith: Thank you Peter I it's
my pleasure to award third place to Dylan.

Alma Wheeler Smith: Dylan. We were very impressed
with your presentation. It was wonderful to

see how well you pivoted from being in one
of the top offices of the US attorney to being

in a lesser spot and actually learning more
and having made a great

Alma Wheeler Smith: An exciting opportunity
out of that change in your internship.

Alma Wheeler Smith: I was impressed with

Alma Wheeler Smith: Your pointing out that
the importance of law enforcement as it impacts

the opportunities for young people and how
critical that is and their futures

Alma Wheeler Smith: So congratulations your
presentation was found you presence was good.

Alma Wheeler Smith: And again, just to echo

Alma Wheeler Smith: The other comments and

Alma Wheeler Smith: You did a lot of looking
at the audience and not focusing so much on

your script. So thank you. Good job, and congratulation

Peter Vasher: Let's unmute and

Dylan Horwitz: Thank you, everyone. And especially
thank you to Peter and everyone for putting

this

Alma Wheeler Smith: On

Dylan Horwitz: And thank you to the judges
for donating your time. It was really helpful

and thank you everyone for coming.

Peter Vasher: No. All right, for our second
student prize presentation, Daniel.

Daniel Rivkin: Hi, it's

Daniel Rivkin: Sorry, it's my pleasure to
announce that the second place has gone to

Polina

Daniel Rivkin: We were very impressed and
as an ex journalist I was impressed with your

headline. So I appreciated that.

Daniel Rivkin: But as well.

Daniel Rivkin: The topic area of the policy
area that you were thinking about, I really

hadn't thought about. And at the end of your
presentation. I knew something about it and

I understood your passion and your interest.
And one of the things that we were discussing

was

Daniel Rivkin: The idea of public service
over dynasties that and i i

Daniel Rivkin: defer to other judges who said
this, but we look at systems that don't work

for the poor, try to figure out how to how
to fix them. And this is looking at the systems

in a completely different way. And we just
thought it was a very good

Daniel Rivkin: Very good presentation and
you had you had deliverables and so congratulation,

and I also want to say that I think it's fabulous
that they're 79 people who are still watching

this right

Peter Vasher: That's right. Let's give a round
of applause for

Peter Vasher: Our rights and

Peter Vasher: We will now have the last presentation
for first prize momentarily. I do want to

make a note that we were

Peter Vasher: Gone for quite some time. So
the judges did have a very tough decision.

Tonight I all presenters did a fantastic job.
So I please let's do one more round of applause

for all of our presenters tonight.

Peter Vasher: All right, and with the announcement
of the first student prize. Brandi.

Brandy Johnson: Thank you. And just to reiterate,
this was a pleasure to participate in, and

thank you on behalf of the judges for

Brandy Johnson: Such great pitches. The winner
of the Pitch Competition is Kara Lena Ramos

from the Aspen Institute.

Brandy Johnson: Thank you so much for sharing
your experience. I'm just comprehensively

an overall the judges agreed that you did
the best job from clearly articulating background

about the organization you're working for.

Brandy Johnson: Really explaining the deliverables
and what you were able to accomplish during

your short internship tying it to actual case
studies that are happening right here in Michigan.

Brandy Johnson: And we thought you did the
best job of really reflecting on how this

internship will change the future trajectory
of both

Brandy Johnson: Your policy agenda and your
goals. Moving forward your delivery was great.

Brandy Johnson: And we were also impressed
and on a selfish note, I do believe she applied

for an internship with the governor's office,
and now I'm kicking myself for not following

through with that. So congratulations, you
did great. And thanks again for sharing your

time with us.

Peter Vasher: And round of applause for Carolyn.

Karolina Ana Ramos: And thanks to the

Karolina Ana Ramos: 75 people who are here.

Peter Vasher: Thank you. Carolina and thank
you to the 75 people who stuck around. And

that concludes the third annual policy Pitch
Competition.

Peter Vasher: Thank you for joining us drive
safe, even though you might not be driving

so walk safe to another room and your current
location and sleep well the night. Thank you

everyone for joining us. Have a good evening.