Doctoral Students Yao & Spindle-Jackson Selected for 2021 Rappaport Public Policy Fellowship
BUSSW doctoral student Adrianna Spindle-Jackson and doctoral candidate Amy Yao were selected for the Rappaport Institute’s 2021 Public Policy Summer Fellowship, a prestigious program housed at Harvard Kennedy School. The fellowship, which was founded as a means of engaging graduate-level students in public service, places fellows in paid 10-week internships at key local and state agencies. This year, twenty public policy fellows were selected.
Adrianna Spindle-Jackson, a doctoral student whose focus is on homelessness, housing insecurity and displacement, will work in Representative Natalie Higgins’ office at the Massachusetts State House on housing-related legislative efforts. She will support ongoing collaboration with local agencies regarding the transition from congregate to non-congregate shelter, and develop materials to support the creation of a Housing Caucus for Massachusetts. She says that she hopes the fellowship will familiarize her with the day-to-day legislative process in order to better situate future housing policy research that she plans to undertake. Her other goal: “Make as many connections as possible to understand the varying perspectives on housing issues and opportunities in Massachusetts.”
Spindle-Jackson’s primary responsibilities will include identifying specific, pressing housing needs in Massachusetts and creating reports to disseminate them; helping to establish a Massachusetts Housing Caucus; and meeting with individual stakeholders to garner support for housing-related issues.
Amy Yao, a doctoral candidate entering her fourth year, will work with the Mayor’s Office of Food Access to promote food security in the Boston area and beyond. Her goal is to address the pressing issue of underutilization of food-assistance programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
In her work with the Office of Food Access, Yao will conduct stakeholder interviews to understand the extent and barriers to program underutilization, and assess strategies to improve program implementation at a state and local level. Yao will also analyze recent policy changes to SNAP and COVID-relief policies to understand how they may affect residents’ program participation and health outcomes. Additionally, Yao will co-lead an outreach project to help de-stigmatize nutritional assistance programs and simplify the application process for residents.
For more information about the Rappaport Public Policy Summer Fellowship and its fellows, visit the Rappaport Institute’s website.