GLD in Professional & Civic Engagement
I remain hopeful that our government can serve the people as it was intended to do so |
After completing my first semester majoring in Geography, I still had the desire to hound in more on political competency and added political science as a second major. My reasoning is that geography would help me design and plan for a modern city and a modern country, but political science would give me the skills to take those concepts and get them into action at a higher policy level. Dabbling with political organizations during freshman year such as the South Carolina Democratic Party as well as Design Understand Act – a grassroots campaigning workshop – allowed me the opportunity to refine this political interest and gave me the momentum to complete courses in political science.
POLI 374 (Public Policy – Spring 2022) gave me an explanation behind many of the events and political techniques that had been occurring in recent history, techniques that I did not know had a name. The process of problems being added to the political agenda, policy created, analyzed, and implemented, is a complicated and of course highly political one. This course gave me insight into political concepts such as focusing events, agenda setting, and representation alongside with concrete deliverables such as stakeholder analysis, policy creation, and policy impact hypotheses. This course culminated in a national-level policy creation in which I created a mock policy Investing in America's Critical Infrastructure Components. This final deliverable was similar in scope to the deliverable I produced for POLI 342 (National Security Policies of the United States – Fall 2021) where I created a mock white paper to be sent to the U.S. Defense Secretary. This course examined the history of domestic national defense with key concepts and terms used by military officials. The white paper published was National Security Policy Proposal: Investing in America’s Critical Infrastructure to Safeguard Against Foreign Attacks Policy courses at USC have allowed me to create my own policy proposals, some of which have been delivered to key stakeholders. My first policy creation was in my freshman year with a proposal for the city of Columbia Streamlining the Business Permitting Process Timeline in which I created a plan of action to make doing business with the city easier to perform. While this policy was never launched, it did give me the backing for my second policy creation which did get delivered to the city and university. MetroLab Network was a proposal between Amanda Harvey in the City Advocacy Commission (CAC) within Student Government and myself. We jointly authored policy recommendations for the university and city to enter a talent incubator partnership which would address city-wide issues with university resources thus allowing students to benefit by having a real-world playground to test their engineering and the city to benefit by helping to retain talent within the city as well as receiving top quality solutions without the use of consultants. My interest and passion for the planning, policy, and governance of a great city in addition to key policy publications and in-classroom knowledge gained culminated in being awarded the Public Policy and International Affairs (PPIA) Fellowship (Summer 2022). As one of twenty-four students selected nationwide for the PPIA fellowship, I was able to gain skills and connections for transportation and urban development policy at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, MI. The seven-week-long program provided courses in policy writing, statistics, and microeconomics with two specialty courses in International Diplomacy in Africa and Healthcare Policy in America. The fellowship also provided networking, guest speakers, and mock policy creation. Using skills gained from all courses and workshops, cohort members David Caddle, Sebastien Byron, and myself, created an analysis of Amtrak service in the U.S. with microeconomic effects, party analysis of funding, and policy recommendations. While the United States is entering an era of pollical uncertainty and distrust among government is high, I remain hopeful that our government can serve the people as it was intended to do so. Entering public service in the transportation sector after graduation, it is my goal to maximize constituent input, create effective procedural improvements, and ultimately change policy at a national level creating more investment into disenfranchised communities. |
Artifacts
Artifact 3: National Security Policy Proposal: Investing in America’s Critical Infrastructure to Safeguard Against Foreign Attacks (WTC) | |
File Size: | 176 kb |
File Type: |
Artifact 4: MetroLab Network Proposal (BTC) | |
File Size: | 749 kb |
File Type: |
Supporting Documentation
DUA - Streamlining the Business Permitting Process Timeline | |
File Size: | 66 kb |
File Type: |
Investing In America’s Critical Infrastructure Components (WTC) | |
File Size: | 482 kb |
File Type: |
PPIA Final Project: Amtrak Revitalization | |
File Size: | 6179 kb |
File Type: |
Let's Get In Touch
Have any questions or comments about this portfolio or want to chat about my vision for urban life in the United States? Click below to get in touch with me
|