NYU Wagner News

Sherry Glied, Economist and Health Care Policy Expert, Named Dean of NYU Wagner

Wed, 29 May 2013 12:00:00 EDT

Sherry A. Glied, a Harvard-trained economist from Columbia’s Mailman School of Public Health whose expertise in health care reform has led to important governmental posts, was today named by NYU President John Sexton and Provost David McLaughlin to be the dean of NYU’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. She will take up the new post on August 1, 2013.

John Sexton, NYU’s President said, “In the last 10 years, Wagner has been on a remarkable upward trajectory: it has soared from 19 to 6 in the US News and World Report Rankings for schools of public affairs – a great feat. So, in selecting a new dean, we were keenly aware of the need to find someone outstanding who could sustain that trajectory – a highly regarded scholar, a talented administrator, and a person of vision and drive.

“In Sherry we have found such a person. The quality of her scholarship has led not only to success within the academy, but to important policy-making and advisory positions as well. At heart, universities are judged by the quality of the people they attract, and it says a great deal about NYU and about Wagner, its successes, and its momentum that we are able to attract someone as talented as Sherry Glied as dean.”

An extensively published scholar in the area of health care policy reform and mental health policy, Sherry Glied was first appointed to Columbia’s Mailman School of Public Health in 1989. From 1998 to 2010, she was chair of the Department of Health Policy and Management.

Professor Glied has also served in important policy-making and advisory positions in government, most recently as the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation in the US Department of Health & Human Services. She had previously served as a senior economist for health care and labor market policy on the President’s Council of Economic Advisors, had participated in the Clinton Health Care Task Force, and had been a member of the Congressional Budget Office’s Panel of Health Advisers.

Ingrid Ellen, professor of public policy and urban planning and chair of the Search Committee, said, “The Search Committee has utmost confidence that Sherry is up to the task of sustaining the momentum of the past few years. She is a leading health economist with high-level government experience and boundless energy and enthusiasm for the mission of NYU Wagner –from research to teaching to public service.”

She received her B.A. from Yale, her M.A. from the University of Toronto, and her Ph.D. from Harvard in economics. She was elected to the National Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Medicine, is a member of the National Academy of Social Insurance, was a member of the Board of Directors of AcademyHealth, and was the recipient of the Research!America Eugene Garfield Economic Impact of Medical and Health Research Award. She is a fellow at the New York Academy of Medicine, and a faculty research fellow in health economics at the National Bureau of Economic Research.

“Provost David McLaughlin and I would like to thank the Dean Search Committee, led by Professor Ingrid Gould Ellen, for their hard work and their judgment, for their hard work and discernment,” said John Sexton. We would also like to thank Ellen Schall, Sherry Glied’s predecessor, for her superb leadership over the past 10 years and for doing so much to improve the school. And we’d like to thank Tyra Liebmann and Scott Fritzen for so capably taking on the role of Interim Co-Deans these past few months.

“First and foremost, however, we would like to congratulate Sherry Glied on her appointment as Dean of NYU’s Wagner School, and welcome her to the University.”

IGNITE Fellowship for Women of Color in the Social Sector - Apply by Noon May 24

Wed, 15 May 2013 12:00:00 EDT

NYU Wagner's Research Center for Leadership in Action is now accepting applications for the IGNITE Fellowship for Women of Color in the Social Sector.

IGNITE is a nine-month program that celebrates and builds the leadership skills of mid-career women of color in nonprofits across the US.

The fellowship offers exposure to best practices, processes for building personal and organizational leadership, opportunities to build and strengthen core management capacities, and a national network of women of color in the sector.

It begins with a five-day Institute from August 1-6, 2013 that draws on the best of New York City as a hub for nonprofit innovation and offers Fellows a space to engage in reflection and rejuvenation. Over the following nine months, fellows participate in ongoing peer mentoring, coaching and webinars to work toward their leadership goals.

IGNITE is a program of RCLA’s People of Color Leadership Network, which aims to strengthen communities of color by supporting leadership by and for people of color.

The application deadline is noon EST on Friday, May 24, 2013.

Learn more and apply now.

Leadership Program for Ghanaian Women Leaders in Civil Society

Tue, 7 May 2013 12:00:00 EDT

NYU Wagner's Research Center for Leadership in Action and Fundación Mujeres por África are now accepting applications for the Ghanaian Women’s Social Leadership Program.

The one-year leadership development program is for women working in mid-level positions in civil society organizations or on public and social issues in Ghana. The women selected this year will be part of the program’s inaugural cohort, which kicks off in October 2013.

The program offers participants:

Two week-long intensive leadership institutes in Ghana and New York City;
Presentations by international and Ghanaian experts in leadership and management;
Hands-on, interactive workshops that offer opportunities for reflection, peer learning, team building and planning;
Expert coaching and support during the design and execution of an action-learning project in a home organization or community;
Program training, lodging and travel expenses covered by the program;
A network of dynamic women leaders in Ghanaian civil society; and
Robust knowledge and skills for advancing community change.

The deadline to apply has been extended to noon EST on Friday, June 14, 2013.

Learn more about the program and apply now.

Related Links:
Learn more about the Ghanaian Women

MUP Student at Wagner Wins Soros Fellowship for New Americans

Thu, 16 May 2013 12:00:00 EDT

Leda DeRosa, who is pursuing a master’s degree in urban planning (MUP) at NYU Wagner, has been selected as a recipient of a Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans. She is one of 30 winners of the 2013 national competition, chosen from more than 1,050 applicants.

New Americans Fellows are selected on the basis of individual merit and promise - individuals who seem best-positioned to make a distinctive contribution to some aspect of American life. Clearly, Leda fits the bill.

Born in Korea, raised in Connecticut, Leda has a keen desire to work in underserved communities. This, she notes, arises from her complex immigrant and minority identities.

Leda graduated magna cum laude from Barnard College, and was supported with scholarships and part-time jobs. She subsequently worked as a corporate legal assistant for a major New York-based international law firm and as Associate Director of an African-American think tank affiliated with Columbia Law School.

Each Fellow receives tuition and stipend assistance of up to $90,000 in support of graduate education in this country. The full slate of immigrant and academic stories can be found in all of its remarkable diversity here: 2013 Fellows' Bios.

Wagner Students Capture $50,000 Prize in Entrepreneurs Challenge

Wed, 15 May 2013 12:00:00 EDT

Three NYU Wagner students won the $50,000 Social Venture Prize in the 2012-13 Entrepreneurs Challenge held at NYU Stern. Their winning idea, called Kinvolved, is a digital app that aims to reduce truancy by providing real-time data on classroom attendance to teachers, families, and students.

Kinvolved is the brainchild of Miriam Altman (MPA ’13), Alexandra Meis (MPA ’13), and Barrie Charney Golden (MBA/MPA ’14). Since December 2012, the Kinvolved program has been piloted in a public elementary school in Harlem. The Kinvolved team is now working on sales and distribution for the 2013-14 school year.

The Entrepreneurs Challenge, a university-wide competition held by Stern’s Berkley Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation, selected four winning teams in all, composed of students, alumni, and faculty from seven different NYU schools. These most promising innovators were chosen after pitching their ideas and enduring a rigorous Q&A by judges from the venture capital, technology, design, and social enterprise sectors.

Related Links:
2012-13 Entrepreneurs Challenge
Video

NYU Wagner Named To White House Strong Cities, Strong Communities Team

Mon, 6 May 2013 12:00:00 EDT

The U.S. Department of Housing Preservation and Development has announced that a consortium including NYU Wagner will serve as the first National Resource Network Administrator under the White House Strong Cities, Strong Communities (SC2) initiative. The SC2 Network, funded with HUD technical assistance resources, will provide cities with targeted technical assistance to help support locally identified priorities for economic growth and job creation.

In addition to Wagner, the consortium includes Public Financial Management, Enterprise Community Partners, HR & A Advisors, and the International City/County Management Association. Wagner’s lead professional for this endeavor is Neil Kleiman, who heads the NYU Wagner Innovation Labs.

Click here to read the HUD announcement.

Reimagining Banking for Half the World: Q&A with Jonathan Morduch

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 12:00:00 EDT

Half of the adults in the world (about 2.5 billion people) are “unbanked”—meaning their money is not housed in a secure institution. That’s the central concern of a new book, Banking the World: Empirical Foundations of Financial Inclusion, co-edited by Jonathan Morduch, a professor in the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service.

To reach those billions of people, Morduch argues that we need to think about banking in radically different ways. Promising solutions involve using new technologies like mobile phones, as well as re-imagining ideas such as self-governing, village-based saving groups. Understanding those possibilities is a focus of the Financial Access Initiative (FAI), the NYU center that Morduch, an expert in public policy and economics, founded with colleagues at Yale and Harvard.

NYU Research Digest recently sat down with him to discuss old perspectives and new ideas.

How does your research connect two typically incongruent issues like banking and poverty'

Let’s start with poverty, rather than banking. If you’re reading this, you’re probably not poor, but you may have ideas about what it’s like to be poor. Over the past decade, I’ve come to see that my own ideas about poverty were wrong. Elements that I had thought were very important, I now believe are much less important. I had been locked into a logic that was shaped by the available data—large surveys designed to test formal hypotheses, but that turn out to give a very blurry sense of how people actually live their lives.

What changed'

Rather than surveying thousands of households, a group of researchers started with just a few dozen. Rather than collecting data only once, the researchers visited and revisited the same households many times over a year. Everything bought and sold was noted—all financial transactions, whether at a bank or with family and friends. The intensity of the engagement allowed us to see and understand activities that had been out of view.

This is the data from India, Bangladesh, and South Africa described in your previous book, Portfolios of the Poor: How the World’s Poor Live on $2 a Day. What did it tell you'

The evidence showed that a vast problem for many poor families is not low incomes per se, but the fact that incomes are unreliable and often unpredictable. We often talk about the 40 percent of the world living on under $2 a day per person, but we lose sight of the fact that people don’t literally earn $2 a day. They earn $10 one day, for example, and then very little for a few weeks. Those ups and downs mean that families spend a lot of time figuring out how to borrow and save and deal with risk. We also see people often borrowing to pay for health emergencies, school fees, and simply getting food on the table. But their financial tools are often expensive and unreliable—if they even exist.

You’ve written a lot about microfinance over the years. Is that the solution to “banking the world”'

Microfinance centers on small loans for small-scale entrepreneurs, mostly poor women, who seek capital to grow their businesses. The idea is associated with Grameen Bank of Bangladesh, but the sector has grown quickly, now serving 200 million customers globally, including some here in New York.

Microfinance is an inspiration, but it can also box us in. The starting point of Banking the World is that we need to go beyond the kind of entrepreneurial finance celebrated by microfinance. More fundamental is access to basic money management tools. A huge group of the 2.5 billion unbanked adults are not entrepreneurs. They have jobs, but they still need financial tools—a safe place to save, a convenient way to make payments, short-term loans for general purposes. Entrepreneurs too have needs beyond business. In these ways, the poor are not so different from the rich. It’s been a hard message for some people to hear, but conversations are shifting.

Banking the World collects empirical studies that point to viable solutions, and push us to take a critical look at popular ideas like financial literacy. The chapters also draw new links, like those between finance and under-nutrition. All that, I hope, takes us another step toward solving a problem that is huge—but solvable.

NYU Wagner's Beth Noveck Aims to 'Liberate' Nonprofit Sector Data

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 12:00:00 EDT

In 2010, nonprofits in the U.S. numbered 1.5 million, with $1.51 trillion in revenues, and to find particulars or overall trends about this vast and growing sector of the economy, many people use the Form 990. This is the financial and organizational report that every tax-exempt organization submits annually to the Internal Revenue Service.

Yet, like many public documents, the forms are not so easy for researchers, practitioners, and others to access and analyze.

Writing in a recent paper, Beth Noveck, a visiting professor at the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, along with co-author Daniel L. Goroff, a program director at the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, asked whether government transparency could be enhanced with technology to better support innovation, engagement, and outcomes in the nonprofit sector.

Noveck, who formerly led President Barack Obama’s Open Government Initiative, is immersed in studying the broad, important issue of how governments can better use tech-enabled platforms to engage the citizenry. In her Aspen Institute paper with Goroff, entitled “Information for Impact: Liberating Nonprofit Sector Data,” she finds that, like other data collected by the U.S. government, the information in the Form 990s could be far more beneficial “if it were not only ‘public’ but ‘open’ data.” That is: “Available to all, free of charge, in a standard format, published without proprietary conditions, and available online as a bulk download rather than through single-entry lookup.

“Making the 990 data truly open… would not only make it easier to use for the organizations that already process it,” the authors write, “but would also make it useful to researchers, advocates, entrepreneurs, technologists, and nonprofits that do not have the resources to use the data in its current form.”

The move would also encourage greater transparency by nonprofits, spur innovation in the sector, and “above all, help us to understand the potential value of the 990 data,” note the authors.

At present, the IRS creates Form 990 image files and sells DVD compilations to subscribers.

“Just as most people have gotten accustomed to sharing large files via a service like Dropbox, it would be simple for the IRS to publish the returns online for anyone to download in bulk for free,” Noveck wrote in a recent blog post about the paper.

But if converting the Form 990 into an open-data government document sounds straightforward, the co-authors find that it isn’t a simple delivery. Liberating government data of all kinds, they write, typically requires overcoming technological, political, and cultural barriers to change.

[Originally appeared in NYU Research Digest, Spring 2013].

Five NYU Wagner Groups and Individuals Win President's Service Awards

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 12:00:00 EDT

A host of outstanding Wagner individuals and groups have been recognized by New York University as recipients of the 2013 President's Service Awards.

The recipients, who were honored at a ceremony on April 17, include:

Wagner Environmental Policy and Action (WEPA) for their efforts in working tirelessly alongside Wagner staff, NYU's Sustainability Office and NYU Facilities to create a workable composting system at Wagner's offices in the Puck Building.

Wagner Health Network (WHN) for their innovative approach to student professional development, quality programming and unparalleled partnerships with the school and the university.

The Wagner Review for its commitment to and success in promoting rich dialogue on issues of public service among members of the NYU community.

Claudia Espinosa for exceptional leadership in founding the L.O.V.E. Mentoring Program and her commitment to serving the Latina community.

Matthew Guidarelli for his admirable efforts in coordinating the 2012 Social Enterprise Boot Camp.

All the winners have done themselves, and Wagner, proud!

Click here to view photos of the event.

Related Links:
2013 President's Service Awards

Clinton Global Initiative University Features Students' "UPleaft" Project

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 12:00:00 EDT

NYU Wagner’s Maria Claudia Sarta Herrera, Jessica Troiano and Elizabeth Kelly made a commitment under the Clinton Global Initiative University (CGI U) to create an all-natural beverage company. Their project - UPleaft - will generate income for farmers in Colombia and give consumers a healthier alternative to traditional high-sugar soft drinks. The project will establish partnerships with urban and rural small-holder farmers to create a sustainable income source. The students also hope to mobilize members of the community to train farmers in eco-friendly farming, harvesting and processing techniques, as well as provide them with access to financial services.

Upleaft was one of 16 commitments featured at the Clinton Global Initiative University held at Washington University in St. Louis on April 6. Upwards of 1,000 students representing more than 300 universities and 75 countries were in attendance.

The meeting examined critical topics, such as combating prescription drug abuse among young people, what it takes to launch a business as a young entrepreneur, and how to empower the next generation of girls and women around the world. Students gained further insight into today's pressing global challenges and acquired the skills needed to make progress on their own Commitments to Action.

Before the event was concluded, TV comedian Stephen Colbert “interviewed” former President Bill Clinton, Chelsea Clinton, and some of the student presenters, including Wagner's own UPleaft creators.

NYU Wagner Fellow Explores Innovative Methods to Fund Social Programs

Fri, 5 Apr 2013 12:00:00 EDT

NYU Wagner Fellow Megan Golden’s recent report for the Children's Aid Society, "Developing a Social Impact Bond: Lessons from a Provider," explores how social impact bonds can tackle social problems while also saving the government money. Social impact bonds allow the government to contract for positive, cost-saving outcomes; deliver a modest return for investors; and can lead to positive social outcomes. With a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation, Children's Aid Society began exploring how this innovative financing mechanism could be used to scale up some of its interventions for low-income children in New York City. Megan Golden’s report outlines the steps Children's Aid Society took and the lessons the nonprofit learned in developing several concepts for social impact bonds.

Though social impact bonds are a new innovation and require further research, they offer great promise. Frist, they enable government and service providers to track program outcomes in real time. They also provide the opportunity to envision, and plan for, a world where preventive programs are implemented at scale and expensive remedial programs play a smaller role.

Continuing her work, Megan is now working with the Institute for Child Success in South Carolina to study the feasibility of using social impact bond financing to expand early childhood interventions in that state.

Through Advocacy Lab, Students Work to Change Reentry Policy

Mon, 1 Apr 2013 12:00:00 EDT

A unique NYU Wagner course is offering students the opportunity to learn about and work directly to change housing policies for people reentering communities after being incarcerated. Their aim is to get the federal definition of homelessness updated to include those recently released from prison, giving them access to shelter and social services.

Through Advocacy Lab, which has been taught by NYU Wagner Professor David Elcott with other faculty members since 2011, students gain an overview of and training in how to affect US public policy through advocacy campaigns, legislative lobbying, issue branding, coalition building and community organizing. This includes exploring different forms of issue advocacy and identifying a value base; managing the strategies, tactics and activities of organizing and running a social justice advocacy campaign; and conducting research, marketing and evaluation.

This semester Advocacy Lab has partnered with The Fortune Society, which provides services including housing, employment, education, substance abuse treatment and family reunification to individuals recently released from jail or prison. Through its reentry programming, The Fortune Society works to promote alternatives to incarceration and strengthen the fabric of communities.

The students are helping to build Fortune’s housing policy agenda, with the aim of getting the federal definition of homelessness updated to include those recently released from prison. This change would give recently released individuals access to services guaranteed to individuals defined as "street homeless," such as access to shelter and social services, providing them with the necessary safety and support to reform their lives.

"Through Advocacy Lab, students are on the front lines of shaping the conversations on issues of homelessness, housing, and incarceration with The Fortune Society, a nationally recognized partner,” said Caroline Ross, an NYU Wagner student and Advocacy Lab organizer. “Students have the opportunity to directly apply the theory and policy frameworks we are learning in the classroom to on-the-ground experience."

To that end, students are spearheading the following projects:

Bringing "The Castle II," the play by David Rothenberg that tells stories of individuals recently released from prison (and that led to his founding The Fortune Society), to NYU Wagner for the greater NYU community on April 29, 2013.
Developing key policy positions for Fortune on federal and state legislation related to homelessness
Expanding research on the correlation between housing, an improved criminal justice system and societal outcomes
Enhancing the implementation and analysis of the organization's national reentry housing survey
Working with Fortune's communication and media strategy teams to tailor messaging to different key stakeholders
Visiting community members living at The Fortune Society's Castle Gardens to better understand the experience of reentry into the community and to see a proven model of whole-community integration with formerly incarcerated people that is viable and thriving
Identifying and reaching out to key contacts in the housing reform community

Professor David Elcott, who is an RCLA-affiliated faculty member, explained, “Our relationship with The Fortune Society gives students the opportunity to directly interact with experts in the field of housing and criminal justice policy, while they apply the focused, high-quality, research and advocacy skills characteristic of a Wagner education. We see the Advocacy Lab model as the future of public service education and an essential way to develop the next generation of social justice leaders.”

Related Links:
Learn more about The Fortune Society

RCLA Launches Initiative on Religion, Civic Leadership & Democracy

Tue, 2 Apr 2013 12:00:00 EDT

NYU Wagner’s Research Center for Leadership in Action is thrilled to announce the launch of the initiative Religion, Civic Leadership and Democracy in the Public Square: Exploring and Advancing the Role of Faith in Civility 11 Years Post-9/11.

Religious leaders have become significant teachers of civics and civic engagement in the United States, a role for which few have been trained. Given the polarization and violent rhetoric in America today over many divisive issues, this project seeks to work with religious communities to promote constructive dialogue and civil discourse.

The two-year initiative, directed by NYU Wagner Professor David Elcott and made possible through support from the Ford Foundation, will examine how civic and public issues are addressed within religious communities and the implications for broader civic discourse and democracy in the US. The initiative is designed to highlight the roles religious communities and their leaders play in American political life and to equip a new generation of religious leaders to constructively promote greater civil discourse and pluralist democratic values.

The Religion, Civic Leadership, and Democracy in the Public Square initiative will leverage civic and democratic values from within religious communities while simultaneously advancing inter-faith bridge building and conversation.

The project has three main aims:

Engagement through Active Inquiry: The initiative will explore how religious communities and their leaders address public civil discourse and democracy to determine the connection between religious rhetoric and teaching and the roles one plays as a citizen.
Analysis: Through collaboration with key religious leaders, the initiative will search for religious language particular to each religious community to enhance democratic discourse and focus Americans on common ground and on the common good.
Tools and Training: A main focus of the initiative will be to share actionable knowledge with political and religious leaders and activists, youth leaders and teachers who are concerned with enhancing civic dialogue.

David Elcott, who is leading the initiative, has 25 years of experience in interfaith and interethnic mediation and coalition building. Trained in political psychology and Middle East affairs at ColumbiaUniversity and Judaic studies at the American Jewish University, Dr. Elcott is the Taub Professor of Practice in Public Service and Leadership at NYU Wagner and an affiliated faculty member at RCLA. The initiative builds on RCLA’s participatory and democratic approaches to building knowledge and leadership with practitioners in the public service and social change arenas over the last decade.

Dr. Elcott noted, "For two over two decades I have worked to build interfaith coalitions committed to social justice while mediating conflicts within and among religious communities. This is an extraordinary opportunity to highlight the extensive involvement of religious leaders in the political life of America as teachers of civic values – and to locate more effective ways for these leaders to promote a healthier and more civil United States.”

Global Social Change Leadership Institute Application Deadline March 29

Sat, 16 Mar 2013 12:00:00 EDT

The Research Center for Leadership in Action has extended the application deadline for the Global Social Change Leadership Institute to noon EST on March 29, 2013.

The summer program brings together university and graduate students and recent college graduates from across the United States and around the world to New York City from July 7-19, 2013. They build the practical knowledge and skills to advance social justice in their communities, a strategic action plan and an international network of advocates for change.

The two-week Institute offers participants:

Presentations by institute faculty who are established experts in areas including nonprofit management, framing and communications, community organizing, leadership, and policy;
Hands-on, interactive workshops that offer opportunities for reflection, peer learning, team building and planning based on personal objectives and projects for change;
A robust understanding of the nature and tasks of social change leadership and an action plan for addressing a pressing issue in their community;
Site visits to nonprofit organizations, cultural sites and historic landmarks across New York City;
A network of advocates committed to social justice; and
A certificate of completion from the ResearchCenter for Leadership in Action at NYU Wagner.

Get more information about the program curriculum, tuition and scholarships.

RCLA Announces People of Color Leadership Network and IGNITE Fellowship

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 12:00:00 EDT

NYU Wagner’s Research Center for Leadership in Action is thrilled to announce new programming through the People of Color Leadership Network. The Network aims to strengthen communities of color by supporting leadership by and for people of color.

The People of Color Leadership Network will play an important role in connecting people of color to exchange best practices and support each other, in strengthening their development as leaders and managers at all levels within organizations, in promoting their engagement in relevant diverse networks where they can collaborate around common visions, and in expanding the impact they have individually and collectively within organizations, systems and on a global scale on issues of public importance.

The Network begins with the launch of the IGNITE Fellowship for Women of Color Leaders in the Social Sector. The fellowship celebrates and nurtures the leadership of mid-career women of color in nonprofits across the US. Applications are being accepted for the program through noon EST on May 24, 2013.

The People of Color Leadership Network represents the next chapter in the work started by the Women of Color Policy Network founded by the late NYU Wagner Professor Walter Stafford in 2000. The Network conducted original research to influence and shape local, state and national policies that affect women of color, their families and communities and offered leadership development for women of color. In 2008, the Network became an affiliate of RCLA. In 2012, we evaluated how we could have the greatest impact in supporting the vitally important public service work being spearheaded by people of color and impacting communities of color in the US. We saw a critical need to support leaders of color conducting research, advocating for more just and equitable policies, and providing services to communities that might otherwise be underserved.

The need to both lift up and support leadership by people of color is made more urgent by the dearth of positions of authority held by people of color despite demographic and workforce shifts. People of color make up one in three people in the US – a figure projected to increase to 54 percent by 2042. Yet 2011-2012 data from BoardSource and the D5 Coalition show that the number of people of color holding nonprofit and foundation CEO positions hovers around 10 percent.

As part of celebrating, enhancing and accelerating the leadership of women and men of color, the Network will serve as a resource to students and alumni. It will also maintain a commitment to understanding public policy and leadership issues with attention to the intersections of gender, race and other markers of difference, and will preserve a social equity lens in all of its work.

The Network’s programming is part of RCLA’s broader mission to build knowledge and capacity for leadership to transform society and commitment to developing more diverse and inclusive public service leadership.

Wagner Students' Policy Proposal Wins $5,000 in National Fels Public Policy Challenge

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 12:00:00 EDT

A new website that will offer comprehensive information about after-school programs to New York City families has garnered national recognition, as have its inventors -- NYU Wagner students Christine Han, Anna Swanby, and Rachel Szala.

The team rose to become one of the top four finalists at the National Invitational Fels Public Policy Challenge, held at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia on March 17, and received $5,000 for the development of its innovative tech platform, “CluedIn.” Nine teams in all competed for the finalist spots and the grand prize.

This was the second year the Fels Institute of Government at the University of Pennsylvania invited graduate schools across the country to participate in its public policy challenge. In the inaugural opportunity last year, a Wagner student team, Kinvolved, took first prize with an app that enables teachers to communicate readily with parents when a student is absent or late, and tracks causes and trends. Kinvolved has emerged as a for-profit corporation dedicated to improving attendance, particularly among disadvantaged youth. It piloted its app at two city high schools last summer.

In this year’s challenge, CluedIn turned judges' heads with a proposal that responds to the positive correlation between after-school programming and academic improvement —and to the difficulty many parents experience when trying to access New York City’s substantial after-school educational resources. The CluedIn website will provide basic information to parents about the available services, a message board allowing users to pose questions to providers, and snapshots of the market for after-school programming, potentially useful to policy makers, funders, and program developers.

In addition to the Wagner student team, the other finalists heralded by the judges hailed from the School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Georgia, the Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago, and the Fels Institute of Government at UPenn, whose "re:Mind” team won the top prize of $10,000 for its plan for an appointment reminder system for mental health patients to decrease preventable re-hospitalizations.

Wagner’s CluedIn team received support from Professors Shankar Prasad, John Gershman, Will Carlin, and David Schachter, the assistant dean for student affairs. Judges who heard the policy proposals in the Constitution Center – where President Obama delivered his famous speech on race in 2008 – commented positively about the Wagner students’ presentation, with several of them saying that they could hardly believe that so useful and promising an idea had not, until now, been rolled out. One judge even offered to give Han, Swanby, and Szala a personal introduction to leaders at the New York City Department of Education.

Without question, the Wagner team has done us all proud. Congratulations!

Related Links:
CluedIn Presentation [Video]

Newark Mayoral Candidate Talks Candidly with Emerging Leaders about His Career

Thu, 7 Mar 2013 12:00:00 EST

Newark Council Member Ras J. Baraka, who announced on February 27 that he is running for Mayor of Newark, spoke at an intimate, off-the-record event with RCLA's Fellowship for Emerging Leaders in Public Service on March 6.

Mr. Baraka has long held dual roles as a political figure and the principal of Central High School, and talked with the fellows about his family, history of activism, hopes for the future, and public service career.

RCLA Welcomes Visiting Fellow Laura Callanan

Fri, 1 Mar 2013 12:00:00 EST

RCLA is thrilled to announce that Laura Callanan is joining the Center as a visiting fellow.

She brings a wealth of cross-sector experience and expertise in social innovation, including working most recently for McKinsey & Company’s Social Sector Office, where she was the lead author of From Potential to Action: Bringing Social Impact Bonds to the US, the most comprehensive report on this new public-private approach to scaling social services.

Previously, Laura has held roles as a consultant with The Synergos Institute and E-Line Ventures, an investment fund focused on video games with social impact; a senior adviser at the United Nations Development Program; executive director of The Prospect Hill Foundation, and associate director at The Rockefeller Foundation.

Related Links:
Learn more about Laura Callanan's work

Using Social Media to Build Stakeholder Support: Webinar

Thu, 14 Mar 2013 12:00:00 EDT

A new webinar delivered in February as part of the Communities in Schools Executive Leadership Development Program co-designed and managed by RCLA offers an overview of key social media platforms and how nonprofits are using them to influence stakeholders and build support for their work.

The webinar features presentations from Michael Keithly, chief information officer for Creative Artists Agency, and Mike Bento, executive vice president of Marketing and Communications for Communities in Schools' national office.

Related Links:
Learn more and access the webinar

Student Team Selected for National Public Policy Challenge Competition

Tue, 5 Mar 2013 12:00:00 EST

After a competitive process full of talent and creativity, NYU Wagner has selected a student team to compete in the annual Public Policy Challenge, hosted by the Fels Institute of Government at the University of Pennsylvania. NYU Wagner’s finalists, Christine Han, Anna Swanby, and Rachel Szala, will compete in Philadelphia from March 15-17 against other student teams from universities around the country.

The Fels Public Policy Challenge invites students to develop a policy proposal to address an issue of public importance. Wagner’s winning team developed a tool called CluedIn, which would reduce the achievement gap by increasing knowledge of, and access to, afterschool programs. CluedIn connects parents, students, and teachers to share knowledge, give feedback, improve the quality of information, and increase choice. Ultimately, the tool aims to lower school absence, reduce substance abuse, and allow government agencies to better allocate resources.

There were two student teams contending for the final spot, who also developed innovative and entrepreneurial solutions to pressing social issues. Alisa Ahmadian, Ben Nemeth, and Natalie Relich created Second Stem, a partnership between consumers, farmers, grocery stores, and food banks that would reduce waste and provide food to populations in need. Grace Cheong, Iris Dooling, Hallie Martin, Bridget Mercier, and Gretchen Upholt designed Recordsync, a web-based application that would better link mental health records to the background check system for gun purchases, with the goal of reducing gun violence.

Congratulations to all three teams for these creative and inspiring ideas. And best of luck to Christine Han, Anna Swanby, and Rachel Szala at the national finals!

To attend the Fels Public Policy Challenge, please RSVP here.

Conference Explores Philanthropy's Potential Impact on Public Policy

Mon, 4 Mar 2013 12:00:00 EST

Gara LaMarche, a senior fellow at NYU Wagner, was the recent co-sponsor of a highly successful conference at New York University on philanthropy and the new, post-2012 election landscape of policymaking and politics.

Foundation executives, individual donors, and civic leaders came together to examine what philanthropy’s evolving relationship with public policy and government means in the context of the rapidly changing political scene. Participants engaged on such issues as K-12 education, health care reform, and poverty. Among the questions examined were:

- How is America’s polarized political culture changing philanthropy'

- How has the political culture shaped the types of projects we fund, demands on grantees and partnerships with government'

- How successful or challenging have philanthropy’s investments been in the realm of policy change and with government' At the start of this new political cycle, what should we do now (or not do) given the ongoing polarization'

The Feb. 12 event was titled “Money and Power in Post-Election America: Where is Philanthropy'” It was co-hosted by NYU, Duke, and Philanthropy New York.

NYU Wagner Student to Testify at FDA Meeting on Food Safety Reform

Thu, 28 Feb 2013 12:00:00 EST

Lauren Bush, an NYU Wagner MPA-PNP second-year student and Wagner Review staff writer, is set to testify at a public meeting of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration today (2/28/13) as the FDA considers draft regulations for implementing the landmark Food Safety and Modernization Act. Her appearance arises in part from her research for an op-ed for the Review. Lauren is the Events Chair on the Wagner Food Policy Alliance board. Beyond her involvement with the Alliance, she has spent the last three years as an advocate for food safety reform.

Wagner Student to Lead SXSW Edu Conference's Workshop on Social Media

Fri, 22 Feb 2013 12:00:00 EST

Higher education professionals know they need to use social media. But what about the analytics' Does one need fancy software' Is it necessary to pay the big bucks for a company to get this done'

Amanda Alampi, an MPA student at NYU Wagner who also works as a social media strategist at Sunshine, Sachs & Associates, is heading to the SXSW Edu Conference in Austin, Texas, to address these questions and lead a March 4th workshop on the new data landscape for higher education professionals.

It will be titled “Big Data, Big Problems' Beginner Guide to Analytics.”

Amanda’s also planning to deliver a TEDx talk in the spring. More details to come!

Student Team at NYU Wagner Vying for Hult Prize

Fri, 22 Feb 2013 12:00:00 EST

A regionally diverse team of Wagner students — David Margolis (West Bloomfield, MI), Jacqueline Burton (Saratoga Springs, N.Y.), Laura Manley (Westfield, MA), and Ellen Nadeau (Clearwater, FL) — has been selected to advance to the prestigious Hult Prize regional finals on March 1st and 2nd.

The Hult Prize, in its fourth year, is the world’s largest student competition and crowdsourcing platform for social good. Recently, it was recognized by former President Bill Clinton and TIME magazine as one of the top five new ideas for changing the world. In partnership with the Clinton Global Initiative, the Hult’s crowd-sourcing platform identifies and launches social ventures aimed at some of the most pressing global challenges. Student teams compete for the chance to secure $1 million in start-up funding to launch a sustainable social venture.

The 2013 Hult Prize focuses on global food security, and how to get safe, sufficient, affordable, and easily accessible food to the more than 200 million people who live in urban slums. This focus was personally selected by President Clinton, and it has inspired the Wagner team.

The Wagner students are developing an initiative called Rootstock -- a digital service-learning platform that unites students from various disciplines and countries to collaborate on global food security issues, and implement their learning directly in the field. The pilot curriculum is about urban agriculture.

The regional competitions take place in Boston, San Francisco, London, Dubai, and Shanghai. The Wagner team will compete in San Francisco.

If selected, the students will attend a summer business incubator for their project. A final round of competition will be hosted by the Clinton Global Initiative at its annual meeting in September, where the winning team will be selected and awarded the grand prize by President Clinton.

Stay tuned!

Bloomberg Innovation Delivery Fellows to Present at RCLA February 28

Fri, 1 Feb 2013 12:00:00 EST

At an RCLA event on February 28, from 5:00–6:30pm, the Bloomberg Innovation Delivery Fellows will talk about about a breakthrough new approach to innovation in local government funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies.

The Fellows will share insights about the work of Innovation Delivery Teams in Atlanta, Chicago, Louisville, Memphis, and New Orleans to advance top Mayoral priorities, including reducing street homelessness, handgun violence and homicides; improving customer service and processing times for key city services; scaling energy efficiency efforts and revitalizing neighborhoods and encouraging business growth.

The event, co-sponsored with the NYU Wagner Office of Career Services, will be held in Lafayette Conference Room on the 3rd Floor of NYU Wagner. RSVPs are required.

Upcoming Fels Public Policy Challenge Stirs Proposals by 9 Student Teams at Wagner

Thu, 14 Feb 2013 12:00:00 EST

Get ready, get set: NYU Wagner is looking to make it two-wins-in-a-row at the upcoming National Invitational Public Policy Challenge hosted annually by the Fels Institute of Government at the University of Pennsylvania and presented by Governing magazine. The Challenge invites students to develop creative policy proposals and civic engagement solutions to pressing social problems.

Last year, a team of Wagner students won the inaugural Fels Challenge with their pattern-busting proposal "Kinvolved," a project involving a new app to help New York City teachers keep track of student attendance and communicate with parents. Upon winning, the team received $15,000 to bring the project to life.

This year’s Fels Challenge is annother exciting opportunity for future leaders in public service to make a difference on issues that matter. Modeled after MBA business plan competitions, the Challenge asks student teams from policy schools around the country to develop a policy that can bring about significant change in their community.

In all, nine student teams at Wagner have drafted proposals. From these promising submissions, three semi-finalists will be selected, and one will go on to the nationals on March 17 at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia.

To attend the event, please RSVP here.

The plans submitted by the Wagner students offer fresh thinking and solutions to challenges such as gun violence, food waste, childhood obesity, and gestational diabetes.

Wagner competed in the nationals against three other policy schools across the country in 2012. This year, nine schools have joined the competition. Good luck to all the participants!

"There's nothing comparable to public service" - Former Mayor Edward I. Koch [Video]

Fri, 1 Feb 2013 12:00:00 EST

Former New York City Mayor Edward I. Koch, who died in the early-morning hours Feb. 1, led an informative, entertaining hour of discussion in the fall of 2010 at NYU Wagner about his eventful three terms at City Hall – years that sparked a remarkable turnaround in the condition and character of much of New York City, noticeable to this day.

Joining Koch was Jonathan Soffer, NYU Polytechnic associate professor of history and author of a critically acclaimed biography, Ed Koch and the Rebuilding of New York City (Columbia University Press, 2010), as well as Wagner's dean Ellen Schall, who introduced Koch as “my mayor," noting that she had worked extensively for city government, including as the commissioner of juvenile justice.

“City government, I say to all my students, is really the most amazing opportunity,” she commented. “It allows you to work on incredibly important issues, have much more authority as a young person that you have any reason to have, and make a huge amount of difference.”

Koch spoke passionately about the merits of embarking on a career in public service.

“There’s nothing comparable to public service,” he said. “More than saying ‘How am I doin’'’ … more than that I said 10,000 times that public service is the most noble profession if it’s done honestly and if it’s done well. And that’s why people serve. There’s nothing like it.”

In this videotape of the Oct. 14, 2010 conversation at Wagner, the former mayor begins speaking at marker 15:48.

Firm Recognizes NYU Wagner Graduate as Rising Star in Economic Development

Thu, 31 Jan 2013 12:00:00 EST

A top marketing firm for cities, states, and other jurisdictions has identified NYU Wagner graduate Harold Pettigrew (MUP ’05) as a rising star in the field of economic development.

Development Counselors International (DCI) named Pettigrew to its “40 Under 40” roster of public service awardees for 2013.

Pettigrew is director of the Department of Small and Local Business Development (DSLBD) for the District of Columbia.

“The District’s economy has benefited tremendously from Harold’s leadership in aggressively rolling out and reforming services that support our small and local businesses,” declared Washington, D.C., Mayor Vincent Gray, in a press release. “He is an important part of the District’s economic success story, he exemplifies the world-class talent in my Cabinet, and I congratulate him for this outstanding and well-deserved recognition.”

Commented Pettigrew, “This award speaks to the excellent work taking place to maximize the launch and growth of businesses in the District of Columbia. I am honored to receive and share this recognition from DCI with the team at DSLBD, and the public and private sector partners who share our commitment to making the District of Columbia a world-class business destination.”

New Report Explores Technology and the Nonprofit Sector

Thu, 31 Jan 2013 12:00:00 EST

The Aspen Insitute today released a new report in Washington, D.C., by NYU Wagner Visiting Professor Beth Noveck and Daniel L. Goroff. The report, "Information for Impact: Liberating Nonprofit Sector Data," shows how new technology designed to improve data on the nonprofit sector can prompt greater innovation and effectiveness.

Noveck is former director of the White House Open Government Initiative. Goroff, while at the Office of Science and Technology Policy, helped establish the new Interagency Task Force on Smart Disclosure. He is a program director with the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

Professor David Elcott to Receive MLK Jr. Faculty Award

Tue, 29 Jan 2013 12:00:00 EST

NYU Wagner Professor David Elcott has been chosen to receive the Provost’s prestigious 2013 Martin Luther King, Jr. Faculty Award, presented to outstanding faculty members - nominated by students - who exemplify the spirit of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., through their teaching excellence, leadership, commitment to social justice, and community-building work.

Professor Elcott is Wagner’s Taub Professor of Practice in Public Service. He is senior research fellow at the Research Center for Leadership in Action (RCLA) and Faculty Director of the Executive MPA program.

The NYU Provost, in partnership with the NYU Division of Student Affairs, will present the Faculty Award to Professor Elcott and five other faculty members Wednesday, February 6, from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. in Pless Hall Lounge, 82 Washington Square East.

To view a Wagner video interview with Professor Elcott, click here.

Click here to view photos from the event.

Global Social Change Leadership Institute Early Admissions Deadline Feb 15

Tue, 15 Jan 2013 12:00:00 EST

RCLA’s Global Social Change Leadership Institute offers college and graduate students and young professionals from across the United States and around the world a chance to develop practical knowledge and skills to advance social justice in their communities.

Program participants learn from experts at the forefront of policy reform and advocacy, coalition building and direct service, and the curriculum draws on a decade of rigorous research RCLA has conducted with award-winning social change organizations about the essential role these nonprofits play in an informed and engaged civil society. Interactive workshops are paired with site visits throughout New York City, offering participants a robust understanding of both the theory and practice of leadership and social change.

Participants emerge with an understanding of social change leadership, a plan for taking action in their school or community, and a network of other advocates committed to social justice.

The Early Admissions deadline is noon EST on February 15, 2013.

Learn more about eligibility requirements, the curriculum, tuition, partial needs-based scholarships, and application instructions.

Related Links:
Global Social Change Leadership Institute

Resources for Your Leadership Resolutions

Thu, 10 Jan 2013 12:00:00 EST

Do your resolutions for this year include more leadership, learning and collaboration' The Research Center for Leadership in Action's most popular resources can help you develop yourself and those around you through transformational learning and leadership. They include insights on how to:

Develop leaders and a leadership culture
Nurture diverse and inclusive leadership
Create breakthrough learning experiences
Build personal and organizational resilience
Host lively, interactive events
Make research and evaluation participatory
Innovate

Access the resources now.

Related Links:
Resources for Your Leadership Resolutions

Advancing Relational Leadership Research and Practice: RCLA Event

Thu, 17 Jan 2013 12:00:00 EST

NYU Wagner’s Research Center for Leadership in Action will host a book celebration and discussion on "Advancing Relational Leadership Research and Practice" on Monday, February 25, from 12:00 – 1:30 pm.

The event will be a conversation with Mary Uhl-Bien, PhD, Howard Hawks Chair in Business Ethics and Leadership Management, University of Nebraska, and Sonia M. Ospina, PhD, Faculty Director of the Research Center for Leadership in Action, NYU Wagner.

The complex webs of relationships and interconnectivity in today’s work environment open up new worlds of possibility for organizational performance and leadership. At the same time, making decisions and taking action are more challenging and outcomes are less predictable.

For organizations to capitalize on these relationships and networks to achieve their missions requires challenging outdated leadership models that focus solely on individual leaders and assume top-down, linear causality, often ignoring context. Advancing theories of leadership that are more relevant to practice requires understanding how people connect and the implications of relational dynamics for leadership research and development. This, in turn, requires a dialogue among scholars and practitioners about the very meaning of relational leadership.

The new book, Advancing Relational Leadership Research: A Conversation across Perspectives, edited by Mary Uhl-Bien and Sonia M. Ospina, documents the beginning of such a conversation among renowned leadership scholars. Incorporating a wide range of disciplines and perspectives (e.g., organizational behavior, communications, sociology, public policy, critical theory, feminist theory, relational theory), the authors address the theoretical, research and practical questions of attempting to develop a relational view of leadership.

At the book celebration, the editors will discuss what they have learned from working with the scholars and participants can continue a lively conversation about the questions, obstacles and the key next steps to advance work on relational leadership. The ultimate goal is to integrate multiple perspectives in developing actionable knowledge on relational leadership that can help address the challenges in today’s work environment.

The event will be held in the Rudin Family Forum for Civic Dialogue at NYU Wagner.

RSVPs are required. RSVP now.

Banking The World

Thu, 17 Jan 2013 12:00:00 EST

Jonathan Morduch, professor of public policy and economics at NYU Wagner, has co-edited a new collection about the world’s vast “unbanked” population. The book, Banking the World: Empirical Foundations of Financial Inclusion, examines how to realize the goal of extending banking and other financial services to the estimated 2.5 billion people, just over half the adult population globally, who lack them. It. is published by The MIT Press and can be ordered here.

Morduch, a contributor to the volume, is the executive director and co-founder of the Financial Access Initiative, an inter-university research center housed at the Wagner school. The full gamut of essays explore such topics as the complexity of surveying people about their use of financial services; evidence of the impact of financial services on income; and the occasional negative effects of financial services on poor households, including disincentives to work and over-indebtedness. Along with Murdoch, the book's co-editors include Robert Cull and Asli Demirglic-Kunt.

About the Editors:

Robert Cull is a Lead Economist in the Finance and Delivery Private Sector Development Team of the World Bank’s Development Research Group. Asli Demirgüç-Kunt is Director of Development Policy in the World Bank’s Development Economics Vice Presidency and Chief Economist of the Financial and Private Sector Development Network (FPD).

Asli Demirguc-Kunt is Senior Research Manager, Finance and Private Sector, in the World Bank's Development Economics Research Group. She is the coeditor of Financial Structures and Economic Growth: A Cross-Country Comparison of Banks, Markets, and Development (MIT Press, 2001).

Jonathan J. Morduch is Professor of Public Policy and Economics at New York University’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. He is the coauthor of The Economics of Microfinance (MIT Press) and Portfolios of the Poor: How the World's Poor Live on $2 a Day.

What to Expect from President Obama's Second Term - Jan. 17

Fri, 11 Jan 2013 12:00:00 EST

Paul Light, NYU Wagner’s Paulette Goddard Professor of Public Service, will lead a lively and informative exchange on the expectations and goals of President Barack Obama’s second term on Thursday, Jan. 17, at 5:00 p. m. in Washington D.C.

“Executing a Second Term” will feature former presidential advisors Thomas F. McLarty and Kenneth M. Duberstein, and will take place at New York University's Abramson Family Auditorium at 1307 L Street NW. The event - free and open to the public - is sponsored by NYU Washington, D.C. and the University's John Brademas Center for the Study of Congress.

Professor Light is founding principal investigator of NYU’s Global Center for Public Service and the author of 25 books, including works on social entrepreneurship, the nonprofit sector, federal government reform, public service, and the baby boom. Kenneth Duberstein is chairman and CEO of the Duberstein Group, an independent strategic planning and consulting company, and was chief of staff to President Ronald Reagan in 1988 and 1989. Thomas "Mack" McLarty III is president of McLarty Associates, an international advisory firm based in Washington, and was chief of staff to President Bill Clinton in 1993 and 1994.

Registration is required - please visit http://www.nyu.edu/brademas/programs.events/.