Davenport’s Cafe Diem: they have my favorite matcha latte’s and serve as an amazing place to meet and chat with community members
It’s week three and I am hitting the ground running! I found my two favorite Pittsboro coffee shops and a restaurant that sells an amazing strawberry red velvet cake. So, I think it’s safe to say that I finally feel like I am getting into the swing of things out here in good ol’ Pittsboro, NC.
Davenport’s Cafe Diem: they have my favorite matcha latte’s and serve as an amazing place to meet and chat with community members
Before I dive deep into what I’ve been up to over the last few weeks, I figure I should provide some context to the Human Relations initiative that I am working on with Chatham County. So, prior to starting my internship the County Commissioners expressed a desire for wanting a Human Relations entity. The County then created a Human Relations Task Force to establish a framework for the entity, which they are now hoping will be a community-led Human Relations collaborative.
One of my key tasks for the summer is to learn about the County through engaging with community members. The hope is that I will be able to identify some challenges that the Human Relations Collaborative will be able to rally around and tackle. Two weeks ago, I started meeting with Chatham County community members to get a better understanding of the community. So far, I have completed 14 interviews. Each interview is semi-structured with four main areas of exploration:
So far, I have been handwriting notes during interviews and then transcribing them into an excel document so that I can code them to find key themes. I am very excited to see the outcome!
My weeks haven’t been filled only with interviews…I have also attended some community meetings as well. I’ve met with the Public Health Department, Better Angels, faith communities, and I can’t wait to do more! Last week, I went to a community lunch hosted by St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church. Their mission is to provide a healthy, appetizing meal at no cost to all who come to us hungry. The community lunch had a great turn out with even better food! I was able to talk with people involved at the church as well as a local artist and a farmer. This lunch gave me the opportunity to meet people from all over the County.
St. Bart’s Community Lunch Logo: another great meeting place
If there is anything I know about community engagement, it is that you first must listen to and learn from the community. While at the community meetings, I am often just listening and taking notes of comments and concerns and looking for key themes.
Through the interviews and meetings, I have learned quite a bit about the history of the County and some of the challenges it faces. For me, the best part about this process has been making new connections to community members.
Look forward to updating you again next week!
As a small introduction, I am interning with the City of Salisbury this summer, and have the exciting opportunity to jump from department to department every week. So, if you are looking to learn a little more about a bunch of different sides to local government, then you have come to the right place!
My first week with Salisbury was spent with Salisbury-Rowan Utilities (SRU) under Utilities Director Jim Behmer, who is currently earning his MPA at Appalachian State (I don’t hold it against him). One thing I learned from Jim was that employees usually have a preference for either water or wastewater (sewer).
Despite the ripe smell, I found myself fascinated by the wastewater side of things. Without getting too deep into details, the wastewater plant process involves removing things that shouldn’t go down a sink or toilet in the first place (including grease and the so called “flushable” wipes), using microscopic organisms to break down organic matter in the wastewater, and using chemicals like bleach to disinfect the water before it is released back into the Yadkin River. Plus, a bio-solid bi-product can be given out to farmers to use as fertilizer for crops consumed by livestock. It may not be a pretty process, but it involves some fascinating solutions and highlighted for me the importance of educating the public on some proper procedures – don’t poor the grease down the sink, and don’t flush the wet wipe.
While it may seem like common sense to some, I also learned the importance of gravity in the wastewater process. Pumping wastewater is expensive, so SRU utilizes gravity lines wherever possible. This requires a lot of planning and is somewhat like putting a puzzle together, as lines need to go toward the wastewater stations, but always downhill. In fact, both stations are located beside creeks as they are natural low points in the topography. Planning here can mean the difference between spending thousands of dollars to operate a pump station, or letting gravity transport the wastewater for the cost of the pipe alone.
Going back to the water side, I have to bring up what I thought was an example of brilliant problem solving at the water reservoir. As water sits in the large open pits, sunlight reacts with organisms and algae forms on the water. Among the other chemicals added to clean the water is a very expensive chemical that has the sole purpose of killing the algae. In order to cut down on costs with this chemical, SRU put thousands of plastic balls on top of the water to take away the sunlight and, by extension, eliminate algae growth. While the balls were a significant initial cost, SRU was able to eliminate the need for most (if not all) of that particular chemical, which will save the utility a fair amount of money in the long run.
Shade balls on an SRU reservoir
Well (pun definitely intended), that does it for this post. Feel free to comment for more details on anything I did with SRU this week or check out their website here. Come back next week for Finance!
Ok, so maybe this blog title had a little bit of click bait, but I definitely consider these folks celebrities…public servant celebrities!
Kid President supports my click bait title to talk about public servant celebrities!
Merriam-Webster defines public servant as “a government official or employee.” Personally, I think this definition doesn’t give public servants enough credit! So, to do us some justice, I would like to highlight some key people that I’ve met over the last week that add to that bare-bones definition of public servant.
Celebrity Sighting #1:
On Monday, I attended my first ever Board of Commissioners meeting. Honestly, I was in awe because I got to see topics from my MPA coursework in action, like public hearings and budget proposal presentations. I also got to witness a new commissioner being sworn in!
Fire Marshall Bender and Commissioner Chairman Mike Dasher
However, most importantly, I got to see a truly dedicated public servant be honored for his service to the community. Fire Marshall Thomas Bender received special recognition for his 26+ years of service to Chatham County. Even during a public hearing for a zoning request, the person making the request said that he remembered Fire Marshall Bender making presentations at his elementary and middle school. Even though this community member’s request to the Commissioners was completely unrelated to Fire Marshall Bender, he still took the time to acknowledge how Fire Marshall Bender had an impact on the community – a true public servant and community celebrity.
Celebrity Sighting #2:
So…this next celebrity is fairly new to the scene (compared to Fire Marshall Bender) and is one of our very own – Stephanie Watkins-Cruz! She has been working with Chatham County for about a year now as their policy analyst. Last week, I attended a really cool “town hall-type community conversation” sponsored by Our Chatham and Chatham News + Record. It was mostly a Q&A on housing and inequity with a panel of community leaders. Stephanie, of course, was on that panel.
Stephanie Watkins-Cruz
I will say, I am quite fortune because I get to talk with Stephanie quite regularly in the office. But, on this day, I got to see Stephanie in full public service mode! Stephanie presented data, shared stories, and answered questions without breaking a sweat! She was honest, poised and responsive to community members. Even when she was hit with hard questions, her responses were authentic and showed her dedication to serving the County to her best ability! I was, and continue to be, in awe at her ability to be so open, authentic, and committed. I am glad to have such a great role model right here in the Chatham County Manager’s Office with me.
Celebrity Sighting #3:
Kirsten Wyatt at #ELGL19
So this last celebrity was not spotted in Chatham County, but rather in Durham! Last week, I had the opportunity to attend the Engaging Local Government Leaders (ELGL) conference, #ELGL19. And with that, I got to meet Kirsten Wyatt!
#ELGL19 was amazing, to say the least! Not only were there great conference goodies and thought-provoking conversations, but there were great opportunities to network and meet people across the country doing great work! I even got to meet some people that do the type of work that I would love to do in the future. The cool thing is that the co-founders of ELGL are Kirsten and Kent Wyatt, who also happen to be graduates of the UNC-Chapel Hill MPA program! And yes, I did get to shake Kirsten’s hand! She’s as innovative, intelligent and lovely as she seems online. So, if you get the chance…attend next year’s conference in Oregon! I know I’ll be there.
Service is what led me to pursue degrees in social work and public administration. I am so grateful for all of the amazing homegrown “celebrities” that are adding to the Merriam-Webster definition of public servant through dedication, authenticity and innovation. Thank you for all that you do!
Hello again! This has been a whirlwind of a week, so I hope you enjoy following along as I explain all I was able to experience. Right now the Budget & Management Services Department is putting together the Fiscal Year 2020, or FY20, budget. This means that most of the work I am involved in is ensuring that numbers are aligned and descriptions for departments are accurate. Reading through the current 286 page document (it will continue to get even longer) has allowed me to better understand initiatives being taken on by the City of Durham. This has also helped me to improve my Excel skills as I work to make changes to the numbers that need updating. If you would like to see an example of Durham’s previous budget, FY19 documentation can be found here.
When I am not working on the FY20 budget, I have an individual budget assignment that has been assigned to me by my supervisors, Ben Kittelson and Pat Madej. Currently I am analyzing Durham local sales taxes from 2008-2018 to create an analysis of changes to collection, policy, and rates over the ten year timeline. Most of the data is coming from North Carolina’s Department of Revenue and old files from the City of Durham.
As I said in my post last week, I also was able to attend #ELGL19, which was put on by Engaging Local Government Leaders. On Wednesday, there was an Innovation Summit, where leaders in the field discussed best practices for finding creative solutions in local government. As someone breaking into this work, it was fascinating to hear more about what other governments have been doing, and how I can work to improve innovation in whatever role I serve in going forward.
Thursday and Friday were the main days of the conference, with a variety of sessions discussing changes being made by local government leaders around the country. One of my favorite sessions was called, “Engaging Local Government Employees.” The leaders on this panel discussed ways that cities and counties can improve the wellness of employees, and continue to recruit the best and brightest minds. My favorite photo can be seen below, of Brian Farmer (MPA ’20) and myself, imitating Leslie Knope and Ron Swanson.
The conference finished Friday afternoon, and right after, folks from our department went back to the office. Pat and I attended a meeting with the Durham Emergency Communications Center, where we discussed the end of FY19 with staff.
On Monday, most of my day consisted of HR workshops but during the breaks in the day I went to the Budget & Management Services office to prepare for the City Council meeting that night. Before the Council adopts the FY20 budget, they must ensure that the democratic process is being followed, and share information with the public. Members of the community gathered to hear more about changes and proposals that the City Manager is recommending to the Council. A photo from the event can be seen below.
Residents brought forward their thoughts on the positives and negatives of the budget. Many discussed the proposed increase to police staff, as well as a request for a livable wage for part-time City employees. The Council has a lot to ponder before adopting the budget but I look forward to keeping everyone updated as we continue.
It’s May! And it has been too long since I’ve posted, but we have been doing so much work to get our Class of 2019 graduated. We had a total of 41 MPA students graduate this May, and we are so proud of them. Most of them have jobs already, and they are solidly equipped with the education and skills needed to go out there and lead! Stay tuned for a later post on what some of them are up to.
Another thing that happens in May is the beginning of Professional Work Experience (commonly referred to as the PWE) for our current MPA students. It is similar to an internship except that this really is about leading and managing some sort of project. These PWE’s are higher level opportunities where you will actually be contributing more than answering phones or filing. And each May, we invite a few of our students who will be taking part in their PWE’s to blog about their experience.
Our PWE Coordinator (and UNC MPA grad), the wonderful Susan Austin completed a brief interview with me to give us a little frame of reference for the PWE and our Summer Bloggers. Read on, and follow the blogs which will be posted weekly. They’ll surely give you an idea for how MPA education is put to work.
Cara: What is your role, and how long have you been with the MPA program at UNC?
Susan: My title is Associate Director of Professional Work Experience (PWE) and Alumni Relations. Whew! One of my primary responsibilities is to work with all students on their required PWE. I started working with the MPA program in 2006 after joining the School of Government in 2001. I’m also an alumna – Class of ’97.
Cara: Can you talk about what the Professional Work Experience (PWE) is?
Susan: The PWE is an opportunity for our students to apply their classroom learning in a real-life setting, develop their competencies, and gain additional professional experience. The PWE is always one of the highlights of their time in the program.
Cara: How many MPA students are enrolled in a PWE this summer?
Susan: There are 23 students completing their PWE this summer. 13 with local governments, 4 in state agencies, 1 with the federal government, and 5 in nonprofit organizations. The ratio of students in different sectors varies with the interests of the students in each cohort.
Cara: Please introduce our student bloggers for this summer and what roles they’ll be taking on?
Susan: I’m excited about our summer bloggers! They are:
• Courtney Cooper-Lewter with the Chatham County, NC Manager’s Office
• Micayla Costa with the Urban Institute in Washington, DC
• Brian Farmer with the City of Salisbury, NC Manager’s Office
• Hallee Haygood with the City of Durham, NC Budget & Management Department
• Sydney Lawrence with the US EPA Office of Air Quality Planning Standards, Policy Analysis & Communications in Durham, NC
• Karson Nelson with the NC Department of Public Instruction Superintendent’s Office in Raleigh, NC
Cara: What do you hope our readers gain from our Student bloggers on their PWE experiences?
Susan: This is a great opportunity for readers to understand the scope of career opportunities an MPA degree opens up for our graduates. For those with an interest in public service, learning about the student experiences provides an inside look into the practical work that makes our communities better places to live.
Cara: Where will you be reading the blogs from this summer?
Susan: Ha! Well I read all of them all summer so that will vary. My favorite place will be at the lake.
Hey everyone!
Welcome to my blog post! My name is Courtney Cooper-Lewter. I am a dual-degree student with the Public Administration and Social Work programs. I just finished my first year of the MPA program, but technically this is year two of graduate school. Two down, one to go! More than anything, I am really excited for my professional work experience this summer with Chatham County!
Historic Chatham County Court House, the County Manager’s Office is behind this building
This summer, I will be serving as an intern in the Chatham County Manager’s Office in Pittsboro, NC. I will be working on helping the County create a community-led Human Relations collaborative to address some of the economic and racial inequities in the County by:
So far, everything has started off great! Everyone is so supportive! And I realize, I am pretty spoiled with my office space. I have my own office and a window (see below)! I have already interviewed quite a few community leaders and feel like I am getting a better understanding of the community dynamics.
I can’t wait to continue exploring Chatham County. For now, check out this beautiful video of Pittsboro and maybe you will notice why it is called Circle City.
I look forward to talking with you more next week about what I am learning! See you then.
Hello there! For those of you who may not know me, my name is Hallee Haygood and I just finished my first-year of the MPA Program. As a dual degree student with the City & Regional Planning Program this means that I am 1/3 of the way done. And with that, it is now time for my professional work experience.
My job will be as a Budget & Management Intern with the City of Durham, in their Budget & Management Services Department. For me, as someone who hopes to work in a municipal budget office after graduation, this opportunity is ideal. The projects that I will be working on and blogging about this summer, are:
My first week has been off to a great start. Upon arriving, my desk was covered in Parks & Recreation themed decorations. A photo of my desk can be seen below. Thus far I have spent my time learning the ins and the outs of the budget process for Durham. My first project will be working on compiling historical local option sales tax data.
And the rest of the week I have the opportunity to attend the Engaging Local Government Leaders, or ELGL, Conference! The conference is in Durham, which will allow me to learn even more about the city where I’m working. It will also be a unique opportunity to learn about trends in the field, and what practices I can put to use after graduation. Thanks for joining me, and I look forward to updating you more next week!
Here on the blog I’ve talked a lot about the opportunities MPA students have to work and learn from fellow students across platforms, faculty, alumni, and various public service professionals. The Carolina MPA Program also provides students a yearly opportunity to interact with distinguished scholars in the field of Public Administration. The Deil S. Wright Lecture, started by alumni in 2002, invites a prominent voice in the field handpicked by faculty to come speak at the School of Government.
This year’s speaker was Professor Don Kettl, from the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin. He is also a nonresident senior fellow at the Volcker Alliance, the Brookings Institution and the Partnership for Public Service. Prof Kettl is well known and loved by UNC MPA students as someone who literally wrote the book on Public Administration – his Politics of the Administrative Process IS the textbook we use for our survey course in Institutions and Values. Before the lecture, MPA students took Prof Kettl to the North Carolina Basketball museum and posed for a photo with our tea kettle (affectionately dubbed by students as the “the Don Kettl”). His lecture discussed the current state of Federalism and pointed to the role of Intergovernmental Relations that underlies many of our country’s more pressing political issues such as immigration and health care.
Above: Don Kettl’s signature on my textbook!
Below: Don Kettl poses with MPA Students holding a tea kettle named in his honor.
In addition to hearing Prof Kettl speak about Federalism and Intergovernmental Relations, I also enjoyed the chance to learn more about who Deil Wright was as a person. We extensively studied his work in my Intergovernmental Relations course. After the lecture, I was speaking with Dr. Wright’s children who told me how every night in his study he would spend an hour calling past students to check on their personal and professional lives and offer his advice and help them make connection to other alumni working in similar fields or on similar issues.
The lecture was a great experience for me to both connect with a scholar whose work I admired and a chance to learn a little more about the history of a figure who was so important in the development of the MPA program.
There’s lots of energy around the MPA wing at the UNC School of Government right now. Many different people are working hard with their eyes on the future.
Second year students like myself are bearing down to write our portfolios, a lengthy document that graduating MPA students submit to satisfy the thesis requirements of the MPA program and the Graduate School. We are also working hard at writing cover letters and polishing our resumes as we apply for jobs to start after graduation. First year students are working on their own resumes and cover letters as they apply for their Professional Work Experience (PWE) internships for the summer. Today begins a period of a few weeks where interviewers (many of whom are MPA alumni themselves) are coming to campus from a variety of local and state government organizations to speak with prospective interns.
They aren’t even the only interviewees in the building. Today we also began welcoming prospective students to campus for admission to the program. Our applicants come from a diverse background of undergraduate programs and work experiences from Environmental Science to Public Policy to the Military and all levels of government. I distinctly remember my interview experience and recall the mixed emotions of feeling both nervous and excited. I feel like I can relate to every applicant I’ve met and I enjoy learning about their interests and ambitions.
My name tag from my admissions interview exactly 2 years ago.
What strikes me as a through-line connecting each group is the collaborative nature of the cohort structure. Working and learning together builds a very strong culture. Through group work and general shared experience, students build strong academic and social bonds. While some graduate school programs have a reputation of being ultra-competitive and cut-throat, the culture of the MPA program is welcoming and cooperative. Though the process of writing our portfolios is difficult, we have each other to lean on. We help each other through peer-editing, recommending sources to cite, and offering genuine emotional support. We have lots of support from last year’s graduating class, who have kept in touch and offer us thoughtful advice. We also help each other looking for jobs and regularly email postings to each other based on knowing our peers skills and interests. Having gone through the PWE interview search process the second year class is able to offer perspective and advice to the first years as they go through the process themselves. Both first and second year students joined prospective students for lunch today and shared in conversation about career goals and our visions of 21st century public service.
The collaborative cohort culture is a huge part of what brought me to the program and what has sustained me throughout my time here.
We often discuss on this blog that students come to the MPA program with a variety of career goals across all sectors and levels of government. For my first blog post of 2019, I wanted to have some fun and highlight some notable or famous people that have MPA diplomas hanging on their walls. I’ll also highlight how something each MPA alum does connects to our program here at UNC.
Klaus Schwab is the founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum, an international institution for public-private cooperation. He received an MPA from Harvard in addition to his doctorates in Engineering and Economics. The WEF’s collaborative approach between sectors is at the heart of much of what UNC MPA students learn about in courses like “Institutions and Values,” units on collaboration and innovation in “Organizational Theory” and “Public Service Leadership” and electives like “Economic Development” “Community Development,” “Intergovernmental Relations,” and “Collaborative Governance.” Schwab spoke at Harvard about how important his MPA was to his establishment of the WEF. He said that “nothing has influenced [his] life more than” his MPA experience, considering it “an essential pillar in the buildup of the WEF.”
Many students come to the program with an interest in achieving leadership positions in Criminal Justice. Frank Spangenberg got his MPA from Harvard to further his career in Law Enforcement with the NYPD. He later further bolstered his academic record with a PhD in Criminal Justice from John Jay. Despite his phenomenal academic record, he is better known for his ground-breaking run as a contestant on Jeopardy. He was the first contestant to break $100,000 and for many years held the record for most money won. He went on to return for a variety of other Jeopardy winners tournaments, including the 2005 Tournament of Champions during his time as an MPA student. With this in mind, it is unsurprising that trivia is a common activity and source of bonding for many current MPA students at UNC. Affectionately dubbed the “Beeracrats,” a group of current UNC MPA’s are a veritable force at trivia nights across Chapel Hill and Carrboro (especially at Linda’s). Per the then rules of Jeopardy, Frank donated a large share of his initial winnings to a Gift of Love Hospice. Prospective MPA students interested in non-profit organizations may connect with this video of Frank telling a story of a chance encounter with a volunteer from the Hospice who told him how much his gift meant to the organization.
Our next MPA did not appeared on Jeopardy, but she did star in the 1999 Mystery Thriller “Double Jeopardy.” Even though Ashley Judd roots for the wrong color blue on the basketball court (she’s an avid Kentucky supporter), she showed her heart is in the right place and committed to public service when she earned an MPA from Harvard in 2010. She told the New York Times too that she wanted to get an MPA so she could “immerse [her]self in some very serious, earnest, practical learning with people who have literally dedicated all they have to public service.” Some come through UNC’s MPA program to work in government agencies, but others want to work with nonprofits to advance causes they believe in, operationalizing their MPA-knowledge as activists and change makers. Many students have specific policy goals to achieve, like ending sexual violence, combating homelessness, expanding affordable housing, or increasing access to the arts. As someone pursing the Non-Profit Management Concentration, I have the pleasure of learning alongside these students everyday. Judd uses skills from her MPA degree as a United Nations Goodwill Ambassador for the Empowerment of Adolescent Girls. She appreciated that like herself, MPA classmates “were shamelessly unapologetic about being do-gooders.” She is now continuing her education, enrolling in a PhD program at The University of California-Berkeley..
Ashley Judd celebrates her MPA graduation. Though this photo was taken at Harvard, we approve of the Carolina Blue in the globes! (Photo by Josh Reynolds, Associated Press)
Continuing our connection to Hollywood, the memoir of Charles “Sully” Sullenberger was adapted into the 2016 blockbuster film “Sully.” Starring Tom Hanks, it tells the story of how Sullenberger successfully landed US Airways Flight 1549 in the Hudson River after an engine failure, saving the lives of everyone on board. You may have already known that about Sully, but what you may not have known is that he has a deep commitment to public service. He served in the Air Force and also earned an MPA from Northern Colorado University in 1979. Now, we can’t promise you that Tom Hanks will portray you on the big screen if you get an MPA, but you will learn about key leadership skills and competencies that will help you manage difficult situations that have serious consequences for those you serve. See this previous blog post about connections to between the MPA program and Emergency Management.
I hope that this journey through famous MPA’s has been as fun to read as it was to research! We at the UNC MPA program hope that everyone had a happy holiday. We are looking forward to a new year exploring more MPA Matters!