Stephanie Watkins-Cruz grew up in southeast Charlotte where, she said, “There were families and people of every shade, shape, and size. However, it looks much different now.” Observing these changes and how they impacted people drew her interest in community work early on.
Then in 2012, her family was evicted from their home of nine years for the first time, and in 2016 for the second. They have been living in a hotel since. Watching her hometown change drastically and living through her family’s experiences with housing insecurity sparked Stephanie’s passion for issues of affordable housing and motivated her to pursue a career in public service.
“Housing is more than a roof and four walls,” she said. “It involves your surroundings, the health of your environment, and what you have and don’t have access to. At home is where your identity takes root.”
As an undergraduate at UNC Asheville, Watkins-Cruz found a like-minded community of activists—and her voice. She was involved in campus life as a student orientation leader, president of a student organization, and as a programming supervisor. During her tenure as an MPA student, she has worked as a housing intern in Orange County as well as a collaborative home repair and modification coordinator at the Chatham County Council on Aging. Watkins-Cruz also serves as a member of the board of directors for America’s Promise Alliance, a collaboration between hundreds of national nonprofits, businesses, communities, educators, and citizens dedicated to creating the conditions for success for young people. These experiences have shaped her perspective of the program and brought the MPA classroom curriculum to life.
Watkins-Cruz has been a freelance blogger for Asheville Grit and has published several pieces on Huffington Post. She commented, “I have really gotten into writing pieces about the intersection between housing and education.” She observes that there have been silos between housing and other social policy issues and is determined to be a leader who can help tear down those silos and connect people to the various and sometimes complex resources they need.
She chose Carolina MPA and UNC because of “the enormous sense of community and UNC’s unique role in improving North Carolina.” She is the recipient of a Weiss Urban Livability Fellowship, a Nannette V. Mengel Scholarship, and the Gene Rainey Outstanding Service Award.
Watkins-Cruz said her most rewarding MPA experience has been a combination of her professional work experience at the Orange County Department of Housing, Human Rights, and Community Development and her current work with the Chatham County Council on Aging.
“Public service is a great way to extend the reach of those fighting for their communities, homes, and livelihood,” she said.
This profile was written by Dylan Russell ’17 and originally appeared in the summer 2017 issue of IMPACT. To view previous issues of IMPACT, visit the UNC MPA website.
UNC Master of Public Administration faculty member Kimberly Nelson has been selected to edit State and Local Government Review (SLGR), the premier journal of scholarship on state and local governance. Along with co-editor Eric S. Zeemering, the UGA School of Public and International Affairs Master of Public Administration Director, Nelson will curate the journal and develop its distinctive voice in the areas of state and local government politics, policy, and management.
With the help of an expanded and diversified editorial board, Zeemering and Nelson plan to develop a robust article submission process for the journal and increase the population of peer reviewers. They also plan to increase outreach to professional and academic associations.
For Nelson, this is an invaluable opportunity to further serve the journal’s mission by bridging the gap between practice and policy.
“I’m very excited to take on this role, because SLGR fills such an important niche in public administration and government scholarship,” said Nelson. “State and local governments are closest to the people and improving these governments can lead to meaningful differences in the people’s everyday lives. I look forward to helping connect research with practice in a way that’s rarely seen in academia.”
Historically, the pages of the journal illuminate the challenges faced by state and local policy makers and public managers. Now, as scholars think about the policy and management challenges stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, the political polarization that strains policymaking at all levels of government, and ongoing pressure for innovation in our federal system, Dr. Zeemering hopes SLGR will be among the first journals they think of as a source for high-quality research.
“Particularly now, scholars need journals to operate efficiently and provide valuable feedback during the process of peer review,” said Zeemering. “We are dedicated to managing a professional and constructive peer review process. We believe authors, reviewers, and readers will be excited about the changes coming to the journal.”
As co-editors, Nelson and Zeemering will work in tandem toward this goal – strengthening a collaborative bond between their respective institutions.
“Eric and I will work as partners, restructuring the journal, promoting it, and determining the content,” she said. “We also see this as an opportunity to develop a partnership between two institutions that are leaders in state and local government education and scholarship.
Founded by the Carl Vinson Institute of Government of the University of Georgia, State and Local Government Review is the official journal of the Section on Intergovernmental Administration and Management (SIAM) of the American Society for Public Administration. Peer-reviewed and published quarterly, the Review welcomes manuscripts that focus on state and local governments and those that explore the intergovernmental dimensions of public sector activity. The journal includes general interest research articles, perspectives essays from leaders in state and local government, field notes (including traditional research notes and examples of innovation from practitioners), and response essays. As they move forward with their planned changes, Nelson and Zeemering will enhance the journal as a venue for dialogue among scholars and public service professionals in state and local government.
State and Local Government Review is published by SAGE Journals.
The School of Government is pleased to welcome Shayla Douglas into its Master of Public Administration program. Prior to joining the program this semester, Douglas was part of the inaugural cohort of Lead for North Carolina (LFNC) Fellows, serving in the community of Pembroke in 2019-20.
As a new student in the program, Douglas has been honored with the J. Edward Kitchen Scholarship. This award honors Kitchen, a graduate of the program who served as president of the Alumni Association as well as the School’s Foundation Board of Directors. Kitchen is a longtime supporter of the program and spent 30 years working for the City of Greensboro, where he eventually served as manager.
Kitchen is an avid supporter of LFNC and played an instrumental role in ensuring the program had a successful first year. It’s only fitting that the recipient of his namesake award not only shares a degree but also a dedication to serving communities across North Carolina.
Now in her first semester of study, Douglas plans to study in the program’s second-ranked local government concentration and specialize in City and Regional Planning. Douglas said her fellowship experience solidified her passion for local government and created a path for her to expand it upon in her postgraduate education.
When Douglas first became aware of the LFNC program, she said she considered herself a “perfect fit” and applied to join its first cohort. Douglas was promptly accepted into the program and matched to work as an LFNC Fellow in Pembroke, where she served as an assistant to the town manager. In this role, she assisted with the implementation of the town’s Americans with Disability Act (ADA) transition plan and worked on behalf of the municipality with the North Carolina Parks and Recreation Trust Fund.
“These projects involved multiple citizen input sessions, which showed me the impact and influence that local governments have on citizens,” said Douglas.
In addition to these duties, Douglas independently managed large-scale projects, varying from chairing committees to boosting response rates among the town’s residents to the 2020 U.S. Census.
During her residence in Pembroke, Douglas said the town—both its local government employees and residents—made her feel welcome.
“From my first day they made Pembroke feel like home,” said Douglas. “It was very meaningful for me to have these relationships as a 20-year old out in the world alone for the first time.”
Her experience working in local government ultimately inspired her to apply to the UNC MPA program. When recounting the inspiration LFNC brought to her, Douglas said it was invaluable in illustrating the importance of centering young people around the mission of good governance.
“To me, it showed that young people do have a passion for local government and will be the change that local governments need to see,” said Douglas.
Prior to her time in Pembroke, Shayla interned for Democracy Matters and presided over a local chapter of the organization at UNC-Chapel Hill while an undergraduate student. She later earned a bachelor’s degree from the University in political science and history.
After completion of the MPA program, Douglas plans to work as a city or county manager. She expressed a dedication to keeping an open mind that the local government field may ultimately lead her down a different path, and is also considering working in the parks and recreation or clerkship. Regardless, her dedication to serving local government will persist.
“I plan to continue a career in local government and bring positive change to my community,” said Douglas.
The School is excited to welcome Shayla Douglas into its family and looks forward to equipping her with the tools needed to have a lasting impact on local governments across the state.
This story was written by Kathryn Paquet and appeared in the Summer 2020 edition of the iMPAct Alumni Newsletter
Enrolling in a graduate program is a leap of faith. But that’s nothing new for MPA@UNC student Jeana Taylor, who spends her evenings with a troupe of jumping and soaring acrobats in Cirque du Soleil’s “KÀ” production.
Born in Alton, Illinois, Taylor and her family moved to northern California when she was in third grade. She received an undergraduate degree in theater from UCLA and went on to work in film and television, taking a particular liking to comedic acting. In 2008, she received a call from a casting director who had seen her work online. He was interested in booking her an audition for a new Elvis-themed Cirque du Soleil show.
“It was so suspicious that I actually contacted my agent and said, ‘Hey, can you find out if this is legit?’” Taylor recalled. “It never occurred to me that they would reach out in such a way.”
While she didn’t get cast in that production, Taylor was added to their casting database. Less than a year later, she received a call that they were looking to replace an actor in “KÀ,” their wildly popular show at the Las Vegas MGM Grand Hotel. This time, she got the part.
She has now been in the role for nearly 11 years. “We have people come who are celebrating birthdays and anniversaries. I’ve seen a bride and groom in the front row of the theater. We’ve gotten notes from audience members who brought their kids who were struggling with cancer, and this was their night of escapism.
For some people, it’s just an hour and a half, and they walk away, and that’s it. But for others, it’s the mostbeautiful, astonishing thing they’ve ever seen. To be a part of that, this imaginative piece of work, is exciting.”
In the aftermath of the 2016 presidential election, Taylor felt shaken by what she saw unfolding around her.
“I saw the election as something that really tore at the bonds of community,” she said. “I had this feeling that I was not doing enough— that I could do more.”
In 2017, she founded the group Everyday People Taking Action, a Las Vegas-based organization that aims to inform citizens and promote participation in the political process.
The organization’s work initially focused on tracking and providing information on the bills the Nevada Legislature introduced during the 2017 session. In the lead-up to the 2018 midterms, the group expanded upon that idea by hosting issue-based political house parties.
“It became, ‘Okay, you want to hear about gun safety. Here’s a legislator talking about what they want todo with it at the legislative level,’” Taylor explained. “‘Here’s the person from Moms Demand Action who is talking about what they’re doing at the advocacy level. If this is an issue that interests you, here’s how to get involved, and here are the people who are working on it.’”
Taylor soon realized she’d found a passion that gripped her just as much as acting. Rather than leaving advocacy to her free time, she decided to make it part of her career. After researching MPA programs, she landed on UNC’s online MPA program. With two kids and a hectic work schedule, the online format was exactly what she was looking for.
“I’ve gotten online in full-face makeup, my hair in pin curls for class, and then I’ll go and get changed and do the show,” she said.
Taylor’s experience as a performer allows her to bring a unique perspective to the virtual classroom. She can thrive in a fast-paced, ever- changing environment—a skill many public managers are striving to learn as populations grow more diverse and policy problems more complex.
“Theater is unique in that it’s a microcosm of collaboration,” she said. While many of her classmates are used to working in organizations with formal hierarchies and strictly defined roles, Taylor is accustomed to a more dynamic environment, where thinking on the fly is the law of the land.
“The structure they bring is helpful to me, and I think my ability to be flexible adds something for them,” she said. “I’m more comfortable living in a chaotic world.”
After earning her degree, Taylor plans to explore nonprofit arts management. She sees herself running a children’s arts program or moving into a management role at Cirque du Soleil.
“Public administration is a newer direction for me, and I had to really think, ‘Well, I made art and theater my career because that was my passion, and that’s what I love to do, and that’s what I could do hours of without feeling like I had done hours of it,’” she said. “Why abandon it? I can bring it to the table.”