Photo by Laura Van Ness Morris
An initiative to transform Philadelphia’s neglected, tax delinquent properties into the city’s greatest asset in the battle to stabilize and grow thriving neighborhoods was chosen as the winner of the inaugural Public Policy Challenge, presented by the Fels Institute of Government. Click here to read more »
Photo by Lauren Hansen-Flaschen
The Round Robin – the latest phase of the Challenge – was held Tuesday, February 16th. Ten teams of students from throughout Penn presented their proposals for turning policy ideas into action through a civic campaign, and five were chosen to advance to the Finals. Click here to read more »
Teams are getting ready for their first real hurdle: the Round Robin. Each team will pitch its initiative to several panels of judges on Tuesday night, but only 5 teams will advance to the Finals.
If you want to know more, check out the full list of confirmed judges and the information page that we’ve posted for them. Should be an exciting time!
The Challenge has kicked-off and teams are hard at work on their policy initiatives. A lot of folks helped get this thing started – thanks to you all!
The first Workshop, which will introduce teams to the Civic Campaign concept, is tomorrow, Tuesday 2/2. If you’re curious to see what’s going on, stop by any time from 5:30 to 8:30pm – Houston Hall, Ben Franklin Room.
Our 6-member selection committee is finally done reading through all of the applications. We received almost 100 – far more than we expected – representing 9 different schools and disciplines.
The committee was overwhelmed by the quality of all of the applications, making the selection process extremely difficult. Click here to read more »
Despite some positive national news – like modest growth in GDP and consumer spending – it’s still hard to see much “stimulus” on the local level. Brookings recently released a report that examines the fiscal crisis in cities all over the U.S. and assesses a few different ways that city officials are responding. Click here to read more »
Last Friday I got to sit in on a meeting of the Metropolitan Caucus, Southeastern Pennsylvania’s most recent attempt at regional cooperation among elected officials. The Caucus includes the Mayor of Philadelphia and Commissioners/Council Members from Bucks, Chester, Delaware, and Montgomery Counties. This group met for the first time last March, setting out to address issues that affect all five counties. Click here to read more »
But if you couldn’t make it, no problem – you can get a copy of the presentation slides here. And feel free to email Jack at thechallenge@sas.upenn.edu if you still have any questions.
Compete in the 1st annual Public Policy Challenge! Join us at Fels for one of two upcoming Interest Meetings:
Tuesday, 10/20 @ 5pm OR Sunday, 10/25 @ 7pm
Find out more About the Challenge or email thechallenge@sas.upenn.edu with questions.
On Thursday, October 1st, Jack Higgins presented his work on the Public Policy Challenge at a reception for recipients of the GAPSA-Provost Award for Interdisciplinary Innovation.
Jack received the GAPSA-Provost Award last spring, allowing him to spend his summer developing the Challenge, an interdisciplinary student competition focused on civic campaigns and policy initiatives that impact the Greater Philadelphia region. The competition will launch this academic year and is open to all Penn students.
Questions? Email thechallenge@sas.upenn.edu
