One of the projects undertaken by the CIPA Capstone this semester was for a new environmental group called Climate Changers.  This organization is still in its conceptual stage; they came to the Capstone looking to develop a concrete plan for the growth and development of their organization.  The four-person team of second-year CIPA fellows who worked with Climate Changers included (l to r in photo) Shamir Shehab, Marcus Franklin, Allison Springer, and Wenquing Zhu–all students concentrating their studies on environmental policy.   Throughtout the fall semester, they documented their progress on a blog site.  Following their Capstone Showcase presentation this last week, team leader Allison Springer used her last blog post to reflect back on the project:

“As our Capstone project comes to a close, I am thinking about all of the amazing work that the group has completed this semester and the privilege it was to lead this team of environmentalists. We took an idea for a Climate Changers Capstone and made it our own. Each group member found an element of the project that interested them the most and they perfected it. I initially thought that we would just do a fundraising plan, but alas, we ended up with over 130 pages of content on organizational sustainability, fundraising, communications & messaging, and constituency building & membership. I learned a lot from all the work we did on our literature review, the informational interviews with practitioners, the organization, foundation, and partner profiles, and the final edits of the report. I read every word that we wrote. It is impressive. I couldn’t be happier with the final product.

I found it inspiring to have a dedicated team of CIPA fellows who believe in the work of Jim, Kathy, myself, the Advisory Council, and all the Climate Changers out there in the world. And so, a thank you to Shamir, Vincy, and Marcus, for all your hard work. I hope that you will continue to participate in Climate Changers in the years to come. Congratulations on a successful Capstone!

Note: If you’re interested in more detailed information about this Capstone project, feel free to check out the group’s blog site.

CIPA students participating in our Fall 2015 Capstone debuted the results of their semester-long project management and consulting work on Friday, at a campus-wide exhibit.

This showcase represents hundreds of hours of student work with partner clients including the Panama Canal Authority, Inter-American Development Bank, Climate Changers, the City of Ithaca, and Africa Impact Group, to name just a few. Projects included, among others, feasibility studies, strategic planning, and organizational development.

Also on display at the showcase was our brand new CIPA Capstone video, which I’m excited to share with you here today. Capstone is a brilliant opportunity for our students to do meaningful work, gain hands-on experience, and put their classroom learning to the test in a supportive environment.

If you haven’t already begun your application to our MPA program, I encourage you to do it now. We look forward to featuring your work at a future CIPA Capstone Showcase!

Public engagement is a big part of the MPA experience at CIPA. Throughout your two years here, you will undoubtedly find endless opportunities for incorporating experiential learning into your program. As a second year student, CIPA’s Capstone program will offer you a prime opportunity to showcase your ability to apply classroom skills to real-world challenges. It is a service-learning partnership. Students work with government and nonprofit client-organizations on pro bono consulting projects to mitigate or solve agreed-upon public policy or management problems. The clients may be locally, nationally, or internationally-based. Students enrolled in both the domestic-focused and international-focused Capstone courses this semester are blogging about their experiences.  In the next few weeks, we’ll be sharing a few of these with you. First up is Hanna Choi.

About the Capstone Project: The Friends Centre d’Education Inclusif (CEI):

Friends of Centre d’Education Inclusif (CEI) is a start-up non-profit organization, closely related toCentre d’Education Inclusif (CEI), a Haitian based NGO. The CEI aims to connect communities and improve educational systems by creating the first fully inclusive primary school in Haiti. The Friends of CEI is at its very early stage and it has yet to define a strategy for fund development.

The Capstone team was brought on board to help the organization clearly define its target audiences, value propositions, organization narrative, and a timeline for fundraising goals moving forward.

“These first few weeks as part of the CEI Capstone team has been a humbling experience for me, as I witnessed the infinite passion, hard work, and camaraderie of my Capstone teammates and the members of Friends of CEI. When I first joined the CEI Capstone team, I admitted to having a “passion” for diversified education. By “passion,” I meant that I was highly enthusiastic about the idea of inclusive education in Haiti, and was looking forward to contributing to the cause. I came to realize that my so-called “passion” was but a pittance in comparison to the sincere dedication shown by my colleagues. Helen, JungMin, and I were the “newcomers” to the CEI project. Our knowledge and any sort of sentiment for the cause were limited to the scope of what we had read on paper and heard about through presentations in our Capstone course. My teammates Catherine and Devin, on the other hand, had been with Friends of CEI the semester before. They had joined the organization of their own free will, without any course credits or incentives to show for it. While we (the “newcomers”) could understand the benefits of joining a philanthropic organization, we couldn’t help but wonder: “Why CEI?” After all, there are dozens of organizations on campus alone, not to mention the thousands of “do-good, feel-good” causes outside of Cornell. So we asked our fellow teammates: “What sets CEI apart from other philanthropic organizations?” and “What made you, personally, join Friends of CEI?”

From the way their eyes lit up as they began to speak, we could tell that CEI was more than just a worthy cause or a chance to volunteer—it was something that brought out the best in them, as people, and as future ambassadors of our generation. The project was something they truly believed would make the world a better place. Catherine was enthusiastic as she discussed the future of inclusive education in Haiti. This one school could open doors worldwide, serving as a model for future generations. This collaboration could lead to children having a safe place to study, to grow, and to eventually find the means to care for themselves. And after all that Haiti had been through, how could our hearts not go out to those with such resilience and hope?
Devin grew more passionate as he described how innovative this project was. It had been spearheaded by one Cornell student. One girl, who had the heart to take a step outside of her comfort zone to go to Haiti on a school trip. Who had the kindness in her heart to speak with the local people, and take action on behalf of their needs. Devin also remarked upon how amazing it was that students from Cornell could become involved in a project in Haiti, and contribute to the building of a school that would eventually become self-sustaining. The other members of Friends of CEI were just as passionate about this cause, and it was evident in the enthusiasm they displayed when discussing the architectural design of the new school, in the way they invested their time and energy into the organization, and in the respect and camaraderie they had with each other.

Where we are logistics-wise:

Last week, our team members had several meetings. Our Capstone members met on Monday, September 28 to work on the literature review for the project. We thought it would also be a good idea to do a SWOT analysis, which you can see below.

On Tuesday, Devon and Jungmin interviewed some Friends of CEI members for possible content to use in our future communication plan. There was also a general Friends of CEI team meeting at 4 PM. On Wednesday, our team members presented the methodology behind our literature review. We will have a meeting with our Capstone mentors, Laurie and Carrie, tomorrow, and we can’t wait to get feedback on our progress.”

Are you concerned that your unconventional background will prevent you from making the transition to an MPA program?  Think again.  Ben Sandberg ’17, shares his journey from scenic carpenter at the Berkeley Repertory Theater to MPA grad student at Cornell.

I approached my grad school application process convinced I was not a typical or ideal candidate. Although I graduated from Oberlin College with a triple major in Politics, Sociology and Law/Society, I then proceeded to spend the next 5 years working professionally as a scenic artist. I landed a prestigious fellowship at Berkeley Repertory Theater in scenic construction and was able to develop fabrication skills in many different mediums – including wood working, metal working, rigging, and painting – whatever a scenic design called for! This work appealed to me because I was constantly learning how to build new projects with different materials for an end that only theater would ask. For example, last spring I built a giant swimming pool (combining metal working, carpentry, and fiber-glassing) underneath a stage so that the living room of the set could collapse into it. We wanted the illusion of torrential flooding, something that had to happen every performance, every day, for a two month run!

At first blush, this has little to do with any MPA program. (Though let me know if you find a program that offers welding opportunities). So why an MPA? My work in theater exposed two problems whose apparently contradictory answers steered me towards policy programs. On one hand, many artistic communities struggle to make enough money solely through their artistic production. Many people subsidize their income through part-time, or even full time, work. I wanted to understand why. On the other side of the problem, rising attendance costs excluded all but the wealthy among us from being able to enjoy habitual consumption of the performing arts.

The problem of economic inaccessibility of the arts really struck home through my work with the Oberlin Summer Theater Festival (OSTF). This group is based on the value that the theater it produces needs to be open for everyone in the community to enjoy, regardless of income status. All the shows produced by OSTF are free of admission with the hope that we could make our art accessible to those beyond the typical demographics. All of my exposure to this dual headed monster of low income for artists and economic inaccessibility for consumers set me looking for answers. I wanted to be a part of addressing both of these problems.

Why CIPA?

In my grad school search, I looked at and applied to both MPA/MPP programs and arts management programs. Many of the arts management programs I looked at focused on preparing its students to lead arts organizations. Although these programs have lots of value to offer, I wanted structural solutions to the problems I was interested in. This led to a focus on MPA/MPP programs.

Initially, Cornell was not high on my list of programs. However, through my search, it quickly raced up the hierarchy. I talked to many different program representatives and was met with the nearly universal response: “We don’t really do that here, and I don’t really know where you could find a program like that. Have you thought about arts management programs?” Looking back on this response, it still surprises me. With the increasing amount of academic analysis on arts impact on economic growth and development, I thought it would be easy to find a program that would accommodate my interests. I feel lucky that I ended finding on at CIPA. When I talked with a CIPA representative (shout out to CIPA executive director Professor O’Toole), the response was unlike every other one I received. Instead of saying “We don’t really do that, look somewhere else” he countered with “We don’t really do that, but we have the resources and support for you to do that here”. CIPA welcomed me to pursue my interests within the framework of their MPA program.

“The way the program is structured is incredibly conducive to students interested in pursuing their passions. 

Limited specific requirements ensure that we all pick up the basic analytical tools we’ll need regardless of interest field, but preserves huge flexibility in how we structure the rest of our study. Most importantly, faculty and staff go out of their way to make connections and give you access to areas of your interest. Like I said in opening, I never viewed myself as a typical MPA candidate. In CIPA, that doesn’t necessarily make me unique. Many of my cohorts also chose a path less traveled to get here. This combination of views and experience makes all the difference. I chose CIPA because they asked me what I wanted to do and then empowered me to go after my goals.