Over the holidays, I received notification that I am one of the scholars from the state of Michigan selected for the ENACT: The Educational Network for Active Civic Transformation Faculty Fellows Program. ENACT is a national program engaging housed at Brandeis University's International Center for Ethics, Justice, and Public Life and works to create opportunities for  undergraduates at colleges and universities in state-level legislative change by learning to work with legislators, staffers, and community organizations to advance policy. I'm excited to travel to Boston this summer to meet my fellow faculty fellows and create new opportunities my students to connect with the Michigan legislature.

So, I was at a friend's birthday party over the weekend and someone I hadn't seen in forever said, "Oh my god, I heard you on the radio a while back and it was so exciting!"

​I totally forgot that I spoke with Dustin Dwyer of Michigan Radio about how the newly inplemented Independent Citizens Commission would work. It was a fun and wide-ranging interview. Take a listen here: https://www.michiganradio.org/post/federal-court-ruled-michigan-political-districts-are-gerrymandered-what-comes-next.

World Water Day is Friday, March 22nd. I recorded a podcast about my research on nonprofit organizations and their involvement in helping to assuage the Flint Water Crisis. Take a listen and donate (if you can) to an organization that provides clean water to people in need. 


​World Water Day 2019
​
Waves for Water: Flint, MI

Community Foundation of Greater Flint 

A Call to Action for Water Justice

​

Co-authors, Sarah Reckhow and Josh Sapotichne submitted a piece on philanthropic giving to cities in distress to the Monkey Cage/Washington Post which was posted today. Some interesting observations for cities utilizing philanthropic giving as a lifeline to shoring up public service provision. Read it here. 

One of my favorite classroom activities is profiled in the Urban Affairs Review Engaged Scholarship series today. I use this activity to teach students about the complexity of economic development decisions. Check it out here.

This summer I've been working on disseminating my work to policymakers and civic leaders throughout the United States. I am happy to announce that I just posted my first policy brief with the Scholars Strategy Network (SNN) which connects journalists, researchers, policymakers and civic leaders to share valuable information about public policy. SSN is helmed by Theda Skocpol, one of the foremost scholars of social policy and civic engagement in the US. To be accepted into this group of scholars is incredibly exciting and I can't wait to write new pieces for the network. My first policy brief can be found here.

It was great to have a five minute spot to speak about Prop 2 at the Progressives in the Park event in Grand Rapids last week. Voters Not Politicians was the third slot after Dan Kildee and Jocelyn Benson. See the overview of the event here.

After this week's Michigan Supreme Court decision I was interviewed by 9 and 10 News in Grand Rapids about gerrymandering and its problems. View the spot here.

I was a panelist for the IPPSR Inaugural Public Policy Series on Redistricting held at the Michigan State Capitol in January of this year. The full panel discussion can be viewed here.

Listen to my interview with Shelley Irwin here.