This summer, first year Goldman School of Public Policy MPP students are all over the country and the globe pursuing internships in government, non-profits, and the private sector. Below are just a few of the one hundred internships via which students are gaining real-world policy experience. Steven Almazan Where are you? I am interning in Los Angeles with The Broad Center (TBC), a non-profit organization that prepares strong system-level leaders in public k-12 education. What are you doing? As a…

It is with great sadness that I report the passing of Professor Arnold Meltsner. Professor Meltsner was one of the founding faculty members of the Goldman School of Public Policy. He taught "Pol Org" for years and he helped generations of students learn how to think like policy analysts and to write clear, lucid, and persuasive memos. Arnold came late to academia after a distinguished career in government, and he was devoted to the notion of policy analysis. From 1975…

Prefect Stone, 7, has his ear examined by Will Williams of The Children’s Health Center in Macon, Ga. Children could be among the most affected by cuts to Medicaid. Woody Marshall The Telegraph (Macon, Ga.) Right now, behind closed doors, U.S. senators are working on their version of the American Health Care Act to replace the Affordable Care Act. Based on what we know, we can expect staggering cuts to Medicaid. My patients are children. The…

Dear GSPP Community: Here's something I wrote this morning as I thought about the violence in Washington DC. In one of his memorable comic sketches, George Carlin compares baseball to football. Football is warlike, but baseball is played on a grassy field, it has pastoral images, it is peaceful, and it is about getting home. This sketch, along with Ken Burns’ documentary series on the history of baseball as America’s pastime, has been rolling through my…

The inferno in London is out, mainly because the entire flammable contents of the building have burned up. Fire hoses cannot deliver water to the upper floors of such buildings, and the ladders trucks can bring to the scene don’t reach nearly high enough. Many more deaths will be recorded -- I expect a toll in the dozens -- as the search for the missing continues. Police and fire brigades told people to stay in their…

Key Takeaway  Students of color are harmed by brutal policies that exist both inside and outside of schools, but reforms are readily available. Find Documents Press Release: http://nepc.info/node/8699 NEPC Publication: http://nepc.colorado.edu/publication/law-and-order Contact William J. Mathis: (802) 383-0058, wmathis@sover.net Janelle Scott: (510) 642-4740, jtscott@berkeley.edu Michele Moses: (303) 492-8280, michele.moses@colorado.edu Kara Finnigan: (585) 275-9942, kfinnigan@warner.rochester.edu Learn More NEPC Resources on…

GSPP Alumni - Vote in this year's Alumni Association Board elections! Your input will strengthen our Association, which is now entering its 19th year, in selecting its future leadership and help the Board represent the diversity of our alumni community. Those who are elected will join the GSPPAA Board of Directors this Fall 2017. To cast your vote, please check your email for a message that includes your individual link to the ballot. If you did not receive this email,…

For many American voters in the past election cycle, the offensive bravado and hawkish wave of populism that ushered Donald Trump into the White House appeared like a one-off in the modern history of Western politics; but they may be surprised to find their European counterparts facing the same flurry of aggressive nationalism. Amidst the presidential campaign season in France, Trump finds a rival demagogue in presidential hopeful Marine Le Pen, who leads France’s Far-Right party, the National…

In 2016, the Associated Press was awarded its 52nd Pulitzer Prize for a riveting investigative report about slavery in the Thai fishing industry. The story — the work of an international group of AP reporters, photographers, and editors — drew worldwide attention and eventually led to the release of 2,000 enslaved men.  “That story was the ‘Emancipation Proclamation’ for those men,” says AP CEO Gary Pruitt (MPP ’81/JD ’82). “I happened to be in Bangkok…

In the fall of 1978, as I started my graduate work at GSPP, Berkeley voters were considering a rent control measure. As we examined it in class, the lesson quickly became clear: policy should be driven by good analysis before politics. Otherwise, we devolve into a world of unintended consequences. It’s up to the policy analyst to deliver a neutral review of costs, effectiveness and alternatives, even if doesn’t meet the preconceived notions of decision-makers. As…