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Evans School of Public Policy & Governance

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Civic Leadership Goes Beyond the Public Sector

Nathan Loutsis speaks with Evans School Dean Jodi Sandfort at the 2022 NextGen Launch event.
Nathan Loutsis speaks with Evans School Dean Jodi Sandfort at the 2022 NextGen Launch event.

For Nathan Loutsis, newly elected city councilperson for the city of Kenmore and a University of Washington undergraduate, it’s important to stir a desire for public service in everyone, not just folks working in the public sector.

“The private sector does a lot for the public good as well,” Loutsis said. “Partnerships with the public sector to build affordable housing through private developers, nonprofits who work with the public sector to provide a public good, there’s always going to be an opportunity to serve. Inspiring passion for public leadership now is something that is not strictly allocated for the public sector, but it’s for any student, no matter what they do.”

Loutsis’ first brush with public service came when he was appointed to Kenmore’s planning commission at age 16. He fell in love with public service immediately and knew that working for the public good, specifically at the local level, was what he was called to do. Last fall, Loutsis ran for, and was elected to, Kenmore’s City Council.

Part of Loutsis’ academic journey has been his involvement in NextGen Civic Leader Corps, a UW tri-campus, interdisciplinary program that exists to broaden lanes to public service. NextGen launched in 2022, with a pilot year in 2021, as a collaboration between the Community Engagement & Leadership Education (CELE) Center and the Evans School of Public Policy & Governance. The program is also part of a growing network of similar programs across the country powered by the Volcker Alliance Next Generation Service Corps.

Throughout the academic year, the NextGen community engages in myriad activities centered on public service. Students engage with leaders in the field, attend skill building workshops, and participate in community service and networking events. This coursework is aimed at connecting students to like-minded peers and deepening an understanding of, and commitment to, public service. The program is open to all UW undergraduate students who are passionate about public service, community engagement, and civic leadership, regardless of major.

“I like to think we are one of many programs across campus intentionally creating conditions and opportunities for students to explore and strengthen their service mindset,” said Amen Tsegai, who serves as NextGen’s program manager and helps guide the vision, strategy, and implementation of various aspects of the program. “We expose students to hear and learn from practitioners in the community and encourage them to make room for other ways of knowing and leading by centering others. I also believe when we are in service with others, we gain insights into the lives of those we serve and expand our understanding and awareness. And so our students truly benefit from it.”

For Loutsis, the program has already had an impact on his career. He connected with leaders from the greater Seattle area at events hosted by NextGen to talk about issues faced by various communities, learn about successful strategies, and take them back to the city of Kenmore.

“NextGen has given me numerous opportunities to work with and hear from others with different perspectives and backgrounds, providing me with new ways of approaching situations and developing more equitable solutions to challenges that face our community,” said Loutsis, who participates as a student advisor. “I think it is an awesome program because it’s for everyone. It’s not restricted to a single major or minor. It’s not tailored to political science students or even public policy minor folks. Anyone who’s interested in public service and leadership can be involved.”

NextGen Students Connect with Elected Officials

On October 25th, NextGen students from UW’s Seattle, Tacoma, and Bothell campuses gathered at the Burke Museum for an inspiring evening with elected officials and UW alum from Washington state. The event was co-sponsored by UW IMPACT and brought over 60 undergraduate students and eleven elected officials for an evening of networking, connections, and conversations about career trajectory, commitment to public service, and UW experiences.

The NextGen Civic Leader Corps program is part of a growing network of universities across the nation that aims to inspire and prepare undergraduates to serve in their communities and the nation.

Student Consulting Lab Project Shapes Wildland Firefighter Compensation Policy Conversation

Recent MPA grads Mohammed Alkhars, David Lu, Sam Perkins, and Evan Pierce are helping shape the conversation around wildland firefighter compensation through their capstone project. Not only have they talked with senate and congressional staffers about the report, it’s been picked up by media outlets including the Guardian, Al Jazeera, Washington Post, and NBC, among quite a few others.

Check out their Student Consulting Lab report.

UW Center on Risk and Inclusion in Food Systems (CRIFS) Launches with Support from the Evans School and The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Panelists discussing SSP Commercialization and Income Diversification under Risk. From left to right, June Lukuyu (UW), Ana Paula de la O Campos (FAO), Saweda Liverpool-Tasie (MSU), Avinash Kishore (IFPRI), and Ken Giller (Wageningen)

We are excited to announce the launch of the Center on Risk and Inclusion in Food Systems (CRIFS) a partnership of the University of Washington’s Evans School of Public Policy & Governance, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), and the Evans School Policy Analysis & Research Group (EPAR).

CRIFS’ mission is to generate policy and action-focused research for improving the lives and livelihoods of small-scale agricultural producers (SSPs), inclusive of women, in low- and middle-income countries, through increased contributions of social, climate, and other scientists to advancing cost-effective strategies for managing risks and volatility as food systems transform.

The CRIFS launch kicked off on the UW campus with a technical workshop on measuring resilience in collaboration with UC Davis Professor Michael Carter and his USAID Feed the Future Lab on October 16. A day of small working group meetings was followed by a learning event co-hosted by CRIFS and BMGF, focused on topics central to investing in food systems facing heightened climate and associated risks in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. The event brought together a blend of donors, practitioners, and researchers to provide a common grounding in key concepts and definitions, current and projected climate risks faced by food systems actors, and the state of applied research.

From left to right, Amaka Nnaji (UW), Nnemeka (Edith) Ihegwuagu (Agricultural Research Council of Nigeria (ACRN), Nnenna Ogbonnaya-Orji (UW), and Peter Agamile (UW)

Learning Event Sessions

The six sessions of the learning event covered the broad themes of risk measurement, sub-national heterogeneity, statistical vs. perceived risk, and decision-making under uncertainty, with a strong emphasis on perspectives and methods that embed gender and nutrition dimensions.

  • Session 1: Risk Fundamentals 1 – Biophysical food system risks and SSPs
    • Chris Funk (UCSB), Mario Herrero (Cornell), Tess Russo (BMGF), and Heidi Webber (ZALF)
  • Session 2: Bringing Risk, Nutrition, and Gender into South Asian Climate Platforms and Policies
    • Pramod Aggarwal (Borlaug Institute for South Asia), Prabhu Pingali (Cornell), and Shelly Sundberg (BMGF)
  • Session 3: Risk Fundamentals 2 – Decision-making and Behavior Change: Risk Perceptions, Poverty, and Risk Communication
    • Ann Bostrom (UW), Alison Cullen (UW), and Crystal Hall (UW)
  • Session 4: SSP Commercialization and Income Diversification under Risk: Institutions, Infrastructure and the Enabling Environment
    • Stanley Wood (BMGF), Ana Paula de la O Campos (FAO), Ken Giller (Wageningen), Avinash Kishore (IFPRI), June Lukuyu (UW), Saweda Liverpool-Tasie (MSU), and Shelly Sundberg (BMGF)
  • Session 5: Advancing Measurement of Post-Shock Resilience
    • Peter Agamile (UW), Michael Carter (UC Davis), and Jenny Frankel-Reed (BMGF)
  • Session 6: Can Increased Food Security Strengthen Inclusive Institutions?
    • Didier Alia (UW), James Long (UW), Sameer Shah (UW)

CRIFS to Address Key Elements of Decision-Making

There has been a steady supply of innovative agricultural technologies over the last few decades, but the rate of sustained uptake remains stubbornly low. This is due, in part, to technical knowledge about potential adaption strategies outpacing our understanding of SSP decision-making facing risks. Addressing this disconnect is urgent as climate change increases many SSPs’ exposure to flooding, drought, and extreme temperatures, which compromises rural household production and leads some families to cope by dipping into savings, selling livestock, or reducing food intake.

Stanley Wood (BMGF) closing the learning event with reflections

Which is why CRIFS is interest in the bio-physical and political economy of food systems that matter as SSPs make daily decisions on risk/return trade-offs that affect their enterprise and livelihood trajectory. CRIFS is concerned not only with decisions made for managing extreme events, or climate shocks, but with the ongoing communication and choices that may either expose SSPs to excessive risk, or limit their investment potential and, in aggregate, hinder inclusive agricultural transformation.

New Research on Public Investments in Community College Baccalaureate Degrees Will Investigate Program Approval and Development Data

In recent years, the landscape of higher education has witnessed a significant shift, marked by the proliferation of Community College Baccalaureate (CCB) degrees across 24 states that now award more than 25,000 bachelor’s degrees annually, and growing. Advocates of CCB degrees argue they cultivate talent and bolster state and regional economies, at the same time providing access to baccalaureate programs of study for adult learners and others who are rooted in communities where they work and care for family members and friends.

The University of Washington, in partnership with the firm Bragg & Associates and the Community College Baccalaureate Association is pleased to announce a new $250,000 grant from the Strada Education Foundation to research the data that states and colleges use to make the case for CCB degrees, identifying the strengths and limitations of current CCB policies and program approval processes. Phase one of this multiphase study occurs over the next 18 months and allows the research team to investigate program approval and development processes for new CCB programs in two states. By leveraging mixed methods and data-driven insights, results of the study will inform higher education decision-making and, ultimately, fortify state and local economies by ensuring adults and others served by community colleges gain opportunities for well-paying careers and lifelong learning. While the focus is on CCB degrees, the implications extend beyond community colleges to public investments in higher education.

Dr. Elizabeth Meza, Principal Investigator at the University of Washington Evans School of Public Policy and Governance described this study as “the first to systematically investigate data used for decision-making about CCB program approval and development. If colleges get this right and can provide quality degrees that students want and the labor market demands, all for an affordable cost, it can be a big win. However, the challenge is that’s a lot of moving pieces to consider.”

Dr. Meza, working in partnership with co-Principal Investigator Dr. Debra Bragg of Bragg & Associates, Inc., will examine data used for supply and demand analysis, curriculum and instructional design, partnerships involving colleges and employers and community-based organizations, and equity in student access and program outcomes. According to Dr. Bragg, “an important question the study will ask is how the case for new CCB programs address whether these programs create more equitable baccalaureate pathways for racially minoritized and other under-served populations.”

The Community College Baccalaureate Association (CCBA) is partnering in this project to ensure a robust network of colleges is involved and results are shared nationwide.

Evans School research team studies ballot rejections to improve voter experience

Vote by mail ballot, envelope and pen on table

Registered voters in Washington State will be receiving their vote-by-mail ballots in the next few days. Washingtonians have been voting by mail for over a decade and voter turnout in Washington routinely is among the highest in the country. Despite the success of vote-by-mail, a research study by the Evans School of Public Policy & Governance at the University of Washington has been examining why ballots are rejected to improve the voter experience and inform efforts by state and county leaders to continue to reduce the number of ballots rejected in any election.  

For a ballot to be valid and counted, it must meet three conditions: Completed ballots must be placed in an official ballot drop box by 8 p.m. on election day or postmarked by election day. Ballot envelopes must be signed by the voter. And, that signature must match the voter’s signature on file with their county elections office. For most voters the signature to match is the one on your driver’s license or state ID, because people commonly register to vote when getting or updating their driver’s license and the Department of Licensing. 

County elections offices process ballots and decide whether the signature from the ballot envelope matches what is on file. Ballots without a signature or without a matching signature are thus “challenged” and voters have the opportunity to “cure” or correct their ballot. Counties send out ballot cure letters within 24 hours of a ballot being challenged, which invites voters to submit by mail or in-person a signature verification that cures the ballot. If voters have a phone number on file, they also should receive a phone call from their county election office. Challenged ballots are rejected if they are not cured at the time election results are certified, which occurs about three weeks after election day. 

Study director and Evans School Professor Scott Allard reports that roughly 98 to 99 percent of ballots cast in November elections since 2012 have arrived on time with an envelope signature that matches the voter’s signature on file. “Even with this level of success, far too many ballots are rejected each election,” according to Allard. Although each general election is a little different, the study finds that about one-half of rejected ballots in November elections without a presidential or midterm congressional election (a.k.a. off-off-year elections) are simply received late. “Off-off-year elections like those this November get less media attention and less public discussion, which makes it easier to forget to return your ballot on time,” Allard notes. 

Project team member Calista Jahn observed several counties processing ballots in November 2022, “it is clear from watching county election offices work that they process ballots carefully and securely and receive training in signature matching that ensures integrity in the voting process. Our election workers are focused on ensuring elections have integrity and that all valid ballots are counted.” The study finds that about 1 in 8 rejected ballots lack a signature, with roughly one-third of rejected ballots challenged for signature mismatches in off-off-year elections.  

UW researchers found, however, that about 60 percent of all challenged ballots in November elections are cured before counties certify their final election results. “While this shows that ballot curing processes work, we should still have it be a goal to reduce the number of ballots needing to be cured,” Allard said. 

The Evans School study team final report will be delivered to the Secretary of State in early November, but other key findings stand out as voters prepare to fill out their ballots in the next few weeks. 

With these results in mind, the study team offers three simple guidelines for voters this election season. “First, sign your envelope,” notes Professor Allard. “Second, when you sign your envelope – sign your name as you do on your driver’s license or state ID. Third, mail or deposit your ballot early – ideally the week before election day, which this year is on Tuesday, November 7, 2023. This will ensure your ballot arrives on time and that you have time to cure your ballot before election day, just in case you forget to sign the envelope or signed too quickly for there to be a good match.” 

Voters can go to the Secretary of State elections website and follow their ballot through processing. Allard recommends that voters contact their county election offices with any questions they have about their ballot. He notes that voters also can go to their county election office websites to learn more about vote-by-mail and about ballot curing processes. “Sign your envelope, sign with your license signature, and return your ballot early,” encourages Allard. 

People Mentioned

Scott W. Allard

Scott Allard headshot
Daniel J. Evans Endowed Professor of Social Policy
(206) 221-4872

Cali Jahn

Innovation & Engagement Manager

Alumni Spotlight: Channing Nesbit, MPA ’20

We recently connected with Evans alum Channing Nesbit, who shared about his path from student-athlete on the Husky baseball team to pursuing an MPA at Evans. He also shared about his journey after Evans to the tech social impact sector, and more recently, to the Venture Capital space with Salesforce Ventures and how his experience at Evans has shaped his commitment to equity. 

Channing Nesbitt

Describe your journey towards pursuing your degree at Evans. What inspired you to pursue a career in public service?

Towards the end of my time on the UW baseball team, it became clear that I would not be able to pursue baseball as a career and I began considering what was next for me. Although I had two great internships at King County (thank you Leesa Manion!!), I realized I wasn’t 100% sold on going to law school.  

Around this time, I took Dorothy Bullitt’s Leadership class in 2017 and she ended up becoming a mentor and has since remained a great friend. We would often talk about politics, civic engagement, public policy and what it would mean to operate across all of these spaces. She encouraged me to look deeply at the Evans School program and as I did, I started shifting academic focus towards economic policy and opportunity building. Along with this shift, my long-standing interest in social impact and my desire to serve within my community is what ultimately led me to commit to Evans. The Evans curriculum centered around themes addressing systemic issues that have led to the degree of economic disparity we see today – this shaped my focus on how I can help close this gap to serve communities long-term.  

Describe your journey to the work you’re currently doing and how your MPA helped you get there. 

The journey started with my Evans internship, which focused on social impact with Tableau and Tableau Foundation. This internship gave me experience in grantmaking, project/program management, and an understanding of technology for good that allowed me to learn and grow as a professional and leader. I joined Tableau Foundation after graduating from Evans. Much of my work focused on partnering and collaborating with organizations that were heavily focused on combatting issues that spurred the beginning of the 2020s, such as racial, economic, and educational equality, and criminal justice.

After a few years of growth and organizational changes, I pivoted and wanted to learn and work more closely in the impact investing space. Impact investing focuses on providing avenues for directing capital towards efforts and innovation that provide benefits for larger society through efforts in sustainability, climate, education, and economic opportunity building, especially at scale. This is an industry and space that I believe will play a pivotal role in society going forward by helping to provide a sustainable and equitable future for all.  

I understand that my current role with Salesforce Ventures may not be a typical role where most folks with an MPA may find themselves. But I find it fascinating, especially given the AI innovation we’re seeing. Understanding how these monumental developments will need to be regulated, made accessible, and ultimately used for good is a huge focus for our team and Salesforce at large and something that evolves daily.  

You were involved in leading efforts in student interest groups like the Black Student Athlete Group and EPOC (Evans People of Color). Can you share more about your experiences being a part of these groups as a student?  

Along with other student-athletes, I was a part of starting the Black Student Athlete Group during my time in undergrad, and it’s great to see it is still thriving at UW. As a grad student, I was drawn to fellow classmates who were also passionate about demonstrating a commitment to diversity through our work and leadership on campus, and that led me to become a part of Evans People of Color (E-POC). 

As a member of E-POC, I was able to play a part in helping to organize the UW Evans School Coalition Summit on Race and Equity. It was exciting and energizing to see our community come together to discuss tangible policy and community solutions to the critical issues we’d learned about at Evans and were watching play out in real time. The Summit provided an opportunity for us to learn from experts in the field, share our own experiences, and network with leaders focused on addressing the racial, economic, and educational disparities being perpetuated throughout communities. It was great getting to collaborate with my fellow classmates and see many of their respective lights shine through their leadership, and it seemed to foreshadow of a lot of the amazing work that Evans folks are pursuing today.

The Evans School’s values are equity, courage, and service. In what ways have these values shaped your time as a student?

In general – these are all values that are core to how I aim to show up in everything I do, and have kept me inspired and energized as I wake up every morning. Through the early stages of my career, my role was specifically focused on working with organizations across the country whose missions centered around these themes and more. During my time with Tableau Foundation, we were focused on building and expanding the equitable use of data/data tools. This framed our partnerships with organizations, who were on the ground working with communities to combat injustice and inequity. My time at Evans prepared me to look at every part of my work through the lens of equity, courage, and service. Regardless of what rooms I enter or paths that I will navigate through my life and career, equity, courage, and service are a part of the few constants that I hope will always shine through my actions and energy.

Student Spotlight: Davon Thomas MPA ’23

We recently had the opportunity to connect with soon-to-be MPA graduate Davon Thomas. In addition to years of student leadership as an undergraduate and graduate student, he has participated in civic leadership programs such as Washington Student Achievement Council and Institute for a Democratic Future. We asked Davon about his path to Evans, his memorable experiences as a student, and his aspirations to make an impact for communities of color.

Describe your journey towards pursuing your degree at Evans. What inspired you to pursue a career in public service?

Growing up, my father was in and out of prison. Like many Black men, he is a victim of a system designed to determine your life expectancy by your zip code. As a Black man in America, I have always cared deeply about righting the injustices my father and many others have faced. I can’t make excuses for him, but I can recognize that when you grow up in an underfunded and overpoliced community, your future and life opportunities are bleak. My journey to the policy world and Evans is about justice for those suffering under oppressive systems. I want to utilize the tools here at Evans to create a brighter future for communities of color.

Evans School is preparing to welcome the 2023 cohort of the Junior Summer Institute to campus. You were involved with JSI as an undergraduate student: could you share more about your time with JSI and the impact it made on your academic career and goals?

In 2019, I attended the JSI program at the Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan. Prior to this, I had no intention of attending graduate school. JSI was an opportunity for me to see what the experience would look like and I thrived there. I took graduate-level policy, economics, and statistics courses. After the program was done, I knew I wanted to attend graduate school. JSI gave students from underrepresented backgrounds an experience like no other. We had students, staff, and faculty push us to be our best selves during this program. Now, most of the classmates in my JSI cohort have already or are currently pursuing their MPA.

The Evans School’s values are equity, courage, and service. In what ways have these values shaped your time as a student?

In January 2022, three months after moving to Seattle, I was appointed by Governor Jay Inslee to the Washington Student Achievement Council (WSAC). WSAC is a state agency tasked with raising educational attainment throughout the state and I continue to have the privilege of representing graduate students on council. I get to work on issues such as retention and recruitment, telehealth for students, and increased funding for students. Without the reputation of the Evans School’s commitment to equity, courage, and service, I felt that this appointment would not have happened.

You serve in leadership on the Graduate and Professional Student Senate (GPSS). Could you share more about your role with GPSS and how the Evans School has shaped that work?

I am the Vice President of Internal Affairs for the Graduate and Professional Student Senate (GPSS), which serves as the representative body for graduate students at the UW. In my role, I am responsible for event planning for graduate students across campus and for hiring GPSS staff. In a post-COVID world, it’s very important for students to have events to attend and opportunities to relax. I served as the vice president and president of my student body as an undergraduate, and I’ve continued in student leadership as a graduate student at Evans. Those who join student government do so because it’s a service and at the root of my heart is service. I love this work and I’m grateful I get to serve my fellow students in this capacity.

In addition to your role with GPSS, you’ve also recently returned from a week-long trip in Washington D.C. as part of the class of the Institute for a Democratic Future (IDF). Could you share more about your time with IDF?

Throughout the year, our cohort has spent ten intensive weekends meeting with leaders across Washington state, including local, state, federal, and native elected officials. Recently, we spent one full week in D.C. to meet with Democratic stakeholders, think tanks focusing on Arab American policy relations, and other leaders. This program has enlightened me on the issues impacting our own state. Policy in Washington is centered around Seattle and other major urban hubs, but having the opportunity to explore Eastern Washington and other rural areas reminded me why I went to graduate school in the first place – to improve the quality of life for underfunded and underrepresented communities. My north star, my heart, and my life are all rooted in service and I’m grateful to have participated in a program that aligns with my values.

What is the impact that you hope to leave as alumni of Evans and as you embark on your career journey?

I hope my impact is one of resilience and community. Graduate school has its trials and tribulations. There were more times than not when I wanted to drop out. However, I found a community here that pushed me to be better and do better. You might enter graduate school as an individual, but you leave here with a community. I’m better off for it.

Alumni Spotlight: From Waste Research to Climate Policy Change, Nicolás Díaz Huarnez, MPA ‘20

We had the opportunity to connect with Nicolás Díaz Huarnez, MPA ‘20. As a student, Nicolás supported research for Zero Waste Washington, which led to the passage of the 2022 Organics Management Law in Washington state We chatted with Nicolás about his experience at the Evans School, the work his are currently doing in Chile, and his passion for waste management and its connections to climate change. His current role is with Global Methane Hub as a Project Manager for the Waste and Circular Economy Program. The hub is a global philanthropic effort to address methane emissions in alignment with the Global Methane Pledge which has been subscribed by more than 160 countries to reduce methane emissions globally by 30% by 2030, compared to 2020 emissions.

Conversation edited for length and clarity.

Can you tell us a bit about yourself? What led you to pursue your degree at the Evans School?

Before coming to the Evans School, I wanted to connect science and policy for addressing climate change. I was accepted into the Fulbright program and chose to go to Evans because of its strengths in the environmental policy courses – Seattle and Washington state are also very inspiring places to live and to work on environmental policy. 

Climate change is one of the most pressing threats to governments and people’s livelihoods. I have been working to connect efforts from policy, science, and from everything that’s been done in practice to overcome climate change, and, with time, I have deepened my focus to address the challenges posed by the management of waste.

While you were at Evans, you were involved in a research effort that led to the passage of the 2022 Organics Management Law in Washington state. Can you share a bit more background about your involvement in this cause? How did your Evans education inform and contribute to your approach to this work?

At Evans, I applied to The Cynthia L. and David S. Harrison Endowed Fellowship for Environmental Policy and was selected to take part as an intern with Zero Waste Washington. They do amazing work—it was a very good match for my interests, and they needed someone to focus on organizing a lot of data to assess the landscape of segregated waste collection and drop-off programs across the state and develop a report on this. In addition to the environmental policy concentration, I also took classes on quantitative analysis, and I ended up combining the work from those courses with the project at Zero Waste Washington. 

It wasn’t easy to do an analysis of all jurisdictions across Washington state. I remember looking at more than 300 jurisdictions, so it was very detailed work. This project allowed me to understand the complexity of setting goals at the state level and the implementation at local jurisdictions. This process was a good learning experience of how challenging it can be to align efforts on a larger scale.  

Because of the pandemic, I had to return to Chile with my wife and our two kids. I had just finished up my studies, but I reconnected with Zero Waste Washington before coming back to Chile and joined on to support a follow-up report that was much more focused on organics. 

This second report was very detailed, too, and it contributed to the 2022 Organics Management Law that Washington passed (HB 1799). We worked with data from the State Department of Ecology and conducted more than 60 interviews with representatives of the public and private waste sector across the state. This was a great combination of what I learned at Evans in terms of understanding the policy process in the U.S. – it is very different from my background here in Chile. I think this work was needed to push decision makers across the state to rethink the way it was targeting and dealing with compost and to share the experience from all the advancements that the City of Seattle was leading by then. We were showing what was required to take this big step at the state level given its climate commitments.  

This law is great for Washington state, and we really need to address organics everywhere. I hope this work can permeate the rest of the country and beyond. We need this type of legislation now since we don’t have 100 years to address climate change but less than a decade to avoid its worst consequences.

The Evans School’s values are equity, courage and service. In what ways are these values part of the work you have done and continue doing?

It takes courage just to talk about climate change. Standing and speaking and doing something about it – and in the case of policy makers and everyone that works on public issues, it takes courage and commitment to work towards those types of targets and goals. 

Equity is a cornerstone of what we are doing because you cannot think about waste or emissions without thinking about justice or development or human rights, especially in the waste landscape. It is important because you are talking about people that are exposed to the burden of society because of historical inequities. It is an integral part of whatever you are working on from a public policy lens.  

When you come in against these challenges from a public standpoint, you have to believe in what you are doing and be consistent. Although it can be hard sometimes to stay consistent, it’s about being mindful of what you are trying to address through your work, and the way that this work relates to what you are doing as a citizen, as a person, and, in my case, as a father when considering the inter-generational implications of climate change. 

I’m very happy to know that this is being highlighted as part of Evans’ alumni profiles, because it is critical. When you try to advance this type of agenda, you really need to commit to the values, too.

Could you share some resources that inspire you, either personally or professionally?

I follow the Freakonomics podcast. It’s very interesting because it’s not only economics, but it also covers how policy intersects with common problems that you find on a daily basis.  

For everyone working on climate, please go and read the most recent IPCC report. Also try to connect with the people that are organizing around where you are. Get to know not only what’s being thought about and done on the global landscape, but also at the local level.  

It’s always important to connect with different opinions – to challenge your potential biases and explore new approaches. It can give you a more complete idea of what the challenges and the problems are. And continue to grow as a person, because I think that’s a key part of understanding your place in the world. In Chile we have a saying “who looks for something finds it.” I use that advice all the time. 

Absa Samba, MPA ’23, Helps with Legislative Win for Women and Girls

We recently had the opportunity to sit down for an interview with current MPA student Absa Samba to learn more about her work leading the Washington Coalition to End Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting and their major legislative victory this session – the passage of Washington’s first bill to protect children from this practice, support those who have experienced FGM/C, and educate communities and service providers.  

First, can you tell us a bit about yourself? What led you to pursue an MPA at the Evans School? 

I’m an international student from The Gambia, pursuing a Master of Public Administration and a Master of Social Work. Over the years, I’ve engaged in work and advocacy at the community level, and I’ve seen how policies can be detached from local, everyday realities – I’ve been frustrated by this. I became interested in better understanding how policy formulation works and to be involved in the process. That is what brought me to the MPA program – the disconnect I’ve seen with how policies are shaped and how they impact individuals and communities. I want to see policies work better for the people and communities I serve.  

You’ve been involved in an effort to bring forward legislation pertaining to female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) in Washington State. Can you share more background about your involvement in this cause and the work that led to introducing legislation this year? 

I am a survivor of female genital cutting, and, for so long, I didn’t understand why anyone would be subjected to this harmful practice. In middle school, I had the opportunity to be trained on gender equity. For the first time, I had language for what was happening around me—the social and gender inequities in my society. I always felt it, but I now had a better understanding of the issue, and it changed my life. From then on, I started doing a lot of advocacies around education for girls and against harmful cultural practices like FGM/C.  

When I moved to the U.S. in 2016 to pursue my undergrad at Champlain College in Vermont, I was invited to classrooms to present on FGM/C, and I realized I needed to make the issue make sense to people here. Through research, I found out that FGM/C is an issue in the U.S. with at least 500,000 women and girls at risk. I made sure my presentations touched on FGM/C as a global issue by focusing on what it is in The Gambia, U.S. and globally. It was through those presentations that I was eventually introduced to a Senator in Vermont in 2019. At the time, Vermont, like Washington, did not have a law addressing FGM/C. I would later testify to the Vermont Senate Health and Welfare Committee on why the state should end the practice and why a preventative approach can help empower communities. In 2020, Vermont would pass a law prohibiting the practice of FGM/C. Later that year, I was invited to join the Connecticut Coalition to End FGM/C which aims to get the state to end this practice, and I continue to work with the coalition there to date.  

During my spring quarter of the MPA program at Evans School, I took the policy analysis core class. We were put in small groups to work on a policy issue. Since I had knowledge of the issue of FGM/C and experience with it—my own personal and advocacy work experience—my team agreed to make this the focus of our project. We set out to research what the status of FGM/C is in Washington state. We found that Washington state is ranked the eighth highest risk state for FGM/C in the U.S., and that the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue metro area is ranked the fifth highest risk city in the U.S. with an estimated 25,000 girls and women at risk of or have undergone FGM/C. We also found that there were two bills introduced in the Washington legislature to address FGMC, but they hadn’t made it out of committee.  

Stephen Kosack, our professor, gave us feedback to research why those bills had failed, and, through this research, I connected with Senator Karen Keiser. She introduced a bill in 2019 but couldn’t get it out of committee due to some opposition from affected communities. Through my conversations with the senator, I saw a desire from her to do something about this issue, and to do it right. I decided then to take my work from a class assignment to actually implementing the project. I seized the opportunity – I offered to do a presentation on the issue in Washington, and she took me up on it.   

Senator Keiser invited other senators who chairs various committees to attend the presentation. I knew then that I needed to invite other people to join me in this space and present alongside me. I invited Bettina Shell-Duncan from the UW Department of Anthropology, who has 25 years of research on this subject, and Mariya Taher who runs an organization called SAHIYO. We did the presentation, and, afterwards, we decided we needed to keep the conversation going. We started to invite more and more folks, and it became apparent that there was a desire across the board to address this issue in Washington. 

Personally, I wanted to make sure the voice and needs of individuals and communities impacted by this issue were informing the policy. This goes back to my desire to see policy, from design to implementation, support the best interest of those it’s intended to serve in the first place. We started a coalition of survivors, advocates, legislators, researchers, and national and local organizations to ensure we had an active say in how the bill was crafted. Sen. Kaiser was really generous in making sure the bill contained what we wanted – we had full say on what should and shouldn’t be included in the bill. The coalition itself became survivor-led, which was why it was successful.  

With this approach, it became really exciting to see the support this bill has received. Communities that opposed previous bills joined our coalition to work on this one. Lawmakers have shown their support too—the bill had a unanimous vote in the Senate and a 95 to 1 vote in the House. We also did extensive advocacy during the legislative process, submitting oral and written testimonies to get legislators to see why they should support this bill. 

What are you and your fellow advocates hoping to accomplish with this legislation? 

We wanted a holistic approach to ending the practice of FGM/C in Washington state. We were particularly concerned about a potential law that would contribute to perpetuating the existing inequities in the criminal legal system—we wanted a bill that empowered our communities rather than disempowered them.  

We were successful in getting an FGM/C bill passed that prohibits the cutting of a female minor and allows for civil remedies. It also included a statute of limitations allowing a person up to 10 years after to bring civil action against a cutter or 10 years after their 18th birthday.  

The most crucial part of the bill is its education and outreach component which is intended to help communities across Washington State learn about the issue and support those that have been affected. This component will support education for medical practitioners, teachers, first responders, and service providers to help identify those at risk and to better provide care for survivors. The bill also mandates that the state Department of Health is responsible for the implementation of this provision. I believe this to be the most important part of the bill because there is a culture of silence across the board on FGM/C in Washington state. This bill presents an opportunity to have conversations in our communities and workspaces toward ending FGM/C and making sure survivors are accessing the support and care that they deserve. 

What have you learned from navigating the legislative process to date? In what ways has your Evans School experience informed this work? 

During our class project, we had to identify the various stakeholders affected by FGM/C, what levels of engagement they should have in addressing the issue, and the powers they hold. That helped me to understand who needed to be involved in this process and what voices need to lead the work. I learned why coalitions are important and the power that they have to make meaningful change. Dean Jodi also gave me great advice to start thinking about what implementation looks like to make sure we protect the integrity and intent of the law once passed. This led our coalition to connect with the Department of Health – as the bill mandates, they are responsible for the education and outreach component.  

The biggest lesson I’ve learned is the value and power in having individuals and communities, who a policy is intended to serve, lead the work in shaping the change. In this case, through this approach, we were able to get allies in spaces where it was least expected. We also were able to get a policy we can all be proud of because it will leave communities and individuals empowered. 

Another lesson I have learned is the importance of consensus building in this work. I went into this process with view of how easy it would be to work with a coalition of people who all share a common belief that this practice should be prohibited. But as our coalition grew larger, we had a challenge – we all strongly believed that FGM/C should be banned but had disagreements on what approach we should take. As the facilitator, I also had the responsibility of making sure everyone felt like they were heard and that their opinions are valued, which made it even harder. So, as you can imagine, it took a long and necessary amount of time to talk through the various options and come to a consensus as a group to help us move forward in this work together. In the end, everyone was happy with the decisions that were made. It was challenging and frustrating, but I learned that this is a necessary part of the process. 

I also learned the value of self-care. This work comes with a hidden cost which takes a mental and emotional toll on the people who do it. For many of us, it is our personal and lived experiences that we are using to make the change. The emotional and social implications are huge for many survivors who engage in this work. Which is why compassion is also a big part of the work. No one that did this work with our coalition was paid, and people gave their time, stories, expertise, and resources generously.  

We were driven by the desire to see a Washington state where future generations of girls and women will be protected against FGM/C.  

What’s ahead for you? What do you envision doing after you graduate from the Evans School? 

I am not sure! I want to have a meaningful impact in the world, and I have a desire to see a world where people can be their whole selves. That is the type of work I want to do. 

If you’d like to learn more about protecting children in Washington State from FFM/C, you can view this webinar produced by the Washington Coalition to End FGMC. You can also follow the WA Coalition to End FGM/C on Facebook.