![]() Khalid also collaborated with the Office of Women’s Advancement during their restructuring process to strengthen their assistance with menstrual hygiene and reproductive health and worked with the Office of Food Justice to evaluate their Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program. She released a blog post on the results of the survey in May. “It was most important to be given the opportunity to lead the Childcare Survey, which is a first-in-the-nation approach to understanding childcare in Boston.” Khalid also analyzed the data from the 2021 Living and Learning Debt Survey, which sought to better understand the impact of student debt on home ownership in Boston. “This was one of the most valuable deliverables during my fellowship,” Khalid said. The Mayor’s Office of Women’s Advancement and the Boston Opportunity Agenda have issued this survey twice now, and Khalid’s work involved analyzing the data from the 2021 survey to write a report and beginning work on the 2022 survey. One project, the Childcare Census, sought to understand the preferences and challenges of parents to children aged 0–5 years old. Her primary responsibilities entailed playing a role in the Economic Mobility Lab, where she was responsible for reporting to the Chief of Equity and Inclusion, leading all the initiatives of the Economic Mobility Lab, and working collaboratively with Mayor Wu’s Office of Women’s Advancement on data-driven projects that study how the needs of Boston’s citizens are met. Khalid said, “I like to use data to inform policy-that’s what I enjoy most.” ![]() Khalid balanced several projects throughout the course of her yearlong internship, being drawn to work on as many projects as she could handle. In her role as a Policy Research Fellow at the Economic Mobility Lab, Khalid collaborated with several departments within Mayor Wu’s office, including the Office of Women’s Advancement, the Office of Early Childhood, and the Office of Food Justice. I wanted to put my research into practice, and because was I done with my coursework, I wanted a fellowship that would really teach me and give me the experience of working in a role where I can put my research into practice by using data and all of the skills that I had learned in my PhD program,” Khalid said. “I was very interested in working with the local government here at the city level. The internship attracted Khalid since it would allow her a platform with which to put her research into practice following the completion of her core coursework in the Public Policy program. Samiya Khalid, a doctoral student in the Public Policy program, completed her one-year fellowship with Mayor Wu’s office in August, completing a chapter of her career that she described as “important for my professional growth.” Reflecting on the experiences of the internship, Khalid noted, “Having spent a year at Boston City Hall and working closely with the Mayor’s Office team, I feel that I learned the importance of teamwork and collaboration.” Khalid began the internship in September of 2021 as part of a partnership between UMass Boston and the City of Boston to promote students’ experiences in local government policymaking and research. ![]() Adam Mooney | McCormack Graduate School |
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