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Skin in the game Applied Policy Seminar puts students to work for local governments, NGOs By Jeff Mortimer
W
hen Susan Pollay, executive director of the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority (DDA), wanted to document the economic impact of her organization and others like it around the state of Michigan last fall, she sought help from the Ford School. Development authorities like Pollay’s are funded through a mechanism called Tax Increment Financing, which allows them to capture some of property tax growth from new construction in their district—funds that would otherwise go to other local taxing entities. As those entities’ budgets have become increasingly stretched, though, this mechanism has been increasingly questioned.
some amazing ways to convey information that I might not otherwise be able to convey about what our DDA does, how we do it, and how effectively we do it. I just used it yesterday, sharing the contents with someone in the county community development department.” While Pollay well understands the educational value the students receive, “this was clearly a benefit to me as someone who’s working in the community.” Public service has been a vital part of the mission of the Ford School and its antecedents from the start, through commissioned research projects, faculty service to government agencies, and an insistence that students
“Four students who were incredibly smart, incredibly creative, and incredibly experienced for their age did an amazing job to put together as professional a report as I have ever seen.” — Susan Pollay, Ann Arbor DDA
“We are very happy campers,” she says. “We would do it again in a heartbeat. Four students who were incredibly smart, incredibly creative, and incredibly experienced for their age did an amazing job to put together as professional a report as I have ever seen. The intelligent, thorough approach they took resulted in an outstanding final product that has served in
engage in professional internships to earn their degrees. From 1913 into the 1960s, the program’s Bureau of Government conducted policy research for dozens of state, county, and local governing bodies. Later, individual faculty integrated applied policy projects into their courses, and in 1997, the school launched a new graduate course, the Applied Policy Seminar (APS), to continue the tradition. In the early years, Applied Policy Seminar students generally worked for a single client, but in 2010, the format was changed to allow small teams of students to assist a larger number of organizations. Since then,
STreet scene Photos: VisitAnnArbor.org
Although Pollay thought the project would be a good fit for the Applied Policy Seminar, a semester-long graduate course in which teams of students serve as consultants for community organizations, the quality of the product, and the experience, blew her away.