Harris Policy Labs is a unique initiative in which teams of second-year (or second-third quarter MA) Harris students apply their rigorous core education to real-time public policy challenges facing client organizations. Students who complete the program have the chance to make an impact in their policy area of interest before they graduate, and are better-prepared policy professionals with a competitive advantage in the job market. In this post, we round up some resources to learn more about the opportunities available to students through Policy Labs.

Watch this video to hear from students and alumni about their unique opportunities with Harris Policy Labs.

Some of the organizations our Policy Labs students have worked with include:

• California Air Resources Board
• Chicago Department of Transportation
• Chicago Urban League
• Chicago Community Trust
• City of Gary, Indiana
• Cook County Department of Environment & Sustainability
• Illinois Department of Financial & Professional Regulation
• Illinois Medical District
• International Alert
• Mercy Corps
• Millennium Challenge Corporation
• Oxfam
• United Nations
• United States Conference of Mayors
• University of Chicago Medicine
• World Bank

Harris at Home: Bridge Between Theory and Practice, Harris Policy Labs Provide Valuable Remote Experiences

“There is no such thing as ‘perfect’ in the real world and we want our students prepared for that,’’ says Carol Brown, Executive Director of Harris Policy Labs. This article provides several examples of the ambiguities, imperfect data, and other complexities Policy Labs students encountered in projects for Mercy Corps and + Peace, two global nonprofit organizations.

Read the article: "Harris at Home: Bridge Between Theory and Practice, Harris Policy Labs Provide Valuable Remote Experiences"

With Strong Harris Ties, Pilot Light Makes a Difference in Childhood Nutrition

Policy Lab students assisted the nonprofit Pilot Light with integrating food education into 65 K-12 classrooms in Chicago Public Schools.

Read the article: “With Strong Harris Ties, Pilot Light Makes a Difference in Childhood Nutrition"

Learning by Doing Through Harris Policy Labs

Harris alumni had the opportunity to work with Oxfam America to improve workers’ rights and the Metropolitan Planning Council to improve the Chicago Rivers System as part of their Policy Labs experience.

Read the article: "Learning by Doing Through Harris Policy Labs"

Poised for Growth: Harris Policy Labs students help uncover opportunities for investment on Chicago’s West Side

This article shows how Policy Labs students worked with Illinois Medical District’s Opportunity Zones Project to find opportunities for investment on Chicago’s West Side. “Learning how to look for information and how to work with the data you get — because it’s never going to tell you everything you want to know — is key to Policy Labs projects”, says the Policy Labs' Academic Director Paula Worthington.

Read the article: "Poised for Growth: Harris Policy Labs students help uncover opportunities for investment on Chicago’s West Side"
 

The Chicago Community Trust and Chicago Urban League Put Theory into Practice

Two student teams worked with the Chicago Urban League (CUL) to reimagine revenue strategies and The Chicago Community Trust (the Trust) to find policy indicators and tools to close the region’s racial and ethnic wealth gap.

Read the Article: "The Chicago Community Trust and Chicago Urban League Put Theory into Practice"