Civic Leadership Academy Alums Enrich the Education of UChicago Students

One may imagine that once their classes with the Civic Leadership Academy (CLA) are finished, alumni fully re-immerse themselves in their high-profile roles in nonprofits and government agencies throughout Cook County, and that’s the end of that. But many don’t end up leaving the University of Chicago behind for long.

The Center for Effective Government (CEG) at the Harris School of Public Policy houses CLA and organizes programming including innovative “policy treks,” mentoring, panels, and events. The nearly 300 alumni of CLA – which this year celebrates its 10th anniversary – continue to enrich the education of students at Harris and across the university through sharing their knowledge and experience.

Each year, CLA provides leadership development for a 30-member cohort of people at the mid or upper level of their career in such varied fields as juvenile justice, education, public safety, law and the arts, to list just a few. With the wealth of opportunities the extensive CLA network provides, CEG and Harris focus on building bridges between CLA alumni, who are already established in their careers, and students who want to be leaders in those same sectors.

“Because one of CEG’s primary focuses is developing relationships with practitioners, it’s important for us to help build bridges between students and experienced leaders in their fields,” said Sadia Sindhu, executive director at CEG. “There’s immense value in helping pass the wisdom and institutional knowledge of experienced practitioners on to the innovative young minds who will help shape our democracy in the years to come. That investment in the future of effective governance is a key part of our mission.”

CEG teams with the university’s Institute of Politics (IOP) on the policy treks, which pair CLA fellows and current UChicago students on deep dives into pressing policy topics.

“CLA fellows tend to be rock stars in their field and, for us, become strategic partners,” said Purvi Patel, director of civic and campus engagement for the IOP. “We are constantly trying to provide role models locally to give students a sense of how they can be engaged in public service work in the broadest sense possible. For us, CLA alumni are like a library of cool experts doing interesting work based on a whole range of policy issues.”

Among the ways that CLA fellows have collaborated across campus is with the IOP’s Equitable Transit Policy Challenge. Eighteen student teams submitted pitches on ways to improve Chicago’s transit system. The winning team, as judged by CLA fellows, proposed a bus rapid transit network in the Chicagoland area to decrease wait times, increase ridership, and enhance rider experience. 

The CEG also just launched a pilot program with UChicagoGRAD, the university’s resource center for graduate and postdoctoral students, which matches CLA alumni with PhD students for fully funded internships. 

“We have these really talented PhD students,” said Kathrin Kranz, director of experiential education and outreach for UChicagoGRAD, “and we have these super involved alumni from CLA, so we decided, ‘Why don't we work together to see if we can do something that benefits the alumni from CLA and helps students get access to a range of organizations?’

“They want to be in the weeds trying to think deeply about a problem that an organization is facing and trying to use their skills, such as data analysis skills, to come up with ideas and have a positive impact,” Kranz added. “This opens so many doors for them.”

CLA alumni also volunteer their time and expertise for the Harris Mentor Program, which matches a public policy graduate student with a mentor in their field for a year of professional development. Mentor-mentee pairs meet throughout the academic year to discuss policy issues, explore career paths, and network with other mentor program participants.

“There is so much pressure on professional relationships,” said Carrianne Carallis (CLA'18) about her experience working with students in the Harris Mentor Program. “You need someone that understands your experience but that you can truly say what you are thinking. You don’t need to speak often — just to know that you have a connection where you can bounce ideas around if you need to, especially if you’re nervous or unsure about potential outcomes.”

From hosting policy treks to taking on PhD students as interns, the CLA alumni community plays an active role in enriching the educational experience of students at Harris and UChicago. Many alumni are generous with their time despite busy schedules, seeking to be the mentors and resources that they wish they’d had at early stages of their own careers.

“CLA alumni want to continue to be connected and support wherever we can,” said Shavion Scott (CLA’20), managing director of urban resilience for the nonprofit Center for Neighborhood Technology.

 “When you go through the CLA experience, it's not just for that period of time, it's lifelong,” she added. “And as you learn more and more about the CLA universe and the University of Chicago connections, you realize you now are connected to every CLA class before you and you are a resource for every student that comes after you.”

 “It is,” she said, “this beautiful kind of ripple effect.”