McCourt Team Wins Public Policy Challenge
The winning team of McCourt School students competing in the Georgetown Public Policy Challenge created a plan to increase flu vaccination awareness and accessibility for low income people in Washington D.C.
Team members Anna Heard, Erich Denk, Kevin Washam, Samantha Night and Tina Meins presented CapVax to a panel of judges on Friday, Feb. 23. They envisioned a mobile vaccination clinic that could supply free flu vaccinations to the most vulnerable neighborhoods in Washington D.C., and went on to win this year’s first-place award of ,500.
The other top proposals focused on financial literacy in DC schools and increasing HIV awareness through dating apps.
This year’s judges for the finalists competition included McCourt School interim Dean Michael Bailey, Professor Barbara Schone, Director Margaret O’Bryon of the Policy Innovation Lab, and Director Victoria Canavor of the Baker Center, which co-sponsored the competition.
Modeled after MBA business plan competitions, the Public Policy Challenge provides student teams an opportunity to develop a policy proposal and civic campaign plans to achieve significant change in their communities.
Associate Director of Student Affairs Jaclyn Clevenger developed the challenge at Georgetown, modeling it after the policy challenge at the Fels Institute of Government at the University of Pennsylvania.
“I saw the value of challenging graduate students to learn more about the communities in which they live and to develop innovative ideas designed to create positive change in those communities,” she explained.
Previous winning teams include AppSent, Peace Cluster, and Leveraging Libraries. Each team has gone on to do additional work in implementing their idea in Washington DC, and have partnered with local government agencies, nonprofits and programs within Georgetown University.
This year’s second and third place finalists:
1st Runners Up: “The HIV Epidemic and Potential Role of Smartphone Dating Applications”: Albara Elshaer, Ifrah Fatah, Marco Martinez, Joseph Lopez.
2nd Runners Up: “Improvements in Financial Literacy in DC High Schools”: Stephen Botsford, Jenny Grimberg, Yelena Maleyev.