About Us

The Policy Innovation Lab is a special initiative of the McCourt School of Public Policy. It was launched five years ago as an experiment with the purpose of enabling McCourt to step up its commitment to and involvement with hometown Washington, DC. This required looking beyond the Federal presence and focusing on DC’s neighborhoods, communities, and the people living in them. Social and economic indicators and overpowering issues related to equity, equality, and opportunity further narrowed the Lab’s attention to communities and people living in Wards 7 and 8, east of the Anacostia River.

The Lab was established as a social justice initiative with a clear vision, mission and set of values from which it has not waivered. Through seminars, trainings, conversations with multiple stakeholders and hands-on work, the Lab teaches graduate public policy students about critical urban policy issues, particularly in the District of Columbia.

Our Vision, Mission, and Values

Vision

We envision a world where policy responds to the needs of communities and each individual has equal opportunity to learn, grow, and lead a fulfilling life.

Mission

We shape leaders who partner with communities to create and implement policy that serves and responds to their needs.

Values

Racial Equity

Racial Equity exists when a person’s future cannot be predicted by race. Structural and systemic racism are largely responsible for the concentration of poverty and related harms among black people in Wards 7 and 8. We are thoughtful, intentional, and explicit when considering the impacts of race and racism in the communities we serve.

Social Justice

We support equitable political, economic, and social structures that promote justice for each member of our society. It is essential to understand intersectionality between systems of power and privilege that result in different outcomes according to one’s distinct identities.

Respect for Communities

The residents of Wards 7 & 8 should determine the future of their respective communities. The Policy Innovation Lab is committed to learn from stakeholders through empathy and active listening. This commitment acknowledges the Lab’s unique composition of graduate students willing to challenge divisive structures.

Integrity

The Policy Innovation Lab is committed to transparency through the sharing of goals, processes, and limitations with student members and community partners. The Lab is flexible, willing to adjust its work and practices based on actively solicited feedback. Transparency and flexibility ensure accountability, sustainability, and responsiveness as the Lab evolves.

Humility

The Lab acknowledges its privilege, and positions community engagement at the center of its work. We are not experts, but we are committed to listening and learning from partners with direct experience and knowledge of the communities in Wards 7 and 8. We remain willing to critically engage with our beliefs, approaches, and goals — as well as the opinions, ideas, and information that we encounter as we move forward. The beliefs, approaches, and goals we hold are the result of critical engagement with stakeholders, and members commit to evaluating their preconceived opinions as the result of humble community engagement.

Innovation

Conventional approaches may not resolve complex issues, so the Lab focuses on finding new strategies, theoretical approaches, and practices to solve seemingly intractable problems. We do not promote ideas because they are novel or new, but focus on intentional approaches and policies that place people and their communities at the center of the policymaking process.

Faculty Leadership

Lab Directors

Amanda Lu

Executive Director

Dr. Amanda Lu is the current executive director of the Policy Innovation Lab. She is a faculty director and assistant teaching professor at McCourt. She holds a PhD in Education Policy and MPP from Stanford University. Dr. Lu’s work focuses on the implications of privatization and decentralization of public schooling for communities of color and conditions necessary to implement policies which increase educational opportunities for marginalized communities.

Her role at the lab includes maintaining relationships with lab partners, overseeing the lab’s curriculum, instructing lab sessions, mentoring students on their projects, and planning lab events.

Cassandra Ramdath

Co-Director

Dr. Cassandra Ramdath is the co-director of the Policy Innovation Lab and the Director of Research and Evaluation at the Center for Innovations in Community Safety at Georgetown Law. She holds a PhD from John Jay College of Criminal Justice, the City University of New York. Her research portfolio focuses on reforming systems through research and policy, examining the intersection between health and justice, studying and implementing procedural fairness, and improving community safety.

Her role at the lab includes advising on lab curriculum, providing instructional support for research methods, and mentoring students on their projects.