Policy Innovation Lab
Rooted in a commitment to Washington DC, the Policy Innovation Lab is a special initiative of the McCourt School of Public Policy that offers hands-on experiences to help students develop the skills to create policy that serves and responds to the needs of communities.
The Policy Innovation Lab develops relationships and strategic partnerships with local organizations and community members in Wards 7 and 8 — DC’s most marginalized and structurally oppressed communities. Our McCourt-student teams are dedicated to projects addressing topics such as equitable economic development, racial equity in the workforce, food insecurity, educational opportunity, violence prevention and affordable housing.
Putting people in policy
The Lab was established as a social justice initiative with a clear vision, mission and set of values from which it has not wavered. 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.
Frank McCourt recognizing the powerful work the Policy Innovation Lab does during ’23 Commencement Speech.
Our work
A critical driver of the Lab’s work is making connections between public policy and the people and groups it is aimed to serve. As the Lab has matured, it has generated great interest, support, and involvement both inside and outside the university; particularly among McCourt students and an ever-growing group of community partners. PIL engages in partnerships that help us to pursue our mission and where there is alignment with our core values.
The Lab’s work is grounded in three domains:
- Racial equity and social justice through its commitment to work on projects and policies that promote racial equity and advance an agenda of inclusion, equitable opportunity, and justice;
- Deep listening and engagement with community leaders, residents, and other stakeholders, recognizing that policy must be designed in collaboration with the people who it is designed to serve; and
- Systems and human-centered design thinking in order to deeply engage the experiences and views of residents, to help advance policy innovation, and to assist in understanding the complex and interdependent issues affecting the lives of residents and their communities in Wards 7 and 8.
Our work has included, but is not limited to:
- Hosting community listening sessions
- Drafting policy briefs
- Testifying in government hearings
- Targeted research analysis, e.g., equitable development, housing affordability, safe passages to schools, comprehensive community development planning
- Developing community-based policy and/or program tools, e.g. actor maps maps, logic models, human-centered design processes