变革者

当她还是布林茅尔学院的学生时, Angie Emery 亨德森 ’95 delighted in walking around the leafy town and taking the train to Philadelphia to roam the city on foot. 作为一个城市增长与结构专业, 她说她对建筑环境很着迷, 树木, 的街景画, 还有宽阔的人行道. In fact, 正是这些经历引导了亨德森, 51, 九年前第一次竞选公职, 一心要解决纳什维尔缺乏步行能力的问题.

“我从政是为了帮助实现我想要居住的城市, 我希望我的孩子在,” says the former two-term Metropolitan Nashville Council member who was elected vice mayor in 2023.

在她的理事会任期内, she worked to pass a 2017 bill requiring developers to build more sidewalks across the city. 尽管这是一项受欢迎的政策, 由40个理事会成员中的38个共同发起, 一个自由意志主义智库提出了法律挑战, 2023年在联邦上诉法院部分推翻了该立法. 亨德森, though, 并没有被吓倒, 权衡下一步，她继续倡导更安全的步行社区.

“现在任何公职人员和民选公职人员都必须非常顽强,这位自称“政策书呆子”的人说. “布林茅尔的女人天生就很顽强.”

在这个两极分化的时代, 许多作家坚持不懈，帮助制定当地的政策, state, 以及联邦政府的民选官员, 政府管理人员, or aides—all while carrying on the 布林莫尔 tradition of making an impact through public service. 一位校友正在制定立法来解决纽约州的问题. 另一个是帮助确保联邦政府支持宾夕法尼亚州东部的地方倡议.

明尼苏达州的一名毕业生正在解决整个州的住房不安全问题. 在加州, 马特正在为资本项目提供经济分析, 帮助改善基础设施. “他们感到受到鼓舞，要为世界做出贡献，而不仅仅是从中获利,玛丽莎·马蒂诺·戈尔登说, 布林莫尔大学政治学副教授. “他们想成为一股向善的力量.”

She points to Brookings Institution senior fellow Elaine Kamarck ’72 as one prominent example. 被认为是学院在政治上最成功的校友之一, 1993年至1997年，她担任副总统戈尔的高级政策顾问.

推荐全球十大博彩公司排行榜的学生对政治很感兴趣. 学院的发展 & Civic Engagement Center has tapped that enthusiasm to increase voting through info sessions, 帮助处理缺席选票, 还有去投票站的交通, 公民参与主任埃莉·埃斯蒙德说. 学生们也会参与活动, 看看竞选公职是什么感觉, 与中心的合作关系使作家们有机会参加华盛顿的公共政策研讨会, D.C. 这一切加在一起，使他们在大学期间持续参与政治活动.

In 2022, 布林莫尔 was designated one of the most engaged campuses for voting in the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge. 国家学习研究, Voting, and Engagement (NSLVE) reported that the College’s voting rate between 2012 and 2020 has grown from 53.5 percent to a whopping 84 percent—a figure well above the average of 66 percent for NSLVE’s 1,200 - +校园.

埃斯蒙德说:“这传达的信息是，学生的投票真的很重要. Often, 学生用他们的行动投票, as well, 通过参与行动主义或社区组织, 以及他们选择的专业和职业道路.”

当然，政治学专业14年级的萨拉·莱塞(莎拉较小)听到了这个呼吁. 在获得Benjamin N. 2018年叶史瓦大学卡多佐法学院, 这位32岁的斯克内克塔迪地区居民加入了纽约州政府, 想要“为人们带来改变”.” She provided legal guidance on policies and regulations in the Office for People with Developmental Disabilities and the Department of Financial Services and then, in 2021, 成为奥巴马参议员的立法主管. 肖恩·瑞恩.

Lesser经常与州内的利益相关者会面. She says 布林莫尔’s discussion-based classes and participation in the Self-Government Association have given her the confidence to advocate for her—and her constituents’—beliefs. Her expertise, she says, lies in taking constituents’ problems and creating legislative solutions.

例如, Lesser helped create a bill that would require justices in the state’s busiest town and village courts to be licensed attorneys for at least five years in order to serve on the bench. 目前, 许多地方都有没有正式法律背景的法官审理案件, 包括重罪提审. 莱塞说，她对该法案充满希望, 去年州参议院通过的法案, 参众两院会通过这个立法会议吗.

“这是一个西西弗斯式的任务,她允许道。, 注意，超过10,每两年提出1 000项议案. 但她很坚决. “我不想成为写背景备忘录的人. I want to point to a statute and say I was one of the people who helped make that possible.”

像小, 12年级的Mikecia威瑟斯彭主修政治学, inspired by the Obama campaign and the chance to vote in 2008 for the country’s first Black president. “政治似乎很酷,” the 33-year-old former college volleyball player who lives in Philadelphia’s Brewerytown says, adding that 布林莫尔’s focus on civic engagement stoked the fire in her “to move the levers of power to get things done.”

After earning a master’s in public administration from the University of Pennsylvania in 2015, 威瑟斯彭作为他的代理人加入了费城市长吉姆·肯尼的政府, 让他按部就班.

“我成了一个看门人，”她说. 这也让她得以了解联合政府幕后的建设, 还有市长, she says, 经常寻求她的帮助. “我变得非常擅长综合信息，并把它变成一个片段.”

威瑟斯彭利用这个职位升为副参谋长, managing legislative affairs before leaving in 2020 for a stint as government relations officer at the Community College of Philadelphia. 从那里，她被招募为美国东部宾夕法尼亚州地区主任.S. Sen. 约翰Fetterman.

Now, 威瑟斯彭花时间与非营利组织会面, 市, 企业, 以及其他寻求联邦资金的选民. “这是在地方层面解决国家问题，”她说. “这可能不那么性感，但很重要.”

威瑟斯彭可以近距离地看到联邦政府的影响. 今年早些时候，她与费特曼和其他官员在宾夕法尼亚州上达比(Upper Darby)., for the announcement of $317 million in funds for SEPTA to replace rail vehicles—the largest federal award SEPTA has ever received, 她指出.

不过，威瑟斯彭担心如何吸引下一代进入公共服务领域. “很多人觉得自己没有发言权,她说。, 他补充说，年轻选民对两个老人之间的总统竞选漠不关心, 白人男性. “If I was in high school now, I don’t know if government would interest me as much as it did then.”

尽管如此，威瑟斯彭仍在继续努力，专注于胜利. “那些时刻,她说。, 不断地提醒人们，这些钱真的能产生影响.”

明尼苏达州住房专员Jennifer leimaille Ho ' 87可以证明这一点. She has spent a career working to end homelessness by seeking the most impactful investments of often scarce resources. 这位58岁的老人住在圣路易斯市. 保罗半开玩笑地说，她“真的很擅长写备忘录”.“这是根植于布林莫尔的一项技能, Ho says, 哲学专业的学生在哪里学会了批判性的思考和强有力的领导.

她说，学院“颂扬担任领导职务的女性”. “它给我们灌输了一种信心，如果我们决定要做某事，我们就能做到.”

最初, 他曾在大型保险公司从事医疗补助管理式医疗, focusing on the relationship between higher health care costs and homelessness—a theme throughout her career. 但是，她说，“营利性的医疗系统对我的灵魂不好.”

Ho then spent more than a decade at the Minnesota nonprofit Hearth Connection before joining the Obama administration in 2010 as deputy director at the U.S. 无家可归问题机构间理事会. From there she served as a senior adviser at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, 她在退伍军人无家可归问题上取得了哪些进展.

那七年, Ho says, 让她“对公共服务和你能做的事情深表感谢”.”

2019年，明尼苏达州州长宣布. 蒂姆·沃尔兹任命她为住房专员. 听起来像个哲学家, 何说，她鼓励她的领导团队“真正提出问题”, “州政府意味着什么?? 我们如何承认政府在造成住房不平等方面所扮演的角色, and how do we use the power available to us and the resources we direct to try and make a difference?’”

一个答案是超过1美元.2023年，州议员批准了30亿美元用于建造新住房, 修复现有房屋, and create new programs to reduce homeownership disparities—all part of the largest housing investment in the state’s history, Ho says.

在大流行期间, the state’s moratorium on evictions and emergency rental assistance “helped a lot of people stay in homes,她补充道.

陈佩琳(音译)在公共部门工作也有着类似的动机. “我们的意图总是好的,40岁的城市增长与结构专业学生说, who also earned a master’s in city planning thanks to 布林莫尔’s 3+2 partnership with the University of Pennsylvania's Department of City and Regional Planning.

在费城戴蒙德律师事务所实习, 一家经济适用房发展咨询公司, 她的第一份工作是项目经理, 她在哪里学到了房地产交易和政府融资方案的艺术. “它永远地改变了我的生活，”这位东湾居民说.

In 2010, 陈加入了费城重建局，然后, in 2016, 她成为该市负责资本和房地产的副预算主任, 她在哪里管理110亿美元, 六年资本预算. 自2021年以来, 她曾担任阿拉米达县的首席行政分析师, 在奥克兰, Calif.目前，她正在管理一项为期5年、价值2美元的投资.10亿美元预算，代表近100个项目.

While her roles haven’t involved flashy political advocacy—“I very much am a person who prefers to be behind the scenes,她说。—Chen is the one making the numbers work and putting together complex funding for capital projects that ultimately help make an administration’s agenda a reality and advance public policy.

“Budgets,她说。, “are expressions of our values, putting money in the things we care about.”

然而，两极分化的环境使一切都充满争议. 她在阿拉米达县的角色, Chen staffs Board of Supervisors meetings and hears plenty of feedback from county residents, 包括对医疗授权的抱怨, 纳税人的钱花在了推广免费疫苗的活动上, 并声称COVID-19是一场骗局.

她说:“这确实让我了解了当今的政治。. “在加州这样一个自由的州，有些人就是不信任政府.”

这可能会令人沮丧. 但对陈来说, 结果就是医疗机构, 资本预算建设的社区公园让她继续参与游戏.

“去看看这些项目很重要，”她说. “这提醒我，我们的工作是有形的，我们正在做出改变.”

回到纳什维尔, 亨德森 strives to keep politics out of council business—not necessarily easy for a blue city in a deep red state. “I believe very strongly that nonpartisan municipal government is the bedrock of democracy,她说。. “在地方层面，我们是实际的问题解决者. 一个坑是不会开派对的.”

而不是搞政治, 亨德森 says she draws upon her study of cities at 布林莫尔 to give constituents and other lawmakers context to Nashville’s issues. 她说:“我每天都在使用我的大学专业。. “我把布林莫尔的好奇心带到了工作中.”