Summer Institute Video

Check out this video starring the very first class of DMI Scholars at the 2007 Summer Institute!  It will give you a good idea of what our intensive “Public Policy 101” training is all about from the Scholars’ perspective.

Fall 2010 Job Updates

Joe Hill testified before the US House Budget Committee on the value of the Perkins Student Loan program. This summer, Joe interned with the office of Mayor Nutter of Philadelphia, supporting the city’s Board of Revision of Taxes and the Department of Revenue.

Rebecca Buckwalter Poza has received the Luce Scholarship and will be working at the Asian Human Rights Commission and Asian Legal Resources Center in Hong Kong.

Nabanita Pal joined the Brennan Center for Justice as a Research Associate.

Teresa Cheng began a new position as the International Campaign Coordinator of United Students Against Sweatshops.

Francisco Covarrubias recently joined the office of California Assemblyman Mike Gatto.

Lacole Foots just began working in the office of the Governor of Maryland.

Nana Duffuor received the Hart Fellowship and is working in Moshi, Tanzania for a local gender rights NGO. Justino Mora recently traveled to Washington D.C. to lobby Congressional representatives on the DREAM Act.

2010 Summer Institute

This year’s summer institute featured our first fundraising event for DMI Scholars, with remarks from Rafael Cestero, NYC Housing and Preservation Commissioner and John Rhea, Chairman of the NYC Housing Authority. The 2010 Scholars met with other progressive policy leaders like William Spriggs, the US Assistant Secretary of Labor, while they completed intensive policy analysis projects on school desegregation in North Carolina, managing the future flow of immigrant labor in the U.S. and revitalizing Detroit’s population. They also went on a fact-finding mission on charter schools in New York City and took workshops in popular economics, power analysis and policy research.

2010 Summer Internships

Alejandra Lopez interned with the office of NYC Council Member Melissa Mark- Viverito and provided research support on the Council’s latest legislation. This fall, she enrolled in Brooklyn Law School.

Kenya Lee interned with Progress 2050, a new initiative at the Center for American Progress (CAP) that is developing new ideas for an increasingly racially diverse America.

Lucy Leon received a racial justice internship at the Applied Research Center(ARC), providing research support for ARC’s ColorLines Policy Blog and Millennial Project.

Olivia Lopez interned with the Wisconsin Center on Strategy where she tracked legislation on Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae and learned about alternative modes of transportation.

Rahul Patel interned with the Progressive States Network (PSN) collecting date and helping frame arguments for PSN’s immigration work; he did a second internship at the Innocence Project, where he created media reports for upcoming political events.

Fall 2010 Graduate School Updates

Nura Sediqe began graduate studies in public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.

Elizabeth Lamoste began law school at the University of Michigan.

Alexander Cumana began graduate studies in politics at Georgetown University.

Christina Chen is attending law school at the University of California, Irvine.

James McKinney is attending the Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago.

Scholars Successes Stories


• Chloe Mirzayi, recently featured in the Saint Paul Pioneer-Press, interned with the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force last summer in New York City.

• Teresa Cheng, under a grant from the University of Southern California, researched organizing efforts by low-wage Chinese workers in San Gabriel Valley, California.




• Rakim Brooks, a student at Brown University, headed to Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar.

• Joe Taranto worked as Interim Legislative Director in the office of New York City Councilwoman Melissa Mark-Viverito.




• Joseph Thomas, who worked as an intern in the office of Senator Patrick Leahy, now works as staff assistant in the Senate Judiciary Committee. He won the Elmer Nicholson Achievement Prize for a student likely to leave an impact in their field of interest.

• Rebecca Buckwalter-Poza, a 2009 Truman Scholar, coauthored Forty More Years with political consultant James Carville. She worked as deputy press secretary for the Democratic National Committee.

• Samantha Contreras led a phone bank against Proposition 6 leading up to the 2008 general election. She previously conducted research for Los Angeles City Council President Eric Garcetti, focusing on public safety, immigration, and homelessness.




• Reem Rahman started a Master’s in Management at Oxford University.

• Francisco Covarrubias attends the Public Policy International Affairs (PPIA) program at the Goldman School for Public Policy at UC Berkeley.