Week 1:
U.S. Conference of Mayors

May 27, 2014

Monday:

My first day! I came in off a great weekend of sight-seeing and refreshing my familiarity with the National Mall – the city is beautiful, and I’m pumped to be here for 10 weeks! The first and most important component of Monday was getting to where I needed to be. Dave, my site advisor at the US Conference of Mayors, made sure I had all the details about how to get to the building using the DC Metro, a lovely transportation service that I will be quite familiar with by the end of the summer. The ride went smoothly – using a SmarTrip card made me feel like a natural Washingtonian – and I only had to make a few about-turns until I found 1620 Eye Street NW. The first day mostly included introductions and getting set up; my ‘office’ was right outside Dave’s, lending to some prime eavesdropping (approved beforehand, of course) into some of his interactions with business partners and other people working with the Conference. I got my own email address and was set up with my own phone, complete with voicemail, so it won’t be long before I am one of the regulars. After work, I met some of Dave’s co-workers who dealt in health and environmental policy. It was great to be around professionals and engage in conversation in a laid-back atmosphere, and I look forward to many more opportunities like that in the future. After that, it was time to get back on that Metro.

Tuesday:

My second day on the job was quite a-typical. Dave allowed me to accompany him to Ballou High School, a largely minority school in southeast Washington DC. We only had to turn around twice on the way there – an impressive feat in light of our lack of a reliable GPS! Dave is the scholarship coordinator in the Friends of Ballou, an organization that works closely with the high school and supports development and, in relation to Dave’s role, sponsors students with college scholarships of up to $5,000. I had the opportunity to sit in and take notes on the interviews; the seniors who had applied had been interviewed once at the beginning of the year, and this was the second interview. Most of the students would receive a scholarship of a little more than $1,000, but the bigger scholarships would be given to students who showed 1) high academic achievement and 2) financial need. There were about 20-25 students we interviewed over a two-day period (we went Wednesday morning as well), and another member of Friends of Ballou conducted a few more. They were very fun to sit in on. The students were, first, excited to graduate – it and been a long, challenging year for most of them – and second, excited to go to college. Many of the students had plans to go to schools in the East Coast area, and they lit up when talking about going somewhere new and meeting new people. The school was low-income and not in the best part of DC. We went through metal detectors and had to show IDs to get in – quite a far cry from my to-date experience at a small rural Iowa school. It was really eye-opening, and I discussed this with Dave afterwards, but there was a relatively low percentage of the senior class that was going to college – out of over a hundred graduating seniors (I believe the exact number was much higher, but I can’t remember), only about 30-40 of them planned on higher education. The big set-backs weren’t financial, either; there were a multitude of other contributing factors. This was my first real exposure to education inequality in America, and I’m very glad that Dave allowed me to tag along.

And that was only the first half of my day! The second half was spent back at the office, where I was able to listen in on a few of Dave’s calls and work on summarizing the text of WRRDA, the Water Resources Reform and Development Act. This act, which passed in the House and is up for a vote in the Senate on Thursday (which will likely pass) will be of importance during the annual meeting. After work, it was time to put in some LSAT work – the test is June 9^th, so we’re talking about 3 weeks, which is not a very long time!

Wednesday:

A start synonymous to that of Tuesday, Dave and I spent Wednesday morning finishing up Ballou high school interviews. We then talked with the school counselor about who she recommended for the scholarships, and about the school itself. Again, it was eye-opening to hear some of the things she talked about – she wouldn’t get into personal details, of course, but it really gave me a better picture of what life was like for those students. I can’t make any universal statements, but I can say theirs was different from my experience, and I was glad to get a better understanding.

Many people told me before going to DC to make sure that I would be safe – live in a safe area, don’t walk at night around by yourself, and stay away from the southeast side of DC. Well, guess where Ballou was? Dave said something on our drive over about how most people who live in DC have never been in that area. Why do we have such a divide, even in our nation’s capital? I’m guessing that a lot of people already know about this divide, but I hadn’t really seen first-hand enough evidence to really pause. Sure, I’ve had topical discussions about income inequality and differences in minority v. primarily white neighborhoods in Cornell classrooms, but this was exposure on a new level.

That afternoon, a representative from the Bank of America came to Dave’s office, and I sat in on a meeting between Dave, James, the representative, and another person associated with the bank who was on the phone. Bank of America is one of the Conference’s close partners, especially with the DollarWi$e campaign that gives grants to cities for financial literacy funding. The meeting mainly featured discussions on annual meeting scheduling. Most of what is going on in the office at this point is preparation for the meeting, and everyone is working to get their speakers in line, materials together, and etc. With the first three days mostly done, I feel pretty integrated and comfortable in the office, and it’s a great atmosphere.

Thursday:

I got in to DC early today to do some studying. I’m staying in Falls Church, VA, at the moment, so I took the Orange Line (slowly but surely, I’m getting the Metro lingo!) in and walked to the Lincoln Memorial to take in the sunrise and work some logic games. I feel so much more inspired in my LSAT practice when I’m surrounded by the great American monuments. There are only a handful of joggers by the memorials in the mornings, and Abe and I enjoyed some quality time in the quiet. Soon, 9 o’clock rolled around and it was time to get working!

I mentioned DollarWi$e earlier, and today I worked on the text of the DollarWi$e publication for the annual meeting. Three cities each received a $15,000 grant from DollarWi$e to implement or upgrade their financial education programs, and each of these cities was featured in their own 2-page spreads in the DollarWi$e booklet. I went through applications, sorting information and putting summaries together of the program itself, the partners involved, implementation and evaluation, and (of course) Mayoral involvement. It was cool to see some of the ideas and programs being put into place; Jacksonville has DollarWi$e week, where they offer over 20,000 hours of financial literacy classes in schools and in the community, for example, and the information being taught in these programs is really useful!

A regular part of being in the office is being able to engage in political discussions with others around the office. Everyone cares about politics and what’s going on, which differs slightly from my Cornell experience (let’s face it, most college kids don’t exactly bend over backwards to stay up-to-date on the latest news, myself often included). Being in the office is really a call to know your stuff – I struggle keeping up with most conversations simply because I haven’t kept up on everything that’s happening in and around Washington, but I enjoy listening and I’m actively working to get (and stay!) informed. My first step: the Washington Post app for my phone. Reading headlines on a short Metro ride is a prime use of time.

Friday:

Dave was out today, so I came in for a half-day to work on some projects. The first was a summary of WRRDA’s Harbor Tax Maintenance Fund section, and the second was a summary of IPCC’s (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) Summary for Policy makers. I read through the pretty thick relevant WRRDA section, finished a draft summary, and went off to do some LSAT study at the new MLK monument!