Stanford University Urban Studies &
Urban Summer Fellowship
Student perspectives of community-engaged learning and research across the United States
Background Hello again, Pablo Haake here (Urban Studies ‘19), taking some time to look back on the past nine weeks living in the Big Apple and working with the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC), the City’s engine for economic growth that strives to create good jobs and strong neighborhoods. Like any other (adopted) New Yorker, I’ve been absolutely Non-Stop (if you can forgive the mandatory Hamilton reference). According to my Health app I’ve walked over 250 miles and taken 600,000 steps over the past nine weeks, these steps taking me to all five boroughs (yes, even Staten Island) and almost every neighborhood in Manhattan. I’ve made new friends, experienced beautiful art, started drinking coffee (sort of), surpassed some scary moments, and ridden the subway more times than I could count. At the heart of my experience has been my time at NYCEDC, where I’ve been grateful to have be treated less like an intern and more like a full member of the team, and where I’ve been exposed to myriad aspects of urban economic, governance, and social issues. My Role at EDC this Summer I’m on EDC’s newly-created Partnerships team, which is in charge of managing EDC’s relationships with folks in the private sector, academia, and other local, state, federal, or foreign government entities. My specific focus is international business development strategy - essentially determining the best ways to attract new companies and jobs to New York City. EDC takes a very proactive approach to investing in certain sectors of the economy in order to create new jobs. The Mayor’s Jobs Plan, which called for the Partnerships team, clearly outlines how NYC intends to create 100,000 jobs over the next ten years through public investments in sectors like cybersecurity, virtual reality, fashion, freight, and more. This kind of strategic thinking and planning has closely guided the projects I’ve led during my internship. Project Work My first project was to survey all the international consulates, trade offices, economic missions, etc. located in New York City, which is a long list due to the UN headquarters. The goal of the survey was to find out what kinds of support services (i.e. funding, introductions to lawyers, accelerators) these offices offered to companies either wanting to expand from their home country to New York City, or from NYC to their home country. I ended up getting 55 submissions from 33 different countries, and a lot of very useful data that can point us in the right direction in terms of who we can coordinate efforts to build international “pipelines” of business development with. Next, I led the drafting of a MOU (memorandum of understanding), a non-legally binding agreement cities often sign with each other to declare a joint collaboration. The model agreement I drafted will be used as a template for any agreements New York explores entering with other cities around the world. This MOU covered how New York can work with partner cities to promote mutual economic development and innovation. I was tasked with coming up with a list of potential first MOU partners, and used background data and research to compile a list of 20 priority cities and 20 priority countries for partnership. Our first official meeting to discuss entering into a formal agreement is at the French consulate next week, and I’m working hard to create a draft agreement specifically for this meeting. Other potential partners include Berlin, Cape Town, and Israel - so keep your eyes peeled for big announcements over the next year! I’m getting ready to present my main projects next week (my last week) to EDC’s leadership, so they know what our strategy is going forward, and it’ll also be a good chance to go over all I’ve worked on and establish how it will support EDC’s work well into the future. Reflections Overall, the experience has been incredible. The people at EDC are awesome - it’s a very young and diverse crowd, reflective of New York, and they’re all super passionate and driven about their own particular area or focus. My supervisors have carefully guided me, each with their own unique style, and have provoked a lot of questions for me about the future. Could I see myself doing this kind of work someday? It’s definitely exciting and fresh to be working with a unique organization that drives economic growth for a city like New York, but I don’t think I would be doing work exactly in this capacity...what I did learn is that I love strategic problem-solving and working internationally, so that is really useful to future plans. I also think working more in the private sector could be a great way to gain skills and set aside some savings initially, but ultimately I want to work in a social impact field where I feel like the work is exciting and cutting-edge, but that the impact is real, tangible, and unambiguously progressive. This summer is a great start towards winding my way to that place eventually, and I want to thank everyone who supported me and made it possible. What a summer, thank you!! Some of my coworkers and I witnessing the eclipse! I'm in the blue on the bottom left. (I was mostly kidding about looking directly at the sun)
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AuthorThis blog is authored by Stanford University students engaged in summer fellowships through the Cardinal Quarter and the Program on Urban Studies. All writings and thoughts belong to the Fellows and do not represent the opinion of the sponsoring programs. Archives
September 2018
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