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Matt, Salimah, BSC Fellows and Assistants holding the PDIA in Action book

Declining Downtown Densification in Western Canada: Problem Definition is the Foundation to Getting it Right

  • Publication date May 4, 2023
Outdoor mural of a dragon and tiger

Guest blog by Dawn Kobayashi I had the absolute privilege of attending the IPP program on behalf of Harvard Bloomberg. I had the internal belief that I had some inkling knowledge about public policy….I was completely incorrect.  I now understand why its called “Implementing Public Policy” because the implementation is the most difficult part of…Continue Reading Declining Downtown Densification in Western Canada: Problem Definition is the Foundation to Getting it Right

Connecting Young Professionals to Local Government Public Service in Scottsdale, Arizona

  • Publication date May 2, 2023
A group of people collaborating

Guest blog by Stephanie Zamora, MPA Taking on large organizational or societal challenges requires a degree of creativity, risk-taking, and discomfort in addressing them properly. While we can certainly continue to rely on traditional methods of policy implementation, we may find ourselves missing the mark, not delivering on promises, and depleting the most scare resource:…Continue Reading Connecting Young Professionals to Local Government Public Service in Scottsdale, Arizona

Go Fish! Tackling Chronic Street Homelessness in Central Beaverton

  • Publication date May 1, 2023
Beaverton Team photo outside

Guest blog by Mike Backman, Alicia Bermes, Dawn Borgardt, Jenny Haruyama, Kim Haughn, Stacy Jepson, Marni Kuyl, Sia Lindstrom When our team first began our journey to tackle homelessness, we were looking through a fisheye lens. The problem we wanted to tackle was broad, it involved a large area – all of Beaverton – and…Continue Reading Go Fish! Tackling Chronic Street Homelessness in Central Beaverton

Tackling Affordable Housing in Tarrant County Texas

  • Publication date April 24, 2023
Group photo

Guest Blog by: Abby Yang, Amina Benzakour Knidel, Gulnaz Kordanova, Priyanka Varma, Sana Ikram, and Shashwat These past seven weeks, the six of us, all from different personal and professional backgrounds, worked together to learn about and practice how to apply the problem driven iterative adaptation (PDIA) approach to a real-life issue. Specifically, we worked…Continue Reading Tackling Affordable Housing in Tarrant County Texas

Imagining the Future of Parks and Libraries in Bristol, UK

  • Publication date April 21, 2023
Team photo

Guest blog by Louis Costa, Sofia Martinez, Anjali Nemorin, Mahabuba Rahman, Leonardo da Silveira, Prasanya Thirupathy Over the course of the “PDIA in action” class at the Kennedy School, our team, The Night Owls, worked together in a very dynamic way to find entry points to a real-world, complex problem in just seven weeks. Our…Continue Reading Imagining the Future of Parks and Libraries in Bristol, UK

Increasing Enrollment in a Senior Citizen Employment Program in MA

  • Publication date April 19, 2023
Hands typing on a computer

Guest blog by Danielle Bayer, Julia Lemesh, Othmane Ouhaddach, Konstantin Usov, Nanako Yamaguchi The Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP) is a federally funded community service and work-based job training program for low-income Americans who are 55+ years old. A program authorized by the Older Americans Act, SCSEP provides training for low-income, unemployed seniors, many…Continue Reading Increasing Enrollment in a Senior Citizen Employment Program in MA

Unlocking the Key to Safe Housing in Scranton, Pennsylvania

  • Publication date April 17, 2023
Group photo

Lessons from Scranton: How Problem Driven Iterative Adaptation Can Transform an Intractable Housing Crisis for Vulnerable Groups Group blog by Michael Reschke, Velaphi Mamba, VK Vu, Nadyah Hilmi, Ussen Galym, Sam Pairavi How do you address a minimally framed development challenge without data and an ominously opaque understanding of the real problem? Where do you…Continue Reading Unlocking the Key to Safe Housing in Scranton, Pennsylvania

Providing Quality Health Care in Kaduna State, Nigeria

  • Publication date April 12, 2023
Team photo

Guest blog by Anis Saidi, David Friedman, Diksha Kataria, Krista Gon, Lucy Kruske, Tatenda Mujeni, Younmi Kim Complex problems are not impossible to solve. As we learned over the course of this module, PDIA teams must adopt a humble, progressive, and iterative approach to tackle complex problems successfully. The initial step is deconstructing the problem…Continue Reading Providing Quality Health Care in Kaduna State, Nigeria