You’re doing a good service to the field by helping them get established. We need energetic blood!
— Office of the Secretary, United States Department of Transportation
Policy in Motion’s “Career Development” Mentorship Program is designed to mentor youth, college students and emerging professionals with an interest in public policy and sustainability planning into careers in transportation or urban planning. The program leverages Sacramento as a learning ground by engaging Mentees in the firm’s current local/state/federal policy research and transportation planning projects. It is designed as a work exchange where students provide project and research support for hands-on learning in business development and policy implementation, as well as personal mentorship into career networks around California’s Capitol. Aligning with Policy in Motion’s vision for fostering the growth of “PODs” — people-oriented development — this program seeks to mentor budding leaders in the field of sustainable transportation planning and policy.
UNDERGRAD STUDENTS IN MOTION
Evelyn Garcia is currently a senior at UC Davis majoring in Community and Regional Development and minoring in Education. Evelyn served on advisory board as a liaison for Redwood City’s downtown revitalization efforts and worked closely with City government officials in hopes of bridging the gap between youth and adults in the community. She mentors independent studies high school students in Sacramento in pursuing higher education and preparing for college admissions through a UC Davis organization called Success Through Educational Mentoring (S.T.E.M.) She is actively involved in her Latina community in promoting professional and educational development while also promoting the advancement of Latinas in higher education to young middle school and high school girls all over the Davis, Woodland, and Sacramento area. Through Policy in Motion she hopes to gain proper guidance and skills in order to develop her interests within community development and urban planning. As a Local Planning Intern for Policy in Motion she will provide support for the Solano County Transportation for Livable Communities Plan Update which focuses on the relationship between transportation and land use through the promotion of smart growth development and sustainable transportation projects in Solano County.
GRADUATE STUDENTS IN MOTION
Amanda Bradshaw is currently completing a dual-degree in Latin American studies and urban planning at Columbia University in New York City. She received a B.A. in economics and a B.A. in international development studies from the University of California, Berkeley. During her undergraduate career, she served as a research assistant for a U.S. Economic Development Administration-sponsored study which assessed labor markets within California’s green economy, as well as a study conducted by the Transportation Sustainability Research Center. As a graduate student, Amanda’s research interests include environmental and transportation planning, especially as they pertain to North and South America. In January 2012 she will begin conducting research in Brazil for her thesis which focuses on Brazilian environmental governance and urban reform. As a Policy Research Intern at Policy in Motion during Summer 2011, Amanda provided research support for the a Caltrans statewide planning project – California Interregional Blueprint – focusing on the implementation of AB 32, SB 375, and SB 391. Additionally, she provided significant editing contributions to Lauren Michele’s new book, “Policy in Motion: Transportation Planning in California after AB 32.”
Brigitte Driller completed her Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Policy Analysis and Planning from UC Davis. In the fall, she will continue her education at UC Davis, working toward a Master of Science degree in Transportation Technology and Policy. She hopes to focus her studies toward bicycle and pedestrian planning. While at UC Davis, Brigitte has been involved in numerous research projects. She evaluated international variations in urban morphology using Google Earth, and estimated the impact of the urban heat island effect using ArcGIS. Currently, her research focuses on exploring how attitudes toward bicycling are formed, and creating a methodology to evaluate a planned road diet in Davis. Since March, Brigitte served as a Policy Research Intern with Policy in Motion during Spring 2011. Her work entailed investigating challenges and successes in regulating greenhouse gases in the transportation sector as well as looking at the different regulatory frameworks in Oregon and Washington.
EMERGING PROFESSIONALS IN MOTION
Louise Hogerheide completed a Bachelor of Arts degree in Geography, GIS and Planning with a Minor in Environmental Studies from Sacramento State. While at Sacramento State, she did original research on an eventual route of a public hiking trail in the San Joaquin area, specifically between Walnut Grove and Lodi, along the Mokelumne River. While attending Sacramento State she worked as a Trails Planner for the California State Parks’ Planning Section for three years. Louise was an invaluable asset to Policy in Motion from March-July 2011 as the Legislative Communications Intern – providing weekly updates on current California legislation pertaining to sustainable community development and testifying on key legislation during the current session. She had been primarily focused this summer on newsletter communications and the publication of Lauren Michele’s first book, “Policy in Motion: Transportation Planning in California after AB 32.” She hopes to continue her work advocating for biking, hiking, and walking in the Sacramento area and is currently seeking career opportunities.
Melinda (Mindy) Bacharach is a recent graduate from the University of California, Davis with a Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Policy Analysis and Planning. During her time at UC Davis, Mindy studied abroad in Cambridge England and participated in the University of California DC internship program where she interned at Governor Schwarzenegger’s Washington DC Office. She is now looking forward to a new chapter in life where she will utilize her college experiences and education to pursue a career in environmental policy. It is her goal to attend business school in the future with an environmental policy emphasis. As Policy in Motion’s Green Business Intern over Summer 2011, Mindy learned about the financial and structural operations of a small business through her involvement in the Solano County Transportation for Livable Communities Plan Update overseen by the firm’s principal/owner, Lauren Michele.
YOUTH IN MOTION
Kai Faust is a 17-year-old aspiring policy maker entering his junior year of high school. He served as an intern for TransForm and helped with their “Invest in Transit” campaign, which was created in response to the State’s significant cuts in transit funding. He was selected as one of fifty high school students by the American Public Transit Association to attend a Youth Summit in Washington D.C. this summer to learn more about careers and issues in transit policy. He had a rare opportunity to meet with US Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and shared Policy in Motion’s vision for sustainable communities through transportation policy with the Secretary who told Kai he was “going places.” He has been actively involved in school as the Treasurer of his Speech & Debate Team (2009 Regional Tournament Winner), Secretary of the Philosophy Club, Member of Amnesty International, and serves on the Leadership Team for creating school policies and events while taking an Honors-level curriculum. Kai is interested in policy implementation as it relates to business development, and as Lauren Michele’s nephew helps with the administrative functions of the family business – serving as Policy in Motion’s only “in-house” intern :)