Blogging with Dean Lisa Servon

Just a couple of shout-outs to members of our Milano family who are doing good things.  First, Eddie Summers—a Milano doctoral student-- is being honored by the Greater Southern Dutchess Chamber of Commerce.  The Forty Under 40 "Shaker Awards" recognize 40 people under the age of 40 who are helping to significantly shape our local community.  Award recipients are selected based on such factors as achievement, experience, innovation, vision, leadership, and community involvement. I have had Eddie and class and worked with him on his research—he is a dedicated young man who is committed to making the world a better place.  Please join me in congratulating him!

Second, recent grad Stephen Krasner (’08) is about to announce his candidacy for Town Supervisor (Mayor) in the Town of Newburgh, NY, which is located an hour north of NYC in Orange County's Hudson Valley region.

Krasner writes “I just wanted to thank the School for my time there as it has had a profound impact on my decision to pursue this path forward.”  Rock on, Stephen!  We will share Krasner’s website with you when it goes public.  Good luck!

This blog is young, and I have already mentioned New Orleans, but I simply must point you in the direction of the new blog launched by the Parsons/Milano team that is competing in the Chase Community Development Competition with NENA, their local partner. Check out the blog—which they are looking for help in naming—to stay up to dateas the project progresses.

In addition, we have a Community Development Finance Lab team currently working on a terrific project with Unity/Common Ground New Orleans—the work has to do with making policy recommendations around permanent supportive housing. And Heather Sheridan, a Milano Urban Policy student in her final semester is also doing interesting work in New Orleans.  As a consultant to the Initiative for Regional and Community Transformation (IRCT) at Rutgers University, Heather traveled to New Orleans in January to meet with housing and workforce development specialists, advocates and developers.  These meetings proved productive as she discussed her project which is an investigation into the prevelance of job vacancies still existing in New Orleans.

Last year, between working on Chase and attending a couple of terrific conferences in New Orleans, I also got bitten by the bug and wanted to do my part to lend some assistance to that city.  Like most of the students I traveled there with last year, I got completely drawn in by the people, the culture, the music, the food (the food!) . . . and the enormous need. I spent a week in January with Urban Policy student Leanne Roncolato studying an historic retail strip—Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard—that no longer has much retail on it.  Located in the Central City neighborhood that is now best known for its high crime rate, OC Haley Boulevard was once known as the “black Canal Street.”  We’re working on understanding how it can be revitalized without turning ownership over to outsiders.

In January, a big group of us had dinner—the Finance Labgroup with instructor Blaise Rastello (Urban Policy ’04), Heather, Milano alum Amber Seely (Urban Policy ’07—now working for Volunteers of America Greater New Orleans), Leanne and me.  And I was so proud of the way we are bringing so much of our energy and our skills to a city that deserves this kind of focused attention.

I need to do a little bragging on behalf of our school--The Fortune Society just announced the ground breaking ceremony for its new building in Harlem. The building was the winning entry of Milano: The New School for Management and Urban Policy and Parsons: The New School for Design and Architecture in the 2006 JPMorgan Chase Community Development Competition. Take a look at the work that laid the foundation for this building getting built. The entries from the New School have had a consistent record of being built—in 8 years of competing, 5 of our entries were actually built. This holds true independent of whether the team won the competition or not.

We run a course called the Community Development Practicum that culminates in the Chase Competition. The competition was held in New York and run by Dennis Derryck for nearly all of the years that it has taken place. Last year it moved to New Orleans, given the enormous need there, and I had the privilege of supervising the Milano part of the Chase team. It was honestly the most exhilarating, exhausting, and rewarding teaching experience I have ever had. The team worked on a mixed-use, mixed-income housing project on a sliver of high ground near the river. Check out the amazing work the Parsons and Milano students did. Last year we came in second, behind MIT, and this year we are back in New Orleans again. Stay tuned for progress reports on how this year’s team is progressing, and to hear about how the ground-breaking for the Fortune Society went.

Thanks and be well,

l.