How important is local governance at the city level in a democracy? What should public service look like in practice? I began to understand the answers to these questions during my time working in Boston, often called the birthplace of American democracy, at Boston City Hall.
In the summer of 2025, I was selected as a Summer Fellow at the Boston Mayor’s Office through the Bloomberg Center for Public Innovation, an initiative founded by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. The fellowship places graduate students in city governments across the United States to work on real world policy challenges. As an international student from India transitioning from journalism to public policy, this was my first experience working within a government institution.
I was placed in the Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics, MONUM, Boston’s civic innovation lab founded under former Mayor Thomas Menino. Boston City Hall, with its imposing brutalist architecture, felt overwhelming at first. Yet what stood out immediately was not the structure, but the people and the values reflected within the space.
The first thing I noticed upon entering the main atrium were posters declaring, “You Belong Here,” translated into multiple languages spoken across Boston, including Chinese, Arabic, Hindi, and Spanish. This simple yet powerful gesture reflected inclusion and participatory democracy in action. It reminded me of my own student government campaign at Johns Hopkins SAIS, where I emphasized inclusion through a multilingual election campaign. In that moment, the abstract ideals of representation and belonging became tangible.
My project during the fellowship focused on behavioral change policy for residential waste management, in collaboration with Boston’s Public Works Department. We were tasked with designing and implementing a policy intervention within ten weeks, which required both speed and depth. I worked under the guidance of Marcy Ostberg, Director of MONUM, while independently shaping the direction of the project.
Unlike many policy roles that are confined to desks, this experience was dynamic and field oriented, which resonated with my background in journalism. As a first time visitor to Boston, I began by learning about the city’s neighborhoods, demographics, and the specific challenges residents faced with waste disposal. This meant going out into communities, speaking directly with residents, and observing behaviors firsthand.
Through these interactions, I met numerous community leaders who had taken it upon themselves to drive change locally. In Cambridge, I observed innovative waste disposal practices, and one encounter stood out. An elderly woman near Harvard University had set up a small giveaway corner in her front yard, offering items she no longer needed to neighbors. It was a simple but powerful example of sustainability rooted in everyday life.
I also visited Spectacle Island, a site that was once a landfill and has since been transformed into a public space. Despite layers of restoration, small fragments of debris still surface along the shore. It served as a reminder that while policy interventions can transform environments, the effects of waste and consumption often endure over time.
Beyond fieldwork, I attended the Civic Summit organized by Mayor Michelle Wu, which brought together community leaders from across the city. These spaces allowed for collaboration between residents and the city government, reinforcing the idea that governance is not limited to elected officials but is shared with the community.
Mayor Wu’s neighborhood coffee hours further demonstrated this approach. These informal gatherings allowed residents to interact directly with the mayor and city departments. I attended three such events, where I stood alongside Boston’s Zero Waste team from the Public Works Department, speaking with residents about their waste disposal practices. These conversations provided valuable insights into both the challenges people faced and the gaps in communication about existing services.
What became clear through both fieldwork and surveys was that Boston already had several waste management initiatives in place. However, there were significant information gaps. Many residents were unaware of available services or unsure how to use them. People also tended to rely on trusted sources such as friends, family, or community leaders for information.
This insight shaped my policy proposal. I developed a Waste Ambassador Program that would engage trusted community members to share information and encourage behavioral change at the neighborhood level. While similar initiatives exist in cities like Vancouver, adapting this model to Boston required careful consideration of local dynamics. I conducted a small scale simulation, developed training materials, and designed communication strategies to support the program.
I also focused on the role of visual communication in policy implementation. I created short informational videos for social media, including a demonstration of how to use “Project Oscar,” a community composting bin located near City Hall that many residents were unaware of. The video featured a simple walkthrough using food scraps from my apartment. It was later shared on the city’s social media platforms and received engagement, including a response from Mayor Wu.
With the support of my supervisor, I also filmed a short segment with her children acting as Waste Ambassadors to explain recycling practices. This approach helped make the content more relatable and accessible. It allowed me to combine my background in journalism with policy work, bridging communication and implementation.
At the end of the fellowship, I presented my project to senior city officials, including Mayor Wu. She attended with her child, reflecting her belief in humanizing public service and making leadership more inclusive. One of the most important lessons I took from observing her leadership was the value of kindness, community engagement, and emotional presence in public office.
The fellowship also gave me the opportunity to engage in activities beyond my project. I participated in community events, visited centers for youth, volunteered at city programs, met with Heads of other Departments and even entered the Mayor’s Office Gallery painting contest. My mother also submitted her artwork, and we were both awarded second and third place. Seeing our work displayed in the gallery was a meaningful and unexpected moment.
At the end of the Fellowship, I presented by project before senior City Officials at Boston City Hall including to Boston Mayor Michelle Wu.
After returning to Washington, DC, I shared my experience at SAIS and resumed academic life. A year later, I was invited to speak about my Boston experience at the Johns Hopkins Sustainability Symposium. When I reached out to my supervisor for updates, I was delighted to learn that the Waste Ambassador Program is now going to be implemented citywide in the summer of 2026.
This experience reinforced my understanding of local governance as a cornerstone of democracy. City governments are where policy meets people, and where public service becomes visible in everyday life. Increasingly, cities are also engaging with one another across state borders, sharing ideas and solutions to global challenges.
I am grateful that this was my first experience working in Government. It shaped not only my understanding of policy, but also my belief in the importance of inclusive, community driven democratic governance and also of the importance of more women in leadership.
