Capstones

Each year, students at the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs participate in Capstone Workshops, which are the application of public policy to advance the public interest and the common good. Many of these Capstone Workshops address issues of diversity. Students apply their knowledge through research, analysis, and innovative thinking to a client-based project, developing recommendations for policy or institutional change. The Capstone Workshop includes a written report for the client and an oral presentation to the client that summarizes the major findings of the report. In addition to being a valuable learning experience for students, Capstone Workshops link the skills and services of Humphrey School students with the real-world needs of clients. The Humphrey School welcomes proposals for Capstone Workshops from clients in the public and nonprofit sectors.

Featured Research

Cheetah Development Analyzing Success in the Field of Social Entrepreneurship

Supervised by Sherry Grey, conducted by Danielle Claseman,Serap Emir, Sherrie Pugh, Heather Schommer, and Smriti Thapa

As a new organization, Cheetah Development sought to gain recommendations for how it could best record and demonstrate its impact on the economic and human development within the Iringa region of Tanzania. This Capstone group applied a gender lens to their analysis and recommended prioritizing the inclusion of women and explicitly documenting the impacts of Cheetah’s work on women in the community.

 

 

Evaluating Shelter Needs of Homeless Families

Supervised by Maria Hanratty, conducted by Cami J. Connell, Heather LaChapelle, Michelle McCullough, Gabriel Piña, and Meredith Stocking

This Capstone group documented how the risk of shelter use varies across different groups of families using food stamps. They found that both African Americans and Native Americans were roughly two times more likely to enter shelter than other low-income families;  in addition, the risk of homelessness nearly doubled for African Americans during recession period (2008–10) compared to pre-recession period (2004–06).