I am very excited to apply for the Public Policy Fellowship at Philanthropy New York. I am currently a graduate student in my final semester at The City College of New York, pursuing a master’s degree in public administration. Being an immigrant myself, I understand the problems and difficulties faced by the immigrant communities in New York City. During the summer, I worked as an intern with Adhikaar, a Nepali organization working to protect the rights of domestic workers and other immigrants. I worked as a facilitator for Adhikaar’s English for Empowerment Program (EFE) and developed close relationships with the members of Adhikaar. Working with domestic workers, nannies, nail salon workers, Uber drivers, and restaurant servers provided me …show more content…
I managed a team of realtors, organized all the open houses, and I was the main contact person to interact with the clients. The exposure to the real estate world was also a lesson in understanding biases in housing based on your race, ethnicity, color, and financial status. I received extensive training to deal with these issues and did my best to protect my clients from experiencing any kind of discrimination. In my career as an Architect, I supervised teams of construction workers, drafters, and contractors. As a woman, I constantly had to prove my leadership abilities to groups of men who thought otherwise. I was a successful manager and got the job done even when I faced tough conditions. All my experience in different fields have taught me to work for social justice reforms. What better platform is available other than Philanthropy New York (PNY) to pursue my passion to do more? The fellowship opportunity at PNY will provide me with a chance to be a part of an organization that shares the same ideology and goals as mine. I strongly believe in equity, diversity, and issue-based organizing. During the course of my master’s program, I took public policy and strategic human resources as my core courses. I believe in creating and implementing transformative policies. I also received a social innovation fellowship, through which I developed a plan to found a nonprofit