Our Mission

Harris Community Action (HCA) is a student-run organization at the Harris School of Public Policy–a graduate division of the University of Chicago that trains students in the analytical frameworks and quantitative competencies needed to address complex inter-sector social issues. HCA aims to connect policy students to work with local community-based organizations, campaigns, and nonprofits with a twofold motivation:

1. The Harris School is surrounded by an incredible network of local advocates and we, as students, owe it to our community to contribute meaningfully to the work which they lead. For this reason, we are committed to advancing projects and initiatives which are identified and developed by our community partners.
2. Harris students benefit tremendously by gaining real world experience as we apply the concepts learned in classrooms to the powerful work that is accomplished in our community every day.

The Program

HCA is led by a student board which facilitates a 10-week fellowship during the winter academic quarter (January – March). Each fall, HCA invites project applications from dozens of organizations and works with community leaders to identify concrete and accomplishable deliverables that advance the missions of each organization. During this time, students apply to participate in the fellowship and, if accepted, are placed into teams of 3-4 students, each. They attend trainings related to project management, effective engagement, and dynamics of power and bias as representatives of the University of Chicago doing work in our community.

At the start of the winter quarter, students are matched with a final slate of projects and immediately begin working as consultants under the oversight of a key organizational point-of-contact. The projects are policy-adjacent and draw heavily upon the Harris skillset. Past projects have included: data identification, data analysis, survey design and distribution, creation of intake forms, logic models, and process improvement plans.

As the fellowship experience concludes each April, we host a large gathering for community partners, other organizations who may want to work with us in the future, HCA fellows, and Harris students, faculty, and staff to debrief the accomplishments of the fellowship cycle. It is our hope that the HCA Fellowship continues to facilitate strong relationships and productive partnerships among policy students and local advocates doing work in our community.