December 2025 Student Spotlight
Can you talk a bit about your work with unhoused individuals, including what got you interested and what your experiences have been like?
I work directly with unhoused individuals across New York City as a Supervisor for an outreach agency through Manhattan Outreach Consortium. My work focuses on connecting people experiencing homelessness with essential resources, such as shelter, housing placement, medical care, and social services while also advocating for more compassionate and effective systems of support. What initially drew me to this work was seeing firsthand how structural inequities particularly around housing, employment, and mental health—intersect to leave people without stable living conditions. As a someone who values community services, my current job was originally my side job which allowed me help those in need while providing extra income.
My experiences have been humbling and eye-opening. Each day brings different challenges, some logistical, like navigating bureaucratic systems, and others deeply human, like earning someone’s trust after years of disappointment. I’ve learned that progress often happens in small steps and that consistency, empathy, and follow-through matter more than grand gestures.
Are you looking to use your MSCP program degree to move from this sort of field work to policy making and leadership roles?
Absolutely. My long-term goal is to bridge direct service work with policy and planning. I believe effective policy must be grounded in the lived experiences of those it serves, and my time in the field gives me that grounding. Through the MSCP program, I hope to transition into leadership role that shape housing, public health, and urban revitalization strategies, particularly those addressing homelessness, community disinvestment, and become a resource to especially those living lower income communities. Ultimately, I want to use my degree to inform equitable planning practices that don’t just manage crises but prevent them through sustainable systems change, while revitalizing urban neighborhoods in a positive and profound way.
What is your experience like thus far as an MSCP student? Do you have any favorite professors, classes, or lessons learned?
Being an MSCP student has been both very informative and transformative. Balancing full-time work and full-time study requires discipline, but the program has deepened my understanding of how planning decisions affect real lives. I especially enjoy courses that integrate social justice with urban design and public policy, like Planning Theory and Community Development. Professor Botein and Perrotta who bring professional experience into the classroom, such as living and working in NYC Planning industries have been especially inspiring.
One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned so far is that planning is as much about listening as it is about designing. Whether I’m analyzing zoning maps or conducting community engagement, I try to center voices that are often left out of decision-making. That perspective rooted in empathy and advocacy is something I carry from my work with unhoused individuals, DCAS, and previously as a community planning fellow at the Brooklyn Borough President Office into my academic and professional path.
