May 2025 Student Spotlight
Akwasi Agyeman is Community Project Manager with the City of New York and an MPA candidate
Tell us about your work with Americorp.
I’m reflective of two great opportunities that have helped me to grow professionally as I pursue a career at the nexus of government, policy, service, and community development. As part of my service year with Americorp, I’ve been placed at the Civic Engagement Commission as a Community Projects Manager where I’m helping to showcase the impact of the People’s Money, the first citywide participatory budgeting process and get more stakeholders as well as community partners involved in the initiative to implement projects that their communities expressed need and voted for! Youth development is a key pillar within the nexus and I was extremely happy to have had a chance already to present to 22 + youth serving agencies in hopes of creating more pathways for cross collaboration to improve youth programming,
What has your experience been like as a Fellow with the Fund for the City of New York?
Also as a fellow with the Fund For the City of NY, I’ve had a chance to dive deeper into one of the biggest crisis facing our city: Housing. I will be working closely with a community board in Harlem to reassess the housing stock within the community and develop recommendations for suggesting and implementing policy that will help that community district maintain affordability for its residents as the “City of Yes” gets rolled out. I’m excited to continue learning in these roles and helping our city to better support under-served communities and address the challenges they face
What can you tell us about being a part of the MPA program at Marxe?
My experience in the MPA program so far has been eye-opening and transformative. I came in expecting a lot of reading and writing, which there is a fair amount, but in a short time, what I’ve found is a supportive community that pushes me to connect what we learn to the real world. Intro to Public Affairs helped me understand how policy actually takes shape and showed me the importance of understanding how our history affects not only our present but our future. In Budgeting and Financial Analysis, I discovered that budgets aren’t just numbers; they reveal what we value and why. I’ve also been lucky to learn from professors who encourage debate and a more nuanced understanding of how policy, politics, and economics all tie together. Above all, I’m realizing that being successful in public affairs isn’t just about knowing the facts—it’s about understanding context, communicating well, staying open to different perspectives, and advocating for those who are under-served.
