We’re back! And turning back the clock.

By Gabriel Eidelman and Jo Flatt

After a very, very long hiatus — damn you, COVID — we’re back!

Welcome to “Making an Impact from the Outside”, a course that aims to blend policy theory and practice to help students at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy drive policy change in their local communities.

We first created this course four years ago, in what used to be called the School of Public Policy & Governance. The logic was simple: Gabriel Eidelman, the academic, brings a daily dose of theory, while Jo Flatt, the practitioner, brings her practical experience working in the field. And together, we provide students with a newfound appreciation for public policy from a non-governmental perspective.

To do that, we took students out of the classroom and “into the community,” to learn from civic leaders and activists across the city.

At the time, Jo worked as manager of partnerships and programs at Evergreen, a national non-profit, so we hosted classes at the Evergreen Brick Works. We took field trips to the Hamilton Community Storefront to talk public engagement strategy, Lord Lansdowne Public School to chat with kids about the art of listening, to the House of VR to see for ourselves how new technologies can help tell community stories, and to Sidewalk Labs to debate what it means to build community from different perspectives.

With the pandemic now (hopefully) behind us, it’s time to finally get back out there, live and in-person!

Lots has changed in the world. Jo’s moved on to work as VP of Corporate Planning and Sustainability at Allied REIT, and Gabe has… grown a pandemic beard.

But the important things stay the same: students can still expect more exciting field trips to remarkable places, more conversations with inspiring “change makers,” and more opportunities to flip conventional policy thinking on its head and get ready for “alternative” policy careers outside government, in the private or not-for-profit sectors.

So buckle up, and let’s go!