City of Seattle Mayor's Fellows Program


The Evans School is proud to maintain a special partnership with the City of Seattle through the Mayor's Fellows Program, which provides a 13-week paid summer fellowship for our students. A total of 21 Evans School students have participated in this program since its inception in 2007.

Through a competitive process that includes applications and interviews, students are selected to work on carefully screened policy projects aligned with Mayoral priorities or key city initiatives.

2009 Project Assignments

Seattle Public Utilities
IT Strategic Plan

The student will participate in the design of the planning process for Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) with duties that include:

  • Managing and tracking the accomplishment of the tasks
  • Compiling and summarizing existing materials related to SPU business strategy and technology needs
  • Conducting interviews and co-facilitating workshops involving SPU's directors, managers, and line staff to flesh out the business and technology direction
  • Assisting in drafting and presenting a Business Context Report based on the above research and input

Seattle Center
Public Programs Assessment and Evaluation

Using Seattle Center Production's strategic plan and program goals/objectives as guides, the student will:

  • Assist in determining the impact of each program on participants and evaluate the success of each program based on the degree to which goals were achieved
  • Collect qualitative and quantitative information that will be linked to ongoing program development and redesign
  • Become familiar with existing programming and help to craft assessment processes and tools that provide crucial information for program managers to improve program design and operation

Department of Finance and the Office of Emergency Management
Long-Term Community Recovery Planning

The student will assist in developing long-term recovery plans by:

  • Researching best practices from around the county
  • Assisting with planning and staging a disaster recovery seminar to kick-off long-term recovery planning in the region

Office of Sustainability and Environment
Plug-In Electric Vehicle Consumer Assessment

The student will assist the Office of Sustainability and Environment evaluate the consumer market for Plug-In Electric Vehicles in the Puget Sound region by:

  • Conducting interviews with city officials, department staff, and consumers
  • Participate in the inter-governmental electric vehicle working group
  • Gather and assess regional data of potential consumer needs for fully-electric vehicles in the Puget Sound region
  • Synthesize and present information for reports and briefing
  • Identify consumer and infrastructure barriers in purchasing electric vehicles
  • Research and recommend public policy decisions to reduce barriers

Department of Parks and Recreation
Solid Waste Strategy for Park Districts

The student will research solid waste collection and disposal practices for park districts and other organizations with similar waste streams and collection infrastructure by:

  • Analyzing the composition of solid waste stream materials originating from Seattle's public parks
  • Presenting options for the potential of parks to increase solid waste diversion toward recycling and reuse as part of a comprehensive solid waste plan
  • Comparing the cost effectiveness of parks disposing versus using private contractors
  • Working with multiple levels of park staff, from crew chiefs to senior management, to test the feasibility of plan and recommendations
  • Surveying internal and external stakeholders about current practices and proposed options

Department of Information Technology
Seattle Communities Online Project

The student will research best practices and evaluate technology options for neighborhood online communications by:

  • Developing a set of recommendations for use of these tools by community groups and city support staff
  • Developing training materials and presenting recommendations to community groups

Seattle Center
Seattle Youth Violence Prevention Initiative: City-wide Analysis of Programming

The student will identify the most effective way for Seattle Center to engage in the Seattle Youth Violence Prevention Initiative by:

  • Analyzing the Mayor's initiative
  • Proposing strategy and desired outcomes by researching programs being created around the city
  • Identifying opportunities for Seattle Center engagement and/or support by researching the Seattle Center's resources and expertise
  • Developing and presenting recommendations of avenues for involvement to the Seattle Center's senior leadership team that include program costs and overall impact to the department

Department of Finance
Community Grants Project Assessment

The student will inventory all existing city-funded grant programs by:

  • Evaluating each program's staffing, budget, policies, procedure/functions, and key issues
  • Researching local or national centrally managed city-funded grant programs
  • Developing a recommended administrative model for city-funded grant programs across the city

Find out more about the City of Seattle Mayor's Fellows Program and past project assignments by contacting Evans School Career Services at 206.616.1609 or evansjobs@u.washington.edu.