Northern America

The UN-defined Northern America region includes the United States, Canada, as well as Greenland and a few additional nations.

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Policy PodCast Interview with Liz Montoya

04.7.14

Today we are presenting an Interview with Liz Montoya. She is a Washington expert through and through. You can also say she has been a part of building Washington as we know it with over 30 years of Human Resources experience she has been a key leader in hiring and setting personnel policies at the Office of Personnel Management as well as the Department of Energy and Transportation. She has worked closely with the White House as well. We talked to her about hiring practice and what it will take to get more people of color in positions of higher authority in our government.

Education, Training and Labor

Impact Investing for the Average American

03.18.14

Impact investing has become a buzz word in social enterprise circles but, even today, opportunities to invest are hardly accessible to the average American. Barriers include protective federal regulations as well as the inability to reach scale. BY CHRISSIE LONG On January 14, eBay ended its brief flirtation with impact investing. The internet giant had […]

Social Innovation and Philanthropy

Comcast, Time Warner, Netflix & You: The Policy Questions Hidden in Your Cable Bill

03.13.14

BY DENISE LINN Recently, while we’ve all been busy binge-watching House of Cards, our cable companies and online content providers have been splashed across the headlines. The announced $45 billion Comcast-Time Warner Cable merger and the Netflix-Comcast deal have flooded the Internet with articles about pricing, speed, and customer satisfaction. While sources have speculated about […]

Considering Consent & The Massachusetts “Upskirting” Trial

03.12.14

BY RORY GERBERG As a female graduate student at the Kennedy School, I use Boston’s public transportation system. Last Wednesday, I wore a skirt. You might ask, was it long or short, loose or tight? Would my answer impact my rights? I consented to wearing an article of clothing and to boarding a bus, not […]

Gender, Race and Identity

Commentary: What Would America be like Without Hispanics?

03.11.14

Hispanics have contributed to every avenue of American life since the inception of this country. Hispanics’ origins have played a key role in our country’s socio-economic, political and cultural development and many argue: What would America would be like without the presence of Hispanics and their influence?

Gender, Race and Identity

Lost in the Snow: When The Media Met the Polar Vortex

03.10.14

Climate change is transforming the circulation patterns which bring us our weather, but do journalists have enough scientific understanding to tell us what’s going on? BY MEGAN ALBON 2014 was the year a polar vortex came to town, wreaking wintery havoc for months on end. Reporters were quickly on its tail. “Trapped in a ‘polar […]

Policy PodCast Interview with Soledad O’Brien

03.4.14

We are back for the Spring semester and excited to share our interview with Soledad O’Brien. Soledad is one of America’s most distinguishable and recognizable journalist. For over 20 years she has reported and anchored television shows on NBC, MSNBC, CNN, Aljazeera, and most recently on HBO. She has also won many awards. Including an Emmy and the NAACP President’s Award as well as the Journalist of the Year Award from the National Association of Black Journalists.

Gender, Race and Identity

The Obama Administration’s Role in Iraqi Violence

02.28.14

BY MATTHEW VIGEANT For the first time in two years, Iraq is back on many Americans’ radars. The media has flashed alerts about Al Qaeda taking over cities in Anbar Province, and death tolls being at their highest since 2008. Meanwhile, the Obama Administration and Congress blame each other for the violence as they debate […]

International Relations and Security

Adventures in Presidential History

02.17.14

BY THOMAS TOBIN As the nation celebrates Presidents’ Day and students nationwide enjoy the long weekend, this holiday is a time to reflect on the nation’s highest office. U.S. Presidential history is rife with stories of political intrigue, personal triumph, and leadership in turbulent times. Yet while some presidents are carved into mountains or enshrined […]

Politics

Should Cities Use Hackathons to Solve Social Problems? Lessons from America’s Datafest at Harvard

02.11.14

BY ALISON FLINT I first learned about hackathons when I saw an ad for an event called Datafest hosted at Stanford University three years ago. Like most people, I primarily associated ‘hacking’ with computer programming. However, this Datafest looked different. It turned out that Teresa Bouza, a Knight Fellow at Stanford, had organized the hackathon […]

He Said, We Said: Breaking Down the State of the Union

01.31.14

Note: This post assesses President Obama’s State of the Union Address in 4 policy ares: K-12 Education, Higher Education, LGBTQ and Military Affairs. It is a follow up to KSR’s SOTU coverage here and here. POLICY AREA: K-12 EDUCATION BY ADRIENNE MURPHY As an education reform enthusiast, I was excited to hear the President kick […]

2014 State of the Union: Issue by Issue

01.27.14

A Note of Explanation: For the first time, the Kennedy School Review has tapped into the policy expertise of students across the Harvard Kennedy School of Government to collect their perspectives on President Obama’s 2014 State of the Union Address. Over the next two days we will share student analysis on a broad range of […]

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