UConn School of Public Policy (SPP) Masters of Public Policy (MPP) student Layla Ennis found a love of public service while studying abroad in Mannheim, Germany. During this time she worked with the Representative for People with Disabilities, which is required in each German city. She notes, “I was impressed by the level of impact an individual working in a municipality could have in shaping policy and helping the public navigate said policies.” The experience influenced her senior thesis, which compared German and United States government disabilities policies and laws. While connecting with her advisors she found that pursuing a masters in public policy aligned more with her goals than attending law school.
For the 2023-2024 academic year Layla is completing a Sponsored Internship (SI) with the Connecticut Farmland Trust as a Development and Communications Intern. The nonprofit works to preserve farmland for generations of Connecticut farmers through easements. Throughout this year Layla has been utilizing hard skills from SPP in her role. She explains, “… the Excel competencies I learned in Applied Quantitative Methods were useful when handling and cleaning donor prospects and current contact records.” This semester she is excited apply skills from PP5329: Nonprofit Advocacy, Government Relations & Law. We can not wait to see how Layla uses her SPP skill sets next.
Interested in learning more about the Connecticut Farmland Trust? Check out their website to learn more about their successful cases of farmland preservation and farmland and farmer matches.