Bridgette Davis Attends Roundtable on President's Management Agenda

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Bridgette Davis, School of Public Policy, was among a small group of scholars recently invited to a roundtable on the President’s Management Agenda as part of the ‘Year of Evidence for Action.’

The collaborative event, hosted by the Better Government Lab at the Georgetown University McCourt School of Public Policy on Nov. 16, paired scholars whose work centers on equity with the Biden White House’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and Office of Science and Technology Policy.

The day-long event featured research talks by scholars and presentations from White House staff and long-time civil servants about their priorities under the President’s Management Agenda. Davis’ longitudinal qualitative research on the experiences of first-generation, low-income college students of color and their receipt of federal and state need-based financial aid contributed to discussions aimed at building more equitable, dignity-filled customer experiences of government.

“Connecting with the staff and career civil servants from the Biden team is shaping the ways I’m thinking about my research for policy makers,” Davis says. “The stakes are high. For low-income and marginalized young adults, financial aid (the FAFSA) is often their first adult customer experience with the government, and it has the capacity to shape their long-term beliefs as to whether or not the government can – or will – work for them.”

The roundtable was co-sponsored by the Public Management Research Association (PMRA), which provided a generous travel award to Davis.