Public Affairs to Policy Analysis in D.C.

Posted December 27, 2024December 27, 2025 in Alumni, Public Affairs/Community Development, Stories

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A commitment to advancing equity through evidence-based policy shapes the work of Urvi Patel, a recent alumna of Rutgers-Camden with a master’s degree in Public Affairs | Community Development. Now a Policy Analyst at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities in Washington, D.C., she focuses on income security and housing policy. Her work includes co-authoring “Research Reinforces: Providing Cash to Families in Poverty Reduces Risk of Family Involvement in Child Welfare,” which examines the impact of direct cash assistance on family stability.

From Community-Based Work to Policy Analysis

In 2016, I graduated from James Madison University with a BS in Writing, Rhetoric, and Technical Communication, with minors in Humanitarian Affairs and Nonprofit Studies. I spent several years working at community-based organizations in the fields of child welfare, mental health, youth development, and poverty alleviation. This included a term as an AmeriCorps VISTA and with the U.S. Peace Corps in Tonga. When I returned to the U.S. after completing my Peace Corps service, I continued to work in the nonprofit sector during the pandemic, but soon decided to pursue graduate school. I completed my MS in Public Affairs and Community Development from Rutgers-Camden in 2023.

I decided to pursue a program [Public Affairs] that would provide me with the skills and knowledge to enter the social policy field and approach my work with an equity and justice lens.
Urvi Patel

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Why Policy, Why Now

My decision to choose the Public Affairs | Community Development graduate program was inspired by my past experiences working locally within communities. Through feelings of burnout, I realized that community nonprofits address the social issues that plague our most marginalized communities through much-needed, but short-term, answers. In order to make a more sustainable impact, I decided to pursue a program that would provide me with the skills and knowledge to enter the social policy field and approach my work with an equity and justice lens.

Working at the Intersection of Housing and Income Security

Upon graduation, I now work as a Policy Analyst on the Housing and Income Security team at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a research and policy institute that promotes federal and state policies to help build a more equitable nation. On the Housing and Income Security team, I am currently working on building out the organization’s state housing policy work.