City council member finds practical applications in OHIO’s executive MPA coursework

Sarah Simmons wasted no time applying what she learned while earning an Executive Master of Public Administration degree from Ohio University’s George V. Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Service.

As a newly elected member of Ironton City Council, Simmons had an idea on how to address blighted property in the rust belt town, thanks in part to what she learned while developing a Policy Brief assignment for her OHIO professor, Dr. Jason Jolley.

Already active in her community having served on local boards along with the city’s building code enforcement officer and working as a local journalist, Simmons, the communications and external relations manager for Ohio University Southern in Ironton, was already aware of some of the city’s challenges before entering the MPA program.

“Dr. Jolly's class had us look at a problem and then propose policy that might be able to ameliorate the issues. So I looked at vacancy in downtown, and as most industry has vacated the region, and we have a lot of decaying buildings,” she said. “Many of them owned by one person or out-of-town owners who don't have the investment in the community. So I created a policy brief for Dr. Jolly, and after I was elected, I turned that into policy that our council agreed to.”

The immediacy of the problem became even more apparent during early discussions of how to close current loopholes in the city code and address blighted downtown buildings when one of them collapsed.

The building collapsed on July 4, and on July 23 council suspended the rules requiring three separate readings and passed it unanimously that night, Simmons said.

“We were doing strategic planning with our mayor and code enforcement and other members of council to figure out what are the barriers to enforcing our current vacancy legislation. So this legislation really closed all those loopholes property owners were finding,” she said.

Applying what she learned at OHIO to help the community

Among other aspects the legislation addressed how property owners could seek permits for improvements and never do them, Simmons said.

“They could just pull a permit year after year, make zero improvements and not have any of the fines that accompany a vacant property, some of which have been vacant for years without the owners paying a penny,” Simmons said.

Professor Jolley said Simmons’ successes underscore the value of the MPA program.

“As an instructor, it's incredibly gratifying to see a student's work extend beyond the classroom and into public policy,” he said. “The Executive MPA program emphasizes applied learning, and Sarah's accomplishment is a wonderful example of how our students are equipped to make an immediate impact in the communities they serve.”

Simmons said the value of the program to her professional advancement didn’t end there. She was also able to successfully apply lessons learned from MPA workshops on grant writing and public and social sector planning conducted by Faith Knutsen, director of social innovation and entrepreneurship at the Voinovich School.

That knowledge led to a successful grant used to install a pollinator garden in Ironton and guidance in working with nonprofits in the community, Simmons said.

Executive MPA program designed to help students reach their career goals

Knutsen said Simmon’s work reflected the aim of the executive MPA program to build on skills that help professionals advance in their careers.

“Generally the students are extremely serious and extremely focused, and Sarah was definitely one of the best,” she said. Along with parlaying the grant-writing workshop into a successful grant for Ironton, her one-page business planning tool project focused on the nonprofit Ironton Alive.

Simmons’ work on the nonprofit planning addressed the various stakeholders engaged in benefiting from that solution, how to implement it, where the money comes from, and its social mission impact.

Simmons said the experience gained through taking the MPA courses was made possible by the weekend schedule and structure of the program tailored for professionals in the workplace.

“It made it really doable to continue being in the workforce while studying. It just made it simple for me, and it was really a good experience to be able to take assignments and apply them to real world issues that I was dealing with, whether it be my work here at Ohio University Southern or my activity in local nonprofits,” she said.

“So while I was still doing the executive MPA program, I was taking those tools and applying them,” Simmons said.