Newly named Truman Scholar Leah Kane '99 is interested in pursuing a career in urban policy, perhaps examining community development strategies and evaluating how effectively they revitalize economically depressed, racially and socially stratified communities.
In a highly competitive national competition, Leah Kane '99 has been selected as a prestigious Truman Scholar. About seventy juniors nationwide are chosen each year for the award, which carries with it $30,000 in funding for graduate school. Below, Kane--a politics major from Hawaii--talks about the award and her future plans.
CSJ: Truman scholarships are awarded to students preparing for careers in government or public service. Do you have a specific career goal?
Leah Kane: I am looking at a career in urban policy, potentially examining community development strategies (empowerment and enterprise zones are a recent example from the news) and evaluating their effectiveness at both external and internal revitalization of economically depressed, racially and socially stratified urban communities. The question I keep returning to is: Do community development strategies effectively involve urban communities in larger economic markets and political communities, or do they increase the segmentation of markets and communities through allocation of goods, services, priorities, and attention?
CSJ: Have you done internships or other work to explore the field?
Kane: I have minimal experience within community development, but I have explored many different angles from which the problem can be approached. A Congressional internship taught me that I don't want to live a life separated from the communities of concern to me. As a volunteer at First Call for Help in Amherst, I am learning the issues and intricacies of social service delivery; but more importantly, I am learning the limitations upon service delivery as a tool for disempowered communities and individuals. Working at a law firm, I have gained a better understanding of the process of law as a structure within which political decisions are made.
My past experience has given me a map of both institutional structures and my future choices; I am now trying to find a role in that overall structure in which I will feel most effective--where I am doing as much as I can to pursue my convictions and serve underserved communities.
CSJ: Why do you think you were chosen for the Truman?
Kane: In my interview, I felt that the interviewers felt a personal investment in my future. They said they were impressed most by the fact that, at age nineteen, I have both found and articulated my own positions on vital issues and taken action on those convictions. I think most people have a vague sense of commitment, a passion about issues, but struggle to focus that energy on their particular passions and goals. Somehow, without even realizing it, all my past experience has led me to this point and given me a really strong understanding of what I believe in and what I want to do about it.
CSJ: What are some of the activities in which you've been involved?
Kane: I'm involved as the chair of hall senators, Student Government Association (SGA); social education research specialist, First Call for Help; chair of voter registration, College Democrats; and Student Conference Committee member, SGA. I'm also continuing a research project for Preston Smith's Community Development class at the Housing Allowance Project in Springfield. And I'm working this year for the Center for Leadership and Public Interest Advocacy on campus, which is exciting and very important to me.
CSJ: Do you specific graduate school plans?
Kane: I'm planning on getting an M.P.A. in urban policy from Columbia University.
![[Index]](../index3.gif){kind=small}