Students drive policy change in Albany in Brooks State Policy Advocacy Clinic

This spring, students from the Brooks School turned knowledge into action in Albany as part of the State Policy Advocacy Clinic's engaged learning approach to teaching how to effectively change policy in New York State. During the spring semester, undergraduate and second-year MPA students worked together in teams to research, design, and advocate for a wide variety of evidence-based policy solutions.

Partnering with legislators, executive branch officials, academics, community members, and state and local nonprofit organizations on state-level policy initiatives, they traveled to Albany to present evidence-based research, support coalitions and nonprofit organizations, and advocate for meaningful change.

"This success is in large part due to the tremendous expertise and support of our community stakeholders and academic colleagues. The students work a lot of late nights and weekends to tailor their policies and pitches to the specific needs of the communities legislators represent," said State Policy Advocacy Clinic Director and Brooks School Professor of the Practice Alexandra Dufresne. "Our students are so passionate about their work because of its real world impact."

The State Policy Advocacy Clinic currently has approximately 20 active projects across policy areas like good governance, healthcare policy, immigrant and children's rights, criminal justice reform, consumer protection, environmental protection and economic development.

"The students in this Clinic are remarkable not just for what they know, but for what they do with their knowledge" said State Policy Advocacy Clinic Policy and Advocacy Fellow Hattie Seten. "This spring, they listened to and learned from community partners, conducted rigorous research, drafted statutory language, and advocated their proposals in Albany with a genuine determination to improve policy outcomes for New Yorkers."

Check out some highlights from this year's State Policy Advocacy Clinic's student impact teams' work:

Adrian Gomez (MPA, Brooks '26), Katrina Greene (B.A., government '27), Emily Melcer (B.A. government and sociology '26) and Emily Kolodner (B.A. government '27) traveled to Albany to advocate for the Stop Taking Our Pay (STOP) Act (A.9644A/S.8939), sponsored by Assemblymember and Cornell alum Steven Raga and Senator Sandra Brouk. The bill would protect consumers from extractive earned-wage access (EWA) apps by subjecting these apps to NYS's laws limiting excessive interest rates.

Cole Laudenslager (B.S. public policy, Brooks '27), Lucia Balesterieri (BA. government '27) and Dominic Enright (B.S. ILR '27) spent two days in Albany to advocate for good governance bills, including Assembly Bill A.847 (Paulin) / Senate Bill S.6852 (Addabbo Jr.), a bill that would require public meetings to be livestreamed so that members of the public who cannot make it in person- people with disabilities, high school students, people in rural areas, parents of young children--can still participate. These bills build off an OpEd in the Times Union by Brooks alums Manahil Jafri (B.S. Policy Analysis and Management, Brooks,24) and a white paper and by Brooks School alums Andreas Psahos (B.S., Policy Analysis and Management, Brooks'23), Hunter Maskin (B.S. Policy Analysis and Management, Brooks 2024), Manahil Jafri (B.S., Policy Analysis and Management, Brooks '24), and Jane Brady (MPA, Brooks).

During Sunshine Week 2026 in Albany, Laudenslager also joined lawmakers and the New York Coalition for Open Government to advocate for two transparency measures: strengthening New York's Freedom of Information Law to expand public access to government records and amending public livestreaming requirements to ensure that the work of governing institutions is conducted in public view. His remarks are available here (beginning at 00:24.38).

Maria Santa (B.A. government and economics '27), Keten Abebe (B.A. public policy, Brooks '27), and Anezka Rodriguez (B.S. ILR '27) traveled to Albany to advocate for the New York for All Act (A.3506A/ S.2235A) working alongside immigrants' rights advocates on a bill that would help keep New York State families and communities safe.

State Policy Advocacy Clinic Policy and Advocacy Fellow Hattie Seten and Rafael Montán (B.A. government and American studies '26) traveled to Albany to advocate for the Dignity Not Detention Act (A.4181/ S.316), a bill that would promote human rights, alongside the Dignity Not Detention Coalition. During meetings with legislators, Seten and Montán shared evidence in support of the Dignity Not Detention Act and shared the Clinic's interactive mapping website which highlights local immigration policy across New York State: Local Approaches to Immigration Across New York State. Keten Abebe (Brooks, B.S. public policy, Brooks '27) and Anezka Rodriguez (B.S. ILR '26) also testified in favor of Dignity Not Detention before the Ithaca Common Council. Noah Freedman (B.A. government '26) published an OpEd in English in support, with Professor Dufresne, while Rafael Montán (B.A. government and American studies '26) published an OpEd in Spanish.

Sunni Horton (B.A. government '27), Azaria Hysmith (B.S., Health Care Policy, Brooks '26) Emily Melcer (B.A. government and sociology '26), Emily Kolodner (B.S. public policy, Brooks '27), and Micah Schuchman (B.A. government and Spanish '26) were recognized in the New York State Senate Chamber by Senator Lea Webb for the Clinic's work in support of her bill, S.2280A, which requires law enforcement officers to conduct a lethality assessment as part of the standardized domestic incident report form when responding to incidents of domestic violence. Nicole Fan (B.A. Cognitive Science and Information Science '26) published an OpEd in support of this policy proposal.

Horton (B.S. government '27) delivered a speech in support of Assembly bill S.2280A.4899A, a proposal that connects domestic violence survivors to life-saving resources before it is too late. She shared, "In 2024, nearly 100,000 New Yorkers faced domestic violence and 107 New Yorkers were killed-but with a simple 12-question screening tool, we've seen the homicide rate fall by 59% in areas like Dutchess County that use their own program." Her speech was featured by NEWS10 ABC and RochesterFirst.

Henry Deng (MPA, Brooks 2026), Amelia Russell (B.S. Human Development '26) Lasya Vadlamani (B.S. human ecology '26), Tae Kyu Lee (B.A. government '26), and Finley Allen (B.S. human development 27)' met with legislators in Albany to advocate for the CARE Act (S4583A /A4879A) which Clinic students worked with legislators and formerly incarcerated women to draft. Naina Kalra (B.S., Public Policy, '26) accompanied Clinic partner Ultimate Reentry Opportunity (URO) to Albany to advocate for a host of criminal justice reforms.

Members of the State Policy Advocacy Clinic's environmental policy team, Isabelle Olaes (MPA candidate '27), Pilar Seielstad (B.S. biological sciences '26), Madeline Cierski (B.S. ILR '26), and Paige Peters (B.S. plant sciences '27) traveled to Albany for the Finger Lakes Advocacy Day where they educated New York State lawmakers about harmful algal blooms. More about the event here: Conservation groups rally for Finger Lakes funding.

Members of the State Policy Advocacy Clinic's environmental policy team, Isabelle Olaes (MPA candidate '27), Pilar Seielstad (B.S. biological sciences '26), Madeline Cierski (B.S. ILR '26), and Paige Peters (B.S. plant sciences '27) and State Policy Advocacy Clinic Policy and Advocacy Fellow Hattie Seten presented their proposal, "Code Red: Building a Heat Emergency Framework for Health Equity and Climate Resilience in New York State," at the 2026 New York State Public Health Partnership Conference in Lake Placid. The proposal calls for a coordinated statewide response to extreme heat.

Eeshaan Chaudhuri (B.S. public policy '27), Maria Santa (B.A. government and economics '27) and Kate Zavuholnik (B.A. government '26) travelled to Albany to meet with legislators about a bill they drafted with community partners and Assemblymember Kelles that would authorize high schools to include naloxone (Narcan) training and distribution as part of their health education, in order to reduce opioid overdose deaths (A10060). Students testified before the Tompkins County Legislature in favor of a resolution they drafted in support of this bill. The resolution passed unanimously.

To learn more about the mission and methodology of the State Policy Advocacy Clinic, check out this podcast.