This fall, Leah Kim ’26, G ’27, has been listening to Syracuse-area residents tell her what works in their neighborhoods and where the help runs out.

Kim, a Master of Public Administration candidate in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, is a Lender Center for Social Justice intern helping collect and analyze that input for PEACE, Inc., Onondaga County’s federally designated Community Action Agency. Her work is part of a new Lender Center partnership with PEACE, which is conducting 15 community listening sessions reaching about 200 people. Her analysis of those conversations will inform the agency’s required needs assessment.

The discussions cover three topics: what participants like about their community, where their needs go unmet and where they turn for support. Kim attends the sessions weekly, takes notes and identifies common themes. She has joined three sessions so far, two with senior residents and another with social work staff. So far, themes have included concern about the cost of living, especially rents rising beyond what incomes can cover, and tenants’ rights, she says.

As a public administration/finance-track student who is also earning a certificate of advanced study in data analytics for public policy, Kim hopes to work in data science and visualization for a government or nonprofit agency after graduation.

Active Listening Skills

This project lets her practice both the analysis and listening skills she sees as essential to those roles.

“Active listening is one of the most important skills needed for anyone looking to work in nonprofit and/or public service; people often feel unheard,” she says.

The conversations have been “really motivating and eye-opening,” Kim says. “Sometimes for elders, it’s as simple as having help moving trash cans. Other times, help might be available, but people may not know where to get it. I love hearing directly from the Syracuse community.”

Data Analysis Assistance

In tandem with Kim’s work, Corri Zoli ’91, G’93, G’04, is analyzing public information and also helping expand the agency’s qualitative data. Zoli is a Lender Center research associate and faculty affiliate in the Forensic and National Security Sciences Institute, mentoring Kim and other Lender Center interns.

“People are the end point of Lender Center policy analysis, and our interns learn both community-based research methods and how to manage big data and qualitative data,” Zoli says. “Leah is a natural leader who has used her full range of analytical skills and has applied them with a ‘human touch’ to build partnerships with community leaders, organizations and everyday citizens.”

Todd Goehle, PEACE deputy director, says Kim’s “ability to record the thoughts of Community Conversation participants and to identify common themes across both qualitative and quantitative data has greatly helped the team.”

The assessment will be made public in the spring, and Kim hopes it helps make the case for more grants and federal funding. “Everyone needs a community and wants a community, and wants one that will support them,” she says.