Competition Results
Finalist teams were from Duke University, Wellesley College, and the University of South Carolina. Congratulations to Muskaan Makkar, Hima Vadlamani, and Anusha Ghosh from the University of South Carolina for their winning proposal to implement a bed-tracking solution for existing New Orleans shelter beds and address housing shortages by using empty school buildings.
For the slide decks from the finalists please click here, here, and here.
2023 Case Prompt
This case asks teams of undergraduate students to apply the lens of health policy analysis to the homelessness crisis in New Orleans. While some progress was made during the pandemic, recently the population without access to permanent, affordable housing has been increasing. In this scenario, the city has set aside $50 million over 10 years to fund a comprehensive and sustainable solution. A good policy will leverage existing city infrastructure as appropriate and include detailed breakdowns of the costs of the policy package.
- Competition Announced – Mon, Sep 4, 2023
- Registration deadline – Sat, Sep 30, 2023
- Case Details Released – Mon, Oct 2, 2023
- Zoom workshop – Thu, Oct 12, 2023
- Slides due – Mon, Oct 23, 2023
- Finalists present via Zoom – Sat, Oct 28, 2023
Each member of the winning team will receive $1,000 in cash as well as a $10,000 scholarship* to the Health Policy master's program.
*Scholarships are limited to students enrolled full-time in the Health Policy concentration of the Master of Public Health at the Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. The award will be distributed $5,000 per semester. The award will be disbursed in the academic year following winning the competition.
| Lou Anne White currently works as the executive director of Louvis Services to grow an innovative housing model for homeless people in New Orleans. Louivis Services is currently working to build tiny homes for the homeless and completed its first home in the Lower Ninth Ward. The organization aims to secure lots for four more homes, as well as provide tenant services like behavioral health, onsite gardening, and community involvement. She has worked with organizations including NANO, Colmex, Engineers Without Borders, and BCBS Louisiana Foundation to secure financing, funding, and design. She is a graduate of Indiana University as well as of the University of New Orleans Community Development Finance Program. She has over 35 years of experience in homeless-related areas and over 15 years of experience in the supportive housing industry. She has built a career of service, working with populations including families affected by domestic violence, youth in foster care, and people experiencing homelessness. She has also worked with private and public agencies, developers, community-based organizations, and property managers to provide technical assistance. | |
| Nathaniel Fields was announced as the Director of the newly created Office of Homeless Services and Strategy on March 9th, 2023. This office aims to create solutions to assist the unhoused population of New Orleans through expanding resources, outreach, and partnerships. In this role, his focus will range from the affordable housing crisis to the specific barriers that dual-diagnosis, mental health, and addiction issues create. He is bringing with him nearly a decade of experience as the Homeless Outreach Coordinator for the Baltimore Mayor’s Office of Human Services and for the Downtown Partnership of Baltimore. Mr. Fields has experienced homelessness himself and uses those lived experiences in his work. | |
| Lesli Harris, a New Orleans City Council member, took office in January of 2022, representing District B neighborhoods in Central City, Downtown, Gert Town, Uptown, and Mid-City. She chairs the Quality of Life Committee and, along with public safety and infrastructure issues, Cm. Harris has prioritized improving housing stability for New Orleanians. She successfully advocated for creating a city homelessness director position and engaging nationally renowned consultants to convene the many agencies addressing street homelessness, affordable housing, and supportive services, a strategy that won Houston national recognition. Prior to her current role, Cm. Harris served as Chief of Staff to Loyola University’s first woman president, where she took an instrumental role in addressing COVID and the school’s finances. She is an accomplished intellectual property and entertainment lawyer, having represented clients like the New Orleans Saints and Pelicans. She also argued for equal rights for everyone, representing the Forum for Equality and couples seeking to strike down Louisiana’s anti-gay marriage laws. Cm. Harris has been an active community member for decades, as a board member on YAYA (Young Artists Young Aspirations) in Central City and as a member of the Independent Woman’s Organization (IWO), the New Orleans Bar Association, and the New Orleans NAACP. In addition to serving as District B's City Council Member, she is Of Counsel at Kelly, Hart, Pitre practicing Intellectual Property, Entertainment Law and other civil litigation. | |
