Kaur headshot

Emerson Fellow

Harvir Kaur

18th Class, 2011-2012

Harvir moved to New Jersey from India when she was nine years old. She graduated from Johns Hopkins University with a degree in political science in 2011. She has worked on several social justice projects, including an analysis of the barriers to low-income people’s access to dental health care services, interviews with detainees in the Baltimore City Detention Center (BCDC) to evaluate health care services inside the jail, and documentation of the collateral consequences of charging youth as adults. Harvir also did legal analysis in India at a human-rights organization. She was awarded the Abell Award in Urban Policy for her paper "State of Emergency: Providing Oral Health Care Services to Low-Income and Medicaid Populations in Baltimore City."

Field placement: Midtown Partners

Jackson, Mississippi

Harvir created and implemented a "Midtown Resident Leadership Training Institute" to provide an opportunity for marginalized residents of Midtown to increase their leadership, coalition-building, community organizing, and communication skills. The institute is designed to enhance the residents’ ability to resolve problems on their own and empower them to be advocates for quality of life issues impacting their families and communities.

Policy placement: NETWORK

Washington, D.C.

Harvir helped to design NETWORK’s "Mend the Wealth Gap" campaign to educate community groups on how to address the racial wealth gap in the United States. She conducted research on asset-building, housing, and labor policy challenges and solutions and developed educational materials for the campaign.

Hunger Free Community Report

Retiring in Despair: Senior Hunger in Mississippi provides a closer look at the barriers and challenges that senior citizens face in accessing affordable and healthy food in Mississippi.