Carmen Mira is a second year MPA student. Before coming to the LSE, she completed her bachelor's degree at Sciences Po and worked on transport policy at the International Air Transport Association.

Doménica is the former Community Engagement Officer for the Association of Public Policy Students 2020 at the LSE. She is a Second Year MPA. Doménica was born and raised in Ecuador and holds a I bachelor’s in economics. Her interest are politics and development economics. She is also an activist for youth involvement in politics. She has research experience in education, health, and economic development, and she has done Strategic Planning for Public Universities. She is the founder member of Va pa´lante, an organization that supports the inclusion of Venezuelan immigrants in Ecuador. Currently, she is part of Project access, an NGO that helps refugees to go into higher education.

Pankhuri Anand is a second-year MPA student at the LSE. Prior to attending the LSE, she worked with Teach For India to provide quality primary education in under-served communities in Mumbai. Description – When COVID-19 hit the world, Pankhuri and her previous school team raised funds to support the school and the community. They connected the school, that serves over 1200 students, with NGOs and donors to support the community with food supplies. They also helped raise funds to support the school survive the crisis

James is Belfast born who has lived in the Middle East and America in his younger years, before moving to London. Former graduate of KCL’s War Studies Department he has worked a range of roles from public policy events management, consulting and lobbying work in the private and non-profit sector focusing on health and social care. Moving to East London and settling down in Hackney he has been heavily involved with the local housing and residential issues with the Council and community groups for the last few years. He continues to work in a community engagement role on his local housing estate. He hopes to build on those networks and connections on his next career steps post LSE hopefully to further improve his local area with the public policy skills gained through the MPP course. Description of the project Community organised volunteer COVID Mutual Aid Fund to help any Nightingale Estate residents during the pandemic. It was an integration of the existing model of the Nightingale Tenant’s Resident Association (TRA) with further contacts and organisational help gathered primarily through social media platforms. A simple ‘buddy system’ was created with able neighbours assigned to help anyone that requested help. A priority was on assisting older and more vulnerable residents whose usual family or Council interactions were heavily curtailed in the initial months of the pandemic. The contacts gained and relationship made have become the foundation of further community-based volunteer-run projects in the Hackney Downs area. Role and name of the organisation Chair of the Nightingale Partnership Residents Association (NPRA).