Last fall, McGovern fulfilled his promise by introducing Political Science 325, Grassroots Politics in Philadelphia, to the Haverford curriculum. The course gives students at both Haverford and Bryn Mawr the opportunity to turn their education into action by serving internships with government and non-profit agencies in Philadelphia and sharing their experiences in the classroom.

The seeds of Grassroots Politics were planted in the fall of 2003, when McGovern collaborated with fellows at Haverford House, a program in which recent graduates live together in Philadelphia and volunteer at various agencies around the city. “Some of them reached out to faculty members interested in developing stronger ties between the College and city,” says McGovern, who discussed with the fellows ideas for a course that would connect students with Philadelphia non-profits. He fashioned a class proposal that was approved by the faculty, and last summer he intensified his search for appropriate organizations to host students as interns. “I wanted a variety of organizations: government agencies to give an insider’s perspective on urban politics and policy, public interest groups and community-based organizations involved with grassroots organizing so students will have opportunities to get out into the field and interact with ordinary citizens mobilizing around issues critically important to them and their neighborhoods,” he says. He was especially interested in finding groups that covered issues related to housing and development, education, poverty and welfare policy, and economic development: “In my view these issues are absolutely central to the condition of American cities today.”

He had an enthusiastic response from the organizations he contacted. “The general consensus was, ‘Sure, I’d love to have a smart student work here one day a week,’” he laughs. From the start, it was important for him to make clear to the internship supervisors the responsibilities involved: “In many cases this is the first real work experience students will have. I wanted supervisors who were dependable, reliable, who could mentor students, answer questions, and provide guidance.”

McGovern ended up selecting 15 organizations, one for each student who pre-registered with the course. They include the Philadelphia Empowerment Zone, a federally funded initiative that encourages economic development in distressed neighborhoods; Public School Notebook, a newspaper published several times a year dealing with contentious public education issues; Empowerment Group, which cultivates local entrepreneurship in city communities; and the Pennsylvania Economy League, a nonprofit public policy research and development organization. He wanted students to have as broad a range of experiences as possible and bring back to the classroom different kinds of perspectives—even diametrically opposed views of one issue.

For example, he assigned students to several organizations associated with the Neighborhood Transformation Initiative (NTI), an ambitious proposal by Philadelphia mayor John Street to revitalize inner-city neighborhoods. “In some ways it’s controversial,” says McGovern, who has been conducting an academic study of NTI. “The city devotes substantial resources to demolishing decaying structures, clearing land, and getting private developers to build market-rate housing then sold to middle-class residents. The program bolsters the city’s tax space, and succeeds in fighting blight, but there are also question marks: How many people have to be relocated, and what impact does this have on the neighborhoods?” To examine NTI from all sides, he placed a student with the city government agency responsible for implementing the project, and sent others to organizations decidedly less supportive of the initiative. “One is opposed to NTI because of the threat of displacement, believing that not enough affordable housing would be constructed for low-income residents,” he explains. “Other groups hold more moderate views, and see both the benefits and the drawbacks of the plan. The idea is that students work with these organizations, learn a lot about NTI from different perspectives, and come back to the class and report about their experiences.”

Grassroots Politics in Philadelphia is one of Haverford’s more demanding courses. The seminar meets once a week on Monday evenings for two and a half hours, and students are asked to commit eight hours a week to their internships. “It’s a longer time commitment than a typical course at Haverford or Bryn Mawr, and I went out of my way to alert students to this fact,” says McGovern. “As a result, I ended up with 15 students who said this was exactly what they wanted. They knew it would be tough but also an unusual, innovative opportunity. They’re a terrific bunch of students, smart, highly motivated. It’s one of the best classes I have ever had.”

In the first six weeks, students are given an introduction to urban politics both in Philadelphia and across the country. Through assigned readings they learn more about Philadelphia’s past and present hard times and the ways in which American cities responded to the urban crisis of the late 20th century. They also read Robert Fisher’s Let the People Decide, a historical overview of organizing in American cities over the last century, and Mark Warren’s Dry Bones Rattling: Community Building to Revitalize American Democracy, which deals with contemporary grassroots activism in Texas and the southeastern United States. “The readings get students thinking about various strategies for mobilizing ordinary folks, and what might and might not work in Philadelphia,” says McGovern.

The second segment of the class focuses on policy issues, and the structure of the course itself alters. “The first six weeks are traditional in that the professor takes primary responsibility for assigning readings,” says McGovern. “In the second segment students take more responsibility for assigning articles and leading discussions.” During the last six weeks the students take further control of the class content, offering presentations on semester-long research projects growing out of their internship experiences.

“This class builds upon students’ previous course work in political science and urban studies,” says McGovern. “When they get out into the field and experience the issues firsthand, those issues come alive and take on greater meaning. They see the issues in a different way, and have additional ideas about how to resolve them in ways that even academics haven’t fully considered. They’re on the cutting edge of strategies to revitalize American cities.”

Although the country’s urban landscapes still face some overwhelming problems, the good news, according to McGovern, is that many cities have stabilized over the last decade. Crime rates have fallen dramatically, and “center city” districts are experiencing a revival (though inner city neighborhoods are slower to improve). Citizens have taken a greater interest in politics and become increasingly active in local government through community-based organizing.
Among those active in Philadelphia’s revitalization—and whose organizations are hosting McGovern’s students as interns—are several Haverford alumni. David Thornburgh ’81 is executive director of the Pennsylvania Economy League. Jenny Hamilton ’88 is executive director of Afterschool Activities Partnerships. Andy Frishkoff ’88 is economic development director of the Philadelphia Empowerment Zone, and became interested in issues of homelessness and poverty as a Haverford student, when he was a weekly volunteer at a city shelter. “This class gives students a greater understanding of community politics and community-government interaction, removed from an ‘ivory tower’ approach,” he says. “It’s important for anyone interested in cities to see what’s happening in communities; you have to look at individuals and groups, not just books.”

Laura Gumpert ’02 is director of the Youth Entrepreneurship Program at the Empowerment Group, and runs after-school business programs throughout Philadelphia. “If there had been a class like this when I was a student, I would have been very interested,” she says. “You can read about case studies, about the challenges faced by city residents, but you need to be exposed to the realities of what’s going on.” She feels that it's a good experience for interns to come into Philadelphia every week, to work in a low-income neighborhood, and become more comfortable with the city in general. "Hopefully, this will encourage some students to stay here after graduation."

McGovern has similar hopes for his Grassroots Politics in Philadelphia students, believing that this early exposure to the inner sanctum of city government and community organizing will encourage current Fords to become future leaders in the quest to transform American cities. "I wouldn't be surprised if, in five or 10 years, a number of the students taking this class will be directors of public-interest groups themselves."