The Bloustein School’s Nashia Basit (MPP/MCRP ’24) was one of nine graduate students selected as a 2023-24 Morgan Stanley Community Development Graduate Fellow.
Now in its 12th year, the Fellowship is a program that supports the training and development of emerging community development leaders while also building the capacity of community development organizations. It is hosted by the Associate for Neighborhood & Housing Development (ANHD). Each year, ANHD pairs nine students from highly respected graduate school programs with ANHD member community development corporations (CDCs) to work on a community-based project.
This year’s Fellows will spend the next 10 months working on projects focused on a range of issues, including affordable housing development and preservation, community land trusts, cooperative conversions, and commercial tenant and small business support and organizing. They bring a fervent and sincere willingness to uplift the field of community development through their commitment to member organizations and allies.
Nashia is passionate about expanding opportunities for underserved communities through the implementation of new social safety net programs. At the Bloustein School, she is a dual Master of Public Policy/Master of City and Regional Planning candidate with a focus on social policy and community development. She is currently interning with the Legislative Affairs Office in the New Jersey Office of the Governor. She is also a Graduate Fellow in Politics and Government at the Eagleton Institute of Politics, and serves on the executive boards of the Women’s Leadership Coalition and the Bloustein Social Justice Committee at the Bloustein School.
Her previous work experiences include the Lionheart Foundation, Environmental Analysis and Communications Group, Alan M Voorhees Center, Center for American Women and Politics, and the Department of Children and Families. She graduated from Rutgers in 2020 with dual degrees in Political Science and Communication and certificates in Women’s Leadership/Social Change and American Politics and Policy and was a Leadership Scholar at the Institute for Women’s Leadership. She was also an Undergraduate Associate at the Eagleton Institute of Politics and Ralph Voorhees Fellow for Public Service.