Today’s #AlumniSpotlight is Chelsea Rose!
What brought you to the City College of New York and to the Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership?
What drew me to the MPA program at City College and the Colin Powell School was the opportunity to continue working in the field while pursuing my degree. After going directly into public service following my undergraduate education, I became deeply connected to the communities I serve and didn’t want to step away from that work in order to continue my education. I was looking for a program that was rooted in the realities of New York City and closely connected to the communities it seeks to support.
Just as importantly, I was drawn to the Colin Powell School’s approach to public service. Public institutions and systems play an essential role in our society, but many of them are also deeply flawed and often fail the people who rely on them most. I wanted to be part of a program that acknowledged those realities rather than ignored them, and that would equip me with the tools to work within those systems while advocating for meaningful change. The program offered exactly that balance of practical experience, critical thinking, and commitment to public impact.
Briefly, how has your career unfolded? How did the MPA Program help you to get where you are in your career?
I entered the MPA program during a period of significant transition. Just days before applying, I was laid off from a nonprofit position, and I started my current role only a month before beginning classes at City College. It was a lot of change at once, but in hindsight, it created the perfect environment for growth.
By that point, I already had experience working in the nonprofit sector and had seen both the incredible impact organizations can have and the challenges that can come from working within imperfect systems. I remember saying during my interview that I wanted to know whether a nonprofit could truly operate ethically and effectively while serving its mission. The MPA program gave me the space to wrestle with those questions while providing practical tools to address them.
More than anything, the program helped me develop the confidence to move beyond simply working within systems and toward actively improving them. Today, I remain in the same organization where I began when I started the program, but my role has evolved significantly. I am helping shape how our organization engages with the communities we serve, building new structures for advocacy and representation, and working to ensure that people with lived experience have a stronger voice in decision-making. The skills, perspective, and confidence I gained through the MPA program have been instrumental in making that possible.
What are you most proud of accomplishing during your time in the MPA Program?
What I am most proud of is completing the MPA program in two years while working full-time in a role that I cared deeply about. It wasn’t the easiest path, and I certainly didn’t have to finish on that timeline. Many of my peers made the thoughtful decision to spread the program out over a longer period, but I was determined to complete it in two years because I knew I had found the work I was meant to do.
When I started the program, I had just begun my role at Care For the Homeless. Almost immediately, I saw opportunities to strengthen advocacy efforts and elevate the voices of people with lived experience. I wanted to gain the skills and knowledge the MPA program offered and put them into practice as quickly as possible. For me, earning the degree wasn’t about adding a credential to my resume; it was about becoming more effective in a role and mission that I believed in.
Balancing graduate school with a demanding full-time career was challenging. Between classes, assignments, advocacy campaigns, and trips to Albany and Washington, D.C., there were plenty of moments when it felt overwhelming. Looking back, I am proud not only that I completed the program, but that I was able to fully engage with it, excel academically, and immediately apply what I was learning to real-world policy and advocacy work. That experience reinforced something the program taught me throughout my time at City College: meaningful change happens when learning and action go hand in hand.
Do you have any significant memories or accomplishments from your time in the MPA Program that you would like to share?
One of the most significant experiences from my time in the MPA program was taking Adaptive Leadership. Coming at the end of my graduate studies, it felt like the perfect culmination of everything I had been learning. The course challenged me to think critically not only about systems and organizations, but also about myself as a leader.
A major component of the course involved identifying and working through an individual leadership gap. Through honest reflection and thoughtful conversations with my peers, I gained a much deeper understanding of both my strengths and the areas where I could continue to grow. It was one of the few academic experiences I’ve had that was equally transformative on a personal and professional level.
What makes this experience especially meaningful is that it reminded me that education is not only about gaining knowledge. It is also about developing the confidence and self-awareness to use that knowledge effectively. The cohort I was fortunate to learn alongside played an enormous role in that process. Their support, insight, and willingness to challenge me helped me recognize my own potential in ways I didn’t expect. Looking back, that growth in confidence and leadership has been just as valuable as any technical or academic skill I gained during the program, and it continues to shape how I approach my work today.
What advice would you give to current/future MPA students or recent graduates?
My advice to current and future MPA students is to lean into the people around you. Some of the most valuable lessons I learned did not come from a textbook. They came from conversations with classmates who were tackling different challenges across the public service sector and from professors who were willing to invest in their students beyond the classroom. I came into the program very used to figuring things out on my own, but I quickly realized how much stronger I was when I allowed myself to learn from and rely on others. While my peers worked in different fields and organizations, we shared many of the same challenges, questions, and aspirations. Those relationships became one of the most rewarding parts of my graduate experience and continue to influence how I approach my work today.
I would also encourage students to remember that public service, like any system, is never finished. The MPA program does incredible work, but there is always room for growth and improvement. One thing I appreciated most about my cohort was our willingness to advocate for one another and speak up when we saw opportunities to make the program better. Don’t be afraid to engage thoughtfully, ask difficult questions, and push for progress. If there’s one lesson that public service teaches us, it’s that meaningful change happens when people are willing to work together and believe that improvement is possible.
What are your future aspirations for your career? (Share what’s next for you. Any goals, new areas of interest, or dreams?)
I am incredibly fortunate to be doing work that I genuinely love. My passion is working alongside impacted communities, helping people share their stories in advocacy spaces, and ensuring that those most affected by policies and programs have a meaningful role in shaping them. As I continue to grow in my career, I hope to help make community engagement and lived-experience leadership the norm rather than the exception across the public service sector. Too often, decisions are made about people without meaningfully involving them in the process. Yet the expertise that comes from navigating these systems firsthand is something that cannot be replicated in a classroom, report, or boardroom.
My goal is to continue creating and expanding opportunities for people with lived experience to have a seat at the table wherever decisions are being made. Whether in nonprofit organizations, government agencies, or advocacy coalitions, I want to help build systems that value community expertise as essential knowledge. If I can contribute to making public service more inclusive, responsive, and accountable to the people it serves, I will consider that a successful career.
Ready to lead change in public service? Explore the MPA Program at the Colin Powell School:
🔗 colinpowellschool.ccny.cuny.edu/graduate-programs/master-of-public-administration-mpa
