by Dr. Isabel Warner
The MOST Fellows met up with their counterparts from other states, including the California, New York, Virginia, and New Jersey state policy fellows. Executive Director Boone participated in a roundtable with other state policy fellowship administrators and state science policy leaders. In addition, the Fellows attended workshops and panels on topics ranging from AI and the workforce to youth mental health.
From Dr. Isabel Warner, the Education & Workforce Legislative Policy Fellow:
“I attended several panels that were incredibly useful to my work in Missouri. The AI and Workforce panel provided a useful toolkit from Oregon state legislators thinking about AI policy at the state level, and a framework for how schools can adapt to teaching kids to be both AI savvy and develop their people-focused skills (also known as ‘durable’ or ‘soft’ skills). From the Spotlight on Kentucky Education, I met with some fantastic folks at KYSTATs. Their work was inspiring – both to see long term data used to inform educational outcomes and policy in Kentucky, and to see how a non-partisan, data-driven entity can exist and be deeply valued within a state government.
I sat in on the State Led Strategy of Higher Education panel and am very keen to see the NCSL task force
report on this subject that’s coming out at the end of the year. Missouri legislators have been thinking a lot about higher education funding and degree value, and I think there’s a lot of room for states to collaborate and learn from each other on this issue. Lastly, probably my favorite panel was the
Education Policy at the State Level, which had a great mix of experts and legislators (typical for NCSL panels!) who had a lot of insight and really interesting ideas about re-imagining what learning and schools can and should look like in a ‘post-pandemic’ world.”
From Dr. Rieka Yu, Health and Mental Health Legislative Policy Fellow:
“At the 2024 NCSL Summit, I was able to attend sessions focused on increasing health and mental health resources. The panel on Re-entry & Medicaid covered Medicaid Re-entry waivers, which allow inmates to be covered by Medicaid prior to their release and would require the state to cover certain services related
to substance use. In a panel on youth mental health, I learned how the Centers for Disease Control is studying factors affecting mental health in youth, and how Colorado and Indiana are working to improve accessible mental health screening and care in schools, improving school performance and reducing youth suicide rates. In another session, I also learned about an individual’s own experience in the juvenile justice system, how families can emotionally support their children, and ways for legislators to understand people’s lived experiences before passing laws.
I also enjoyed making connections with staff members from neighboring Illinois all the way to Alaska and hearing how passionate they were about helping their state legislature. Finally, the highlight of the summit was hearing two political experts, Kellyanne Conway and Donna Brazile, discuss strategies in this upcoming presidential election."