The Massachusetts Public Banking Campaign is seeking an intern for the Spring semester to work with them in investigating the link between access to credit and banking services. The intern would also assist the MPB in building active support for the public bank among these advocacy organizations and movements.
Legislation to establish the MA public bank, S632/H975, has been introduced in the MA legislature. In order for the bill to become law, the State Legislature must see strong need for the legislation. The campaign works closely with the Black Economic Council of MA (BECMA) and the Boston Ujima Project in examining the inequities in lending along racial lines. Reform addressing those inequities may raise constitutional issues, however, given the scrutiny leveled at race-conscious remedies.
The Campaign therefore wants to research the distribution of banking services across the Commonwealth. Banking “deserts” may, in particular, exclude communities, regardless of composition, from access to credit. It may be that targeting banking deserts for public banking services is an effective strategy as reaching communities of color along with other underserved borrowers.
The HLS intern will develop a research strategy to identify banking deserts in Massachusetts and to measure their impact on borrowing communities. Empirical skills, experience in research design, and knowledge about local financial institutions would be valuable. The HLS intern will also reach out directly to legislators and their staff to educate them on the results of the study.
The intern will work with the guidance of Nancy Ryan, Co-chair of MA Public Banking and Professor Rory Van Loo, banking and consumer protection scholar, Boston University Law School.
Interested students can review the Campaign at its website: www.masspublicbanking.org
Students should submit a resume and cover letter to Dana Pierce at dpierce@law.harvard.edu by Friday, January 12, 2024.
Once students are selected by the Massachusetts Public Bank Campaign and in order to earn credits students will be required to submit an independent clinical (IC) application. Please consult: https://hls.harvard.edu/clinics/independent-clinical/
This posting is available to students who are not currently enrolled in a clinic or externship program for spring 2024. This opportunity is NOT eligible to students on F-1 visas.
Independent Clinical does not satisfy the HLS experiential learning graduation requirement.
Prof. Desan will serve as the faculty sponsor desan@law.harvard.edu.