Jennifer Tan – Rappaport

Organization

Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston

Program

Rappaport Public Policy Fellow

Year

2025

Rappaport Public Policy Fellows spend 10 weeks each summer serving within the highest levels of state and municipal governments in the Greater Boston Area. The program includes students from graduate and professional programs at local universities.

Graduate School: Simmons School of Social Work

Fellowship: Massachusetts Department of Transitional Assistance

Project Description: Jennifer Tan worked at Massachusetts’ Department of Transitional Assistance (DTA) this summer as a project manager for a pilot program between DTA and the Department of Children and Families (DCF).The pilot program strives to bridge communication between the two agencies to bring better outcomes to the families that they serve. Jennifer created materials and made contributions to essential documents (consent form, data collection sheets, etc.) that will be used by both agencies. She ensured that all important milestones were met and collaborated with stakeholders to successfully prepare the pilot to launch in September 2025. In addition to working on the pilot program, she also had the opportunity to connect with clients of DTA’s work and training programs, learn about policy work and other important roles, and meet with individuals doing similar work in California.