The National Forum for Black Public Administrators has partnered with the
School of Management of the University of San Francisco and the
Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley to host the 2025 poster contest.
This competition recognizes research conducted by students at all undergraduate, masters, and doctorate levels. All students are encouraged to submit for this competition. In order to be eligible for the poster contest, all applicants must be currently enrolled in a traditional four-year college or university with at least one academic semester remaining after April 2025. All payments will be made to the university.
In less than 500 words, poster abstracts should summarize the following: 1) the research question/problem statement; 2) the theory and hypothesis; 3) the research methods; 4) the findings; 5) the research implications. Submissions should be limited to research conducted during your time as a student. Research that incorporates the effort of a professor or a professional researcher (e.g., think tanks) is prohibited. You may only submit one poster abstract in which you are the lead/presenter. If your name will be affiliated with multiple abstract submissions, you can only select one project that you will serve as the lead presenter.
Topics:
- Artificial Intelligence & Intersectionality: Evaluating the Use of AI to Solve Pressing Challenges in Local Governments Service Delivery
Emerging technologies, particularly Artificial Intelligence (AI), are reshaping how local governments manage critical services such as healthcare, education, climate change mitigation, housing, and public safety. While these innovations hold great potential, they often operate within biased frameworks that can deepen existing inequalities, especially for marginalized communities.
We invite students to submit posters focused on the impact of emerging technologies on the management of critical urban services. While these technologies offer transformative potential, they often operate within biased frameworks that can deepen inequalities, especially for marginalized communities. Students are encouraged to critically analyze how digital systems can perpetuate systemic oppression by stigmatizing individuals based on location, occupation, and activities, thus reinforcing discriminatory practices.
Submissions should also address best practices for leveraging emerging technologies to create more equitable public sector outcomes and prioritizing the inclusion of marginalized voices in the design and implementation of technological advancements. We seek innovative ideas that challenge existing systems, promote inclusivity, and contribute to solving persistent challenges in local government service delivery—ultimately shaping a future where technology works to reduce, rather than exacerbate, social inequalities.
- Collaboration is the New Competition: How We Lift our Communities Together
Whether the focus is on sustainability, creativity and innovation, or philanthropy, collaboration drives new venture success, reduces divisiveness, and increases the positive impacts of the same on community health. We can't get there by "bowling alone", we can only do it by working together.
We invite students to submit posters that explore new ways to enact collaborative strategies in a range of fields from business attraction and retention, leveraging community assets and reducing the effects of geography-related deficits, and overcoming demographic differences. Students are encouraged to critically analyze how collaboration, rather than competition, can provide asset-based strategies that communities can leverage to both create more equitable public sector outcomes and include those who traditionally have not been “invited to the table”.