Emily Desmond

Graduate Research Assistant

Emily is a first-year Master of Public Administration student at the Price School. She is passionate about understanding how cities function to tackle complex civic challenges and make urban systems work better for people.

For the past two years, Emily has been focused on state and local solutions to the housing crisis through work at the Nowak Metro Finance Lab, the National Housing Crisis Task Force, and the California Community Foundation. In these roles, she conducted qualitative and quantitative research to elevate innovative practices and develop frameworks to scale these interventions to more places across the country. 

Emily grew up outside of Boston and graduated with a B.A. in Government from Cornell University before moving to St. Louis for the Coro Fellows Program in Public Affairs. After Coro, she was Manager of Strategy at Greater St. Louis, Inc., the St. Louis region’s business association and economic development organization. Grounded in a broader commitment to community well-being, Emily is dedicated to increasing healthy food access and fostering strong local food systems. She was heavily involved in the student-run, nonprofit grocery store, Anabel’s Grocery, during undergrad, and continued her involvement in this space as a Board member of the nonprofit grocery store, City Greens Market, in St. Louis. 

Currently, Emily serves as a Bohnett Fellow in Supervisor Hilda Solis’s office and is excited to be learning more about how communities are governed, what it means to be a responsive public servant, and to contribute to Supervisor Solis’s legacy in her last year on the Board.