Third Cohort of Inclusive Growth Fellows Presents Ideas for Local Economic Development
Students worked with city mentors on initiatives designed to support equitable growth across New Haven.
This spring, the third cohort of the Inclusive Growth Fellowship presented economic development recommendations to students, faculty, and city stakeholders, including Dean Kerwin K. Charles and Mayor Justin Elicker ’10.
The fellowship builds on Yale’s partnership with the City of New Haven focused on equitable development. Through the program, students are paired with city officials to work on projects aligned with New Haven’s strategic priorities.
This year’s eight fellows developed recommendations related to affordable housing, public infrastructure, sustainable construction, and urban redevelopment. Program assistant Peter Waggonner ’26, a former fellow, guided the project teams.
Holly Briffa ’27 and Eytan Deener-Agus ’27 expanded previous fellows’ work to explore how zoning reforms can support New Haven’s affordable housing goals. Working with City Plan officials Esther Rose-Wilen, assistant director of comprehensive planning, and Abdul-Razak Zachariah, deputy director of zoning, they identified residential development trends and assessed how zoning rules could better reflect the projects ultimately approved by the city.
The fellows also discussed how peer cities, such as Hartford, Connecticut, and Cambridge, Massachusetts, engaged strategically with the public to build support for similar zoning reforms. “Define the narrative clearly and early,” Deener-Agus said. “Why are we doing this? Why now? Who is this for?”
Gerald Velasquez ’26 and Adam Vieira ’27 considered how the city could incorporate the perspectives of a range of stakeholders as it identified a new location for storing the salt used for treating icy roads, which currently occupies properties the city plans to redevelop. With mentorship from Dean Mack, New Haven’s deputy director of business development, the fellows developed criteria for evaluating potential sites. Their framework balanced community development goals outlined in the Mill River Municipal Development Plan, environmental considerations, and winter road maintenance needs.
Building on research completed by the first two cohorts, Raquel Borges Izar ’27 and Philip Reilly ’26 examined how New Haven could increase demand for mass timber, a low-carbon construction material. Under the guidance of Mark Wilson, manager of neighborhood and commercial development for New Haven’s Housing and Development Administration, they studied 340+ Dixwell, a local mass-timber affordable housing project, and reviewed successful mass-timber initiatives across the country. The fellows recommended establishing a New Haven Mass Timber Task Force to help scale local mass-timber construction.
In response to questions from Elicker, they emphasized that while mass timber has a slightly higher initial cost than conventional construction materials, it may be more affordable in the long term.
Fellows Anthony Asiegbunam ’27 and Ahita Paul ’26 continued last year’s research on a potential conference center in New Haven. They worked with Carlos Eyzaguirre, New Haven’s deputy economic development administrator, to assess demand, benchmark New Haven against similar cities with existing venues, and identify potential sites. They also examined how a new venue could increase spending on hotels, dining, and transportation, generating broader economic benefits across the city.
“We genuinely enjoyed working on this and hope to see something like this come to life in New Haven in the near future,” Paul said.
The Yale SOM Inclusive Growth Fellowship is made possible thanks to generous support provided by the Amman Community Impact Fund.
