Sarah Pesi Completes Pennsylvania Education Policy Fellowship Program

Sarah Pesi, MSPPM poses with the certificate recognizing her completion of the Pennsylvania Education Policy Fellowship Program.

Sarah Pesi, MSPPM, a Jewish Healthcare Foundation policy associate, has completed the 2022-2023 Pennsylvania Education Policy Fellowship Program, a policy leadership program for education, community, and advocacy leaders.

During the program, fellows work with a diverse and talented cohort of peers from across Pennsylvania, while interacting with session leaders and guests who represent a broad scope of experience and perspective – both statewide and nationally. The fellowship included trips to meet with state policymakers, a trip to Washington, DC, and a final presentation of policy projects.

Pesi was involved in the Fellowship from September 2022 through the beginning of June. Her culminating policy project was called Universal School Mental Health Screening Pilot Program modeled after the Dyslexia Screening and Early Literacy Intervention Pilot Program. The pilot program would fund and provide schools with necessary support, technical assistance, and funding to implement and plan mental health screenings. It would also provide universal mental health interventions and education.

She was chosen as the Fellowship's graduation speaker. Pesi talked about the importance of policy discussions that should not only consider the problem and how to solve it but the implications for implementation, how you will achieve an expected outcome, and who are you asking to implement the policy and what they will need.

"I had a great experience in the Education Policy Fellowship," said Sarah Pesi. "I got to work with educators from across the Commonwealth to learn more about education policy system and to apply learnings about school mental health. I am excited for the next steps of applying what I am learning to implement change."