The Mel King Community Fellows

The program is dedicated to the legacy of Mel King, a still-active champion of cities and the communities they comprise. Mel King initiated the Community Fellows Program in 1970 when he was an adjunct professor at MIT.

The fellowship program builds on a 40-year-old tradition of bridging practice-based knowledge and academic research. Mel King Fellows are recognized leaders in communities across the country and have experience in a range of social justice pursuits. The program’s goal is to create a dispersed learning network among the Fellows for co-creating knowledge.
The program provides fellows an opportunity to examine:

• Models of community planning and development that advance community wellbeing via urban sustainability, democratic participation, and shared wealth generation

• Shifts in methods and approaches that will be required by these new models, including via culture, arts and Emerging aesthetic practices; and

• Tools and practices that will aid them in collaborative innovation and knowledge-sharing

Centering Equity in Long-Term Care

The existing long-term services and supports (LTSS) system exacerbates the pervasive racial and gender disparities in American society. It is designed to rely upon both the exploitation of a care workforce, comprised primarily of women of color, and the undervaluation of family caregivers – all while forcing people with disabilities and older adults to impoverish themselves in order to receive the services they need through Medicaid coverage. 

The Centering Equity in Long-Term Care Class of the Mel King Community Fellowship Program seeks to envision and actualize an LTSS system that builds wealth for care workers and preserves wealth for those who need care and their families.

The 2022-2023 Class will comprise of key leaders from California, New York, Massachusetts, and national organizations committed to advancing policy and investment strategies to create a just and quality LTSS system for caregivers and careseekers alike.

MKCF Class Research Questions

The motivating vision of the Centering Equity in Long-Term Care Class of the Mel King Community Fellowship Program is the creation of an LTSS system that builds shared wealth in communities of color. Specifically, Fellows will work in close partnership with DUSP Students, MIT Faculty, and MIT CoLab to engage a diverse set of practitioners in LTSS and finance to answer the following research questions:

1. How can we build new equitable public (or public/private) LTSS financing programs in NY, CA, MA, and nationally that improves job quality; improves access to care and quality of care; and increases the ability for communities of color to build shared wealth?

2. What are effective investment infrastructure and strategies to support worker-to-owner conversions of nursing homes and home care agencies?