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 Jon Hartough, Alumnus
Jon Hartough graduated from James Madison College at Michigan State
University in 1999, and is currently a Lead Organizer with the American
Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) in New York
City. AFSCME is the largest public sector union in the country, representing
over 1.4 million workers. Last year, Jon completed a Coro Fellowship in
Public Affairs.
Jon was born in Battle Creek, Michigan and attended public schools in the
Battle Creek area. His senior year of high school, he was selected as an
Educational Foundation Scholar and spent one year studying in the United
Kingdom before deciding on James Madison.
"My decision to attend James Madison College at Michigan State University
has been the most rewarding of my life so far. The Political Theory and
Constitutional Democracy program at Madison provided me with the analytical
training and catalystic environment of reasoned inquiry imperative to a
strong liberal education. In addition to the strong focus on public affairs,
I had the opportunity to add an international scope to my education. This
has afforded me the opportunity to build connections with diverse groups of
people and constituencies, not only at home but abroad. In this extremely
volatile and fast paced world of change, it is imperative that individuals
in public affairs and policy-oriented positions be able to cope and excel at
communication and in managing diversity."
At Madison, Jon had the pleasure of working closely with professors Eric
Petrie, Folke Lindahl, and Curtis Stokes, who were able to focus on classic
philosophical inquiry and theory, but balance that with debates over present
day issues. He was selected twice to travel to New York and Washington DC
with both the model United Nations team and the model Organization of
American States team to debate pressing international issues.
In fact, his years at Michigan State were highlighted with several
international experiences, including travels through western Europe with
Professor Joe Natoli on the "Is this a Postmodern World?" study abroad
program, and Professor William Vincent's winter "Documentary Filmmaking in
Mexico" program where he served as a teaching assistant for three years.
Jon spent the last semester of his senior year with Michigan State
University as a Coca- Cola International Fellow in Nepal (1999), researching
democratic value formation and living with a local family in a village just
outside of Pokhara. Upon his return to the United States, Jon founded the
Empower Nepal Foundation-a nonprofit organization dedicated to sustainable
development projects in Nepal. Under his direction the ENF group sponsored 9
long-term empowerment projects in Nepal, and was chosen by Rotary
International to administer a $60,000 grant for a clean water initiative
that covered three villages. Other projects included: a 30 farmer conference
at Lumle Agricultural Center, where a goat crossbreeding program and orange
cold storage facility program were developed and subsequently implemented
(across four villages); a scholarship program for outstanding young
students; and a grant to the Nepal Oppressed Caste Liberation Society to
further their work on social justice.
Shifting his focus to domestic labor issues, Jon was recruited by the
AFL-CIO, where he became a union organizer. Before Coro, he worked for the
largest public sector union in the country (AFSCME), leading successful
campaigns in Maryland (Towson State University, Morgan State University,
University College, and Coppin State College), Missouri (Department of
Mental Health) and Washington. Throughout his organizing Jon was invited to
be Teaching Fellow for the Organizing Institute (AFL-CIO) on three
occasions, facilitating a weekend training program for over 100 social
activists.
Last year, Jon was chosen to be a Coro Fellow in Public Affairs, one of 12
individuals selected nationally for a nine-month intensive public affairs
program geared toward training future leaders and public servants. (The Coro
website can be found at ) Fellows rotate through five
different areas of the public sector (government, politics, not-for-profit,
labor, and business), also undertaking various focus weeks, seminars and
group projects/presentations throughout the year.
His placements included: the New York City Council, Select Committee on
Waterfront; Andrew Eristoff for State Senate Campaign, Field Operations;
Open Society Institute, Criminal Justice Initiative; AFSCME District Council
37, Research and Negotiations; Hamilton, Rabinovitz, and Alschuler, Inc.,
development consulting; and the Economic Development Corporation of New York
City, Client Services Division (team project). He has been accepted to the
Heinz School of Public Policy and Management at Carnegie Mellon as a Cooper
scholar, but has deferred for one year to work on progressive policy issues
in New York City.
Currently he is leading health care campaigns in and around the New York
City metropolitan area, as well as working closely with elected officials
and various non-profit organizations to create innovative approaches to
policy.
In addition to pursuing a career that shapes the political sphere, Jon
enjoys playing soccer, cooking and eating great food.
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