Ela Petit Frere is an MPP graduate student at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University concentrating on Children, Youth, and Family Policy. Before coming to Heller,  she graduated in 2020 from UMass Amherst with a Bachelor's in Health Science. She had accumulated experience as a 2022-2023 Commonwealth Corps service member, serving the Office of Food Access and Healthy Community, and the Project Soup food pantry focused on community-level approaches to improving food access and housing in Somerville, MA.  She is dedicated to community development and focused on creating better determinants of health for immigrant families. She is eager to identify and develop policies tailored to building advantageous social benefits for local communities in need around Boston. She is originally from Haiti, and a contemporary artist creating watercolor, oil painting, and digital art, illustrating a message of love, care, and compassion. This summer, Ela is excited to have an impact on family policy and learn more about researching, evaluating, and data analyzing policy regarding child care, the foster care system, maternal leave, and social welfare benefits for families, etc.