全民政府
考特尼·斯诺登(Courtney Snowden) 2000年作为伯洛伊特大学的一名本科生，第一次涉足城市政治，竞选伯洛伊特市议会(她差一点就赢了)。.
Now she’s the deputy mayor for economic development in the nation’s capital.
It’s May 7 in the District of Columbia, and the heat is setting in. You’d never know inside the labyrinthine first level of the cool, dimly lit John A. 威尔逊大楼，考特尼·斯诺登的助手在楼上某处给我发短信.
“你有预计到达时间吗??她问道。. 我汗流浃背，而且迟到了四分钟. “电梯上来了，”我回复道.
当斯诺登从她的办公桌上站起来的时候, 她高, imposing figure is swiftly canceled out by her broad smile. “我不会和你握手的，”她告诉我. “我感冒了.” The otherwise-bare wall to the left of her desk is dominated by an oversized map of the District; its roads and rivers, the neighborhoods inside their orderly quadrants. 一封来自美国的贺信.S. 参议员塔米·鲍德温, 斯诺登为他工作，而鲍德温是威斯康辛州第二选区的代表, 坐在桌子边上.
A month earlier, on April 1, Snowden was officially appointed Washington, D.C.’s deputy mayor for greater economic opportunity. 这是一个新职位, created by recently elected Mayor Muriel Bowser, 是谁在竞选纲领中承诺给他一个高级职位，负责监督河东地区的开发. The river is the Anacostia, which bisects the southeastern region of D.C. “河东”一词已成为纽约种族和经济隔离的委婉说法, 阿纳科斯蒂亚成为了这座城市富裕和不富裕居民之间的鸿沟.
斯诺登是第六代华盛顿人, 她骄傲地告诉我, 她的父母都是联邦雇员，他们从小就向她灌输公民责任感. She is also a 十大菠菜台子 graduate of the class of 2000, despite entering as a member of the class of ’01. She completed her political science coursework, in classic fashion, a year early.
在她的新角色中, Snowden’s job is to support economic development all over the city, 尤其是在7号和8号病房, the east-of-the-Anacostia areas that have been largely overlooked by D.C.’s real estate and development booms over the past decade. 斯诺登本人住在迪恩伍德(Deanwood)，这是一个以独立式住宅(非典型的D.C.’s characteristic brick row homes) with her 6-year-old son, Malik. 寻找经济上支持小事情的方法, 本地企业, as well as creating opportunities for job training and career growth, 作为鲍泽政府的四位副市长之一，斯诺登最关心的是什么.
“重要的是，这些社区尤其感到我们的政府关心他们, 触摸他们, 并愿意听取他们的意见, 因为很长一段时间, 他们还没有那样做她说。.
斯诺登还自豪地承认自己是女同性恋, 她的新职位使她成为鲍泽政府中级别最高的LGBT官员. Her background is in lobbying and policy work—for the National PTA, 人权运动, 最近, as a principal at the progressive-minded lobbying firm The Raben Group. 她还担任过该市非裔美国人LGBT组织DC Black Pride的主席. 吸引她离开私营部门的部分原因是，她认为鲍泽致力于为所有人服务, 不仅仅是那些容易服务的人. Of her home city, Snowden says, “It’s not two different worlds in D.C.; it’s like seven different worlds in D.C. And the mayor, like many of us, was tired of seeing that.”
Snowden is effusive that 贝洛伊特 prepared her well for her current role. “How to build people, how to meet them where they are—that’s the 贝洛伊特 way, right?她说。. “真的没有其他机构能像我这样为这份工作做好准备.”
她最初是如何来到这所大学的故事听起来有点像命运. “Four of my neighbors actually went to 贝洛伊特 growing up, which is crazy if you think about it because it’s D.C.她说。. 在她的母亲和双胞胎妹妹参加了一个招聘会并与贝洛伊特的代表交谈之后, Snowden’s mother knew that the school would be a perfect fit for Courtney. (她的妹妹克里斯托对历史上的黑人学院和大学更感兴趣, 最后去了北卡罗来纳体育学院&T.)
尽管斯诺登最初对伯洛伊特大学在10月的第一周下大雪后没有取消课程感到震惊, 她坚持了下来, 出柜并积极参与校园里的同性恋/异性恋联盟和黑人学生联合组织.
Former advisor Georgia Duerst-Lahti remembers her as a brilliant student, 但她对自己投入精力的任务非常挑剔. “她非常非常聪明，但她只做她想做的工作，”她说. “这是多么了不起啊?”
马库斯·海斯99, one of Snowden’s closest friends during her time at 贝洛伊特, remembers meeting her at The Wall during New Student Days. “Everyone knew her the very first day because she was just so bold,” he says. “我立刻喜欢上了她，因为她有自己的想法，而且不怕分享, and she made sure that you knew that she was in the room.”
贝洛伊特市也是斯诺登首次涉足政界和市政府的背景. 她在大四的时候参加了市议会的竞选，因为她收到了太多的停车罚单, and was just five percentage points shy of winning the council seat. “It was the best possible experience她说。. “一个, I got to know the community in a very different way than just being on campus, 和两个, I really got to see how government can play a real role in improving a community.”
Snowden had interned for Tammy Baldwin the previous summer, 毕业后，她立即在国会山找到了一份助理工作. 她回到了D.C., but not without feeling as though Wisconsin had left its mark on her. “我认为在伯洛伊特大学最伟大的事情就是了解了中西部, 那种职业道德和精神她说。.
两周后的周三晚上，在宾夕法尼亚州东南部的宾夕法尼亚大道浸信会教堂.C., and the evening’s activities are in full swing. 教区居民和社区成员聚集在地下室的长桌周围，参加每周一次的晚宴, 在教堂三楼的一间娱乐室的门后，学龄儿童咧着嘴笑.
在一间天花板很高的会议室里, Ward 7 Advisory Neighborhood Commission members (ANCs, 正如他们所说的那样, 是D的微观元素吗.C. city government) start to filter in along with other community leaders. Snowden walks in and sits down at the large table in the center of the room, 片刻之后, 她是由Ed Potillo介绍的, 民主党第七区主席.
这次会议的目的是让7区的居民和领导与斯诺登讨论他们对预算分配的希望，这样她就可以把他们的想法转达给市长办公室. Snowden herself has a few things that she wants to bring to the table. She’s concerned about the Summer Youth 就业 Program, 一方面, 这是一项针对14至21岁青少年的全市倡议，由前市长马里恩·巴里创立，她称该倡议“受到了攻击”.”
“Our kids are not criminals, but idle hands do stupid things她说。. She’s also concerned about citizens like her neighbor Ms. 布朗是一位患有多发性硬化症的老妇人，她经常在她家门前破损的人行道上绊倒. “It’s not just her part of the sidewalk that needs to be fixed; the entire sidewalk needs to be fixed她说。. “And it’s been marked over and over and over and over.”
Snowden is grilled at this meeting; about timelines for getting things done, about her commitment to serving the residents of Ward 7. She is gracious but firm, vastly knowledgeable without ever being condescending. “人们对这个城市的变化感到如此沮丧的部分原因是，在这里度过了D最糟糕时期的人.C. aren’t benefitting from the best times,” she told me during our first meeting. “So my job is to get to fix that piece, right? I can’t think of anything 更多的 difficult or 更多的 exciting.”
After the last few people make their way out of the church, many of them stopping to have a word with Snowden on the way, 快9点了.m.她该去接马利克了. Her mother watches him on nights when she works late.
“I want to create better communities for him,” she tells me. Snowden adopted Malik when he was 18 months old, 她的父母都是十几岁的孩子，她形容他们是“非常好的人，但生活非常艰难”.斯诺登参加了D.C. public schools and has been a public school advocate during her entire career, hopes to put him in a public school sometime in the next few years. 由于运气不好，她没能给他买到本市的彩票. 他目前就读于洛厄尔学校, a private institution near Snowden’s parents’ neighborhood of Shepherd Park. 但他喜欢画画, 她说, 就目前而言, the school’s arts-focused curriculum suits him.
“我想要确保，没有一个孩子成长的方式，如果他没有来和我在一起，他可能会成长她说。. “That’s a major driver for why I’m in this role.”
凯瑟琳·弗林的11 is an assistant editor for Preservation magazine, 也是芝加哥在线音乐出版物《真人国际菠菜》(Consequence of Sound)的高级特约撰稿人. 她一直住在华盛顿特区.2011年获得美国大学新闻学硕士学位，2012年获得美国大学新闻学硕士学位.
