Date January 8, 2026

Student Spotlight: Nicole Nehiley ’26 MPA

By Pete Bilderback

Lifelong Rhode Islander Nicole Nehiley saw the Watson School’s MPA program as the perfect vehicle to help advance her career after working for nearly a decade in philanthropy.

Watson School MPA student and lifelong Rhode Islander Nicole Nehiley’s career as a philanthropist started with a lemonade stand. In 2005, distressed by the images of suffering she saw on television, an eight-year-old Nehiley and friends sold lemonade to their neighbors in Warwick, Rhode Island, to raise funds for Hurricane Katrina survivors.

That philanthropic impulse and desire for positive change have been constants in Nehiley’s life, from her childhood and education to her career and time as an MPA student. “When people ask me how long I’ve been fundraising,” she said, “I tell them ‘forever.’”

As a civic-minded teenager, Nehiley completed her high school senior project by fundraising for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (now known as Blood Cancer United). After earning a bachelor’s degree in political science and government from Rhode Island College in 2017, she worked in development and community relations for WaterFire Providence, where she designed workforce programs for youth and emerging artists. More recently, she was part of the philanthropy team at the United Way of Rhode Island, supporting initiatives in housing, education, and economic mobility.

After establishing herself in the world of nonprofit fundraising, Nehiley saw earning an MPA at Brown as the next logical step. “I’ve worked for almost a decade in philanthropy for nonprofits. I see how things really get done in Rhode Island,” she said. “I know who the players are, and I know how to raise money, but I felt like there was something missing, a certain level of finesse that I felt I could develop at Brown.”

Nehiley said that when she entered the MPA program, she knew she would be able to do more than just improve her academic proficiency. “I wanted access to the best minds in the world,” she said. “There’s something about being in this environment that makes you think bigger. Rhode Island is a very small place. And while I’m very Rhode Island-centric, there’s an entire world out there that has so many problems that need solving. I wanted to know how other people were thinking about things, and understand my blind spots from being so centered in a small place,” she said. “I felt that Brown was the right place to do that.”

Among those she is most grateful for the opportunity to learn from is the Faculty Director of the MPA Program, David Blanding, whose course, Race and Public Policy, she is taking this semester. Blanding, who earned his M.A. and Ph.D. in political science from Brown University and worked for the U.S. Government Accountability Office, is widely recognized as an expert on issues related to race and public policy, especially regarding the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Learning from Professor Blanding, who has such a deep knowledge base about race and public policy, is really inspiring. The course is giving me the tools to break down exactly how and why we’ve gotten to where we are as a society.

Nicole Nehiley MPA Class of 2025

“Race and Public Policy is my favorite class,” said Nehiley, “Learning from Professor Blanding, who has such a deep knowledge base about race and public policy, is really inspiring. The course is giving me the tools to break down exactly how and why we’ve gotten to where we are as a society.”

Nehiley said she sees racism at the core of much of what is wrong in the U.S. today. “It’s the reason education is underfunded,” she said, “and it’s why some third graders can’t read at the same level as others, depending on their zipcode. Professor Blanding’s course has given me a greater contextual knowledge base and a vocabulary to talk about the things that I see happening every day, things I’ve experienced personally, things that I want to stop happening.”

Another MPA course that Nehiley said she finds stimulating is Strategic Communication for the World We Live In Now, taught by CNN Senior Reporter, Isaac Dovere. “Effective communication is so important,” said Nehiley, “it doesn’t matter how good your message is, if you can’t figure out how to communicate it, it will get lost. You need to be able to talk simply about complicated problems.”

“Learning from someone like Isaac, who has so much experience, has been amazing,” she said. “As a journalist, he has a perspective on what the world is really like and how to get people to listen to you. I’ve gotten a peek behind the scenes at things that most people never see, which has been incredible. This is why I chose Brown University. I knew I wasn’t going to get this somewhere else.”

Nehiley said she also appreciates that Dovere brings in high-profile guests to talk to the class, including Jennifer Palmieri, who served as President Barack Obama’s White House director of communications from 2013 to 2015, and Hillary Clinton’s director of communications for her 2016 presidential campaign. “Talking to someone who has been the communications director for a president, which is a job that feels unattainable to the average person, and seeing how approachable she is, made it seem actually very attainable,” she said.

Nehiley said the class has helped her understand just how central good communication is to the things she wants to accomplish after she graduates. “Take, for example, race and public policy,” she said. “That is a very hot-button issue that is also very complicated. Some people don’t even want to hear about it in the first place. Learning how to communicate the issues I care about and getting people to come together and solve problems is essential.”

Nehiley said she plans on staying in Rhode Island after graduation, where she believes she can make a difference. “I’m a lifelong Rhode Islander. It will always be my home. I’m deeply embedded in the community and committed to all the great things that are happening here,” she said. “Being born and raised in Rhode Island, I understand the culture — the little things that transplants don’t always understand. It makes it easier to get things done.”

As much as she loves her home state, Nehiley knows it isn’t perfect. She noted that one of the most significant areas the state needs to improve is infrastructure, specifically citing the Washington Bridge, which closed in December 2023 due to structural neglect.

Housing security is another issue that Nehiley thinks Rhode Island could handle better. “We need more housing,” she said. “It’s a complicated issue. It has to do with zoning laws and funding. And it also has to do with people not wanting low-income housing in their neighborhoods.”

“But if you pare the issue down, it’s really not that hard to solve,” she said. “Adding 200 units in Providence would make a huge difference. The scale of the problem is not so large as to make it impossible for everyone in Rhode Island to have secure housing.”

Nehiley is not certain what her next steps are after graduating, but she is optimistic about the possibilities.

“I’ve done some consulting on my own, so I’ve thought of working for a consulting firm. I’ve also thought about staying in philanthropy and working for a big foundation,” Nehiley said. “There’s also a really hot election coming up in Rhode Island, so I’ve considered working on a campaign because I’m so passionate about the issues.”

Nehiley is excited about the next steps after graduating and advancing her career. “I need to be in a leadership position in my next job,” she said. “I want to use my voice and experience to help shape policy. I feel like the world is my oyster.”