Jackson Free Press

JACKSON — Molly Bashay is new not only to Jackson, but also to Mississippi. She is the newest policy analyst for Hope Policy Institute, a division of HOPE, which includes Hope Credit Union and Hope Enterprise Corp., a community-development financial institution in Jackson.

Bashay, 24, says she packed her belongings into her car and drove to Jackson from southern Virginia. She became a policy analyst at the Mississippi Economic Policy Center, the name of HOPE before it changed later last year, starting in July 2015.

She brought an impressive resume with her. She attended the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va., where she received bachelor's degrees in government and environmental policy in 2013. She also earned her master's degree in political science with a concentration in European Union policy studies at James Madison University in Florence, Italy, in 2014.

Her work at the Hope Policy Institute focuses more on economic education and workforce development policy in the mid-south region, which is comprised of Louisiana, Arkansas, Tennessee and Mississippi.

"I'm researching and reading and writing reports and blogs for HOPE, and I work on education and workforce development, and also an added sort of racial-equity lens for issues that relate particularly to males of color, education, economic security and wage gaps," Bashay says.

She says she is excited about several future projects, including examining methods to improve school climates, especially for young men and boys of color.

"What interests me most dealing with education in Mississippi is (that) there's just so much opportunity to innovate," Bashay says.

For more information, visit hopepolicy.org.