Caroline Adler
2011 Anne Wexler Australian Scholar
"Despite its status as a wealthy industrialized nation, Australia has a comparatively high level of poverty, currently above 10 per cent of the population. Unsurprisingly, there is a strong relationship between poverty and unemployment. Addressing poverty is fundamental for Australia’s future social progress and economic growth.”
Ms Caroline Adler, a Master’s student in public policy at Harvard University’s prestigious John F. Kennedy School of Government, is the Australian winner of the inaugural Anne Wexler Australian-American Studies Scholarships in Public Policy.
Caroline will use her scholarship to fund the second year of her Masters of Public Policy at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Caroline’s Master’s research explores innovative workforce development policy interventions. Her goal is to develop social enterprise solutions to help urban Australians who experience long-term poverty to gain work skills and achieve increased economic opportunities.
“I believe it is critical to find proactive solutions that assist individuals who experience entrenched disadvantage and poverty to gain skills, opportunities and incentives to re-enter and remain in the social and economic mainstream. I am convinced that social enterprise is an important vehicle to achieve this goal.” Caroline said.
“This is a long-term project and one in which I hope to have significant impact in Australia as a social enterprise leader.”
“Working with leading experts in the Harvard Kennedy School’s Social and Urban Policy Department is preparing me to lead a large-scale social enterprise in Australia dedicated to economic opportunity and skill development in low-income urban communities.”
Caroline has a Bachelor of Arts (1st Class Hons) in French, and a Bachelor of Laws (Hons), both from the University of Melbourne. She completed components of both degrees at the University of Lyon, France. She has also won various awards and prizes including the Australia Awards’ Australian Leadership Award, and was top of her Honours class in French Studies at the University of Melbourne. Caroline was formerly the Manager/Principal Lawyer at the PILCH Homeless Persons’ Legal Clinic in Melbourne. She has volunteered on non-profit boards and at community legal services in Melbourne and is an accomplished field hockey player.
In 2009 the Australian Government announced the establishment of a prestigious annual scholarship program to recognise the many contributions by Mrs Anne Wexler for her role in fostering Australian-American relations. She was made an Honorary Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) by the Australian Government for her work on the Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement and the Australian-American Leadership Dialogue.
The Anne Wexler Scholarships are part of the Australian Government’s Australia Awards Program and are funded through the Australian Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) and administered by the Australian-American Fulbright Commission. The Scholarships are awarded for up to two years and are valued at up to A$140,000 each. Two Wexler Scholarships are awarded annually, one for an Australian citizen to go to the U.S. and one for an American (US) citizen to come to Australia.