Marie Davidson

Boston Mayor’s Office of Early Childhood | Boston, MA

Marie Davidson, originally from St. Louis, Missouri, is currently pursuing a Master’s in Public Policy degree at the Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) with a concentration in Social and Urban Policy. Prior to starting at HKS, she worked at Social Finance, a Boston-based impact investing nonprofit. At Social Finance, Marie focused on building outcomes-based partnerships to measurably improve lives, ranging from expanding permanent supportive housing in Anchorage, Alaska, to advising Connecticut’s Office of Early Childhood on workforce-focused initiatives. Before her time at Social Finance, Marie worked as a strategy consultant following her graduation from the University of Notre Dame, where she earned both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in accounting.

During her tenure at Social Finance, Marie learned about the devastating effects of a broken early childhood education system on children and families across the United States. This awareness fueled her passion for expanding access to early childhood education, which has been the focus of her research while at HKS. 

At HKS, Marie serves as the Chair of the State and Local Professional Interest Council, where she organizes speaker events and professional discussions for peers interested in state and local government.

This summer, Marie will be working with the Mayor’s Office of Early Childhood in Boston to develop an initiative aimed at fostering better engagement with local businesses and creating funding partnerships to enhance the capacity and affordability of early childhood options in the city. Collaborating closely with Mayor Wu's Senior Advisor for Partnerships, Marie will pursue this initiative alongside exploring additional collaboration opportunities for the Office of Early Childhood.