Patrick Cooney

Patrick Cooney is the Vice President of Michigan Future, Inc. (MFI), a non-partisan, non-profit think tank focused on the health of Michigan’s economy and the financial stability of Michigan households. Patrick Cooney is the former assistant director of policy impact at Poverty Solutions, and oversaw the Partnership on Economic Mobility between the University of Michigan and the City of Detroit. In this role, he managed existing projects between U-M and the city and fostered opportunities that deployed U-M resources to help evaluate, enhance, and inform City initiatives to promote economic mobility and alleviate poverty. Prior to joining Poverty Solutions, Cooney worked as a policy associate at MFI, where he contributed research, policy analysis, and writing to MFI projects focused on influencing state economic and education policies. At MFI, Patrick also managed the college success program for the Michigan Future Schools initiative, which funded and supported new college-prep high schools in Detroit. Cooney also taught middle school math at Uncommon Schools in Brooklyn, New York; was a Teach for America corps member in the Rio Grande Valley, Texas; and was an Education Pioneers fellow at Chicago Public Schools. He has a bachelor’s degree in economics and history from Boston College and a master’s in public policy from the University of Michigan.