Clearing Hurdles
The administration of the newly elected Democrat has been “very much in startup mode,” says Heo. After eight years of Republican governance, “we walked into a situation where some of the good muscles of government had been atrophied, intentionally or otherwise,” he says. Nearly 14% of state jobs were unfilled, according to the state’s Department of Legislative Services.
Before entering state government, Heo spent six years as a senior manager and analyst with the Emerson Collective, which advocates for progressive causes including education, immigration reform and gun control. As Swarthmore’s first Schwarzman Scholar, he deepened his understanding of government by earning his master’s in global affairs at Beijing’s Tsinghua University.
His interest in government service began at Swarthmore, where his older brother Yongjun Heo ’09 took part in student government. Following his lead, Jason was student government co-president. “People always had issues about things going wrong on campus,” says Heo, who now serves on the Alumni Council. “I didn’t like hearing about that without having a plan to solve them. Student government is where I found my passion.”
After graduation, Heo served as a White House intern during the final months of the Obama administration. Walking onto the White House grounds and into the Eisenhower Executive Office Building was “a dream,” he says. “My parents, as immigrants, received a lot of government support as new Americans, and those were the halls where critical decisions were made that affected people like them.”
Today in Annapolis, he wrangles issues ranging from health and service and civic innovation to juvenile services and veterans affairs.
“The day-to-day is anything that’s coming up in 11 state agencies,” says Heo. “You have to deal with situations you’ve inherited — budget crises, poor practices — before we can do the proactive, exciting, innovative work.”
The Newburgh, Ind., native is especially excited to be a part of Moore’s ENOUGH Act initiative to combat child poverty. It targets communities that have suffered from generational poverty with the goal of providing sufficient resources to make progress.
“It was an unlikely issue for a candidate to run on, because it’s such a hard issue to solve,” says Heo. “Not a lot of administrations would’ve taken that on so publicly, and I think that’s a valiant effort in and of itself.”
Heo ran high and low hurdles on Swarthmore’s varsity track team and plans to tackle Baltimore’s marathon this fall. But one type of race holds no interest for him — running for office. “I’m happy doing things behind the scenes,” he says. “There’s so much promise and possibility in every position.”