Harvard has long funneled Business School fellows to public service positions around Boston, and as the New Urban Mechanics expands its presence, it has received a steady flow of students and alums both from the fellowship program at the Business School and the Rappaport and Radcliffe Institutes.

Some Harvard affiliates noted that the focus on public service, which leverages innovative new solutions to address civic problems, reflects a broader goal embraced by the Harvard community.

Neal Doyle, an assistant director at Harvard’s Innovation Lab,  which has partnered with the Office, calls it “direction from the top.”

“This is a neat opportunity to really see Harvard take its great resources and training and study and turn it into practice,” he said.

Weiss said he expects the relationship between the University and the program to continue developing.

“It’s been a very innovative and novel partnership,” Weiss said. “It will continue to iterate and improve as we would expect from a good entrepreneurial endeavor.”

—Staff writer Ivan B. K. Levingston can be reached at Ivan.Levingston@thecrimson.com. Follow him on Twitter @IvanLevingston.