IFJ 2020 blogs

Hello UP community!

My name is Katie Wojda and I’m a senior English and Spanish double major at UP. I’m doing my internship this summer in my home office (my room) in Saint Paul, Minnesota. I was looking for an internship where I could use my writing and research skills, and I found a great opportunity with the Joint Religious Legislative Coalition (JRLC). The JRLC is an interfaith non-profit organization that works to educate and mobilize it’s Muslim, Christian, and Jewish members throughout Minnesota to be active political citizens who advocate for human dignity and justice.

The murder of George Floyd at the beginning of the summer changed everything about what I thought my internship would be in a really powerful way. I have been working with the executive director Anne Krisnik and the program manager Mary Baumgartner on several projects, many greatly driven by the push to do anti-racist work in our organization. I’ve spent some time getting to know the JRLC, doing grant research and writing, interviewing and writing a feature piece for the website, and keeping up with the local news in a way I never have before. I’ve attended multiple virtual town hall meetings and hearings to keep track of the types of things legislators are planning to do to respond to the righteous outcry of Minnesotans.

Some of these town hall meetings and hearings were hopeful, but they were more often eye-opening events for me to the incredible amount of ignorance that exists both within myself and in our society. Although the JRLC has several “position papers” (documents for our members to refer to about our positions on certain issues as people of faith), Anne realized we lack one that specifically addresses racism in Minnesota.

My most recent project has been working on this new position paper, which will essentially bring together the voices of activists and educators on the history of racism in Minnesota, with a list of resources for our members to continue to educate themselves and advocate for systemic change. At the same time, it is an argument for why we, as members of the Abrahamic religions, have an obligation to do this work.

I’ve absolutely loved working with the JRLC! I’m excited to bring these new skills and perspectives into every facet of my life.

This summer I have been interning at Girls Inc. of the Pacific Northwest. Girls Inc. is a nonprofit organization that inspires all girls to be strong, smart, and bold through direct service and advocacy. Normally, Girls Inc. offers after school programming, summer camps, and mentorship that in a variety of areas including STEM, media literacy, economic literacy, adolescent health, and violence prevention, to name a few. Due to the pandemic Girls Inc. has not been able to do as much direct service and in-person programming, however they are offering many online resources, a virtual STEM summer camp, and are ramping up their advocacy work.

While I originally hoped to be doing direct service and mentorship at a Girls Inc. site, my internship this summer is fully virtual and I have been doing development and revision of their curriculum. At first, I was a little disappointed that I would not be able to interact with youth directly. However, as I am nearing the end of my internship I am excited that my additions and updates to their curriculum will hopefully make a positive impact on Girls Inc. programming for years to come. Curriculum development is a task that has usually been pushed to the back burner, and some of it not been updated in over twenty years. The current members of Girls Inc. are facing a much different world than girls that this curriculum was originally intended for. With more updated material, future Girls Inc. mentors will be able to lead programs and Girls Groups that are much more relevant to the lives of their students.

I started out the summer making a brand new College Readiness curriculum. I had a lot of fun being able to draw upon my experience working in UP Admissions for the past three years and my time student teaching in a College Prep seminar at our local high school. The college search and application process is intimidating and becomes even more so if you are the first in your family to go to college. I am proud that I got to put together a guide to help Girls Inc. members navigate the college search, application process, financial aid, picking a major, and life as a college student.

My current project has been the revision of one of the core Girls Group topics, a curriculum called “Allies in Action.” The way we think about the concept of allyship has changed dramatically in the decades since this curriculum was written, and has even changed rapidly within the past few months. While the old curriculum was a great guide to being a good friend, the Girls Inc. members today want to know how they can enact change and make the world a better place. The new Allies in Action curriculum will help guide them through navigating identity, privilege and marginalization, solidarity, advocacy, authentic allyship, and healthy communication.

I am grateful to have the chance to be part of an organization with such a strong sense of female empowerment and that I have been able to be a small part of the girls’ journeys towards furthering their education, pursuing their dreams, and making the world a better place.

Hello everyone! My name is Alannah Clay, and I am a rising senior, double majoring in Social Work and Psychology. This summer, I am interning with an organization called Because People Matter (BPM) located in Portland, Oregon. BPM’s mission statement is “Loving People Because People Matter.” How fitting of a statement during this unique time for all of us.

BPM is an organization that exists to develop and sustain relational environments that create movement within groups and individuals to demonstrate love and generosity lived out in the world. BPM creates relational environments that provide Relief, Mobilization, and Transformation. The core value they believe in is that people should feel known, that they matter, and that they are loved. BPM has three types of humanitarian services: Night Strike, Transformation Trips, and BTown Kids.

• Night Strike is a unique opportunity for people to spend time under the Burnside Bridge every Thursday night to love people because people matter; especially our homeless community.
• Transformation Trips are an opportunity for people around the United States to come and partner with BPM to do service, peel back layers of stereotypes, judgements and fear as people learn more about Portland’s most marginalized population and how we can break down the barriers between us.
• BTown Kids is a space where children and families develop community and capacity through encouragement, relationship, and fun.

All of these humanitarian services are important for our Portland community, but due to the coronavirus pandemic a lot of these services had to be put on a hold and had to be changed in a creative manner.

Due to circumstances, I had to return home to Salt Lake City, Utah, and with that BPM and I had to change my internship from being in person to remote. What that entailed for me was I still had the incredible opportunity to serve my community at home through various non-profit organizations that work with the homeless community; like Volunteers of America, Utah Food Bank, Utah Community Actions, and Salt Lake City Mission. These non-profit organizations worked hard to still provide food, housing, clothing, hygiene products and various materials that people need during this unprecedented time. These organizations showed that they love people because they saw that people matter. Through safety and various precautions, they were able to think creatively on how to still involve volunteers in their help of making sure that those in the most marginalized communities are still getting what they need.

Through BPM, I was able to be involved in their leadership development through our zoom staff meetings, as they believe that their interns should come in and leave with a new sense of what it means to be a leader. I could go on and on of what I learned, but one big take away I got from my training was how to be a creator. Being a creator means always remembering to be playful even when times are tough. That not everything will go as planned, and we need to come up with creative ways to still serve our communities. BPM did this through partnering with other local non-profit organizations to pass out sack lunches, hygiene products, and masks to those in the most marginalized community.

I am very grateful and fortunate to have had the opportunity to intern with BPM and my local non-profit organizations in Utah, as these are hard times for everyone but when we come together and serve our communities we are reminding ourselves that we are loving people because people matter.

Hi everyone, my name is Meg Bender-Stephanski and I am an incoming senior Environmental Ethics and Policy major with minors in Social Justice and Theology. This summer I am interning (virtually) at Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon (EMO). EMO’s mission is: “committed to mutual respect and understanding, Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon brings together diverse communities of faith to learn, serve and advocate for justice, peace and the integrity of creation.” They have a range of different services they provide and functions they serve, such as the Northeast Emergency Food Program, public policy advocacy at the state and national levels, and immigration support services, to name a few.

Coming into this internship, my intention was to assist the organization on its advocacy side in whatever capacities would be helpful, while also providing me with experience in areas I am interested in, such as environmental justice and public policy.

The first project I started on was with their ballot measure guide. EMO is known for putting out ballot measure guides and endorsing or not endorsing measures based on their social principles. I worked to become the ‘expert’ on several ballot measures and present them to the Public Policy Advocacy Committee to see if EMO should endorse them or not.

I have also been working to bring some virtual Environmental Justice programming to EMO. We are working with and seeking out organizations local to Oregon, especially those that focus on the intersections of environmental justice and racial justice. These organizations will present virtually about issues they work on to members of EMO and then there will be question and answer time as well as small-group discussion and action items that members can part with. We originally planned for this programming to be in person prior to COVID-19, but soon realized that hosting these events virtually would actually make them more accessible to a range of people, such as those across the state, those unable to commute to a physical location, along with anyone who is homebound or high-risk during this time.

Lately I have begun working on some additional outreach to legislators, both in Oregon and nationally, around environmental justice and hunger during the COVID-19 pandemic. I helped put together a letter for EMO members to send to their legislators to emphasize the need for an environmental justice focused COVID-19 economic recovery plan. This is especially important because Governor Brown’s Executive Order on the Climate or Oregon Climate Action Plan (OCAP) was signed just a few months ago. I also helped to do outreach to state and national legislators to request additional funding for food pantries across the state as they have seen a significant uptick in the number of people utilizing their services. The pandemic has also made it more difficult to recruit and use more volunteers needed for the increase in demand for services.

I am incredibly thankful for the opportunity to work with EMO this summer. I never thought that I would be able to intern at an organization so focused on social justice and dedicated to continually educating themselves and their members about a range of social issues. Although the internship hasn’t looked like how we originally planned (being in person) I know I have contributed to their work and have learned a lot about public policy and how non-profits work. I hope to bring the skills and work experience I have gained this summer into my future career as I enter my senior year at UP and start to look for jobs.

My name is Carolina Cortes, and I am a rising senior, majoring in Psychology with minors in Spanish and Political Science. This summer, I am interning at the Center for Migration, Gender, and Justice (CMGJ). CMGJ is an organization that addresses human rights at the intersection of migration and gender. Its goal is to “shrink spaces between migrant communities and governing bodies… gender justice beyond borders necessitates shared agency, representation, and accountability in protecting human rights for all.” brings gender justice beyond borders. Founded by Dr. Golesorkhi, a Political Science professor here at UP (of which I have had the honor and pleasure to take a few classes with), this internship and organization has brought my classroom discussions and assignments and applied them to real-world contexts. I highly encourage you all to visit CMGJ’s website (and social media!) to learn more about the organization and other research projects it has spearheaded.

At CMGJ, I work as a Project Researcher and Advisory Group Coordinator. The project that I have been focusing on for this summer has mainly focused on ensuring gender and health justice for Venezuelan migrants. Venezuela has been in the midst of a humanitarian and socioeconomic crisis, which has led to almost 5 million Venezuelans fleeing; conditions have only worsened due to the current COVID-19 pandemic, especially in the context of health, and health as it pertains to women*, girl, LGBTQIA+, and gender diverse migrants.

I work from home, much of which is constant research and writing on the state of gender and health justice for Venezuelan migrants, specifically Venezuelan migrants in Colombia. If a document is only available in Spanish, I translate a short summary in my notes. In addition, I have also researched which other organizations and migrant communities might be available in order to share their data on a global stage, and center their experiences. The goal of this project is to gather available data, and in centering migrant communities and NGOs, and present a Guidance Note to donors specifying which areas need their attention and resources.

I am very fortunate to work at CMGJ, as it has also led to my reflection into the communities I wish to stand in solidarity with in the future, and how I can apply the skills I am practicing in my internship to my career path and in future justice-centered endeavors.

My name is Siena Henson and I am rising Junior at UP. I am majoring in Sociology and Psychology with a minor in Spanish, and am currently interning at El Centro de la Raza (The Center for People of All Races) in Seattle. El Centro is a non-profit organization grounded in the LatinX community in Washington state, which focuses on unifying people of all backgrounds towards a common goal of eradicating oppression based on poverty, sexism, racism, sexual orientation, and discrimination of any kind. They are passionate about empowering and defending the human rights of all people, especially those in our most vulnerable communities, and work to educate others about the importance of justice, dignity and equity for all. I encourage you all to visit their website to receive a more eloquent description of their mission, vision and principles.

My position at this organization is a generous title; ‘Emergency Relief Program Intern’. What this basically entails is assisting my supervisor with tasks that need to get done throughout the day, specifically as it relates to the Plate Fund Organization we collaborate with. The Plate Fund is providing financial assistance to restaurant-industry workers who have lost their jobs due to COVID-19, and through the help of donations, they have been able to approve 10,500 applications and distribute $5.25 million to those hit hard by this pandemic. Many of the applicants who apply through El Centro de la Raza for the Plate Fund do not speak English, and therefore experience more difficulty than most when trying to apply for assistance. It’s an incredibly humbling experience to speak a language you aren’t very familiar with to a native speaker over the phone – something we as English speakers take for granted in our everyday lives. It is impossible for me to experience the difficulty of not speaking the native language in the country I call home, but I get a very small taste of it during my internship.

It’s a true loss that I cannot meet with our clientele in person – from what I have heard, El Centro is normally bustling with visitors, and is a hub for all people where they can feel welcome and safe. Every person I have worked with has been so wonderfully gracious and patient with my mediocre Spanish skills, and I hope to meet some of them in person someday. I am very fortunate to be working with El Centro de la Raza during this incredibly uncertain and disappointing time, and even more so fortunate to be working under my supervisor, Dulce Gutierrez Vasquez.

If you are ever in Seattle (post-COVID), I implore you to visit this beautiful organization – you are guaranteed to feel that you are home.

Hello! My name is Sophia Riccardi and I’m a junior social work major. I am currently doing my internship in Portland, OR with the nonprofit, Because People Matter (BPM).

For those unfamiliar with their work, BPM focuses on mobilization, relief and transformation for populations in the margins. They demonstrate an incredible level of generosity serving all people, ensuring that they are known and loved. Under normal conditions, BPM runs a relief program for the houseless community called Night Strike (every Thursday under the Burnside Bridge) and a summer kids program called BTown Kids.

Because of the health crisis BPM has had to find creative ways to continue to serve these communities. This has included serving 1500 sack lunches per week to three houseless camps that the city of Portland set up in response to COVID. BPM also set up a “modified” Btown Kids by passing out 500 to-go lunches and craft kits a week. In addition, they’re working with Portland Parks and Recreation to build a positive presence in the parks and connecting with the community by handing out resources.

Since the minute I started at BPM I’ve been welcomed, challenged, and have grown in my own goals. One goal I have is to break out of my comfort zone and gain confidence in my ability both professionally and personally. There hasn’t been a day yet at BPM where I haven’t been pushed, either by staff or interactions with the community, to work on this goal.

My first week I was challenged entering into a community park where I was forced to face my own white privilege, and analyze my own internal racial biases and stereotypes. It was a powerful experience to return to the park each week and continue to connect with community members and break down those biases I had.

My second week I started to gain more confidence in how to serve the houseless camps with dignity by connecting with the residents in conversation, learning names and ensuring they had a choice in their meals. The ultimate goal is to build relationships and show people that we see them no matter where they are in life.

It’s strange figuring out how to safely serve in the middle of a pandemic but I’m grateful for the opportunity to work with the BPM staff and other interns. I’m excited to grow and continue to build relationships with the community.

I’ll challenge you by asking, what does it mean to show up for others? How can we continue to serve our communities now and beyond? Push yourself to break out of your shell, and have those really important conversations with yourself and others about racial injustices and other social justice topics. We are all human beings who deserve to be known, valued and loved!

This summer, apart from coming home for the first time in 2 years, I am also interning at a non-profit organization called Gender and Development for Cambodia (GADC). GADC’s expertise is women in leadership and eliminating domestic violence. With my passion for learning and sharing, GADC’s management team accepted me to work as an intern in one of the programs called Community Outreach (CO) program.

Among other tasks that I am assigned, I’ve been developing training manual on women in leadership for future in-house training since early May. The main audience for this training is commune gender core groups. They are a group of villagers who volunteer as human resource people for other villagers in their community. This training will address one of the GADC’s strategies to build capacity for core groups (both women and men) so that they become agents of change in their community. Furthermore, to develop potential to reach official leadership position when opportunities come.    

For this past month, I have learned many things from preparing budgets for each implemented activity, to communication with people from different background, on the top of my assigned work. Just in the last two weeks, I joined trainings that GADC conducted for core groups and visited them in their provinces to observe their facilitation skills. It was the first time in my life to do a field visit during work which was really exciting. I learned so much during the field visit. One thing that was really eye-opening was that I was able to see the educational gap between people in provinces and people in the city where I live which proved to me how important it is to train core groups so that they become useful resources for people who might need someone to consult with on their problems. Other thing that I found inspired me so much was that with their limited ability, they can still fulfill so meaningful job for their community. They earn a good reputation and recognition from community people.

Now I am back from the visit, I feel more confident in developing a training manual for the core groups. In addition, since the CO program is small, I get to work closely with the program manager and the executive director which has been a great opportunity for me to learn about management skills not just in theory but in practice. I will finish my internship by the third week of July 2020, and by then, I might have developed my first ever training manual. A step forward to my future post-graduate degree (public policy)!