SHECP Talks

Intern Insights: Lorena Bonet Velazquez, Centre

On this episode of SHECP Talks, Abby Gilbert, SHECP's Internship Director, is joined by Lorena Bonet Velazquez, a 2021 SHECP Summer Intern and a 2023 graduate of Centre College. 
Lorena reflects on how her SHECP internship with Asylee Women Enterprise in Baltimore, MD and her work as a Health Advocate in Central Kentucky shaped her career journey. In her current role as Health Policy Advocate with the National Partnership for Women & Families, Lorena combines her personal and professional passions to work in the intersection of immigration rights and women’s health access.

Expertise in the Field – The UPSIDE Team at UNC-Chapel Hill

On this episode of SHECP Talks, we continue to reflect on the links between resilience and childhood poverty. Jen was delighted to welcome Dr. Desiree Murray and Dr. Keadija Wiley to talk about the work of the UPSIDE Team at UNC-Chapel Hill and, specifically, their Be Calm Program.
 
The Understanding and Promoting Self-regulation Intervention across Development (UPSIDE) Team, focuses on self-regulation interventions that promote resilience for children and youth. They discuss the window of opportunity present during early adolescence to teach social-emotional skills that students use throughout their lives. Dr. Murray says that “self-regulation is about being able to manage your thoughts and feelings in a way that helps you regulate your feelings and supports social behavior and supports solving problems and achieving goals.”
 
The Be CALM Program is a research-based program seeking to teach educators and early adolescent students skills and strategies for lifelong social-emotional health and well-being. Dr. Murray and Dr. Wiley discuss the impact that their program can have. Research shows that an increase in stress cortisol levels in educators reflects in the stress cortisol levels of their students. “Especially for students with marginalized identities, being at school and being marginalized or discriminated against creates tremendous amounts of stress, which is then going to interfere or make it harder to listen and to learn skills or to feel like those skills are even relevant to you” Dr. Murray says. The Be CALM program seeks to help reduce these levels through mindfulness practices and support, not just for students but for educators as well.
 
Dr. Murray and Dr. Wiley discuss the multidisciplinary approach they take, utilizing cognitive as well as emotional learning to achieve their goals. Finally they discuss how, although the Be Calm program was originally designed for rural communities, there are applications for it in urban environments.

Expertise in the Field: Middlebury College

On this episode of SHECP Talks, Kailee Brickner-McDonald, Director of Middlebury’s Center for Community Engagement, and Sarah Stroup, Professor of Political Science and the director of Middlebury’s Davis Collaborative in Conflict Transformation, join us to talk about the work happening at the Davis Collaborative and, more broadly, about their vision to embed principles and practices of conflict transformation in the liberal arts throughout a student’s education.
 
Director Brickner-McDonald discusses the role that conflict plays in the professional and personal lives of students every day. “I think some students think that conflict is a failure, or that it’s a stopping place… while it has the capacity to be destructive and harmful, it is not” says Brickner-McDonald. The Davis Collaborative offers courses to students to prepare them for high conflict internships in the community and equip them for life beyond.
 
They also discuss the Middlebury “Projects for Peace” program, which “supports over 90 different institutions to sponsor a project that improves the prospects for peace in the 21st century” said Brickner-McDonald. The scope of these projects is left intentionally broad, to allow diverse approaches to what peace may look like.
 
Finally, Professor Stroup discusses some of the tools available for approaching conflict. One such tool pertains to collective goals. “Loretta Ross talks about the difference between a cult and a social movement. A social movement is where people across different values share a goal and collaborate. A cult is where everyone thinks the same thing” says Stroup.”

Faculty Voices – Dr. Katy Gray Brown, Manchester University

On this episode of SHECP Talks, Dr. Katy Gray Brown, Professor of Philosophy and Peace Studies and  Director of the Peace Studies Institute at Manchester University, joins us to delve into the dynamics of conflict transformation and its significance in education and community development.
In this episode, Dr. Gray Brown discusses conflict transformation and encourages us to think of conflict as a means for growth and positive change. The conversation addresses the opportunities of integrating conflict transformation education into various settings, such as the SHECP Summer Internship program. Dr. Gray Brown draws attention to the modest but important objectives of conflict transformation education: giving people the knowledge to resolve disputes courageously, empathetically, and effectively.
Programs like the Peace Studies Institute at Manchester University and initiatives like the conflict transformation curriculum in SHECP play a vital role in empowering individuals and communities to build a more just world.
To learn more about the Peace Studies Institute at Manchester University, visit their website here.

Intern Insights: The Bucknell Episode

In today’s SHECP Talks episode, Dora Kreitzer talks with two other Bucknell University students, Lissandro Alvarado and Da’Mirah Vinson to discuss their SHECP Internships in Austin, Texas with Foundation Communities and Lisandro's second summer with SHECP as a Policy and Nonprofit Leadership intern. Foundation Communities provides affordable homes and free on-site support services for thousands of families, veterans, seniors, and individuals with disabilities. They offer community resources, like college application assistance, tax advice, healthcare, and housing.
During the episode, both Lissandro and Da'Mirah underline how their internships provided them with hands-on experience and a deeper comprehension of poverty-related issues. Da'Mirah recounts her time at Foundation Communities, where she engaged in community work and gained an appreciation for the significance of approaching social issues with empathy and a community-centric mindset. She reflects, "We work together to figure out solutions...I'm not here to fix anything. I'm just being in a community." Da'Mirah and Lissandro both expressed that their experiences have offered valuable insights into the kind of work they wish to pursue after graduation. Da'Mirah noted, "The internship showed me the mechanisms of a nonprofit and determined what I want and what I don’t want to do as my first career."
 
After gaining experience at Foundation Communities, Lissandro was a part of the Policy and Non-Profit Leadership Internship, spending this past summer in D.C. as an economic security analyst with the United Planning Organization (UPO). UPO supports Washington D.C.’s low-income residents on their journey to self-sufficiency. UPO currently offers more than 30 programs and services in such areas as early childhood education, youth development, job training and placement, health and wellness, housing, and volunteering. As an intern, Lissandro focused on the economic security for low-wage workers in the D.C. area. One important piece for Lissandro was being able to use his quantitative skills to understand poverty, merging data analytics major with his passion for poverty research. For Lissandro, being a part of SHECP again meant doing real policy work, “gaining the opportunity to present at the SHECP closing conference, and helping others interns who may be interested in the PNPL internship experience."
Dora also participated in the SHECP Internship Program last summer and worked with staff at Intersection of Change. "Intersection of Change is a community-based non-profit in Baltimore, MD founded in 1996 to address poverty-related challenges." During the episode, Dora reflects on how IOC's work really illustrated the difference between working for a community and working with a community. A community based model is one of the agency's top values --"We are an organization of and for our west Baltimore community that strives to affirm the dignity of all our residents by empowering them as participants, partners, and fellow leaders. We value the differences and commonalities that bring us together in our community." (intersectionofchange.org)
Austin, Washington D.C., and Baltimore all offered a lot of takeaways for both interns, and they hope that future SHECP interns try to get the most from this opportunity. Lissandro hopes future interns will remember – “Be meaningful during the internship: ask questions, be curious. There is always something to learn and be intentional in the work.”
Stay tuned for more engaging conversations on SHECP Talks as we explore the variety of experiences SHECP interns have, and the positive impact they create in their communities.
 
 
Want to know more about some of the agencies mentioned in the talk?
Foundation Communities: https://foundcom.org/
United Planning Organization: https://www.upo.org/
Intersection of Change: https://intersectionofchange.org
Interested in the Policy and Non-Profit Leadership internship?
Visit https://www.shepherdconsortium.org/policynonprofitleadership to learn more. The 2024 PNPL application will be available in late 2023. The internship is open to any rising-juniors and rising-seniors who have completed the traditional SHECP Internship. These internships will run concurrently with the traditional SHECP Internship. This new program has been made possible by funding from the Middlebury Conflict Transformation Collaborative.

Intern Insights: Mansi Tripathi, W&L

On this episode of SHECP Talks, Mansi Tripathi, a 2022 graduate of Washington and Lee University talks about her 2019 internship with the Gateway Center in Atlanta and her postgraduate Fulbright experience in Colombia.
The Gateway Center works "to connect people experiencing homelessness with the support necessary to become self-sufficient and find a permanent home.” Although the Gateway Center’s mission is pretty focused, the agency takes a more holistic approach to their programming. With efforts related to everything from housing to health to job readiness to education, they work to address the underlying barriers that prevent individuals and families from transitioning out of homelessness, such as unemployment, behavioral health, housing affordability, and medical conditions.
 
During her time in Atlanta, Mansi was able to work in several of these programs, including the clothes closet and resume development. One of Mansi’s primary roles was to work with outside volunteer groups to provide services to Gateway Center clients. Each outside volunteer group went through a guided orientation before their service and had a time to debrief after the work. Mansi and the others working with the volunteers were able to educate volunteers about the complexities of homelessness and challenge any preconceptions.
When reflecting on how her internship impacted the rest of her undergraduate career, Mansi describes how she realized her interest in criminal justice because of the ways in which homelessness is often criminalized. This motivated her to take classes about things that “make [her] the most productively angry.” She researched topics such as the language surrounding homelessness and pre-arrest diversion during her time at Washington and Lee. As part of the Bonner Program, she spent several years working with Project Horizon, an organization dedicated to reducing dating, sexual, and domestic violence in Rockbridge County, VA that runs an emergency shelter for victims of domestic or sexual violence.
 
Mansi encourages students interested in a SHECP internship to be open-minded and journal during the internship to unpack the experience. ”Go into it thinking, ‘Regardless I am going to learn something about this issue, the local area, and something about myself.’”
 
While at Washington and Lee University, Mansi majored in politics and sociology and minored in Poverty and Human Capability Studies. After graduating, she taught English to college students in Colombia as part of the Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship program. Now, she currently works in Washington, DC for the DC Public Defender Service as an Investigative Specialist.

Expertise in the Field: Blue Ridge Area Food Bank

This week on SHECP Talks we interview Tyler Herman, Director of Partner Engagement, and Robin Swecker, relationship manager, from the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank (BRAFB). They discuss some of the challenges that BRAFB and other organizations face and how they use “people first language” to fight these difficulties.
 
Herman says that, when picturing food insecurity, the public often picture people missing meals or starving. While that type of food insecurity is devastating it is rare in the United States. Instead, people are often able to access cheap, unhealthy food through chain retailers. Herman discusses why it’s important to shift language from food insecurity to nutritional insecurity to combat false perceptions.
 
Our guests also discuss some of the stigma associated with getting food from a pantry or other similar organization. By utilizing “people first” language, this stigma is broken down. Many people, especially from older generations, have been paying into the system their whole lives. People first language ensures that these people can maintain their sense of pride while taking advantage of the resources available for them.
 
Finally, Herman concludes the discussion by explaining why people first language is critical to BRAFB’s mission. “When we start labelling groups or labelling people, we don’t see them for who they are as individuals, what their unique strengths, assets are, what they bring to the table,” says Herman. “Yes, it’s easier for our brain to create blankets and blanket language, but in that we don’t see the individual. Our solutions have also become blanket approaches. We need to shift to an equity lens, meeting that individual where they are… to actually get at the solutions we were trying to get at.”
 
For further information:
The Blue Ridge Area Food Bank serves 25 counties throughout Virginia in urban and rural communities. Their website can be found here.
The healthy eating guidelines from the supporting wellness pantries can be found here.
Feeding America — https://www.feedingamerica.org/partner-resource-page
 
Last November, SHECP hosted a Springboard series event to discuss how the language surrounding poverty influences and complicates our daily work and is addressed in various fields of study. Click here to watch the recording and learn more about the panelists. This podcast extends this discussion from the classroom to discussion happening with community partners and individuals these partners are hoping to reach.

Intern Insights: Noah Cady, VMI

In this episode of SHECP Talks, Noah Cady, a first-class (or Senior to the rest of us) at the Virginia Military Institute, discusses his 2022 internship with the Food Bank of South Jersey.
 
The Food Bank of South Jersey is a massive operation with over 200 agency partners, programs of their own and a relatively large advocacy and education arm. Noah talks about his work with the agency’s health and nutrition programming, bringing in his “outsider” perspective, and his deepened understanding of the importance of strong, respectful relationships for impactful community programming.
 
Later in the episode, Noah talks about waking up to the email telling him that his summer internship was going to be with the Food Bank of South Jersey and being a little confused. Although he thought he would be in a medical clinic, he went into his placement with an open mind. Looking back, he reflected that it was the perfect internship to prepare him to be a creative physician and strong patient advocate down the road - “You aren’t here to totally learn about your career. You are here to learn about the people you are going to serve, and you are going to learn about people in general...It is a skill you’ve got to learn.”
 
His advice for students considering a SHECP Internship: “Just go for it! I don’t think you can get a better experience of where you get dropped into a community and [gain friends for life].”
 
 
For more information about topics Noah discusses:
Food Bank of South Jersey – The Food Bank of South Jersey (FBSJ) exists to provide an immediate solution to the urgent problem of hunger by providing food to people in need, teaching them to eat nutritiously, and helping them to find sustainable ways to improve their lives. FBSJ services Burlington County, Camden County, Gloucester County and Salem County. We remain the urgent solution these residents turn to when they are hungry and can’t afford to buy food. Through innovation and smart hunger-relief programming, the Food Bank has distributed over 150 million pounds of food, served more than one million fresh, nutritious meals to vulnerable children and provided tens of thousands of food boxes filled with healthy groceries to seniors. https://foodbanksj.org
Professional Insights event with Dr. Kelli Jarrell – Dr. Kelli Jarrell, a SHECP alum, talks about her work as a Social Emergency Medicine fellow, her development of the Social Emergency Medicine/Public Health Interest Group, and how her experience as a SHECP Intern impacted her professional life. Watch it here: https://youtu.be/8IKKQOQWAnQ

Expertise in the Field: Gerald ”Bo” King

This summer SHECP hosted several events with innovative and dynamic leaders doing anti-poverty work. On this episode of SHECP Talks we will listen in on a talk SHECP’s director had with Gerald “Bo” King, Federal Public Defender and Chief of the Fourth Circuit Capital Habeas Unit.
 
King begins by explaining what capital habeas law is. Next, he explains how he sees poverty and the criminal justice system intersect during capital trials. “The death penalty is a product of poverty,” King says. “Death sentences depend enormously on the lack of funding for defendants facing death sentence or even the imposition of death sentences. States that put resources into capital defense, have very few death sentences. They are really intertwined.”
 
King also discusses trends in capital trials that he has seen throughout his career, specifically, whether capital trials and executions are becoming more frequent. King’s work has somewhat transformed over the years from being primarily rhetorical to telling the story of his clients. By painting a complete picture of his client’s lives he helps the jury understand what led the client to a crime that, at first, might seem inexplicable.
 
Finally, King takes questions from students and concludes his talk by discussing how he maintains his hope, as a capital defender, despite the odds often seeming difficult to overcome. “There are inspirations and sources of hope everywhere, not hoping is just not an option,” King says.
 
For further information:
David Shipler book: The Working Poor
Gilbert King book: Devil in the Grove
Center for Death Penalty Litigation

Faculty Voices: Dr. Rachel Terman, Ohio University

On this episode of SHECP talks we are joined by Dr. Rachel Terman, Associate Professor of Sociology at Ohio University. Dr. Terman joins us to discuss her class, Sociology of Appalachia, which covers everything from the correct pronunciation of Appalachia (app-ah-lah-cha or app-ah-lay-cha) to the economic history, and cultural ideas revolving around the region.
 
Terman works with Little Cities of Black Diamond, a nonprofit that represents a collection of former coal mining communities. Little Cities of Black Diamond seeks to preserve the history and culture of Appalachia through different events and programming. Terman’s students get involved with this organization and learn about the difference an organization can make in the communities it serves.
 
Terman discusses the three questions she hopes her students can answer at the end of the course. “What is Appalachia? Who are Appalachians? and so what?” says Terman, “They sound a little simplistic at first but I orient content to answer each of those questions.”
 
Finally, Terman describes some of her research, which revolves around the identities of Appalachian people. Terman’s research, particularly focused on Intergenerational Identities in recent years, points to a trend of younger generations continuing the work that older generations started.