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SHECP Launches Alumni Engagement Committee to give alumni the chance to support future interns and programming During her 2026 Welcome Address, Dr. Jill Waity told incoming students that “It is not an exaggeration to say that taking that course (POV101 at Washington and Lee) and being involved in the Shepherd Program changed my career trajectory.” Later in the summer, students heard SHECP alumnus David Marchese explain, "This internship and this alumni network you are about t

By Dami Ogunbiyi, 2026 SHECP Intern with Guilford County Public Defenders Office Where I lived during the summer, police cars were quite a common sight. They drove through our neighborhood quite often - every day, actually - and over time, that became so normal. Looking back, I realize that what I was witnessing wasn’t simply crime, but the visible effects of poverty. At the time, I never questioned why some neighborhoods seemed to have constant police presence while others d

Every summer, SHECP's Practitioner Insights Series invites leaders doing anti-poverty work to share how their organizations address poverty in their communities and to reflect on their own career paths with SHECP’s summer interns. This summer, four practitioners joined the series, each drawing on a different aspect of anti-poverty work: Sam Wilmoth, Senior Manager of Consulting for RAINN, whose work supports survivors of sexual violence; Ryan Wolfe, Co-Founder of ZLS.app, who

“Cohort living” is a phrase students hear as soon as they discover the SHECP Summer Internship program. But what does it mean? As a SHECP intern, students not only share housing with the other interns placed in their city, they share life for eight weeks. Cohort living is designed to bring students from different backgrounds – working across various fields and with varied interests – to work as a team for eight weeks. For many students, their SHECP summer marks a move to a co

World Refugee Day is June 20 — a fact I did not know until my first day at my SHECP internship. By Kalvin Larson, 2026 SHECP Intern with New Arrivals Institute On my first day, my supervisor pulled me into her office to go over the basics. I would be starting my day at 9 a.m. and ending at 3 p.m., but she added that I should really consider coming in on Saturday for World Refugee Day. At the time, I was not sure what she meant, but I was excited for the novel experience. When

The 2026 SHECP Annual Conference will be held July 30 – August 1 on the campus of Marymount University in Arlington, Virginia. The annual event is designed to place the individual experiences of the SHECP interns into broader anti-poverty policy, research and organizational efforts, and to situate it within their undergraduate education. The conference also provides professional development opportunities for the staff and faculty of member institutions and community partners.

This summer, SHECP is welcoming four practitioners who work to address varying causes and consequences of poverty, in widely differing roles, as part of the 2026 Practitioner Insights event series. These events are open to interns participating in poverty-related internships through SHECP Member Schools. The Practitioner Insights series provides an opportunity for summer interns and all members of the SHECP community to hear from innovative and dynamic leaders doing anti-pove

Pedagogy & Practice – Thriving in Common Good Vocations Thursday, June 4th at 3 PM ET While much of SHECP’s focus is on the undergraduate experience, this work does not end with an internship, a capstone project or even with graduation. If we aim to send students out into every possible vocation and encourage them to explore a lifetime of change-making and pursuit of the civic good, we must also consider what they will need to sustain their efforts long-term and how we can us

Keynote Address – Dr. Kelly Hamshaw "Building Resilience in Rural Places" Wednesday, June 3rd at 12:00 PM ET On June 3rd, Dr. Kelly Hamshaw will present her keynote address entitled "Building Resilience in Rural Places: Insights from Vermont's Flood-Impacted Manufactured Housing Communities." Dr. Hamshaw is a Senior Lecturer and Research Specialist at the University of Vermont Center for Rural Studies. Her teaching focuses on how communities can become more sustainable and re

Powerful Mentors & Mindsets On this episode of SHECP Talks, Jen is joined by two SHECP alumnae – Kelsey Stapler (Birmingham-Southern College) and Leela Addepalli (Washington and Lee University). In 2017, Kelsey was a SHECP Intern with Legal Aid in Charleston, WV. After law school, she returned to Charleston to work as public defender for Kanawha County Public Defenders Services. In 2024, Leela spent her SHECP summer with Kelsey as her supervisor and mentor at the public defe

Five returning SHECP interns will spend the summer in Washington, D.C., deepening their experience in anti-poverty policy and nonprofit leadership. The Shepherd Higher Education Consortium on Poverty (SHECP) is pleased to announce the 2026 Policy & Nonprofit Leadership (PNPL) cohort. Reserved for students who have already completed a prior SHECP summer internship, PNPL gives returning interns the opportunity to build on direct service experience by exploring nonprofit managem

The Network for Vocation in Undergraduate Education (NetVUE) has awarded SHECP a grant to explore what students need to adapt to and thrive in vocations in high-burnout, civic-impact careers. For almost three decades, students within the Shepherd Consortium have been exploring the causes and consequences of poverty and inequality and questioning how they might integrate anti-poverty action in their post-graduate vocations and civic lives. These students have gone on to pursue

On this episode of SHECP Talks , Emily Scaff , a student at Washington and Lee University , is joined by Jim Kvach , a farmer and engaged community member in Lexington, VA. Emily is pursuing a degree in Journalism with minors in Poverty and Human Capabilities Studies and Law, Justice, and Society. She is a member of W&L’s Campus Kitchen Leadership Team, a group that works to address food insecurity in the area. Jim Kvach is a local farmer, Master Gardener, and board member o

We are now accepting applications for SHECP's Post Undergraduate Fellowship! Dora Kreitzer, SHECP's 2025 Post Undergraduate Fellow, at the Annual Conference with SHECP Staff SHECP is looking for a Post Undergraduate Fellow to collaborate with our team, support the mission of SHECP, and interact with partners and the community. The Fellow will have the opportunity to work on a range of projects — from virtual events to communications to project management — but the exact scope

In a February 2026 SHECP Springboard event, leaders working at the intersection of food access and agriculture discussed how communities balance immediate hunger relief with the broader systems that shape food security and, specifically, how different organizations are leveraging their local networks and opportunities to integrate the farming community and its products into their efforts to address food access barriers. Access the event recording here >> The conversation fea

Maureen McNamara Best , Executive Director of the Local Environmental Agriculture Project (LEAP), joined Zach Zook , Chief Strategy Officer for the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank, for a SHECP Springboard event on February 17th. The discussion, moderated by Professor Ryan McCoy , explored the ways in which different organizations across the country are leveraging their local networks and opportunities to integrate farming into their efforts to address food access barriers. Al

Thank you for your interest in SHECP’s 2026 Policy & Nonprofit Leadership (PNPL) Internship ! This internship program offers a unique opportunity for undergraduate students to gain experience in public policy and nonprofit leadership while addressing issues of poverty in communities. Students will bring their experiences and perspectives — gained from coursework and working with clients at community partners engaged in anti-poverty work — to understanding the challenges of le

On this episode of SHECP Talks , we are joined by two 2015 SHECP Interns — Kelsey Dowling and Samuel Hudson . Kelsey, a 2017 graduate of University Lynchburg , interned with Tenacity Inc. , a Boston-based nonprofit that uses tennis to teach reading and life skills to youth from preschool through high school. Samuel, a 2017 graduate of Virginia Military Institute , spent his summer working with Code/Interactive , a New York City nonprofit that places high school students in co

The Shepherd Higher Education Consortium on Poverty (SHECP) is pleased to announce that Jen Handy has been named as Executive Director . Jen steps into this role after serving as SHECP’s Associate Director and, most recently, Interim Executive Director. Since joining the team in 2021, she has expanded SHECP’s programming, including multiple virtual event series and the Policy and Nonprofit Leadership Internship, strengthened organizational systems, and deepened engagement wit

Upcoming Springboard event series to be co-hosted by Bucknell University and Washington and Lee University Join us in early 2026 for a series of virtual events exploring how community organizations are integrating food production into their strategies to combat food insecurity . The series will feature leaders from innovative programs working at the intersection of food, justice, and community resilience. The event series is co-hosted by Bucknell University and Washington and