Twenty-five years ago, in the summer of 1998, 28 students from 3 different schools participated in the first Shepherd Alliance internships. While our name has changed and the consortium has grown, our commitment to supporting an innovative educational model that integrates curricular and experiential learning opportunities has not wavered. This past summer was no exception as 69 SHECP Interns, from 16 different member schools, worked with 55 community partners in 15 different cities.
SHECP Internship Academy: 2023's week-long Internship Academy (previously known as the Opening Conference) included virtual cohort meetings, trainings on working with minors and other vulnerable populations, basics on respectful community engagement and confidentiality, and other trainings specific to individual internships. With the support from Middlebury College's Conflict Transformation Collaborative, we were able to pilot of multi-part workshop on Conflict Transformation with two of our cohorts, and we plan to expand that opportunity to all cohorts in 2024.
On June 1st, SHECP hosted two general sessions to complement work interns were doing in the rest of the Academy. To shine a light on rural poverty specifically, Dr. Jennifer Sherman, Professor of Sociology at Washington State University and President-Elect of the Rural Sociological Society, spoke about "Rural Poverty & Inequality: Processes, Mechanisms, and Discourses.” Then, representatives from Shamokin, PA, SHECP’s most rural cohort location, participated in a panel about their collaborative revitalization efforts in their community. Click here to learn about the Academy or to watch the recorded keynote event>>
2023 Practitioner Insights: This series provides an opportunity for summer interns and all members of the SHECP community to hear from innovative and dynamic leaders doing anti-poverty work. The 2023 summer series included four events featuring practitioners, including two SHECP alumni, from across the country working to address a diverse set of poverty related issues.
These events were part of the SHECP Summer Internship program but were open to the general community. Click here for more information about the speakers and to access the event recordings>
Welcome-to-Towns, Midsummer Dinners, & Tim Travel: As interns settle into their new spots for the summer, SHECP encourages all participants to become involved in the local community. We schedule meet-ups with various SHECP alumni and supporters at each cohort location. From dinners at local restaurants to historic walking-tours and town picnics, our interns are able to engage with these communities even outside of the office! Additionally, our director, Tim, traveled a couple thousand miles to check-in face-to-face with our amazing SHECP interns. He was able to make it to almost every cohort (sorry Austin interns)!
SHECP Annual Conference: For the first time since 2019, the entire SHECP community was able to come together for an in-person Conference. The 2023 SHECP Annual Conference was co-hosted by Georgia Tech and held on their campus in Atlanta, Georgia. In the morning, we heard research and policy presentations from Dean Kaye Husbands Fealing, Shatakshee Dhongde, Taylor Melanson, Chris Burke, and David Edwards, and the inaugural SHECP Policy & Nonprofit Leadership interns discussed their work in DC. While the talks ranged from multidimensional poverty and disparities in kidney transplantation to closing racial equity gaps through neighborhood revitalization, each speaker helped interns connect their experience to the larger research work happening in their fields.
In the afternoon, concurrent student panels provided a forum for interns to reflect on their own internship and hear from their peers. Students discussed the impact of their previous undergraduate coursework and how this experience informs their future paths.
A huge thanks to Georgia Institute of Technology for hosting us and to the Frueauff Foundation for making this event possible! Click here for more information about Conference and speakers>
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