Three Yale students worked to help young adults prepare for the job market, reform the criminal justice system and revitalize a city neighborhood under the sponsorship of the Yale Club of New Haven.

They were among the scores of students who worked for community and non-profit agencies in New Haven and in cities across the country with support from the University and its alumni groups.

Every year since 1990, the Yale Club of New Haven (YCNH) Community Relations Committee, working in partnership with the Association of Yale Alumni (AYA), selects a non-profit, direct service work organization in the New Haven area and provides housing and a stipend for an AYA Community Service Summer Fellow. YCNH also directly sponsors several Dwight Hall Summer interns, each of whom designs their own summer community service project in New Haven.

This year's YCNH-sponsored students were Yale College junior Naomi Massave, an AYA Summer Fellow; Stephen Osserman, who graduate from Yale College in May and is now attending the School of Music, a Dwight Hall Summer Intern; and junior Erin Adele Scharff, another Dwight Hall Summer Intern.

Massave, an American studies major, spent her summer at the Connecticut Job Corps, a federally-funded program that helps underprivileged 16- to 24-year-olds prepare for the job market. Students at Job Corps study for their high school equivalency degrees, learn trades and get their driver's licenses, while learning social skills and appropriate workplace behavior. Job Corps is one of eight new Yale Club at Dwight Hall partnerships offering volunteer placement for Yale Club members throughout the year.

Massave conducted focus groups with the students, developed a comprehensive survey, trained staff, initiated programs in partnership with Planned Parenthood and the Yale Community Health Educators and laid the groundwork for staff and peer mentoring programs.

"In my summer at Job Corps, I think I have gained valuable insight as to the workings of nonprofit organizations and adult education," says Massave, "I think this fellowship is extremely important because it challenged me and changed my views on many things. ... I think I was able to help others and make a big difference at Job Corps."

Osserman worked this summer with People Against Injustice, a grassroots organization in New Haven challenging the injustices of the criminal justice system. He assisted with numerous projects gathering and disseminating information, meeting with legislators, doing community organizing and working on many issues people face before, during and after their time in prison.

"I stayed in New Haven because I find it a very rich city that helped me grow into the person I am today," he says. "I try to do what I can to help the people from the community fighting for positive change in the city." Osserman adds that he welcomed the opportunity to become "part of a movement in the city speaking out against injustices and trying to transform the inequalities of our current system."

Scharff, a religious studies major, worked with the New Haven Preservation Trust. She spent the summer as the group's liaison to the Trowbridge neighborhood of the Hill section of New Haven. There, she was involved with Trowbridge Renaissance, a neighborhood-based community revitalization effort.

"Researching gentrification and issues surrounding homeownership, I met some inspiring neighborhood leaders and came to know a bit more about New Haven's history," she says.

T H I SW E E K ' SS T O R I E S

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Howe appointed William R. Kenan Professor

Ma is named Raymond John Wean Professor

Conference to 'put a human face' on the Vietnam War

In Focus: Biodiversity and Human Health Institute

Study: Positive images of old age conducive to long life

Library's debut of Voyager makes searches easier

Show celebrates industrial art turned creative art

Wooden artworks from collection given to Yale gallery on view

Two environmental leaders to teach at F&ES as visiting faculty

Junior faculty honored

OBITUARIES

• Robert Apfel: Engineer pioneered use of acoustic waves
  
  
• King-lui Wu: Noted architect and popular instructor
  
  
• Paul Weiss: Philosopher fought against age discrimination
  
  
• Dr. Gustaf Lindskog: Expert in thoracic surgery
  
  
• Mark Leiserson: Noted international economist
  
  
• Robert Fischelis: First dean of Morse College
  
  
• Memorial service for psychologist Neal Miller
  

School of Architecture hosting '3D City' exhibition

Sri Lankan artist Jayasuriya's paintings on display at ISM

Ethics of studies on children to be explored in fall program

Talk focuses on technology's effect on humans

Journalists to gain insight into legal affairs as Knight Fellows

Yale Club of New Haven supports students' work in community

Proper skin care reduces chance of bedsores, say YSN researchers

Books in Brief

Campus Notes

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