Yale Bulletin and Calendar

September 24, 2004|Volume 33, Number 4

Dwight Hall interns devote the
summer to causes in New Haven

This summer, 10 Yale undergraduate and graduate students dedicated their summer vacation to community service in New Haven as Dwight Hall Summer Interns, where they were engaged in projects ranging from promoting health care advocacy to helping international political asylum seekers.

The 36-year-old Dwight Hall Summer Internship Program gives Yale students the opportunity to pursue full-time projects they have designed themselves in response to community needs. The interns work with a community group, student group or not-for-profit organizations to implement their project. They also meet for weekly dinner seminars with a New Haven community leaders to gather advice and learn more about important city issues.

The coordinator of this year's program was Hannah Croasmun '01, program coordinator at Dwight Hall. This year's interns were funded by the Class of 1949, the Class of 1957 and the Yale Club of New Haven.

A list of this year's Dwight Hall Summer Interns and their projects follows:

Matt Bloom '05 worked on a number of different projects for DreamPioneers, Inc., a new non-profit that seeks to promote racial and economic integration. These projects ranged from developing the group's website to encouraging local politicians in suburban communities to create affordable housing in their towns; working on policy papers addressing the issues of racial and economic integration; and finding funding and grant sources for the organization.

Liz Hammond '05 worked with Connecticut Voices for Children to improve and develop their newest campaigns to increase awareness about lack of health care accessibility for families in the state. One of her main activities was editing the HUSKY (Healthcare for UninSured Kids and Youths) manual, which provides information about the program to social service workers.

Michelle Huang, a graduate student at the School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, assisted the New Haven Ecology Project (NHEP)/Common Ground High School by leading the NHEP Summer Youth Crew, which provides job training and environmental stewardship activities to high school students. She also conducted research to create greater access to healthy foods in low-income and minority neighborhoods in New Haven.

Allison Polland '07 worked on various projects at the Fair Haven Community Health Center, including an outdoor, neighborhood-based diabetes exercise program; a nutrition education program at Wilbur Cross High School; a post-natal care program for that teaches new parents how to care for their newborns; and an AIDS art project, which will encourage youths who have or are at high risk for AIDS to creatively express themselves and talk about their illnesses.

Heather Robinson, a graduate student at the School of Management, created a strategic business plan for the New Haven Christian Health Center, a faith-based organization that seeks to provide holistic, preventative care to people in New Haven by working through their churches.

Mattias Sparrow '05 created the basic framework for a student organization called the Yale Alliance for Political Asylees, which helps clients from the Yale Law School Asylum Clinic with non-legal help, such as teaching clients the necessary skills to function in New Haven (for example, using public transportation, using the library, English-as-a-Second-Language classes). He helped create a guide of organizations that can aid asylum seekers, find medical/financial help for the clients, etc.

Marina Spitkovskaya '04 worked with the Connecticut Health Policy Project to improve and expand the "Consumer Health Action Network" which encourages individuals on HUSKY or State-Administered General Assistance medical programs to organize and voice their concerns to state policymakers.

Shalini Uppu '06 worked with Planned Parenthood of Connecticut to conduct research on ways to prevent violence and harassment in area clinics.

Amanda Webb '06 worked with the Yale Urban Design Workshop to help develop comprehensive neighborhood plans for the Dwight neighborhood in New Haven.

Amy Wojnarwsky '07 was the Yale Hunger and Homelessness Action Project intern this summer. She coordinated activities at Harmony Place, a venture between Yale students and members of New Haven's homeless community to provide a drop-in center offering resources for the city's homeless.

Dwight Hall, founded in 1886 by undergraduates at Yale, is a non-profit umbrella organization (independent of the University) for over 65 student-led service and social action groups.

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

Grant to support research on role of viruses in cancer

Series honors graduation of Yale's first Chinese student 150 years ago

Program marks 35th anniversary of Afro-American Cultural Center

Study: Recreational gambling can be good for seniors' health

Yale launches $1 million United Way drive

Symposium to explore past and future of suburbanization

Event honors late historian of American South

New bioscience company at Science Park offering . . .

Exhibit showcases work of long-ignored landscape artist

Mayhew lauded for his studies of party politics

Congress' only Holocaust survivor to discuss . . .

Noted playwright to speak about his life, Jewish religion

Prize-winning poet Adrienne Rich will read from her work

Older marathon runners are making greater strides . . .

Cultivating a culture of trust was topic of inaugural conference

Dwight Hall interns devote the summer to causes in New Haven

Reimbursements now available through direct deposit

IN MEMORIAM