Our 2020 Fellows have been working remotely at their Brooklyn based organizations. We are so proud of how adaptable they’ve all been through this unique reframing of their summer fellowship.
Here are some of the incredible projects they’ve been working hard on:
Essence Deras, Smith College
Essence is spending her Fellowship in the Education Rights Department at Brooklyn Defender Services.
“I am going to be the technical support for Brooklyn Defender Services’ Circle of Support session next week. The Circle of Support is a support group that formerly incarcerated folks can join and speak about their challenges and emotions related to navigating a society post-incarceration. Service providers will attend the sessions to be a listening ear as well as provide resources. The main goal is to allow folks to have a safe space to talk freely about what they are experiencing. I am honored to be able to participate because I see and value the importance of how support circles can be a form of healing and relief for folks.”
Amandi Perera, Swarthmore College
Amandi is enjoying a fulfilling summer at Brooklyn Community Services.
“For the Community Conversations project, I worked on creating the sign up sheets for each neighborhood and researching about how the participants would be able to receive virtual visa gift cards. I’m excited about the first conversation and getting to hear from community members more directly even if it’s through Zoom.”
Kayla Rennick, Brooklyn College
Kayla’s enriching summer experience is being hosted by The Hope Program.
“This week involved learning about case story summaries and how we will use the client information to hopefully afford them with a grant which could really allow them to continue to progress on their journey. In addition to this, my week also consisted of census calls, outreach calls, and continuing to help prepare resumes. I love being able to not only learn from my mentor but to learn from the other interns because they are graduate interns, so I feel like that brings a unique perspective for me. I think this whole experience is teaching me so much and already helping me gain new skills I did not previously have.”
Nuzhat Wahid, Hobart and William Smith Colleges
Nuzhat is spending her summer with Legal Aid Society.
“On Wednesday, another intern and I attended a meeting with the rest of the training staff in order to resolve all issues with Zoom prior to the scheduled Zoom Mock Trial. This meeting made evident to me again, the amount of effort LAS trainers were inputting into our virtual time together, as the manner in which they translated the tangible world into the virtual world seemed to be incredible difficult. Their efforts were entirely admirable, and my increased comprehension of Zoom technicalities is something I will be using in the future.”
Alan Zhou, Columbia University
Alan’s engaging summer Fellowship is being hosted by Uprose.
“This week I was able to work on a debate UPROSE was hosting for the Assembly person race in District 51. I helped with the wording of the questions being asked and participated in run-throughs prior to the event. Leading up to the event, I was able to reach out to various media outlets to try to get them to cover the event. During the event, I helped with the social media and live-tweeting of content from the debate. It was a very informative experience to be able to work on the backend of an event like a live debate. I also continued to make calls and conduct surveys on the underlying health vulnerabilities and affect of COVID in Sunset Park.”