Nina Fawcett, Makenna Carballo

Sponsor or Client: 

Title:

Community Organizing Through Research: Climate Change and Immigrant Families

Abstract:

Our community engagement internship was partnered with the university's program, Community-University Public Inquiry (CUPI). Our separate internships focused on Climate Action relationships within the city government and Spanish immigrant families' involvement in the local school district. These CUPI pods have worked on long term projects over time, and are facilitated by a graduate student with help from a faculty member and community partner. By including interns in the research, CUPI pods were better supported and we helped to engage in other work that may not have been possible due to the limitations of the pod. Through our courses in the community engagement minor, we have gained leadership, organizing and collaboration skills that are pivotal to running research groups. Despite being focused on different projects, community organizing and research are at the center of our internships, and will be beneficial comparisons.

The immigrant youth equity pod worked on building parent, student and school relationships for spanish speaking families and Makenna attended several meetings in order to understand dynamics and ensure CUPI students have a role in the project.