New York-based interns and mentors seminar with John Stossel and others in July

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American College of Radiology Imaging Network (ACRIN)
Catherine Cushenberry ‘07
Mentor: Bruce Hillman

At ACRIN, I had the opportunity to research minority recruitment in clinical trials. As continuously poor minority accrual rates are becoming major subjects of concern for much of the research community, this was a subject of interest for ACRIN. I began the internship by conducting background research on the documented barriers to minority participation to clinical trials, strategies to overcoming these barriers currently in use by National Cancer Institute funded cooperative groups and pharmaceutical companies in their quest to increase minority accrual rates and rcommendations from minority organizations as to the best population specific strategies to employ to gain the trust (and therefore the involvement) of minorities in clinical trials.

Once this research was completed, I created a document outlining the best and most feasible minority recruitment strategies for ACRIN to employ to increase minority participation. I then created a list of population specific recruitment practices – practices that work best for Blacks, for Latinos, for Asian Americans, for American Indians etc. I had the chance to present some of my research on behalf of ACRIN at the National Medical Association conference in New York City in late July.

I loved the work that I did. Investigating health care policies and looking at how they can be changed for the better was exactly what I was interested in. I really appreciate that the work I did is actually going to be used by ACRIN: at their fall meeting, online, and possible other places as well. Creating by presentations and delivering them was incredibly satisfying. I got tremendous feedback from all of the Project Managers and Data Managers at ACRIN – it was wonderful to be asked questions that I had to go and search for the answer to.

Florence Cheung, intern with International Rescue Committee, Thailand

Adrienne Simpson, intern with Northwest Interfaith Movement, with mentor and supervisor George Stern at reception in September

Human Rights First
Sarah Karam ‘07
Mentor: George Hritz

I was working with the Human Rights Defenders Program within Human Rights First. I spent roughly half my time helping my colleagues in the program on their specific projects. For example, one of the Program Associates focused on Eastern Europe and Central Asia and was working on a report on Human Rights Defenders in Uzbekistan. Because I have basic Russian language skills, I would help her translate press releases from Uzbek and Russian newspapers. The Defenders program also released a weekly “Defender Alert” to its mailing list in which it urged readers to take action on a specific human rights defender case. These cases usually concerned individuals from countries such as Colombia, Indonesia, Syria, Guatemala, and Sudan among others. I would help gather information on the specific cases and also help circulate the campaign letter to senators, congressmen and members of the State Department.

The other half of my time I was working on a database of human rights defenders in the Middle East. I scoured the internet for information and was able to obtain contact details for workers in the human rights field in the region and spoke to many firsthand about their experiences. I really enjoyed working on this project; it was challenging, I had great creative freedom and was able to put my Arabic language skills to good use.

The Gesu School/Young Scholars Charter School
Meghan Farrell (‘07)
Mentor: Chuck Freyer

Meghan and Vikira

This internship involves working with two inner-city schools in North Philadelphia. One is a faith-based but non-denominational school, and the other a charter school. As it happened the charter school had just gotten some new leadership and was engaged in something of a turn-around. As a result, Meghan was given broad responsibilities in the financial and administrative realms during her weeks there. Meghan then spent five weeks teaching Gesu students Japanese. As she said in her evaluation, "Over the course of the 5 weeks, I taught the students, who had never experienced another language, a wide range of Japanese words including numbers, colors, greeting, and introductions. At the end of the program, I organized a game of Japanese Jeopardy for the students to put on for their parents and family. It was quite a show, leaving most everyone in the audience very impressed with these young students!"

Schenectady Inner City Ministry
Whitney Spaulding ’07
Mentor: John Assini

Leksi and Whitney

Whitney Spaulding '07 worked with the Schenectady Inner City Ministry. Whitney wrote, "My main project this summer was the Computers for Kids program. Computers for Kids is a program designed for underprivileged, inner city 14-18 years olds in which they are taught by trained instructors about the basics of computer hardware, software and refurbishing. At the end of the course, each student gets to take home a refurbished computer. I helped set up most of the logistics with this program, which included providing food for the students, getting donated computer parts, recruiting students, dealing with disciplinary issues and with the job training agency, being an extra body for crowd control, cleaning up everything at the end, and writing a newspaper article about the program. One of the best perks about the program was learning along with the kids. I previously had little knowledge about computer hardware, but during the final days, I actually built a couple of computers of by own, to be donated to the community."

Jinha Kim, intern with National Network to End Domestic Violence in Washington, DC

What's the Community Service Fund?
Jim Gregoire '69 (gregadv@yahoo.com)
CSF Board Member and Past Chairman.

HISTORY:

With approximately $800,000 in our Class Memorial Fund prior to our 25th Reunion, a task force appointed by then Class President Marc Miller recommended that 50% of the Memorial fund be retained under class auspices and directed toward (1) making a contribution to community service globally; (2) stimulating community service activity by Princeton students and enhancing their education through related experiential opportunities; and (3) providing members of our class with opportunities to become deeply involved with both students and community service organizations that are important to class members. CSF sponsored the first interns in the summer of 1996-13 placements with a grant total of $34,000. In the summer of 2005, the Fund expects to sponsor a record 42 summer internships with a gross grant total of approximately $155,000. Since 1998 some of the host organizations are co-funding their interns, and the University's Work-Study Program provides additional support. Since its inception, the Fund has placed over 200 Princeton students and graduates with several dozen community service organizations involved in a wide variety of areas-the environment, health care, education, public policy analysis, legal services, etc. In addition, the Fund today continues to provide financial support to other community service programs - Princeton in Asia, Princeton in Africa, Princeton and Princeton in Latin America.. In 1998, the Alumni Council recognized the value of our Fund by awarding the class its Community Service Award.

MENTORING:

What do mentors do? Mentors:

• Serve as the CSF liaison with the intern and the host organization
• Enhance the value of the intern experience
• Minimize the risk of problems developing during the internship period
• Deal with the rare problems that unfortunately may occur

The following is a list of activities and responsibilities that are important in making this relationship mutually rewarding and of value to the organization and community being served and to the CSF. Mentors may be asked to:

• Work with the host organization to identify the important characteristics of the internship, including preparing a detailed description of job duties and activities and coordinating with the CSF Board to ensure that the proposed internship is determined to be "community service" (e.g., not primarily filing or other types of clerical or mundane duties);
• Identify the personal characteristics, experiences, interests and knowledge desired in the ideal intern and communicate these to the CSF intern selection committee;
• Conduct or participate in intern selection (if possible);
• Establish the relationships as early as possible between the mentor, intern, and host organization;
• Assist the intern in housing and other arrangements as needed and possible;
• Coordinate, as needed, the arrival of the intern at the internship location on the agreed upon date;
• Expand, whenever possible, the intern's experience with the host organization by providing exposure to related aspects of the community, introductions to relevant individuals, etc.;
• Maintain contact with the intern throughout the term of the internship, by in-person meetings and/or, if necessary, telephone, fax or e-mail;
• Mediate any difficulties/necessary adjustments in the relationship between the intern and the host organization;
• Review the conclusion of the internship, and the written intern and supervisor evaluations of the placement; and
• Provide CSF with the completed mentor evaluation form, regarding the success/failure and merit of the internship, suggestions for improvement, and recommendations as to whether the CSF should again sponsor the internship.

The on-going mentor-intern contact may include discussion of such topics as:

• What is the mission of the host organization?
• How is the organization's mission communicated to its staff? How could this be better done?
• What strategies and tactics I the organization using to achieve its goals?
• How well is the organization doing (socially, financially, or both)? What could it do better?
• What are the organization's principal constituencies?
• How well does the organization serve the needs and interests of its constituencies?
• What are the interns' ideas for making the organization more effective in achieving its goals and serving its constituencies?
• What are the strengths and weaknesses of the organization's leaders?
• What ideas can the mentor contribute from his/her own experience that are relevant to the above questions and their possible answers?
• What are the pros and cons of a public interest career compared to a career in the private sector (or the possibilities of a combining of the two)? Can the two careers be combined without sacrificing the goals of the public sector?

At such times that a location has more than one intern, CSF may seek to organize group meetings and activities. This could be attempted in coordination with Project 55 or other alumni community service groups. For example, the group might get together once a month with all interns and mentors for a group discussion of the interns' respective activities and experiences. Interns would learn from exchanging reactions and ideas, and benefit from the comments, insights and suggestions of other mentors. Mentors, too, could broaden their perspective from such gatherings. In addition, the group might periodically meet to hear a guest speaker present about a community service topic of general interest. Classmates and spouses who have served as mentors:

Are you willing to serve as a mentor for a community service organization?
Contact Seva Kramer at CSF: (609) 921-7948 or skramer@ix.netcom.com