Not Your Average Summer Job
When Katherine Heredia started her Generation Citizen (GC) Action Civics class at the Young Women’s Leadership School of East Harlem last September, she was already a politically active student. A junior in high school and co-Director of her school’s Social Justice club, she cared deeply about helping her community and had the skills to show it.
So when the GC semester started, Katherine and her classmates were ready to double down. With many students in the class personally affected by rising rents, her class chose gentrification as the issue their class would focus on improving. With the help of their college volunteer, Democracy Coaches, they researched City Council bills that would incentivize landlords to provide affordable housing to low-income residents, created an action plan, and learned about the best tactics to lobby for the approval of the bill.
When the semester ended in December, Katherine wasn’t done. She started applying the new skills and tactics she’d learned from her Democracy Coaches in the Social Justice Club: “We decided to do a walkout on Trump’s Muslim Ban. It made us feel powerful. We grouped people to call news organizations and other nonprofits. You’re going to do a presentation, you’re going to call, etc. We learned how to split people up and get things done.” After working with peers to organize a successful walkout, covered by NY1 and Telemundo, Katherine was excited, but knew she had more to learn: “I still felt like I could grow as an activist and wanted to see politics with my own eyes.”
GC launched the Community Change Fellowship four years ago to give highly-motivated GC students like Katherine an opportunity to sustain their civic engagement beyond the classroom. After a competitive application process, 30 GC alumni were selected and placed in paid summer internships in government and advocacy organizations, from the office of New York City Councilmember Corey Johnson to the New York City Campaign Finance Board.
Championing the GC tag line, “Don’t talk about change. Lead it,” Fellows learn by doing. While gaining new skills on-the-ground in their internships, they also build skills through GC’s weekly professional development and leadership workshops. Diving into topics that range from how to communicate in the workplace to understanding the roles and responsibilities of the New York City Council to how to share their civic journey in their college essays, Fellows gain soft and hard skills both for immediate and long-term application. Fellows both develop their civic skills and knowledge and explore career paths in political engagement.
The Community Change Fellowship is still relatively young, but outcomes are notable. At the end of Summer 2016, 100% of Fellows could name the Mayor of New York City and their local City Councilmember, increasing from 82% and 63% who’d answered correctly at the start of the program. Fellows gained confidence in their abilities in every skill measured, from contacting an elected official, to leading a meeting, to getting along in a small group. We also saw a 70% increase in Fellows indicating they would pursue a career in advocacy or politics, suggesting that the exposure to city government and nonprofit leaders and experience with different paths and workplaces made a true impact on Fellows’ visions and plans.
Katherine is now entering her fourth week in the district office of New York State Assemblymember Michael Blake. Along with three other Fellows, Katherine works to connect constituents with vital resources and ensure community members feel connected to the Assemblymember. With many constituents coming to the office in crisis, Katherine says she’s learned how to show patience and calm. She’s also gotten to meet Assemblymember Blake, an experience that had a significant impact on her: “It was inspiring to hear how he started somewhere small and to know where he is now. It truly inspired me. He encouraged us to ask questions, always want to learn more. [CCF] is not a normal job, it’s an opportunity.”
