CU urban scholars aid NYC nonprofits that support children

Cornell urban studies major Craig Johnson '04 hails from Colorado Springs. Sociology major Elizabeth Altshuler '03 grew up in Los Angeles. From August through May, they live in Ithaca, but for eight weeks this summer, they and most of the 22 other undergraduates in the Cornell Urban Scholars Program made their home at the 92nd Street YM/WHA in Manhattan.

Student interns and staff from sponsoring agencies meet benefactor Peter Sloane at a reception at the new Urban Scholars program at the Cornell Club-New York in July. From left are Cornell student Eathen Gums, Will Norris (from Harlem Children's Zone's Truce), students Kyessa Moore, Rachel Gage and Michael Schwalbe, Sloane, Ray Figueroa (also from Truce) and students Beth Altshuler, Tamar Hiram and Todne Thomas. Janet Charles Photo

The two dozen students from five schools and colleges at Cornell were the inaugural class of the Urban Scholars Program, a brand-new field-based experiential learning program of paid internships at 17 non-profit and public sector organizations, most of them with a focus on children.

The program came together at lightning speed this past spring when Peter Sloane, chairman of the board of the Heckscher Foundation for Children, saw a proposal for it -- one of several given to the foundation by Cornell -- that he liked. The initial idea was developed by Ken Reardon, a planning professor in Cornell's College of Architecture, Art and Planning, as a way to promote public service and civic responsibility among current undergraduates.

"Heckscher's interest is in assisting children in need, and the program offers a great synergy in that effort," said Sloane. "We're grateful to the many Cornell faculty and staff who played such a vital role in making this exciting new program a reality.

Reardon said, "The common denominator in all of the placements is that they are nonprofit or public agencies providing services to low-income children, families and neighborhoods." Many of the placement agencies were identified by Cornell alumni.

In addition to their internships, the students attended a weekly seminar taught by Susan Meicklejohn, an assistant professor in Hunter College's urban affairs and planning department, and collected data for a paper on urban policies. Many will take part in a follow-up Cornell seminar this fall, for which they will receive academic credit.

Altshuler, a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences, worked with Harlem Children's Zone's Truce fitness and nutrition center, which targets middle school children.

"We edited a preliminary version of a checklist relating to the food pyramid," Altshuler said. "We then went out to every food store and restaurant in the area, figuring out: Can you get salad? Non-fried food? Fresh, non-rotting vegetables, low-sodium foods and low-fat milk?"

They tabulated the information they collected, using Global Information System software Altshuler found for the center, allowing the children to create a map of their community indicating where they can find healthy foods. When the Truce director learned of the project, he made it a regular component of the nutrition, fitness and health promotion program, with students creating guides to the area's accessible gyms and mapping out programs to prevent rape and gang activities.

For Craig Johnson, whose major combines landscape architecture and urban studies, his internship with a housing and community development organization for Asian Americans, through the Enterprise Foundation, has been an opportunity to see the practical side of his studies.

"It gives me a chance to see how planning and neighborhood-level organization works in a community," Johnson said. "Chinatown is a very fractured neighborhood, with many groups advocating different things. To get the planning to work, you have to get the constituents to support it."

The internship hasn't been the only source of summer education for Johnson, who says he'd never really spent time in a big city before. "I visited Prospect Park and went to Central Park two or three times a week," he said. "My internship was near Washington Square. Just being in public spaces and seeing how people use them has been really interesting."

In addition to the benefits realized by the students, the sponsoring organizations also profited, gaining the help necessary to give their professional staff vacations and run special programs for children on summer break without any financial obligations.

"Several agencies have asked how many interns they can get for next year, and is it possible they'd be available for longer," said Reardon. "The student profile is remarkable. They all have GPAs of 3.5 or better, student leadership positions on campus, active participation in community service and a strong interest in working for non-profits and public service agencies. It seems like none of them have slept since the age of 12. They're an extraordinary group of undergrads."

At a reception at the Cornell Club-New York on July 24, Sloane and his wife, Jaar-Mel Sevin Sloane, met the student interns and staff from the sponsoring agencies. The event also was attended by Peter Meinig, chair of the Cornell Board of Trustees, who noted the importance of such field-based learning experiences for students.

In addition to staff from the Department of City and Regional Planning, Cornell units involved in the program include Cornell Cooperative Extension-New York City, the School of Industrial and Labor Relations, the Public Service Center and the Office of Alumni Affairs and Development. Overseeing the program is an executive committee, whose members are Reardon; Francille Firebaugh, vice provost for land grant affairs; Susan Murphy, vice president for student and academic services; Leonardo Vargas-Mendez, executive director, Cornell Public Service Center; and Ruth Allen, Cornell Cooperative Extension-New York City.

This summer's sponsoring agencies and the Cornell undergraduates who were their urban interns were: Children's Aid Society (Elizabeth Bleecker '04); Cornell Cooperative Extension-New York City (Erika Ichinose '03, Barin Nahvi '02); Covenant House (Brigham Kiplinger '03), East Harlem Block Schools (Felix Cruz '04); Enterprise Foundation (Todne Thomas '04, Craig Johnson '04); Local Initiative Support Corps (Terrance McKinley '03); Manhattan Comprehensive (Courtney Sherwood '04); Municipal Art Society of New York (Cali Gorewitz '03); National Labor Relations Board (Danielle D'Angelo '03); New Settlement Programs (Patricia Diaz '03); New Visions for Public Schools (Kyessa Moore '03); Community Voices project at Columbia University (Neetu Godhwani '03); New York City Council (Kate Bossart '04, Meghan Dubyak '04, Rachel Gage '04, Eathen Gums '02, Michael Schwalbe '03); New York Civil Liberties Union (Susan Klein '03); Phipps House (Christopher DelGiorno '03); Regional Plan Association (Michelle Daubert '04); and Harlem Children's Zone's Truce (Beth Altshuler '03, Tamar Hiram '03). Support included a weekly living stipend and partial payment of housing costs.

For more information or to apply for next summer's internships, contact Cili Shannon, Department of City and Regional Planning, 255-9987.

This article is adapted from one by Sharon Tregaskis that will appear in the winter/spring 2003 issue of the "College of Architecture, Art and Planning Newsletter."