CU's Urban Scholars report on their work with NYC nonprofits

Urban Scholars Colista Turner and Alexander Santiago-Jirau at a reception for the scholars at the Cornell Club in New York City, July 23. Turner, an undergraduate theater major, worked this summer with Child Life, a therapeutic play program for children at New York Presbyterian Hospital. Santiago-Jirau, a graduate student in city and regional planning, helped plan green spaces and cultural and recreational facilities for the Sunset Park neighborhood in southwest Brooklyn. Ed Edahl Photo

By Linda Myers

Twenty-four Cornell undergraduates from six colleges spent their summer as interns with community-based organizations serving New York City's poorest children and families. An additional nine Cornell graduate students collaborated on policy-making initiatives with agencies serving the city's poor. All of the students were part of the Cornell Urban Scholars Program, an interdisciplinary program that seeks to involve students in programs and projects that aid urban children and families in need.

The students gave presentations on their projects July 23 at the Cornell Club in New York City to interested Cornell alumni and staff, city officials and representatives from the community agencies that the students served.

"Reading all the Jonathan Kozol books in Uris Library cannot make the tragedy [of urban poverty] come alive in the same way that just 15 minutes in the Red Hook housing project can," said Dominic Frongillo, a junior in policy analysis and management in the College of Human Ecology who worked for ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) rallying community support for, among other things, a living wage.

Frongillo said that he learned about the simmering rage poor parents feel when their children are denied basic resources to thrive, but he also about learned the need to control, and strategically direct, that anger to affect positive change. "The internship opened my eyes to the struggles for a better life," he said.

Faith Bekermus, a senior in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations who did a foster care study for Covenant House New York Crisis Center as part of her internship, said of her urban scholar stint: "It strengthened my desire to pursue a career in law, public policy or advocacy, to improve the lives of underprivileged and at-risk youth."

And Emily Adelman, a Spanish-Latin American studies major in the College of Arts and Sciences, coordinated the summer youth employment program for a Manhattan day and night school whose students are mostly immigrants still learning English. She said of her internship: "It sparked an interest in immigrant policies, government funding focused on families and an interest in advocacy and policy."

Kenneth Reardon, an associate professor in the Department of City and Regional Planning who is co-director of the Urban Scholars Program, said, "Listening to students talk about the transformative impacts of living and working in New York City reminded me of why I became a teacher."

Reardon added, "The Urban Scholars Program represents the perfect complement to a liberal arts education at Cornell by challenging students to work with civic leaders from New York City's poorest neighborhoods to solve critical environmental, social and economic problems."

Undergraduate interns described their work on such issues as teenage substance abuse, public school reform, parenting and nutrition education, homelessness and the effectiveness of legislation requiring landlords to protect children from lead paint and other hazards. They also talked about the human service organizations they assisted, among them the Greyston Foundation, the Juvenile Rights Division of the Legal Aid Society, Outreach House, the Parent Action Committee at New Settlement Apartments, the Child Life Program at New York Presbyterian Hospital and Rebuild Downtown Our Town (R.DOT).

In addition, Michelle Thompson, a visiting lecturer with Cornell's Department of City and Regional Planning, described how her weekly seminar helped students connect their experiences with low-income children to larger public policy issues confronting New York City.

Graduate students talked about the collaborative research projects they worked on with senior staff of agencies serving the poor. Some projects included evaluating the impact of: student-produced videos on such issues as HIV/AIDS, pregnancy, decision-making and trust; the city's numerous anti-sweatshop organizing campaigns; lower Manhattan's community gardens; and employment opportunities for low-income residents in the South Bronx.

The Cornell Urban Scholars Program was launched two years ago with support from the New York City-based Heckscher Foundation for Children through the sponsorship of Peter Sloane. The program was created to encourage more of Cornell's top students to consider public service careers with the city's human service organizations and get more of them involved in public policy debates on the issues contributing to growing social inequality in the United States. For further information, contact Reardon at 254-5378 or see this Web site: http://www.cusp.cornell.edu.