Northwestern, along with schools such as Harvard University and Princeton University, will be placing graduating seniors in various nonprofit organizations in the Chicago area beginning this year.
Joining Princeton’s Project 55, Communication Professor Paul Arntson and student coordinators Lauren Parnell, a SESP junior, and S Jonathan Marino, a SESP senior, created the NU Public Interest Program.
The Public Interest Program is a one-year fellowship offering recent graduates full-time work with an organization whose mission is to create social change. Participants are awarded a $20,000 to $24,000 stipend and health insurance for completing the program.
“A lot of these students will go to med school or law school,” Arntson said. “But because they’ve done this year, they’ll have hands-on knowledge.”
The exact sites where students will work will not be confirmed until the end of April. Possibilities include Physicians for National Health Program, Genesis House and Korean Social Services.
Though Arntson, Parnell and Marino are heading the program, they received support from others connected with NU.
“Somewhere close to 300 alums contacted me, and President Bienen offered to help us find sites,” Arntson said.
Other people who took part in the program’s development include John Kretzmann, co-director of the Asset-Based Community Development Institute; Bruce Nelson, SESP professor; Suzan Akin, coordinator of community service in the Center for Student Involvement; and Aspasia Apostolakis, director of the Northwestern Alumni Association.
In addition to working with a nonprofit organization, the program includes weekly seminars where participants in the area meet with local organization leaders. Participants in the Chicago area from NU, University of Chicago, Princeton and Harvard will attend these seminars together to discuss their various experiences.
“It’s basically learning that all these issues are interrelated,” said Arntson. “You get a holistic view.”
Though nothing is final, the team hopes to have between 10 to 15 participants from NU this year and perhaps more next year.
Parnell is considering applying to the program next year, when she will be a senior.
“It’s a good job and it will benefit the community,” Parnell said.
Reach Maureen Rohn at [email protected].
