Rebecca Portman thought she had left her high school days behind her. But the SESP sophomore blended right in with the students at Evanston Township High School, where she was an intern through Northwestern’s Center for Civic Engagement.
The Center piloted the Evanston Civic Internship program last winter. The program matches politically and civically engaged NU students with city officials and, more recently, ETHS to work on city projects.
“This is a great opportunity for NU students to learn and get involved in local city government,” said Rob Donahue, Communication ’97, associate director of the CCE. “There is also a need for support on the city side as budgets are cut.”
About 15 students have been placed for an internship with Evanston officials so far, including City Manager Wally Bobkiewicz, Donahue said. One of them, Bradley Akubuiro, worked with Ald. Delores Holmes (5th) on engaging the ward community to tackle issues specific to the 5th ward, such as crime, drugs and violence, he said.
The Medill senior worked with Holmes to craft his responsibilities around his interests and strengths in grassroots organizing and community building, he said. Akubuiro designed a model to engage the public in community issues and increase voter turnout.
“These people have no voice, and a large part of that is because they haven’t been participatory in the democratic process on the city level,” he said. “I worked to create avenues to make that participation happen.”
Akubuiro mapped out a door-to-door campaign that would utilize NU students as facilitators to ask how 5th ward residents receive their information and find out their top three concerns about the community.
“I’m hoping this model will allow Ald. Holmes to see how we can best engage these people in a way that works for them,” Akubuiro said. “E-mail works best for some, but there are some people who don’t have Internet access in their house.”
By finding out the best way to communicate with 5th ward residents, community organizations can then focus on issues that directly affect the residents, Akubuiro said.
Ethan Merel, ASG External Relations Vice President, also worked with Holmes. The Weinberg sophomore attended City Council and committee meetings to provide an NU perspective on ward issues, he said. He also helped plan the joint 5th and 7th ward meeting that took place on campus Oct. 28.
The program and the work he did are steps toward a better relationship between Evanston and NU, Merel said.
“This program is just another way of increasing the communication between two communities and bringing them closer together,” he said. “The more one-on-one interactions officials and residents have with NU students, the better.”
An NU presence at ETHS is also good for the relationship between Evanston and the University, said Mary Collins, the community service coordinator at ETHS.
“When NU students call and want to help, it’s a win-win situation,” she said. “It’s NU students getting practical, real life opportunities you don’t get in a classroom. And the benefit for us is that it’s capable young adults bringing their experience, knowledge, skills and abilities to benefit our students in various ways.”
Portman, Collins’s intern, created a newsletter highlighting service opportunities for ETHS students and ongoing student service projects. Collins said the newsletter has received positive feedback, and it couldn’t have been done without her intern.
Holmes said the program is beneficial for everyone involved.
“I’m available to expose the intern to a part of Evanston that very few people know about in terms of the west side,” she said. “There are a lack of things being done about affordable housing, crime, drugs and the lack of economic development. No one pays attention to these things and the interns get a chance to make progress on these issues.”
