Internships and Fellowships
INTERNSHIPS AND FELLOWSHIPS
The Sillerman Center Announces Three Summer MPP Interns
Matt Brown, MPP '13, Janice Neiman, MPP '13 and Lauren Threatte, MPP '13 have been selected for the Sillerman paid internships for the summer of 2012. Each of the interns will be spotlighted in the coming weeks, as they begin their summer internships.
2012 Sillerman Center Interns
Matt Brown is a dual Master of Public Policy and Master of Arts in Jewish Professional Leadership candidate, through the Heller School and Brandeis' Hornstein Program, respectively. He will be spending the summer of 2012 at Natan, a grantmaker in New York City that inspires young philanthropists to become actively engaged in Jewish giving. At Natan, Matt will be focusing on researching and evaluating Natan's members and grantees.
Matt hopes to work the broader Jewish philanthropic field, either in grantmaking or program evaluation. Prior to returning to Brandeis (where he graduated with a B.A. in Classical Studies and History in 2008), Matt worked at the Partnership for Excellence in Jewish Education (PEJE) in marketing communications. He spent the past year as the young adult social justice graduate intern at the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston.
Janice Neiman is a Master of Public Policy candidate at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management concentrating in poverty alleviation with an interest in criminal justice reform. Janice is a Sillerman Summer Intern in the Juvenile Justice Strategy Group at the Annie E. Casey Foundation in Baltimore, Maryland. At the Casey Foundation, Janice researches opportunities for legislative change that can incentivize alternatives to traditional juvenile detention institutions and identifies best practices at the state and local levels. Prior to attending the Heller School, Janice served as an AmeriCorps VISTA with the Delaware Economic Development Office where she was responsible for volunteer development in community revitalization initiatives throughout the state. She graduated from the University of Delaware in 2010 with a B.A. in criminal justice and sociology and a minor in women’s studies.
Lauren Threatte is a second year Ph.D student studying Social Policy at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management. She is a graduate of the University of Southern California Gould School of Law (J.D., 2004) and the University of Iowa (B.A., 2000). She is a member of the Heller School’s Assets & Inequalities Concentration and her primary research interests are racial and gender inequalities in education especially as they are addressed through and by community foundations and other philanthropic organizations. During the spring semester of 2012, Ms. Threatte worked as the Teaching Assistant for Race & the Law, a course taught by Professor Anita Hill. Immediately before coming to Brandeis, Ms. Threatte worked as an attorney for the Cook County Public Defender where she represented indigent defendants in criminal proceedings and parents in child protection proceedings. Ms. Threatte has also been involved in issues of gender discrimination and violence. For two years, Ms. Threatte conducted sexual harassment training and internal investigations for the City of Chicago. Prior to working with the City, she assisted with directing the official theatre production for Sexual Assault Awareness Month at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Ms. Threatte is a summer intern with the Chicago Foundation for Women where she is gaining experience in policy from a programming, development, grantmaking, and fundraising perspective.
Sillerman interns reflect on their summer internships in foundations
Matt Brown, MPP '13
Janice Neiman, MPP '13
Lauren Threatte, Doctoral Student
Ellen Marya, MPP '12
Nicole Hudson, MPP '12
Molly Preston, MPP '12
Sillerman paid internships are awarded based on a competition to Heller Master's in Public Policy students who wish to work during the summer in a philanthropy, foundation, philanthropic advisory group or think tank.The Sillerman Center mission, to strengthen social justice philanthropy through research, education, practice and leadership development includes fellowships and internships and dissertation awards to encourage those outcomes.The Center provides stipends for full time summer internships and part time fall internships that often work with the schedules and requirements of the MPP and MBA programs at the Heller School.
2013 MPP Internship Application
SILLERMAN FELLOWS
The Sillerman Fellows are doctoral students who wish to pursue dissertations in the area of social justice philanthropy. Stipends are awarded to entering PhD students and to third year students. Dissertation awards are also available to students with accepted proposals that include a strong focus on philanthropy.
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2011 Sillerman Center Doctoral Fellow
Jodi Benenson
Jodi Benenson is a second-year Sillerman Fellow at The Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University. She is currently a doctoral student at the Heller School and her research focuses on the relationship between welfare receipt and philanthropy. Jodi also serves as a Research Assistant at the Sillerman Center where she conducts quantitative and qualitative analysis on various projects. Before coming to Heller, Jodi worked for several nonprofits in the Midwest, including Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Greater Twin Cities, the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits, and the Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas. She has also worked for Indiana University and the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University. Jodi received a B.S. in Business and a Master's in Public Affairs (MPA) from Indiana University.
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Elizabeth Ascoli
Elizabeth Ascoli has extensive teaching experience working with children in Brookline, Massachusetts, New York City Board of Education schools, and Brooklyn Heights Montessori School. She worked as an Adjunct Professor teaching African American History at Lasell College in Newton, MA. Elizabeth volunteers at the Massachusetts Advocates for Children. She completed her summer internship at the Nellie Mae Education Foundation in Quincy, MA. Her work working involved learning about and reporting on the policies and infrastructures that are in place in seven school districts throughout New England in order to determine their ability to sustain very involved and specific education reform. Elizabeth holds an MS in Education from Bank Street College of Education, and a BA in Political Science from Haverford College
Blake Dohrn
Blake Dohrn is a PhD candidate in Social Policy. Over the last two years, she has worked on the evaluation team for numerous projects at the Sillerman Center and the Center for Youth and Communities, including the Jewish Healthcare Foundation and United Way of Allegheny's Pathways to Careers, the Hyams Foundation's Teen Futures, YouthBuild USA's Postsecondary Education Initiative and the Skillman Foundation's Good Neighborhoods and Good Schools. Blake is also an adjunct faculty member at Bridgewater State University's School of Social Work, where she teaches Introduction to Social Welfare Policy, Introductory Social Research, and Social Policy II: Development, Advocacy and Analysis for the Master of Social Work (MSW) program. She brings many years of direct service experience including work as an Interim Director at a support center for homeless families and an Advocate in a Teen Living Program for young mothers. Blake received her MSW, with a concentration in Management and Community Organization, from the University of Maryland and her BA in Human Development and History from Boston College.
2011 Sillerman Center Interns
Ellen Marya, MPP '12
Ellen Marya is a first year Master of Public Policy candidate at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management. Her concentration is Poverty Alleviation with a particular interest in housing policy in the United States. She is a SIllerman Intern in the summer of 2011 at the Greater Worcester Community Foundation, working on the Foundation's Leadership Initiative to focus and improve grantmaking strategy. This opportunity has allowed her to explore the needs and assets of the Worcester area and help to ensure that the Foundation is best addressing community interests.
Prior to coming to Heller, Ellen served for one year as an AmeriCorps VISTA at Habitat for Humanity - MetroWest/Greater Worcester. She has continued her involvement with Habitat for Humanity during her first year at Heller. In addition, she works as a Graduate Research Assistant at Heller's Lurie Institute for Disability Policy. Ellen received her Bachelor's degree in political science and economics from Northwestern University in 2009.
Nicole Hudson, MPP '12
Nicole Hudson is a Master of Public Policy candidate at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management concentrating in Health Policy. Nicole is a Sillerman Center Summer 2011 Intern at the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation. Nicole works on a variety of projects that contribute to the Foundation's mission of expanding access to health care coverage and understanding health care cost trends. Nicole's work at the Foundation has demonstrated the many roles and capacity philanthropy can play in the health policy community.
Prior to attending the Heller School, Nicole was an Associate at AcademyHealth, a health service research and policy nonprofit in Washington, D.C. During her time at AcademyHealth, Nicole worked on a grantmaking initiative focused on health care financing and organization. Additionally, she worked on strategic initiative aimed at bringing attention to high priority issues in the field of long-term care. Nicole received her B.A. in Social Welfare and Justice in 2007 from Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Molly Preston, MPP '12
During her undergraduate career Molly was heavily impacted by her service-learning courses and experiences on international Alternative Spring Break trips. Upon graduation, Molly served as an AmeriCorps VISTA with SC Campus Compact, working as the Coordinator for Service-Learning at Columbia College in SC to build service-learning infrastructure. After working on a project to build a community arts program in the public schools in Columbia, she became more aware and motivated to learn about education policy and found a new home at the Heller School this past fall. During the school year she works as a Graduate Assistant at the Brandeis Department of Community Service as the Volunteer Vacations Advisor. Past experiences working on the development side of grants has encouraged her to learn about the other end of the relationship. This summer Molly is interning with EdVestors, a Boston-based nonprofit that works to drive change in urban schools. Specifically, Molly is assisting with the Boston Public Schools Arts Expansion Initiative as they transition into their third round of grants. Molly graduated from North Carolina State University in 2009 with a B.A. in Communications and a minor in Nonprofit Studies.
2010 Sillerman Center Doctoral Fellow
Katherine Szczerbacki
Katherine (Kate) Szczerbacki is a third year Sillerman Fellow and works as a research assistant. Most recently, Kate has focused on a project that will profile family foundations' conversations about shifting policies and practices to better address social change and justice issues. Prior to attending the Heller School, she worked as a student law clerk and as a project assistant to a law professor working on access to services for survivors of intimate partner violence. Kate currently serves as a research assistant at the Heller School's Center for Youth and Community where she plays a support role on various projects including an evaluation of the Skillman Foundation's Good Neighborhoods and Good Schools Initiative. Kate did her undergraduate work at Alfred University where she majored in political science and economics and graduated summa cum laude (2004). She also holds a J.D. from the State University of New York at Buffalo Law School where she focused on public interest issues including economic justice and intimate partner violence (2007). She is currently a doctoral student at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management and her planned doctoral dissertation work will focus on the origins and organizational implications of the adoption of community leadership roles and non-grantmaking activities of rural community foundations.
Laura Sullivan
Laura Sullivan, a third year Sillerman Fellow in 2008-2009, is currently a fifth-year Ph.D. candidate at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management. Her dissertation research investigates the impacts of household level economic shocks on family financial stability and explores the role that foundations can play in helping families achieve long-term economic security. In her work as a Research Associate at the Institute on Assets and Social Policy (IASP) at Heller, she conducts quantitative data analysis using national surveys, contributes to research reports, and collaborates in the development of grant proposals. In 2007 through the National Academy of Social Insurance Washington Internship Program, Ms. Sullivan conducted policy analysis and research at the Social Security Advisory Board (SSAB) on the impacts of asset limits and marriage penalties for disabled and older adults who receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI).
Before coming to the Heller School, Ms. Sullivan worked in non-profit advocacy for low-income communities in California, interned in the Texas State Senate, and was an AmeriCorps member in public schools in Berkeley, California. She holds a Master of Public Affairs from the LBJ School of Public Affairs, an M.A. in Latin American Studies from the University of Texas at Austin, and a B.A. in History with highest honors from UC Berkeley.
2010 Sillerman Center Interns
Jason Gray, MPP '11
Jason Gray is a second year Master of Public Policy candidate in the Poverty Alleviation concentration in the Heller School. In the summer of 2010, Jason interned at Root Cause, a nonprofit organization located in Cambridge, on their venture philanthropy program. This internship allowed him to gain valuable experience working with potential funders and innovative social ventures. In addition to his passion for philanthropy, Jason is also interested in asset development, tax policy and corporate social responsibility. Prior to attending the Heller School, Jason worked as an account manager at the Corporate Executive Board in Washington, DC on their integrated supply chain management program. Jason graduated from Dickinson College in Carlisle, PA in 2004 with a B.A. in political science.
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Jennifer Ross, MPP '11
Jennifer Ross is a Sillerman Fellow who participated in an internship with the Hyams Foundation in Boston during the summer of 2010. She is currently a second year Master of Public Policy student at The Heller School for Social Policy and Management, concentrating her studies in the field of Children, Youth and Families. While at the Hyams Foundation she applied her knowledge of youth development while working on a capacity building project for the Teen Futures Initiative. Jennifer is interested in the role foundations can play by increasing the collaboration and resource sharing among the non-profit community. She enjoys using evaluation frameworks and outcomes to help non-profits build their capacity and inform their programming. The work at the Hyams Foundation aligned well with Jennifer’s long term goals of working as an intermediary or “connector” in the philanthropic community.
Jennifer attended the University of Colorado at Boulder for her undergraduate education where she majored in Sociology. Before attending Heller, Jennifer lived in Denver, CO and worked as a Program Coordinator for an employment program for youth with disabilities. Her work was challenging and she became motivated to decrease fragmentation of social programs for our children, youth and families. Since attending Heller, her interests in philanthropy have grown since participating in the “Practicing Philanthropy” class and working with the Hyams Foundation. Her last year at Heller, she is excited to further examine the relationship of philanthropy, capacity building and policy.
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Andrea Shaye, MBA '10
Andrea Shaye is the Grassroots Leadership Development Intern at the Hyams Foundation. In this role, she is exploring the creation of a leadership development institute and developing recommendations for advancement of the program. Prior to attending the Heller School, she worked in nonprofit program management at City Year Washington, DC. She most recently held the position of program director which entailed supervising a team of individuals implementing health curricula, service-learning programs, and education initiatives with impact reaching over 6,000 people. During her year of service as an AmeriCorps Member, Andrea facilitated a substance abuse and HIV/AIDS prevention curriculum and performed shows to empower DC youth to make healthy choices. Andrea received a BA in psychology and a business management certificate from the University of Rochester.
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