CV Starr National Service Fellowship
Established in 1981 with a gift from the Starr Foundation, the CV Starr National Service Fellowship Program intends to build a community of students and alumni committed to social justice, service and advocacy, and to enhance campus conversation about the intersection of theory, practice and the human and political needs of contemporary society.
The Program provides Brown University undergraduates with an opportunity to deepen their understanding of critical public issues as a part of their liberal education. The Starr Fellowship seeks to recognize students with a demonstrated pattern of service and enhance their ability to continue those commitments beyond their undergraduate years.
Applicants may approach the fellowship in two ways:
- Define a significant project to enhance their practical and theoretical understanding of public issues. Applications must demonstrate a strong interest in working with a community organization at the local, national or international level and helping to build the capacity of that community to meet community-defined goals.
- Applicants may address one of the community questions listed on the website. Applying to undertake that defined body of work, with the sponsoring organization.
By applying, prospective fellows agree to commit to work in residence for two semesters within a community of fellows. As a member of the community, fellows are asked to consider a variety of disciplinary and constituent perspectives on their work.
The fellowship provides 10-20 students each year with three major forms of support:
Intellectual
Students in the program commit themselves to participating in a community of fellows. This group meets regularly to explore the process and outcomes of individual projects and to discuss public issues with faculty and community leaders.
Professional
As emerging community leaders and activists, Starr Fellows are encouraged to engage in professional development that will enhance their skills, self-knowledge and understandings of public work. Fellows have the opportunity to form relationships with alumni, explore potential career paths and participate in training. As a program dedicated to supporting reflective practitioners, Starr Fellows are encouraged to take time to renew themselves and their work and reflect on its personal and moral dimensions.
Financial
Students may apply for up to $3,500 to support a significant project over the summer or during the academic year. Projects must work with a community organization at the local, national or international level and help to build the capacity of that community to meet its goals. The students may use these funds for travel, materials, living or educational expenses or to supplant a student's need to work during the summer or academic year. Twenty five percent (25%) of Project Funds can be used to support endeavors that would help the Fellow develop personally and/or professionally; these activities must relate to the overall goals of the Fellow's community-based and/or academic work. Work may be done in Rhode Island, nationally or internationally, although local projects are prioritized.
Applying to the CV Starr National Service Fellowship Program
Eligibility
- Current Brown undergraduates who have at least one academic year remaining at the University are eligible to apply.
- Applicants must undertake a significant project of at least 10 weeks in length.
- Starr Fellows may receive additional financial support from other sources but may not receive other Brown University funding (e.g. Smoke Internships, Swearer Fellowships, UTRAs, or assisted internships, etc.) in support of the same work. Recipients of Royce fellowships may not apply.
Criteria
The Starr Fellowship Program seeks applicants who exhibit:
- Creativity, curiosity and determination
- Demonstrated commitment to community-based work through previous hands-on experiences
- Interest in considering new approaches to community work and change
- Interest in considering the relationships between community-based work and Brown's philosophy of liberal education
- Consideration of a lifelong commitment to community involvement
- Project ideas that are realistic, effective and meet a clearly defined community need
- Enthusiasm for working with a community of fellows
The Starr Fellowship seeks to support projects that:
- Propose a realistic and effective approach to the need addressed and an efficient use of resources.
- Articulate a clear methodology for how the work will take place, and relate this approach to existing theories or practices
- Work with existing initiatives or organizations to build their capacity. Such work may include undertaking research that has a direct relevance to a community-based organization; developing a new component to an existing community-based program, such as developing a new curriculum; or be a time-limited initiative that has a distinct beginning, middle and end. New initiatives that will require University support and administration past your graduation date will not normally be considered.
- Demonstrate a potential to enhance the applicant’s skills and provide opportunities to explore issues of genuine academic, personal and/or professional interest.
- Reflect strong support from the community. We seek to support projects that are undertaken in partnership with an existing non-profit organization, or, if undertaken independently, have support from a representative group of community members.
Selection
Proposals will be reviewed by a selection committee comprised of faculty, staff, and community members. The selection committee will use the above criteria in selecting applications.
Applicants are strongly encouraged to meet with Kerrissa Heffernan prior to preparing an application. Applications will be screened according to the quality of their ideas and presentation.
Independent Proposal Application
2006 Starr Fellows
The Howard R. Swearer Center for Public Service at Brown University announces the selection of the 2006 CV Starr National Service Fellows. The fellows will spend the next year working on individual projects to build community capacity and meeting collectively to examine their potential roles as agents of change.
The CV Starr National Service Fellowship Program recognizes students with a history of service and enhances their ability to continue those commitments beyond their undergraduate years. Fellows receive financial support for a significant project exploring the practical and theoretical dimensions of community concerns. Throughout the year fellows work together to deepen their knowledge of community work through conversations with local community members, faculty and alumni. The fellowship program, founded in 1981, is generously supported by the Starr Foundation.
The 2006 Starr Fellows are:
Jonathan Corcoran '07
The Financial Crisis of Queer College Students
Jonathan will examine the financial crisis of queer students whose parents have disowned them or cut them off financially. He will investigate how college administrators, financial aid officers and charitable organizations can better address the problem.
Sponsor: Brown LGTBQ Resource Center
Tristan Freeman '07
The Effects of Domestic Spying on Campus Political Activism
The Northern California American Civil Liberties Union recently brought suit against the Department of Defense for its surveillance of anti-war protests by college students. Tristan will work with the Northern California ACLU as well as the affected political groups in order to create a report that Brown student groups may use to combat the effects of domestic spying on group membership and leadership. This report will also make a theoretical argument about the implications of domestic surveillance.
Sponsor: Northern California ACLU
Lindsey Gaydos '08
HousingWorks Rhode Island
Lindsey will conduct research on impending housing legislation for HousingWorks RI, a partnership of business, government, philanthropic and community groups working to address the severe housing crisis in Rhode Island.
Sponsor: HousingWorks RI
Lindsay Hagamen '08
Carbon Sequestration in Native Bamboo Forests: Promoting Sustainability and Conservation in the Choco-Andean Corridor of Ecuador
Lindsay will work with the Ecuadorian NGO Maquipucuna to further develop their carbon-credit initiative, which provides financial incentives for sustainable land-use practices. She will use digital mapping software to represent the extent of native bamboo species, and will identify locations most suitable for its reforestation.
Sponsor: Maquipucuna
Fiona Hecksher '09
Creating Partnerships: A Study of Partner Notification Practices in Bamako, Mali
Fiona will investigate existing HIV/AIDS counseling and partner notification practices at three sites in Bamako, Mali. She will interview counselors and doctors, review patient records, and create a comprehensive picture of existing strategies and their results.
Sponsor: Anne DeGroot, TB/HIV Research Lab
Kathleen E. King '07
Improving Health by facing Poverty: The Development of Project HEALTH Chicago
Building upon her work with the national organization Project Health, Kathleen will establish a Family Health Desk at a Chicago community center. The Help Desk will be a way for undergraduate students to connect low-income Chicago families with the social and economic resources that are integral to leading healthy lives.
Sponsors: Project HEALTH and Dr. Melissa Clark, Department of Community Health
Daniel Lawlor '08
Social Mobility and Social Responsibility: Economic Education for Inner City Providence Youth
Dan will develop an age-appropriate financial literacy program at St. Patrick Elementary School, which serves a predominantly low-income population in the Smith Hill neighborhood in Providence. The course will introduce 7th and 8th graders to the concept of financial literacy for community development, and to a range of financial institutions that impact their community.
Sponsor: St. Patrick Elementary School
Paul Quincy Moore '07
Asthma Education at Children’s Hospital of Oakland
Quincy will create a packet of educational materials that will be distributed to asthma patients in the emergency department at Children’s Hospital of Oakland (CA). The information will teach families how to manage their child’s disease, improving their quality of life and decreasing visits to the emergency room.
Sponsor: American Lung Association of the East Bay
Lincoln Restler '06.5
Informing the Dominican American Experience: Supporting Latino/a Youth Through the College Process
Lincoln will work with Quisqueya in Action, a Dominican organization in Providence, to develop a curriculum on Dominican and Dominican American history and culture for adolescents. He will also create a yearlong SAT preparation program for the College Awareness and Preparatory Program of Rhode Island.
Sponsor: Quisqueya in Action
Andrew D.J. Shield '07
Youth Pride, Inc.
Andrew will work with Youth Pride Inc., the only statewide organization with programming dedicated to meeting the social, emotional and educational needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual, queer and questioning (LGBTQQ) youth and their allies. He will work with the RI Task Force for LGBTQQ Youth to coordinate the public release of Statewide Plan, which was be released in March of 2006. This work will include policy and grant research.
Sponsor: Youth Pride, Inc.
Jonathan Sidhu '08
Rhode Island State Archives: Withdrawn and Failed Petitions
Jonathan will work with the Rhode Island State Archives to exam withdrawn and failed petitions to the General Assembly of Rhode Island in the early and mid 19th Century. He will uncover information that has never been researched before, shedding new light on the political process that shaped Rhode Island.
Sponsor: Rhode Island State Archives
R.F. Michael Snodgrass '07
Writing a Manual to Identify Predatory Loans and the Statutes Concerning Them
Michael will spend the summer working with Southern Tier Legal Services, a public interest law firm in Olean, New York that represents families and seniors involved in Chapter 13 bankruptcies who are at risk of losing their homes to mortgage foreclosures. He will write a manual to help attorneys identify high interest home equity loans aimed at vulnerable populations that violate the HOEPA Act.
Sponsor: Southern Tier Legal Services
Emma Tai '07.5
Met Adolescent Health Center
Emma will be working with the Met Adolescent Health Center, a primary care provider open to all students in the Metropolitan Regional Career and Technical Center in Providence (The Met). She will collaborate with students and staff to create the Met Comprehensive Health Education website. This site will allow principals, students, advisors and other educators to access health information and curricula to use in student work and classroom teaching.
Sponsor: The Met School
Sophia Tintori '07
Educational Access in New Orleans
Sophia will coordinate and run a children's learning center in the Mid-City neighborhood of New Orleans. In addition, she will work with a group of educators to design and open charter schools in Mid-City.
Sponsor: The Mid-City Neighborhood Association
Heather Vail '07
Rhode Island State Archives: Providence Urban Renewal
Working at the Rhode Island State Archives, Heather will research urban renewal efforts specific to Providence in the mid 20th century. In addition, she will review Department of Transportation records to determine how highway construction has affected residents, neighborhoods, and community life.
Sponsor: Rhode Island State Archives
Laura Vitale '06.5
Jews Under Il Duce: An Audio Documentary(IAP)
Laura will create an audio documentary about Jews in Fascist Italy, utilizing archival sound and interviews with survivors.
Sponsor: Prof. Suzanne Stewart-Steinberg, Department of Comparative Literature
Jane Mee Wong '06.5
Formation of an online Pan-Asian Journal: International Asian Perspectives (IAP)
Jane Mee is developing a new online journal, which will be a forum for sharing and reflecting community organizing experiences in Asian-American communities. The aim of the journal is to build stronger and more effective grassroots organizations, while also analyzing Asian politics and the need for international solidarity.
Sponsor: Elizabeth Taylor, Department of English and Veronica Ouma, Palestine Solidarity Review
2004 Starr Fellows
The Howard R. Swearer Center for Public Service at Brown University announces the selection of the 2004 CV Starr National Service Fellows. The fellows will spend the next year working on individual projects to build community capacity and meeting collectively to examine their potential roles as agents of change. Seven of the projects include work in Rhode Island.
The CV Starr National Service Fellowship Program recognizes students with a history of service and enhances their ability to continue those commitments beyond their undergraduate years. Fellows receive financial support for a significant project exploring the practical and theoretical dimensions of community concerns. Throughout the year fellows work together to deepen their knowledge of community work through conversations with local community members, faculty and alumni. The fellowship program, founded in 1981, is generously supported by the Starr Foundation.
The 2004 Starr Fellows are:
Dan Bassichis '06, a concentrator in English and Africana Studies, will document the experiences of incarcerated transgender people in several New York prison facilities. Dan will work with the Sylvia Rivera Law Project in New York City to publish a report examining the ways in which policy, politics, and ideology target and criminalize trans people.
Nicole Bazelais '06, an Africana Studies concentrator, will work with several practicing midwives to explore themes of class and race in their work and in the history of midwifery. Nicole's study will culminate in a series of fictional narratives for publication.
Elizabeth Cespedes '05.5 will work with New Urban Arts, a Providence youth arts studio, to create a public mural on Westminster Street. Elizabeth, a Visual Arts and Comparative Literature concentrator, will engage youth in researching themes related to their community and translating those themes into a permanent piece of public art.
Nina Keough '06 will work with the Rhode Island Training School, the state's juvenile detention facility, to pilot a debate program for incarcerated young women. Nina, a concentrator in Public Policy and Portuguese and Brazilian Studies, will work in partnership with the Rhode Island Debate League.
Alison Klayman '06, a History concentrator, and Julia Liu '06, a Sociology concentrator, will create a film exploring the evolution of women's space at Brown and its impact on the experiences of female students over the last forty years. The film will be used to spark conversation as part of the thirtieth anniversary of the Sarah Doyle Women's Center.
Allison Lombardo '05, a Political Science concentrator, will work with researchers in the Bafokeng Nation of South Africa to investigate how students formulate expectations for their matriculation to post-secondary education and employment. Allison will explore the possibilities that high school students' envision for their future.
Jeffrey Magid '05, a concentrator in American Civilization, will research the intersection of political theory and contemporary hip-hop culture. Jeff's work will culminate in an international conference of prominent hip-hop artists exploring the political implications of their work.
Kate Moulding '05, a Development Studies concentrator, will work with the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union in Providence to support their voter registration campaign. Kate will integrate participatory education methods into the union's work on elections.
Elisabeth Reinkordt '05, a Modern Culture and Media concentrator, will work to strengthen Brown Student Radio (88.1 FM) by increasing local community involvement in on-air and organizational roles at the station.
Erica Sagrans '05, a Sociology concentrator, will create a library for the People's School, a community-based education project in South Providence. This library will support the school's mission to share resources and facilitate learning outside of traditional educational structures, as well as its ultimate goal of building community and working for progressive social change.
Melaina Spitzer '05, a History concentrator, will evaluate the effectiveness of a youth peacebuilding program for Greek and Turkish Cypriot youth. Melaina will interview past participants to determine the impact of the program on individual attitudes and on the development of diverse relationships.
Arthi Sundaresh '05 will work with arts organizations in Rhode Island, New Mexico, New York, California and Oregon to create a collaborative electronic forum for dialogue among youth working on public murals. Arthi is a Visual Arts concentrator.
Sarah Swett '06, a Community Health concentrator, will plan a new sports program for girls at the Sophia Academy in Providence, RI. Sarah will develop a curriculum for the program and explore partnerships among the Sophia Academy, Brown and the Moses Brown School.
Andre St. Clair Thompson '05 will create a performance based on his own experiences and the personal narratives and communal struggles of transgender people of color. Andre, a Sexuality and Society concentrator, will work with Brown's Rites and Reason Theatre on the culminating production.
The Howard R. Swearer Center for Public Service at Brown University, an office of the Dean of the College, considers active community participation central to a liberal education. The Swearer Center works with students, faculty and staff to prepare students for meaningful political, civic and social engagement and to support scholarship that is of service to the world.
2003 Starr Fellows
The CV Starr National Service Fellowship Program recognizes students with a history of service and enhances their ability to continue those commitments beyond their undergraduate years. Fellows receive financial support for a significant project exploring the practical and theoretical dimensions of community concerns. Throughout the year fellows work together to deepen their knowledge of community work through conversations with local community members, faculty and alumni. The fellowship program, founded in 1981, is generously supported by the Starr Foundation.
The 2003 Starr Fellows are:
Robin Amer '04 will produce a radio documentary on the adaptive reuse of 19th century mill buildings in Providence. Robin, an Art Semiotics concentrator, will examine these spaces as they relate to economic development, urban revitalization, and gentrification.
Rachael Bedard '05, a History concentrator, and Shana Jalbert '04, a Political Science concentrator, will examine the current and historical role of student activists in work on affordable housing.
Jennifer Brazier '04, a Community Health concentrator, will work with the Rhode Island Free Clinic to examine the barriers preventing low-income Dominican families from accessing health care in the Dominican Republic and Providence.
Ilana Friedman '04, an American Civilization concentrator, is working with Providence teachers and students to create an instructional documentary video and booklet to facilitate the development of community gardens.
Sarah Goldstein '05, an American Civilization and Performance Studies concentrator, will conduct an oral history of New York CityÕs Transport WorkersÕ Union Local 100, exploring its political history and its current complexities as an internal dissident group comes to power.<
April Inniss '05, an Urban Studies concentrator, will collaborate with residents to develop the Mattapan Walking Club, a program encouraging women in the Mattapan neighborhood of Boston to engage in regular physical activity and fostering supportive relationships.
Joshua Jackson '04, an Urban Studies and Architectural Studies concentrator, and Vanessa Lipschitz '04, an Economics and Public Policy concentrator, will create a series of case studies and a resource guide to support a national network of community boating centers.
Nathan Lovejoy '06 will work with ConnecTV, teaching TV and video production to people with disabilities. Nathan seeks to explore how work with video can impact identity formation among people with disabilities.
Laura Millay '04, a Development Studies concentrator, will work to develop a network for the exchange of ideas between sustainable agriculture groups in Thailand and the United States.
Quyen Truong '05 will research national models for engaging youth in paid apprenticeships in the arts. Quyen, a Visual Arts concentrator, will work with RiverzEdge in Woonsocket and New Urban Arts in Providence to adapt these models locally.
Luke Woodward '04, a Development Studies concentrator, is creating a video documentary exploring transgender and transsexual sexualities.
The Howard R. Swearer Center for Public Service at Brown University, an office of the Dean of the College, considers active community participation central to a liberal education. The Swearer Center works with students, faculty and staff to prepare students for meaningful political, civic and social engagement and to support scholarship that is of service to the world.