Wrapping up University Internships for 2017-2018 and news from a Visiting Professor from France

Interns from Columbia University worked tirelessly each week throughout the school year with our team. In April, Professor Mireille Baruens, visiting from the University of Grenoble, France spent a month getting to know the ATD Fourth World New York team by joining meetings and activities. We asked the interns to share the impact of working with us during their last year in the Master’s Program in Social Work, and asked Mireille how she experienced the variety of actions with the New York team. Read their remarks:

Katelyn Rogozinski

ATD Fourth World has been a remarkable experience for these last eight months. I am surrounded by inspiring individuals who live and breathe ATD Fourth World. As a child, I dreamt of working at the United Nations and ATD Fourth World provided me the opportunity to not only attend exciting meetings, but to plan and execute the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty on October 17. I enjoy ATD Fourth World’s unique approach of being grassroots, but also advocating at the international level. ATD Fourth World has highlighted the importance of active listening and providing a space for the once voiceless to raise their voice. ATD Fourth World will always hold a special place in my heart and I will always showcase the importance of active listening, collaboration, advocating in my future social work career.

Kiley McLean

As a former elementary school teacher, I was immediately drawn to Story Garden. Though it was not without setbacks or imperfect weather, I felt humbled and grateful to have slowly gained the trust of the community members of Brownsville and watched it grow from 2 to 15 children over my 9 months with ATD Fourth World. Similarly, I so enjoyed being a "student" of People's University. I will always cherish the Friday nights spent sharing, discoursing, yelling, listening, and laughing with friends of every walk of life. As I move forward, I will always value and prioritize the voices of those living in poverty and refuse to research or write policy without their inclusion. Thank you!

Mirielle Baurens

Time has flown far too rapidly but I really enjoyed the opportunity to be with you and attend those meetings, seminars, webinars, in and out of the office. That was a truly enriching experience that has brought so much to me.Story Garden was one of the (many) highlights. The kids trust you so and are so ready to be friends that it proves how much that time means for them and how successful the ATD team has been, monitoring readings and art activities with them. I also appreciated the Monday team meetings, the shared lunches, the discussions with the various persons of the team. You are always ready to provide information and advice. It was meaningful for me to discover the UN, the New School and its lectures on stimulating topics such as restorative justice, or how women voice their dire straits and become agents of their lives. All these moments were a truly enriching experience.

Zhuwen Chen

My experience at ATD Fourth World has been outstanding and I have been very fortunate to enjoy this experience of working with great people who are passionate about bringing respect and a voice to those in poverty. Having worked in the social work field, interning at ATD Fourth World has given me a new perspective that advocating or helping those in need does not have to be a direct service, but helping them find their voice so they can be empowered and contribute to change.

Zilin Zhang

ATD Fourth World is such an unique organization where there is almost no hierarchy and we as interns were given much freedom to choose where we would invest our energy.. I worked with the MAP (Multidimensional Aspects of Poverty) research project, which is a participatory research where people living in poverty think together with academics and practitioners as co-researchers. It was challenging for me to reach out to organizations and sometimes frustrating, but we finally got a Chinese immigrant group at a senior center. I appreciate that ATD Fourth World values the expertise of every individual who lives in poverty and truly helps them bring out their voice  -- as friends, not as service providers. I also appreciate the safe and casual space ATD Fourth World creates, the people it brings in, every conversation in the office or over lunch. Thank you so much, I’m gonna miss everyone here.