Building Bridges Between the College and the City

What does it take to become a Haverford House Fellow? Janice Lion, domestic program coordinator for the Center for Peace and Global Citizenship (CPGC), which oversees the fellowship program, says that certain characteristics make applicants stand out.“Our selection committee chooses community-oriented men and women who are ready for challenging jobs addressing some of the most pressing needs of the greater Philadelphia region,” she says.“We want people who will expand upon their experience as undergraduates—academically, socially and in the greater community.”

The six recent graduates selected as the CPGC's 2010-11 Haverford House Fellows all exhibit these traits. Misha Baker, Cara Curtis, Roseanne Dillon, Christopher Dioguardi, Rebecca Kuperberg, and Luke McKinstry will spend the year working for various Philadelphia nonprofit organizations and living together in a West Philadelphia house.

As the program enters its ninth successful year, one of its primary goals is to strengthen connections between the College and the city. All applicants are asked to design a project that would benefit both the campus and the Philadelphia communities. Some of this year's ideas include a mentorship program matching current Haverford students with local alumni; language-based days of service, where Fords would interact with members of a specific ethnic community or organization; collaborative writing workshops bringing together Haverford students and Philadelphia neighbors and nonprofits; and a non-credit College course on local food—where to find, grow and cook it, as well as the social justice issues involved with its consumption.

Chris Dioguardi is looking forward to continuing his involvement with his urban neighbor.“I'm confident that Haverford House will offer me an important, specific role to play in Philadelphia,” he says. He will work in the employment unit of Community Legal Services, helping clients expunge their criminal records as they search for jobs.

“I was looking for a hands-on way to apply what I had learned about social justice at Haverford,” says Cara Curtis.“My intellectual experience was unparalleled, but there's a certain amount you can't learn in the classroom.” Curtis will combat child hunger with the GROW Project at Drexel University, which helps low-income children and their families achieve normal weight gain, good nutrition and proper development through service, research and advocacy.

Other Fellows' nonprofit placements are: Misha Baker at Fair Food, which is dedicated to bringing local food to the marketplace and promoting a humane sustainable agriculture system; Roseanne Dillon at Project H.O.M.E., which assists and advocates for Philadelphia's homeless; Rebecca Kuperberg at Philadelphia Legal Assistance, which provides free legal civil services to the underserved community; and Luke McKinstry at the Committee of Seventy, which fights for effective government, fair elections and a better-informed voter population.