Contact Details
Sarah Farbo
Associate Director, Community Engaged Leadership, Learning & Research
Shepherd Poverty Internship Program
Explore your professional and personal interests this summer through the SHECP Summer Internship Program, a community-focused learning experience. The Shepherd Poverty Internship Program coordinates and supports an eight-week Summer Internship Program where cohorts of interns live together and work full-time with community partners engaged in anti-poverty work.
Bucknell offers these experiences in conjunction with the Shepherd Higher Education Consortium on Poverty (SHECP), with placements available across various urban and rural locations and sectors in the country. The SHECP internship is curated to give students with an academic grounding in poverty the opportunity to deepen their understanding of poverty, including its definitions, causes and potential solutions, while providing substantive support to agencies working in underserved communities.
Shepherd internships are for students from all majors and aim to develop student civic responsibility through experiential learning, promote respect for diverse communities and facilitate poverty awareness that leads students to intentionally integrate anti-poverty action in their post-graduate vocations and personal lives.
Visit the Shepherd Higher Education Consortium on Poverty website to learn more.
Program Information
Students who are accepted into this program will be matched with one of several organizations in the U.S. that help disadvantaged communities and teach interns about social justice initiatives. The Summer 2024 program is in-person.
Application Timeline for Summer 2024
| Application schedule | Dates |
|---|---|
| Application window | Now until Jan. 17, 2024 |
| Interviews (tentatively) | Jan. 22–26, 2024 |
| Deadline for candidates to accept/decline an offer | Feb. 9, 2024 |
| The Internship Academy (virtual) | May 28–31, 2024 |
| Move in | June 1–2, 2024 |
| On-site internship | June 3–July 26, 2024 |
| The closing conference | After July 26, 2024, TBD |
Requirements
Program attendees will be required to:
- Attend the pre-internship virtual Internship Academy
- Attend the in-person closing conference
- Attend two practitioner insight events over the summer and submit a written reflection
- Present a closing conference presentation with a program assessment
- Bi-weekly check-in with Bucknell internship director
Benefits
In an effort to make this opportunity accessible to all students regardless of financial status, the following expenses will be covered by the Shepherd Higher Education Consortium on Poverty:
- Summer housing for in-person internships
- Modest food stipend
- Orientation and closing conference
Bucknell can offer some financial assistance with a travel stipend, and interns receive a modest education award upon completion of their internship requirements.
Program Themes & Locations
The Shepherd Higher Education Consortium on Poverty connects students with poverty-focused nonprofits and agencies in 12 geographic locations.
Students will be matched with a program in one of the following areas:
- Clinical medicine & health outreach
- Law, advocacy & public defense
- Food & housing security
- Public & behavioral health
- Education
- Immigration & refugee support
Interns will be placed in the following locations:
- Phillips County, Ark.
- Atlanta
- Brunswick, Ga.
- Savannah, Ga.
- Louisville, Ky.
- Baltimore
- Boston
- Clarksdale, Miss.
- Camden, N.J.
- Pennsauken, N.J.
- Poughkeepsie, N.Y.
- Greensboro, N.C.
- Cleveland
- Shamokin, Pa.
- Austin, Texas
- Burlington, Vt.
- Lebanon, Lexington and Richmond Va.
- Roanoke, Va.
- Washington, D.C.
- Charleston and Fayetteville, W.Va.
I want to help people while working to make the world more sustainable and equitable. I wholeheartedly believe that this experience is an important stepping stone for that path.
Sherab Dorji '22, past Shepherd intern