Senior Abby Noble spent her summer trying to boost college admissions for poor and minority students - and she got paid for what would normally be a volunteer position. Noble worked for New Profit, Inc. in Cambridge and received a $4,000 stipend from Tufts' University College of Citizenship and Public Service (UCCPS) for ten weeks of work.
Noble is just one of 45 students - undergraduates and graduates alike - who received UCCPS Active Citizenship Summer grants. The grants paid students to take on public service jobs that would usually be unpaid or would pay very little.
UCCPS Student Development Coordinator Carey Levitt said that the stipend gives participants the opportunity to work volunteer jobs that they would be unable to afford otherwise.
Without financial support, Levitt said that students with volunteer positions usually take on second jobs, like waiting tables at restaurants. But the added hours usually burn students out. Stipends allow interns to focus solely on their civic work, what Levitt described as "typically undervalued."
Senior Allison Goldsberry worked for US Senator John Kerry this summer, writing US embassies around the world to request visa grants for relatives of Kerry's constituents. Though Kerry's office only employs unpaid interns during the summer, the UCCPS paid Goldsberry $200 a week for ten weeks of part-time work.
"Volunteering is great and it shows you're not doing it for the money," said sophomore Nikhil Abraham, who was paid $2,000 to intern at the Enterprise Center in Philadelphia, PA. "I wasn't going to be able to financially afford working there if I didn't get paid for it."
Students took pre-arranged internships in institutions addressing various societal issues or proposed their own internships to receive grants up to $4,000. The grants stipulated that students continue their involvement in UCCPS throughout the year by attending follow-up workshops.
"It was definitely a luxury that we got large stipends," said junior Valentino Caruso, who worked for Tufts Climate Initiative with a UCCPS grant. "In economic hardships, [internships are] the first thing people cut. They're unnecessary expenditures."
The UCCPS, founded in 1999 by President Emeritus John DiBiaggio, aims to promote active citizenship in the Tufts community. But DiBiaggio secured a $10 million gift in the spring of 2000 from Pierre Omidyar (LA '88) and his wife, Pamela Omidyar (LA '89) earmarked specifically for the UCCPS.
The Omidyars intended to provide enough for the college's first five years of operation. By the fifth year, the college must find its own continual stream of income.
Because the UCCPS does not grant degrees, it does not receive tuition money like other colleges in the University. Instead, it depends on the philanthropy of individuals like the Omidyars through the Omidyar foundation.
The college's first year of operation included many new programs, but most of these programs were discontinued this semester. In a meeting last winter, Omidyar foundation lawyers met with Tufts officials to discuss the successes and failures of individual programs. They agreed to focus on programs proven successful, including Active Citizenship Summers and the Omidyar Scholars program.
Last Wednesday, 45 students displayed posters at the Aidekman Arts Center gallery describing their summer work. Students worked all over the country, in internships ranging from the Tufts chemistry department to political offices.
