Blum Cross-Border 2014 Summer Field Internship

Blum Cross-Border Initiative - Summer Field Internship

Supervised by Professor Teddy Cruz and Professor Fonna Forman
In collaboration with the Global Health major / minor, the Human Rights minor, Global TIES, and the Sixth College Practicum 
  
The BLUM Cross-Border Initiative is a new undergraduate program, housed in the UCSD Center on Global Justice, focused on interdisciplinary undergraduate -community engaged- research and training on regional poverty.
We are pleased to announced the first BLUM Summer Field Internship and stipend. In this pilot session BLUM will collaborate with four undergraduate practica across the campus, with the goal of expanding to include other practica in future sessions. In Summer 2014, students from the Global Health major / minor, Global TIES, the Human Rights minor and the Sixth College Practicum are eligible to apply for a two month internship in July and August, in the San Diego - Tijuana border region, examining issues of health, illness and wellbeing; environmental and urban challenges; engineering and technical problem solving; human rights and social justice; and the role of arts and culture in underserved communities.  
 
Interns will conduct fieldwork in multi-disciplinary teams to appreciate the complexity and interconnection of issues in real world community engagement regarding issues of social justice, and the necessity of learning to communicate and collaborate across knowledges.  Teams will rotate between two community-based organizations - Casa Familiar in San Ysidro, California and Alter Terra in the Los Laureles canyon in Tijuana, Mexico.  In the Fall quarter, 2014, interns will participate in a bi-weekly BLUM Workshop, to explore a shared set of readings on the ethics, theories and practices of intervention, and to communicate what has been learned. 
 
Two students per program will be selected for the internship, based on responses to the application available at the link below.  Participating students will receive a stipend of $1500 per month from the UCSD / BLUM Initiative for the two months of summer participation.  Participation will fulfill the Field Experience or practica requirement for each program represented, and enrollment in the fall quarter workshop will in some cases count as elective credit (please check with your program coordinator) .  Successful applicants wishing wish to register for summer course credit will have the ability to do so.

For inquiries, contact Carol Hudson, c1hudson@ucsd.edu. 

Angela Tomlinson

Angela Tomlinson is a Sociology of Science and Medicine student who is also  a Sixth College Orientation Leader, the Transfer Senator for Sixth College Student Council,  Community Assistant for HDH, and a volunteer for the UCSD hospital.  In the future, Angela aspires to be a child psychiatrist, as she loves working with children.  Angela says,  “I applied for the Blum Cross Border Initiative because I am very passionate about the San Diego community and being an advocate for those who might not have a voice. I have been in the San Diego area for over 10 years and I feel fortunate to be able to call it my home. I hope to be able to gain a better understanding of different environments, meet new people, and take this experience and apply it to my future encounters.”

Arlene Ngor

Arlene Ngor is a Human Biology major with a minor in Cognitive Science, and a pre-health interest.    She is also currently looking into public health and social work, which aligns greatly with the BLUM Summer Fieldwork Internship in being able to examine issues of health, illness and wellbeing, environmental and urban challenges, engineering and technical problem solving, human rights and social justice, and the role of arts and culture in underserved communities.   Arlene says, “This internship provides me the opportunity to become a better advocate for the communities I represent and associate with by directly immersing myself in the San Diego-Tijuana border area and learning the multidisciplinary aspects that contribute to the region’s poverty.  From this internship experience, I hope to challenge myself in understanding how my own individual actions and behaviors in collaboration with others,  such as simply gaining more knowledge and spreading awareness, can provide a positive change within and for the San Diego-Tijuana area as well as other communities.”