Social Innovation Summer Fellowship
SSA Social Innovation Summer Fellowship
The School of Social Service Administration (SSA) invites current 1st year and EEP master’s students to apply for a summer fellowship to support unpaid work in a social enterprise or innovative nonprofit human service organization.
The 2013 SSA Social Innovation Summer Fellowship is intended to support students who are working in an unpaid position with either a nonprofit organization or for-profit social enterprise that serves at-risk or low-income populations and is engaged in entrepreneurial and innovative clinical or organizational practice. In particular, we are looking for students involved in entrepreneurial and innovative work that pilots or evaluates new methods, pursues new approaches to fundraising and revenue models, undertakes innovative outreach and marketing strategies, attempts to scale impact, or new performance measures. The insights from this work should be relevant beyond the organization itself and lessons could be applied broadly across the human service sector.
One to two summer fellowships ranging from $2,000 to $4,000 will be awarded to SSA students working in an unpaid capacity for a social enterprise or nonprofit organization fitting the description above for at least 150 hours between June 1, 2013 and August 31, 2013.
Students must download and complete the application form and submit short answers to the specified essay questions:
- In no more than one page, please briefly describe the nature of the summer internship position and how this position will contribute to or be connected with innovative practices at the organization. In doing so you should describe the learning objectives for this position. For example, how will you participate in innovative organizational practice? What skills or competencies will you develop that will contribute to your development as a leader in the future? How might your summer experience be relevant to other organizational settings?
- In no more than one page, please briefly describe your interest and experience in nonprofit human service organizations. Discuss how your career goals connect to leading future innovations within the nonprofit human service sector.
In addition, applicants are required to submit a current resume and a letter of support from the supervisor of the summer position.
To be eligible for the SSA Social Innovation Summer Fellowship, students must have their placement or internship position in place at the time they submit their application for support. A small committee of SSA faculty will review the applications and select SSA Social Innovation Summer Fellows, based on their assessment of the qualifications of the candidate and the summer position’s connection to innovative practice.
Social Innovation Summer Fellows will meet with SSA faculty and the fellowship donor for lunch prior to the start of the summer and will meet again for lunch shortly after classes start in the fall. Fellows will be expected to submit a short two-page essay describing their summer work and reflecting upon the learning objectives set out for the position. This essay is due by the start of classes in Fall Quarter 2013.
Materials are due in Associate Professor Scott Allard’s SSA office or in his faculty mailbox by 4pm on Friday, April 5th, 2013. Please contact professor Allard if you have any questions about the SSA Social Innovation Summer Fellowship. Decisions will be announced to applicants by Monday, April 15, 2013.