The 2014 Community Service Fellows, representing all the GSD programs, will be taking it to the streets this summer to challenge themselves and test their learning on design and planning projects with direct community impact. The 10-week paid summer internships will send them to local community organizations, federal and state agencies and nonprofit institutions with a wide range of needs.
Here are this year’s Fellows:
Gege Wang (MLA I ’16) will be working with the Community Design Resource Center of Boston to create a “Fit City Boston” booklet. The project outlines Fit City design concepts, catalogs related design projects by the CDRC and others and highlights examples by Boston area architects and in Boston neighborhoods.
Carly Gertler (MArch I AP ’15) will be working with the MASS Design Group’s Boston office and the African Wildlife Foundation to support the strategic visioning, conceptual design and design development for the AWF Conservation School in Rwanda.
Jean You (MAUD/MDesS ’15) will be interning with the Cambridge DPW, where she will lead the development of an interactive web/mobile platform that capitalizes on the large quantities of materials left on the curbs during the annual student moves in June and September.
Jefferson Mao (MUP ’15) will be interning with Just a Start in Cambridge, where he will conduct market analysis of low income home owners and their need for home improvement loans . He will research national best practices for similar HUD funded HIP programs and will develop marketing material and a website to help increase use of subsidized home improvement loans.
Jennifer Saura (MLA I ’15) will be working on research with the Quito Lab in the MIT Media Lab to explore the impact of technology and innovation on improving opportunities for students and others living in Quito, Ecuador. She will be working with Ramiro Almeida (LF ‘13), founder and director of Quito Lab, and is supported by the Doebele Fellowship.
Jon Springfield (MUP ’15) will be interning with the Boston Department of Neighborhood Development. He will be combining on-the-ground community engagement with data collection, asset mapping, and policy writing to provide DND with important and actionable data regarding their Choice Neighborhood Grant implementation process.
Joyce Lee (MUP ’15) will be working with the Affordable Housing Institute in Boston, an organization that researches and recommends policies to better serve urban communities facing housing challenges. She will participate in research related to rapid migration to concentrated areas–whether for religious, recreational, post-disaster, or refugee purposes–and will write a blog on global housing issues.
Kanika Arora (MDesS ’15) will be working with the Boston Redevelopment Authority to research the E+ programs and compile best practices that can advance neighborhood development and energy efficient affordable housing.
Margaret Scott (MUP ’15) will be an intern at the HUD Office for International and Philanthropic Innovation in Washington, DC, where she will focus on research initiatives and white papers to be used by IPI and the Policy Development and Research Department.
Michael Haggerty (MArch I ’17) will be working with MASS Design Group in Boston to develop a guide for participatory methods and constituency engagement that the office will use for outreach, project development and design.
FIT City poster image via Community Design Resource Center of Boston website