My name is Theresa and I am a Political Science and International Development Studies undergraduate student passionate about promoting social justice through research. I am particularly interested in the comparative politics of the Global South and assessing how government institutions serve to influence, promote, or discourage inequality. I seek to learn how to advocate for others using research. For this reason, I wanted to do an internship with 脡duconnexion. My objective was to understand how advocacy-based research is conducted in a non-academic environment, learn about different methods of social intervention from a community organization, and discover the work culture of non-governmental organization.
脡duconnexion is a nonprofit organization that promotes civic engagement and participation through education. As an intern, I worked on two mandates. My first mandate was supporting the social healing project. In this role, I supported the preliminary development of the project by making resources to send out to collaborators such as informational flyers. My second mandate was working on the project on gender-based violence. In this role, I compiled a list of organizations to be consulted, attended networking events on behalf of the organization, and produced a statistical report on the frequency of gender-based violence in Quebec and Montreal. The main highlight of my internship at 脡duconnexion has been connecting with community advocates. I attended events such as the Black Girl Magic Montreal event and the Symposium on Urbanity and Marginalized Youth on behalf of 脡duconnexion which served as inspiring places for meeting and exchange with social workers.
I speak French as a second language, so one challenge I faced was adapting to using my language skills in the context of advocacy. Although I have previously worked completely in French, the roles I had were less research oriented. Therefore, it took some time to adjust to speaking more academically in French. I remedied the situation by increasing my immersion through consuming French media and speaking French outside of working hours. This helped me expand my advocacy vocabulary and become more comfortable conducting research in French. Another challenge I faced is the hybrid format. It was guaranteed that we worked in-person on Tuesdays, but for different projects we were required to be in the office on other days throughout the week. Sometimes, this information needed to be clearly communicated or understood which led to confusion for me. The way I remedied this issue was by regularly confirming which days I am expected to come in person.
This internship helped me to understand the path I want to go forward with my university studies. It opened my eyes to the career possibilities that exist after graduation. I learned that meaningful and impactful research can take place outside of academia and community organizing can happen through several mediums. The grant funds were profoundly helpful in helping me successfully complete the internship. I was able to pay for my housing and transportation expenses. Thank you to the Morris and Rosalind Goodman Family Foundation for your generous support of my summer internship experience!
