As a student majoring in Political Science, with minors in Communications and Social Entrepreneurship, I have always known I wanted to work in the nonprofit sector. Specifically, I am interested in the provision of social services and education in the areas of environmental aid, LGBTQ+ rights, and poverty. I have volunteered for organizations that work with homelessness in the past and I really wanted to do an internship to expand my knowledge in this area, and try it out to see if I have the capacity to work full-time in this sector after I graduate. Most importantly, I wanted to do an internship where I was going to be able to contribute meaningfully.
I had the opportunity to intern at Comm-Un, an amazing nonprofit organization that works to support unhoused individuals through various community activities that prioritize mediation, harm reduction, and cohabitation. Their mission is to provide the type of support needed to empower and help unhoused individuals; support that is lacking in many of the current services.
I primarily helped with communications, including running their social media, updating the website, drafting promotional materials for events, and handling emails. Additionally, I took notes during meetings and helped schedule meetings and events. Finally, I helped with the daily operations of organizing various outreach activities such as community gardening, excursions to the Kahnawake Indigenous reserve, and an important community gathering of over 60 individuals from around the community.
This internship has truly changed the way I see the issues of poverty and homelessness. Both in understanding the root causes, the extensive issues of decentralized programming, learning trauma responses, and realizing that the solutions cannot only be material (as seen with 鈥渉ousing first鈥� solutions) and instead must always include extensive one-on-one care. I have connected deeply with many of the individuals I have spent the last two years walking by daily on the corner of Milton-Park; which are conversations and connections I should have formed two years ago, and now want to help other students create. Finally, this internship has taught me how to better balance caring for others and myself. This balance is incredibly difficult to find, but I have really learned the importance of figuring out how you can best contribute your true self to a cause in a way that is good for everyone.
One specific highlight was flower picking in the gardens of la Cit茅-des-Hospitali猫res with volunteers from Santropol Roulant, nuns from la Cit茅, and around ten individuals from the corner of Milton-Park. I have never experienced such a strong example of cohabitation and the positive impacts it has on everyone involved. I truly believe activities like this are key to helping homelessness.
The biggest challenge of this internship was the emotional and mental challenges of working in this sector. Unfortunately, trying to start a very necessary nonprofit organization is an uphill battle against accessing financing, gaining popular support, and collecting data to demonstrate positive impacts. Almost everyone I met in this sector is frustrated and experiencing some degree of burnout. I have never had a job where the consequences of inaction are direct suffering and death, which is reminded to you everyday by the people you interact with and have to see suffering due to the lack of support provided to them. Learning to handle the emotional and mental strain of this job was a difficult adjustment, and I am still struggling to know for sure if it is something I can healthily balance in the future. Specific challenges also included setting reasonable boundaries on the time and money I invest into my work; trying to balance my well-being against the direct but never ending positive effect I can have on others is a near impossible task. However, I have been discussing these issues with my supervisor and other individuals in the sector, and I have already improved a lot at identifying and setting boundaries that work for me.
This internship has easily been the most memorable and impactful part of my university experience. I am extremely grateful to the funding provided by the Dean of Arts Development Fund, which allowed me to work with an organization that otherwise would not have had the funds to hire any additional employees this summer. I am also receiving course credit for this internship as part of the Social Entrepreneurship program, under the supervision of Prof. Paola Perez-Aleman. I will be writing a research paper on 鈥淐reating a Space for Both Community and Commerce鈥�, studying the difficulty of balancing the need for care and money in all start-up nonprofits but especially those trying to both financially and emotionally support unhoused individuals.
