LMM has been joined for the summer by advocacy interns from John Carroll University, Jillian Doherty and Erin Brown! They are providing quality work and thoughtful research on several advocacy projects, maintaining a level of advocacy visibility with our partners, and providing fresh perspective on our advocacy work plan.
You can find out more about Jillian and Erin in a series of guest blog posts throughout the Summer. – Drew
Hello everyone, my name is Jillian Doherty and I’m one of the new Advocacy interns from John Carroll University. I am originally from Warren, Michigan which is about 30 minutes north of Detroit. I enjoy exploring downtown Detroit, going to my cousin’s house on the lake, and visiting my grandparents. Hopefully this summer I will be able to see more of Cleveland and visit this side of the lake!
I will be going into my third year at JCU and have decided to major in Industrial, Organizational Psychology with a minor in Leadership. After I graduate I hope to do a year of service and explore other parts of the world then get a job in leadership training. I am a member of the JCU Women’s Club Volleyball team and a member of the Improv Club. I have a job in the Student Engagement Office and at JCU’s Center for Service and Social Action (CSSA) as a Student Liaison. CSSA has introduced me to LMM through service here with the job readiness programs. I loved the atmosphere and the engagement with the community so I knew this internship would be a great opportunity to learn more to become a better employee and to advocate for the people I was interacting with during service. My mom, Susan Doherty, has also been a big influence for my interest in advocacy. She has held public office as a county commissioner in Michigan, has served on Macomb County Community Mental Health board. Currently, she serves on a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) board and is very active in our church. She has sparked my interests in so many areas and gives invaluable feedback for the many ideas I have brought to her.
After meeting with some of the program directors and seeing the programs being run, Erin and I have decided to advocate for a subsidized childcare program that is available for parents seeking their education. It’s still in the beginning stages but we are excited to see where this will lead and how many people we can contact about our idea with our short six weeks we have left!
Now let’s meet our second Advocacy intern, Erin Brown.
Hello! My name is Erin Brown and I am also one of the new Advocacy interns. I am from Pittsburgh and I will be a senior at John Carroll this fall; majoring in Human Resources Management and minoring in Entrepreneurship. At John Carroll, I am involved in Campus Ministry and Chi Omega sorority. With Campus Ministry, I participate in Immersion experiences and Wednesday night Murphy mass. In Chi Omega, my sisters and I help to raise money for Make-A-Wish Foundation and participate in campus activities together.
After taking a social entrepreneurship course with Bryan Mauk, LMM’s VP of Workforce Development, at JCU and having the opportunity to learn about Chopping for Change (C4C), I was very excited and grateful when I discovered this internship experience. From June to August, Jillian and I will be working on an advocacy project which focuses on child care for parents seeking education. We are learning as much as we can about advocacy, education policies, and child care eligibility. We have talked with LMM employees in Workforce Development and we hope to talk with C4C participants.
With Drew and Bob’s help, Jillian and I also plan to come up with a communication strategy for discussing advocacy and policy change with government officials.
I’ve already learned so much at LMM, I look forward to learning more!
Watch for the second blog post to see how their advocacy journey is going.
