SOPHIE BASSECHES                Pitzer College

Concerned about the large number of girls considered at-risk victims of neglect and abuse in Israel, Sophie hopes to implement a project that explores the root causes of violence against young women of all backgrounds. She will partner with The Beit Ruth Educational and Therapeutic Village, that currently houses girls who have been victims of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse.  Sophie intends to see how the regional political situation relates to problems that exist for young women and to work towards productive solutions, hopefully through a large conference that addresses these issues.

 

M. CARLA CONDORI BAZAN     Pitzer College

Through her collaboration in the development of the Claremont Colleges Immigrant Rights Coalition and her international awareness, Carla proposes to create women’s cooperatives for sorority, alternative economics, fair trade, and community healing within the immigrant and undocumented community in Mexico City. Carla’s goal is to develop at least two migrant women cooperatives and safe spaces for healing in Mexico City.   She intends to partner with a professor at the National Autonomous University of Mexico who will help her meet diverse feminist cooperatives, collectives, and shelters.

 

ALEJANDRA DAVILA             Pomona College

Through her internship and involvement with San Bernardino Generation Now, a nonprofit that aims to increase civic engagement in the city of San Bernardino, CA, Alejandra founded Young Queens in Politics (YQP) as a two weeks after-school program for high school femme-identifying students interested in politics. She proposes to sustain YQP for a full academic year, implementing it in two high schools in her hometown of San Bernardino with the goals of educating, engaging, and empowering its students. Alejandra is strongly partnered with San Bernardino Generation Now.

 

OLIVIA IRWIN                         Pomona College

As a Native Alaskan student with a strong relationship with the Cultural Fish Camp of Nenana, Alaska, Olivia proposes to support and sustain Fish Camp by expanding the Native arts program, by ensuring the stability and safety of the physical camp through necessary rebuilding, and by expanding the language program. Olivia focuses the ultimate goal of her project as sharing the traditional wisdom of the ancestors and empowering the relationship between students and their culture.  She is partnered with the Nenana Cultural Camp staff.

  

NIREL JONESMITCHELL         Claremont McKenna College

While on a study tour in Cuba, Nirel’s meeting with ReglaSOUL, a grassroots organization providing holistic wellness resources to Afro-Cuban persons, led her to propose a project to provide sustaining material resources for the residents of Regla and to facilitate international collaboration towards better wellness of black people around the world. Within ReglaSOUL, Nirel also intends to plan and implement an educational conference on black liberation with many dimensions. Nirel is partnered with ReglaSOUL in the municipality of Regla, Havana, Cuba.

  

SOPHIA KNOWLTON-LATKIN    Scripps College

Sophia proposes to create educational workshops on reproductive health and menstruation for students in an indigenous school within an evacuation center in Manila, the Philippines. Sophia’s partner organization of indigenous women, Sabokahan, wants to revitalize their holistic health program to include these workshops, which will subsequently be taught to indigenous community members and future generations. Sophia also is partnered with the Liyang Network, a local-to-global advocacy network supporting the work of indigenous women in the Southern Philippines

 

SAHANA MEHTA                       Scripps College

As a South Asian American young woman with strong knowledge of the struggles of South Asian American youth, Sahana proposes to develop, launch, and grow a new initiative: the South Asian Youth Action Network (SAYAN). Through SAYAN, South Asian American youth would hope to mobilize intentionally around political advocacy, community organizing, and solidarity building for social justice for their international community.  Sahana is partnering with a nonprofit movement organization, South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT).

  

MICAH SALLUS                          Pitzer College

While participating in the Pitzer in Nepal program Micah learned that suicide is a massive problem in Nepal.  With a strong background in mental health issues, Micah proposes to develop a major conference in Nepal where medical professionals, staff of NGOs, and patients struggling with suicide would come together to communicate ways of addressing this major problem.  The conference hopefully would be long enough so that partnerships across diverse groups could develop. To accomplish the conference, Micah intends to partner with several NGOs based in Nepal. 

  

TANVI SHAH                              Scripps College

Aware of the high number of pregnancy-related deaths in India, Navi proposes to work in Bihar province which has among the highest rates of maternal, neonatal, and infant mortality. Through interviews, she intends to identify barriers that prevent women from accessing reproductive health care resources; and to investigate the integration of traditional indigenous medical knowledge with allopathic/non-traditional practices to observe where these models intersect. She is partnering with Bihar Technical Support Programme, a CARE-India initiative, to participate in the effort to expand reproductive healthcare.

 

ANITA SHENOI                          Claremont McKenna College

Having had a summer internship with Claremont Canopy, a local refugee resettlement organization, Anita proposes to address the dichotomy between anticipated and actual situations experienced by resettled Syrian families in the Inland Empire. Through interviewing these persons and documenting their stories, Anita intends to help give interviewed individuals more agency over their resettlement journeys. In partnership with Claremont Canopy, she intends to develop a comprehensive orientation program to provide an honest, accurate briefing on sociocultural factors in the Inland Empire.