Search Results for "intern"
AJWS Brings Jewish Communal Leaders to Capitol Hill To Protect International Food Aid as East Africa Famine Continues
Rabbis, Rabbinical Students and Educators Draw from Experience in Developing World with AJWS to Lobby Congress on Proposed Foreign Aid Budget Cuts Washington, DC; September 12, 2011—An inter-denominational group of 20 rabbis, rabbinical students and Jewish educators from across the U.S. will meet with their local members of Congress this afternoon about preserving funding for …
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Vote for Sameena and Molly—Two Powerful Women Pioneering Social Change
We’re really excited that not one but TWO of our grassroots partners and colleagues, Sameena Nazir and Molly Melching, are finalists for the Guardian International Development Achievement Award. It’s an award that honors the unsung heroes of international development; those who have gone above and beyond the call of duty to make a positive difference …
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"Disability is Not Inability" – Advocating for the Rights of Disabled Sri Lankans in the Aftermath of Civil War
Imagine finding yourself suddenly blind in the prime of your life. Now imagine that you’re not only blind, but displaced from your home by civil war, living in an entirely new place, trying to navigate the world with a daunting new disability. This is the hand that Vellayan Subramaniam was dealt, when, at 24, he …
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Rugged Altruists: Supporting Characters, Not Stars
In last Tuesday’s New York Times, David Brooks neatly balances a healthy cynicism for the “[m]any Americans going to the developing world to serve others” with the “smaller percentage” actually having some impact. Brooks describes three virtues necessary for these “rugged altruists” to be successful in catalyzing change: “courage,” “deference” and “thanklessness.” In spite of …
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AJWS Board of Trustees Elects 3 New Members
New York, NY; August 25, 2011—The Board of Trustees of American Jewish World Service (AJWS), an international development and human rights organization, has elected three new members: Monte Dube, Scott A. Edelman and Eileen Epstein. “We are thrilled to welcome these talented professionals and committed philanthropists to our board,” said AJWS board chair Barbara Dobkin. …
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My Summer at Pursue: It’s what you do, not what you think…right?
Originally posted on Pursue: Action for a Just World. At school, we always complain that we’re not doing anything. In my classes, we study feminist theory, race theory, queer theory, postcolonial theology, postmodernist thought, liberatory pedagogy; an alphabet soup of academic jargon about justice. But what’s missing, we object, is action. So we work to …
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Dvar Tzedek: Parshat Eikev 5771
If you ask people why they’re involved in community service, few—if any—would include personal reward or accolades on their list of motivations. There seems to be an expectation in our culture that good works should be accompanied by a Mother Theresa-like abdication of personal benefit. Admitting otherwise generally elicits squeamish responses. And yet, public service …
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Letter from Haiti
Stefanie Rubin recently traveled to Haiti in preparation for the November 2011 AJWS Study Tour to Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Below she shares her reflections and insights about all that she has experienced in just three days. My mind is still reeling from everything we’ve seen during the past few days in Haiti. Clips …
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Consequences in Congo, Success in Senegal: Why the Difference?
Good intentions strike again. Today’s New York Times op-ed page features a tragic account of how the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform act of 2010—no doubt conceived with good intentions by American politicians—is devastating mining towns in eastern Congo. In an effort to increase transparency in sourcing, the act “requires public companies to indicate what measures …
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Dvar Tzedek: Parshat Va’etchanan 5771
“We know the price of an air-conditioned hotel and a plane. [Short-term overseas volunteer trips to the developing world are] an act of affluent tourism masquerading as community service.” -Senior executive, the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers. Like this wary university administrator, I have harbored suspicions toward service-learning programs to the Global …
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