go lawrence

Opportunities in Lawrence

 

*The deadline for summer fellowship funding through the MIT Public Service Center is rapidly approaching! You must apply by March 23!*

 

Many MIT@Lawrence positions begin with a conversation. Look through this website to get an idea of past and present MIT@Lawrence projects. The positions listed are just the tip of the iceberg. We are happy to work with MIT students to create their own projects in Lawrence. Please contact Jesse Kaminsky (MIT@Lawrence Program Manager) at kaminsk@mit.edu, Sally Susnowitz (Public Service Center Director) at susnowit@mit.edu, or Aaron Stelson (MIT@Lawrence Graduate Assistant) at astelson@mit.edu to begin a conversation.

Community organizations in Lawrence need your help! Grants and stipends are available to fund projects and positions through the MIT Public Service Center or through the MIT UROP program (See Funding page). There are also several opportunities for volunteers. MIT@Lawrence encourages students and student groups to create their own projects as well. For more information on these opportunities contact Jesse Kaminsky at kaminsk@mit.edu.

Groundwork Lawrence

Groundwork Lawrence, Inc. (GWL) is a locally-based non-profit organization working to create sustainable environmental change through community-based partnerships. Groundwork is committed to "changing places and changing lives" through on-the-ground projects, education, and volunteer programs that help to transform local communities. To accomplish this, Groundwork leads and supports a variety of partnership-driven efforts that bring together the public, private, and non-profit sectors to solve complex environmental problems and sustain a long-term vision for neighborhood change and renewal.

Fresh Food Access Intern
GroundWork Lawrence is looking for someone to gather information toward the development of a community fresh food access project.  Possible projects include mapping fresh food availability, conducting interviews and doing feasibility studies.  There is a possibility of communicating with other community partners working toward similar goals.

Microenterprise Intern
GroundWork Lawrence is looking for someone to develop a project focusing on Microenterprises in Lawrence.  Possible duties include conducting interviews or focus groups and early stages of data collection.  This project could also tie in with the above opportunity and other community partners working on similar projects.


Bread and Roses Housing, Inc

Marketing/multimedia intern:

Task: An audio-visual presentation highlighting Bread & Roses Housing homeowners: the steps that allowed them to be successful first-time homebuyers, their current hopes and dreams, challenges that they have overcome, their proudest accomplishments and those of their children. Given that Spanish is the first language of all current BRH homeowners, (and in some cases, the only language) at least one of the MIT participants would need to be fluent in Spanish.

Scope: Conduct interviews with at least 8 BRH homeowners and approximately 8
children of BRH homeowners. BRH will provide a core list of interview questions. MIT participants will expand on these questions either prior to the interviews or as the interviews unfold. At least half of the interviews will need to be conducted in
Spanish. Additional interviews with BRH board members may be included.

Purpose of the audio-visual:

To document BRH’s greatest resource: its community of homeowners
To use as a PR tool with funders
To inspire current and future applicants

Timeframe: There is no specific deadline, though it would be preferred that the
end product (video or dvd) be finished by Fall, 2007.

Our Lady of Good Counsel School

Founded in 1921, Our Lady of Good Counsel School is a pre-K to Grade 8 school that serves students from throughout the city and several neighboring communities. Over sixty per cent of our student population receives some type of tuition support. Many of the parents of our children can just barely cover the costs of their tuition, however, they want their children to have chances of achieving economic security that have eluded them for so long.

Tutoring
Our Lady of Good Counsel is looking for students who would like to teach and/or tutor our students in science and mathematics at several grade levels. Teaching students about engineering throughout their elementary school education can help solve the problem of women and minorities being underrepresented in the fields of engineering and science. Although women and minorities have advanced in other professions such as medicine and law, engineering remains a decidedly white male profession. A very low percentage of minority and female students enter engineering colleges and attrition rates are among the highest in these groups.

 

What's Up Project

The “What’s Up” project is a technical assistance project that involves a group of youth from Lawrence in building leadership skills and creating a website and telephone network where they and their peers can interact and keep each other posted on current events and issues surrounding their communities. In the summer of 2005 MIT Media Lab student Leo Burd worked with Lawrence youth during the Building Blocks summer camp. Youth Activity Researchers spanned the city interviewing youth about their activities in different places in Lawrence. Youth Activity Coordinators took that information and organized events for youth citywide, including public space clean-ups and block parties.

Administrative Development
What’s Up Lawrence is looking for someone to further develop the administrative infrastructure of the What’s Up Project. This could include expanding the current member base as well as possibly restructuring the current membership mechanisms.

Programmer
What’s Up Lawrence is looking for someone to further develop the technical infrastructure of the What’s Up website and phone system.  This project could include computer programming as well as the development of modules for use on the website, such as a sound recording device.

MIT UROPs

There are opportunities for undergraduate students to join the following research projects as research assistants. Undergraduate students will work closely with Prof. Lorlene Hoyt and the graduate student working on each project. For more information on UROPs see the service UROP page.

More information on these UROP positions will be forthcoming. Please contact Jesse Kaminsky at kaminsk@mit.edu if you are interested.

Collective Economics:

Eric Espino, a graduate student in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning, is providing technical assistance to Lawrence CommunuityWorks (LCW) to investigate the potential of collective economic structures to lower the costs of staple goods and services to LCW members.  Eric and LCW believe that LCW’s 1,200-plus members can pool their collective purchasing power to negotiate mutually beneficial agreements with businesses and service providers.


Groundwork Lawrence Curriculum Development Assistance:

Anne Schwieger, a Department of Urban Studies and Planning graduate student, is performing community-based service with Groundwork Lawrence’s Green Team, a group of environmentally conscious Lawrence High School students.  Anne is developing curriculum for an environmental education class to be offered to high school students in the spring semester. This course will support the MCAS 10th and 12th grade requirements, provide opportunities for career development, and unite the experiential and thematic work that Groundwork Lawrence undertakes.


Documenting Predatory Lending:

Alexa Mills, a graduate student in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning, is providing technical assistance to Lawrence CommunityWorks to document the stories of victims of predatory lending using digital storytelling techniques.  In recent years, Lawrence has seen a devastating spike in predatory lending incidents.  Alexa will create a compilation of these victims’ stories to be used as an educational tool to help new homebuyers identify predatory and sub-prime loans, access good loan products, and understand the risks they may encounter.   

MIT@Lawrence seeks an undegraduate student to co-host a 2-3 day digital storytelling workshop with Alexa in Lawrence, Massachusetts.  Workshop participants write personal stories about experiences in their lives.  The UROP candidate should be bilingual in English and Spanish and can partner with Alexa in all or some of the following tasks:

1. Teaching workshop participants how to write their personal story
2. Editing stories
3. Recording stories using a microphone, coaching participants through this process
4. Creating digital stories using photos, drawings, and other images to illustrate what participants have written

The UROP includes preparation for the workshop and assistance in distributing the stories and assessing how they can be used to advocate better services for the people of Lawrence. 

For more information on Predatory Lending Project contact Alexa Mills at alexam@mit.edu.

Volunteer Opportunities

Several other MIT organizations offer volunteer opportunities in Lawrence. Additionally, it is possible to create your own volunteer project (see below).

Educational Studies Program (ESP)

The Educational Studies Program at MIT is looking for MIT students to help tutor high school students in Lawrence for the SATs. For more information go to http://esp.mit.edu/

 

Create Your Own Project

MIT@Lawrence encourages students and student groups to create their own project. Projects should roughly fit into one of the three main MIT@Lawrence focus areas of affordable housing, asset-building, and youth development. Further, projects should have a clear beginning and end, focusing on developing capacity in Lawrence. Funding for project materials and transportation costs is available through the MIT@Lawrence Public Service Center. You should contact Jesse Kaminsky and kaminsk@mit.edu for contacts in Lawrence and help developing your project.

 

 

Get Involved!

Opportunities

Funding

About Lawrence

About MIT@Lawrence