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Fellowships
Hanna Katz '11
Hanna Katz, from Woodbridge CT, is a Sociology major whose
senior thesis is about the social engagement of youth who are
repeatedly stopped by the police. Her academic record is
stellar, and she has amassed various academic honors.
Her project is with the Youth Employment and Education Program
(YEP) of the Stanley M. Isaacs Neighborhood Center, which (in
the settlement house tradition) has been performing services for
low-income NYC individuals since 1964. YEP is a job-readiness
training program for out-of-school and out-of-work youth between
ages 17 and 24. They are mostly African-American or Hispanic,
and come from the poorest neighborhoods of East Harlem and the
Bronx with little educational attainment.
Hanna served as an intern at the Isaacs Center in 2009 and has
returned to the Center regularly since then, meeting hundreds of
young people who have benefited from the Center’s services. One
of the significant barriers to their progress in job and school
placement is a criminal record – 70% of the participants having
been involved in the criminal justice system. Hanna realized
that she could be helpful to those with criminal records,
reconnecting these youngsters back into society; and she
approached YEP about her project. YEP’s leaders are delighted
that she will take on this special task.
The four components of Hanna’s proposed program are:
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Developing a sustainable case management-program for these
youths as they move through the legal process;
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Incorporating relevant issues of criminal justice into existing
Isaacs Center programming;
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Connecting the Isaacs Center with the criminal justice system
and the local community on a sustainable basis; and
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Strengthening the relationship between the Isaacs Center and the
broader community.
Hanna says that “Together, these four spheres will form a
multi-level
support structure for some of the Isaacs Center’s neediest
clients and thus will constitute a meaningful addition to this
wonderful organization.” Because of recent cuts in public
funding for non-profit organization, Hanna says, the Isaacs
Center would not be able to support Hanna’s program without the
financial assistance of the ReachOut56-81 Fellowship program.
Hanna’s conviction that “underprivileged individuals are trapped
in a cycle of criminal involvement and personal instability,”
but that they have the potential to escape the cycle, has
inspired her future plans of earning a dual degree in law and
social work so as to provide underprivileged youth with
comprehensive support.
Hanna has thought a great deal about this and brings
intelligence and
passion to the task ahead. The leadership of the Isaacs Center
(knowing Hanna from her prior internship there) has “every
confidence that Hanna will do an outstanding job in this
position.” They see her as “insightful, passionate and
dedicated,” as well as “ a true team player.” They feel that her
program, with Hanna guiding it, “will prove to be highly
successful and positively benefit the lives of hundreds of
disconnected young people.”
Hanna has received outstanding references. Her senior thesis
adviser had this to say: “She is smart, organized and
hard-working; but she also cares about the real world and wants
her work to contribute to making that world a better place.” A
manager of the Princeton Pace Center, who knows Hanna well, felt
she was an “excellent candidate,” and spoke about her “many
talents and skills” and “deep passion for social justice and
fulfilling the ideals of an active and engaged participant of
her community.” And the supervisor at her 2010 summer internship
in a criminal justice program said she was their “number one
pick,” who “met and exceeded our expectations,” and took
initiatives beyond her years in a stressful work environment.
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