A Celebration of Service
Learning, Spring 2015
The Office of Public Witness believes that the formation of servant
leaders and advocates is vital to the public policy ministry and witness of the
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
Salome Boyd (Spring 2015) joined the OPW staff in January 2015
as an intern after completing studies in Regional Development and Innovation
from Van Hall Larenstein University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands. She
came to D.C. with “the hope of learning more about how civil society can
influence U.S. policies, and the approach the PC(USA) takes to achieve such social
change. After only a week, [she] caught [her]self wishing [her] internship were
longer than four months!” During her time in the OPW, Salome is focusing on
issues of economic justice and is currently working with Publish What You Pay,
as they research and push for the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to
implement a strong regulation for transparency within extractive industries.
Next year, Salome will start a Master’s program in Public Administration in the
Netherlands, after which she hopes to support grassroots movements to promote
economic justice and increase corporate responsibility around the globe.
Nora Leccese (Spring/Summer 2015) is serving the policy
placement portion of a Bill Emerson National Hunger Fellowship* through the
Congressional Hunger Center. Originally from Boulder, CO, Nora graduated from
the University of Colorado in 2014 with a degree in economics and a minor in
ethnic studies with a focus on community leadership. Nora helped found Boulder
Food Rescue, a national organization that uses bicycle power to redistribute
produce that would otherwise go to waste from grocery stores to homeless, food
insecure, and low income individuals. She has conducted research on
worker-owned cooperatives in Argentina and was a lead organizer in a campaign
to divest Colorado University from the fossil fuel industry.
In her capacity as an Emerson Hunger Fellow, she served the
first part of her Fellowship in a field placement at the Center for an
Agricultural Economy in Hardwick, VT, where she assessed how local food infrastructure,
such as cold storage and processing facilities, might better serve the needs of
emergency food organizations (e.g. food banks, pantries, and congregate meal
sites), with the goal of increasing access to fresh food for low-income
Vermonters. In the OPW she is working to increase awareness of the root causes
of poverty and to provide resources to congregations who want to deepen their
knowledge about access to education, mass incarceration, and economic
inequality.
Jenny Hyde continues to serve as a PC(USA) Young Adult
Volunteer (YAV) through the National Capital Presbytery’s DC YAV site
(2014-2015). Jenny hails from Massachusetts and is a recent graduate of Gordon
College with a degree in International Affairs with a concentration in
International Development. She is a member of Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church
in Easton, MA, and was a Young Adult Advisory Delegate to the 2010 General
Assembly. At college, she was very involved in Gordon’s Residence Life program
and the college’s Model United Nation’s team. In the OPW, she works on
international issues, primarily focused on trade policy. When asked what led
her to serve at the Office of Public Witness, she responded that she was
“intentional in seeking a ministry in a new context, to see how the church
wrestles with public policy issues and advocacy. I feel very blessed to be here.”
AmyBeth Willis also continues to serve as a PC(USA) Young Adult
Volunteer (YAV) through the National Capital Presbytery’s DC YAV site
(2014-2015). She grew up in Murfreesboro, TN, and graduated May 2013 from Emory
University in Atlanta, GA, where she studied Sociology, Religion, and Spanish.
She spent the 2013-14 year as a YAV in the desert of Tucson, AZ, working at
Southside Presbyterian Church. Of her choice to pursue a second YAV year at the
DC site, she said, “After a year of providing ‘direct services’ to people in
immediate need, I wanted an opportunity to
engage in policy work and understand
how policy impacts the day-to-day lives of people. How do we move from mercy to
justice ministries? Here, I have learned about the amazing justice-driven and prophetic
work of this office and our ecumenical partners. Our power is in our faith, the
mobilization of people, and our commitment to do justice. The voice for justice
and righteousness on the Hill would be so much smaller without people of faith.
I have learned that this work is an uphill battle, but is worth the climb. It
was hard for me to leave Tucson, but I knew this was an important next step for
me. I have felt affirmed that God is calling me to this work as I discern where
God is calling me next. I don’t know how this will manifest itself, although I
could see myself doing more community organizing.”
Our
fundraising
efforts for service learning are ongoing. YAV Placements contribute a
portion of Volunteers’ living expenses to the Presbytery. In addition, each Summer
Fellow receives a modest stipend to help defray the cost of living expenses,
which are considerable in DC . We need your help to continue offering these
opportunities! Your gift could make the difference between a vocational dream
and a lived reality.
Please
give generously to support our YAVs, Interns, and Summer Fellows.
*The Emerson National Hunger
Fellows Program is a social justice program that trains, inspires, and sustains
leaders. Fellows gain field experience fighting hunger and poverty through
placements in community-based organizations across the country, and policy
experience through placements in Washington, D.C. The program bridges
community-based efforts and national public policy, and fellows develop as
effective leaders in the movement to end hunger and poverty.
