Students, Alums Extend Helping Hands through Community Service Fellowships
Contributions directed to the GSD’s Community Service Fellowships have a multiplier effect in underserved communities: Current students receive funding to work with community organizations, federal and state agencies, and nonprofit institutions, assisting with design, research, or planning projects that the organizations ordinarily would not be able to access. Students who are awarded these fellowships earn $7,000 for 10-week internships in the United States and abroad, gain valuable work experience, and use their design education and training to help communities in need.
One example is the Lawrence and Marla Curtis Fund for Public Service, which provides support for summer internships with Massachusetts nonprofit or public sector organizations committed to affordable housing, historic preservation, neighborhood development, housing policy, and economic vitality. As president and managing partner of WinnDevelopment, Larry Curtis MAUD ’83 has devoted his career to the creation of affordable housing and historic rehabilitation developments. Marla Curtis, an accomplished architect who owns a private architectural and consulting firm, has focused on the design of affordable housing in historic buildings. Together, they have advocated for the built environment, homes for working families, and equality in Massachusetts and beyond. The GSD will select the first Curtis Fellow for the summer of 2019.
My education at GSD, and Marla’s education at Cornell Architecture, taught us the importance of the public-private process in designing buildings and cities. The public sector plays a critical role in the shaping of our urban environment. Our newly created Fund for Public Service will enable GSD students to work for public entities and gain an appreciation of this and further their career goals. ~Lawrence H. Curtis MAUD ’83 and Marla G. Curtis
The Wendy Evans Joseph MArch ’81 Community Service Fund supports summer fellowships at nonprofit or public sector organizations throughout the U.S. that work with underserved or economically disadvantaged communities. Wendy Evans Joseph is the founder of Studio Joseph in New York, which has completed a diverse array of public, institutional, and cultural projects. Her passion for art and museum culture and public education has led to the firm’s strong commitment to museum design and temporary and permanent exhibition installation.
One of the first recipients of a fellowship from the Wendy Evans Joseph MArch ’81 Community Service Fund, Eric Moed MDes ’19, spent the summer of 2018 working with Boston’s Horizons for Homeless Children. During his 10-week internship, Moed helped with the design of a parents’ resource room, a private space outside of a homeless shelter where parents can relax and learn about resources and job opportunities. As part of his design and development work, he assisted in finding and vetting contractors, coordinated with the head design architect of the organization’s new building, and interviewed teachers, administrators, and parents about what they would like to see in the space. Moed also volunteered with toddlers and preschool children, helping them overcome individual frustrations and challenges and filling their days with play-based learning.
Other students with community service fellowships spent their summers working in local communities with organizations like the Boston Planning and Development Agency and the South Boston Neighborhood Development Corporation. Some worked in other domestic and international locations, including the municipality of Arganil, Portugal, and Jordanian refugee camps, where they worked with the Food Water Energy Consortium.