SHECP Talks

On this episode, Jen is joined by two SHECP alumnae – Kelsey Stapler (Birmingham-Southern College) and Leela Addepalli (Washington and Lee University).  In 2017, Kelsey was a SHECP Intern with Legal Aid in Charleston, WV. After law school, she returned to Charleston to work as public defender for Kanawha County. In 2024, Leela spent her SHECP summer with Kelsey as her supervisor and mentor at the...

On this episode of SHECP Talks , Emily Scaff, a student at Washington and Lee University, is joined by Jim Kvach, a farmer and engaged community member in Lexington, VA. Emily is pursuing a degree in Journalism with minors in Poverty and Human Capabilities Studies and Law, Justice, and Society. She is a member of W&L’s Campus Kitchen Leadership Team, a group that works to address food insecuri...

On this episode of SHECP Talks , we are joined by two 2015 SHECP Interns — Kelsey Dowling and Samuel Hudson. Kelsey, a 2017 graduate of University Lynchburg, interned with Tenacity Inc. , a Boston-based nonprofit that uses tennis to teach reading and life skills to youth from preschool through high school. Samuel, a 2017 graduate of Virginia Military Institute, spent his summer working with Code/I...

Earlier this year, the Georgetown Center for Poverty and Inequality published an analysis of the U.S. Census Bureau's 2023 American Community Survey , that illustrated how the new work requirements in the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” are poised to have a disproportionate effect on women, and, therefore, have possible long-term health, education, and future earnings impacts for children in those im...

Updated October 2025 In this episode of  SHECP Talks , Noor Al-Saloum, staff at Shepherd's Clinic in Baltimore, encourages us to view patient intake as a core component of exceptional patient care and effective patient advocacy. Noor currently serves as a Community Health Worker with Shepherd's Clinic for the uninsured, a free clinic located in Baltimore. She has held several roles with Shepherd's...

Hi everyone and Welcome to SHECP Talks!    At this summer’s conference, the Friday night Welcome Dinner was co-hosted by SHECP’s six Policy and Nonprofit Leadership Interns . These amazing students had just completed their second summer with SHECP, and this time they had been focusing on understanding the challenges of leading anti-poverty organizations and the development of relevant policy. For...

In this episode of  SHECP Talks , Dr. Troy Makal, Assistant Professor of Biochemistry at UVA Wise, invites us to consider how deeply interconnected everything truly is, from molecules to community building. Dr. Makal focuses on addressing medical mistrust in rural Appalachia, health disparities, and nutritional access. Blending science with service, Dr. Makal shares how education and community eng...

On this special episode of SHECP Talks, where we’re excited to share a recording of a recent event featuring Christa Moore, co-author of Gendered Power in Child Welfare: What's Care Got to Do with It? Joined by Ellen Prusinski, Moore delves into the critical issues explored in the book, including the flaws within Kentucky's child welfare system and the gendered power dynamics that shape it. Co-aut...

On this episode of SHECP Talks , Abby Gilbert, SHECP's Internship Director, is joined by Lorena Bonet Velazquez, a 2021 SHECP Summer Intern and a 2023 graduate of Centre College. Lorena reflected on how her SHECP internship with Asylee Women Enterprise  (AWE) in Baltimore, MD and undergraduate experience as a health advocate in Central Kentucky shaped her career journey and led her to her current...

On this episode of SHECP Talks, we continue to reflect on the links between resilience and childhood poverty. Jen was delighted to welcome Dr. Desiree Murray and Dr. Keadija Wiley to talk about the work of the UPSIDE Team at UNC-Chapel Hill and, specifically, their Be Calm Program .   The Understanding and Promoting Self-regulation Intervention across Development (UPSIDE) Team, focuses on self-reg...

On this episode of SHECP Talks, Kailee Brickner-McDonald, Director of Middlebury’s Center for Community Engagement, and Sarah Stroup, Professor of Political Science and the director of Middlebury’s Davis Collaborative in Conflict Transformation, join us to talk about the work happening at the Davis Collaborative and, more broadly, about their vision to embed principles and practices of conflict tr...

On this episode of SHECP Talks, Dr. Katy Gray Brown, Professor of Philosophy and Peace Studies and  Director of the Peace Studies Institute at Manchester University, joins us to delve into the dynamics of conflict transformation and its significance in education and community development. In this episode, Dr. Gray Brown discusses conflict transformation and encourages us to think of conflict as a...

In today’s SHECP Talks episode, Dora Kreitzer talks with two other Bucknell University students, Lissandro Alvarado and Da’Mirah Vinson to discuss their SHECP Internships in Austin, Texas with Foundation Communities and Lisandro's second summer with SHECP as a Policy and Nonprofit Leadership intern. Foundation Communities provides affordable homes and free on-site support services for thousands of...

On this episode of SHECP Talks, Mansi Tripathi, a 2022 graduate of Washington and Lee University talks about her 2019 internship with the Gateway Center in Atlanta and her postgraduate Fulbright experience in Colombia. The Gateway Center works "to connect people experiencing homelessness with the support necessary to become self-sufficient and find a permanent home.” Although the Gateway Center’s...

This week on SHECP Talks we interview Tyler Herman, Director of Partner Engagement, and Robin Swecker, relationship manager, from the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank (BRAFB). They discuss some of the challenges that BRAFB and other organizations face and how they use “people first language” to fight these difficulties.   Herman says that, when picturing food insecurity, the public often picture people m...

In this episode of SHECP Talks, Noah Cady, a first-class (or Senior to the rest of us) at the Virginia Military Institute, discusses his 2022 internship with the Food Bank of South Jersey.   The Food Bank of South Jersey is a massive operation with over 200 agency partners, programs of their own and a relatively large advocacy and education arm. Noah talks about his work with the agency’s health a...

This summer SHECP hosted several events with innovative and dynamic leaders doing anti-poverty work. On this episode of SHECP Talks we will listen in on a talk SHECP’s director had with Gerald “Bo” King, Federal Public Defender and Chief of the Fourth Circuit Capital Habeas Unit.   King begins by explaining what capital habeas law is. Next, he explains how he sees poverty and the criminal justice...

On this episode of SHECP talks we are joined by Dr. Rachel Terman , Associate Professor of Sociology at Ohio University. Dr. Terman joins us to discuss her class, Sociology of Appalachia, which covers everything from the correct pronunciation of Appalachia (app-ah-lah-cha or app-ah-lay-cha) to the economic history, and cultural ideas revolving around the region.   Terman works with Little Cities o...

On this episode of SHECP Talks, we speak with Dr. Ellen Prusinski , Associate Professor of Education at Centre College, about her experience both in the classroom and outside of it, as a researcher.   Dr. Prusinski discusses the class she teaches now, “Education Policy and Social Change”, which examines the question: does education policy drive social change? Prusinski says “I think the class rais...