Transforming Poverty Studies in the United States

OUR MISSION

The Shepherd Higher Education Consortium on Poverty (SHECP) encourages the study of poverty as a complex social problem, by expanding and improving educational opportunities for college students in a wide range of disciplines and career trajectories. Through its programs, SHECP and its member institutions prepare students for a lifetime of professional and civic efforts to diminish poverty and enhance human capability, while also supporting connections among students, faculty, staff, and alumni engaged in the study of poverty.

SHECP is a collaboration In 2019, SHECP provided SHECP interns contributed among 25 colleges and 121 students with summer 33,880 hours of service in universities that integrates internships, in 18 geographic 2019. A force multiplier, they classroom study of poverty locations, with 84 poverty- built capacity for our partners with summer internships and focused nonprofit and while delivering $862K in co-curricular activities. government agencies. community impact.

“A knowledgeable THE NEED and sympathetic graduate pool An estimated 38.1 million Americans live in poverty (11.8 percent of the population), according to a 2019 report issued may be the most by the United States Census Bureau.

important advance Higher education in the U.S. is not meeting the demand from to diminish U.S. students aspiring to consider the moral and social problems associated with poverty. SHECP fills that gapby offering poverty since the a sustained education to understand the complexities of War on Poverty.” poverty. Through classroom study and experiential learning — David Bradley opportunities, these future professionals learn how their Executive Director work and civic activity will inevitably impinge on poverty. We National Community Action Foundation need your support to sustain and grow our program.

204 W. Washington Street, Lexington, VA 24450 www.shepherdconsortium.org | EIN: 45-5507122 OUR VISION: To equip college students to address the problem of poverty, as future professionals and citizens, by expanding and improving opportunities to study the meanings, causes, and consequences of poverty in a wide range of disciplines.

LEARNING BY DOING THE CONSORTIUM SHECP seeks to transform the study of The Shepherd Higher Education Consortium on poverty in the United States by building a Poverty (SHECP) was formally established as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in July 2012; vibrant consortium of colleges and universities however, it began in 1998 as the “Shepherd that lead the development of undergraduate Poverty Alliance,” a poverty studies program poverty studies programs and the support of founded by Washington and Lee University and innovative work in poverty-related pedagogy. allied with Berea College and Spelman College.

SHECP is currently comprised of: The poverty studies curriculum begins with gateway coursework at the student’s home Baylor University institution, followed by community-focused Berea College learning opportunities through the SHECP Birmingham-Southern College Summer Internship Program. Bucknell University Centre College College of Wooster This eight-week program pairs students Elon University with nonprofit organizations that work to Furman University strengthen impoverished communities, urban Hamilton College and rural. They focus on a variety of poverty- John Carroll University Juniata College related areas, including: education, healthcare, Manchester University legal services, housing, nutrition, social and Marymount University economic needs, and community building. Middlebury College Millsaps College Students are matched with agencies that fit Niagara University Ohio University their intellectual interests in order to develop The Cleveland Clinic Lerner College professional experience and skills for future University of Arkansas at Little Rock civic involvement and employment. University of Lynchburg University of Notre Dame What’s unique about our program is that the University of Vermont University of Wisconsin–Madison internships offer anexperiential learning Virginia Military Institute opportunity that encompasses more than work Washington and Lee University experience, as students live with fellow interns as a cohort within the communities they serve.

Our internship program is bookended by a preparatory opening conference and a closing We are committed to maintaining the highest conference where SHECP interns share what standards of accountability they’ve learned from their experiences. and efficiency.SHECP is proud Many continue their studies through capstone to be a GuideStar Platinum projects when they return to their campuses. Nonprofit Profile participant. To date, 1,251 interns have taken part in the program. 204 W. Washington Street, Lexington, VA 24450 www.shepherdconsortium.org | EIN: 45-5507122