Program Detail
Program: New York Intern Program
Location: New York, NY
Directors: Sarah Nazimova-Baum, Stephanie Shockley
Web Site: www.NewYorkInternProgram.org 		 
New York Intern Program is an opportunity for young adults to commit to a year of service, discernment, social justice and intentional community, based in two diverse Harlem church communities.

Recent college graduates, ages 21-29, join NYIP from late August through mid-August of the following year, to provide services to people in need, through initiatives at some of New York City's most innovative and caring agencies. The interns share apartments in the churches, and participate in the worship life and social action happening in and around these historic, activist faith communities.

NYIP believes God can be found in and through relationships. We are committed to social justice and urban ministries. NYIP exposes young adults to the complexities of systemic injustice while also empowering them to explore and enact faith-filled responses. Examples of past internships include working with immigrants and refugees, people with AIDS, tenant groups, disadvantaged children, former inmates, and formerly homeless families and individuals. Throughout the year, interns receive abundant support and formation facilitated by NYIP staff to help them connect their experiences with their own yearnings and leadings.

We value diversity and welcome applicants of all backgrounds. We offer a year of immersion in Harlem faith communities, learning about living lives of meaning, inspired by world-changing values. Our interns discern and clarify next steps, and prepare themselves for future work in justice and peacebuilding, graduate school, professional advancement, religious vocations, community organizing, and other endeavors.

Program Flyers:
Outreach
2011-2012 Intern Class
2012-2013 Intern Class

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2010 - 2011 Interns
From the 2010 - 2011 Intern Orientation
08-09 NYIP intern Patrick Fennig goofing with some East Harlem kids during service project on Martin Luther King Day.

09-10 NYIP interns on their first day in late August, sitting on the steps of nearby Cathedral of St John the Divine.
NYIP 08-09 intern Brian Merrill working with another NYC-area volunteer, putting finishing touches on a MLK-Day "I Have a Dream Quilt" created by clients at city-wide service sites.



Intern Story
by Kristin Saylor

It’s two o’clock on a Tuesday afternoon. I’ve been up since six, and already I’ve taken three forms of public transit to get to my workplace in Port Newark, New Jersey, climbed the gangways of four container ships, had coffee and philosophical discussion with an Indian sea captain, driven a group of Filipino engineers to the mall, and sold countless telephone cards and international money transfers. If you had told me a year ago that this is what life as a college graduate would look like, I never would have believed you.

For the past three months, I have been a member of the New York Intern Program (NYIP), combining a year of intensive service learning with intentional community life. Through NYIP, I am interning with the Seamen’s Church Institute of New York and New Jersey, an organization dedicated to caring for the personal, professional, and spiritual needs of mariners around the world. On a daily basis, my coworkers and I climb aboard container ships, bulk ships, car ships, and tankers. We visit the crews, make sure they have access to shore leave, help them contact their families, and give them an opportunity to engage in meaningful human interactions in what can be a harsh and often dehumanizing world of commerce.

It’s simultaneously rewarding and exhausting work. On the plus side, my days are never dull or monotonous – because every seafarer has unique needs, every ship visit is a new experience. My daily interactions with seafarers from around the world give me tremendous perspective on the glorious diversity of humanity and, at the same time, remind me how much we all have in common. The downside of an immersive experience in the shipping economy is being constantly confronted with the harshness of seafarers’ lives. The men and women I work with spend up to twelve months at a time away from their families, work unbelievably long hours, and rarely have a chance to set foot on shore. It’s not an easy reality to grapple with and, after a while, it can start to wear you down.

That’s exactly why I decided to undertake this year of social service in the context of an intentional, faith-based community. I knew I couldn’t do it without a well-developed support structure. In fact, NYIP’s deep commitment to caring for the spiritual and emotional well-being of its interns was one of the things that first attracted me to the program. As part of a community with a shared commitment to working for justice and caring for all members of the human family, I am sustained by the efforts of my peers even on the days when I’m totally drained and on the verge of cynicism. Because we are, in many ways, all in the same boat, the five of us interns are able to support and relate to each other through both the good and the bad. On a broader level, we all benefit from the dedication and compassion of our program directors and the St. Mary’s parish community, of which we are part.

Ultimately, what community life is teaching me is the importance of reciprocity. The temptation of an intensive service year is to pour out all my energies into helping others without stopping to let others reach out to me in turn. In all aspects of my life here in New York, I am constantly reminded that it’s impossible to separate serving another and being served. In the workplace, that reminder comes through the extraordinary hospitality of the seafarers I’m supposedly serving. They invite me into their home, make sure I’m comfortable, and offer me coffee, cookies, and sometimes three course meals. Many days, I feel like they give me more than I’m able to give them. That same pattern applies within the intern apartment: through small acts of kindness, all five of us constantly serve and are served by each other, whether it’s by providing a listening ear, offering a plate of food, or doing someone else’s dishes.

I knew when I signed up for this program that I was committing myself to a year of profound personal growth and transformation, but I have been surprised and delighted by the ways in which that inner change has come about. I think it’s safe to say that I am no longer the person I was three months ago – I’m a lot less complacent about the world’s injustice and, at the same time, I’m humbled by smallness of what I, as an individual, can do to combat it. As I look ahead at the next nine months, I’m curious and excited to continue this journey of self-discovery and self-transcendence on which NYIP is leading me, knowing that, no matter what happens, I am always walking in good company.



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