“The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it. ” -Karl Marx
About Me
Andrew Small
Hello, I am a Senior at St. Cloud State University. My major is Sociology and my minor is Human Relations. I live with my girlfriend in a house on campus with my one and a half-year-old son. I am not sure what the future holds but I plan on working in the non-profit sector. I enjoy biking around town and hanging out with my family.
My Internship with United Way
Internships in non-profit can be eye-opening, challenging, and nothing like you would expect. I went into the internship expecting to do direct services work, but quickly found out United Way is not necessarily direct service. United Way is primarily a fundraising non-profit that does some direct service work. For this reason, it is a unique environment that has different departments all working together. United Way taught me that I need to take action and be independent and self-motivated in my work because there was not a set list of tasks to complete. The position was community impact intern, and I would suggest the position to any sociologist that likes to come up with new abstract ideas. United Way is constantly adapting and changing with the community, so a sociological perspective is beneficial to their organization. If you are someone who wants to be part of social change in the community, this is the perfect internship for you. I had plenty of opportunities to be on committees and councils that help with homelessness, financial stability, access to food, and early learning. As a sociology major, it was nice to be involved in some of the structural changes United Way was involved in.
The internship is an opportunity to connect the micro-level inequalities we see with the lager meso-level community of Central Minnesota. I took on the role of a mini assistant to my supervisor learning how to navigate the city and relationships with partners. The role of an intern really takes on the form of applied sociology. My supervisors never limited my thinking or ideas, and any solution to the cities social problems was encouraged. Social policy was a driving force of most the work I did at United Way. I was part of a committee that drafted a bill, and also part of policy change at the school district and city level.
I was able to use my knowledge of social theory and theoretical frameworks to help guide these policies and point out potential problems. A big part of working with a social policy so much is that it heavily relies on structural functionalism. The United Way I worked at opened in 1967, a time when certain institutions were being questioned and a new culture of institutions were being formed. I would contend that most of the staff at United Way believes in the ideas of Talcott Parsons. All the partnerships United Way had with fund recipients served a function and operated best when everyone followed the rules.
I was involved in community issues surrounding homelessness, early learning, and financial stability. United Way has other areas of focus but the three I mentioned are what I was most involved in. I completed an informative report on affordable housing and housing first. I was involved in meeting with city officials, developers, and businesses in an attempt to help the homelessness issue. The meetings were intended to help gain insight and guide future funding decisions for United Way of Central Minnesota. United Way also works with early learning and financial stability. I helped with a book program that sends children age 0-5 one book a month. The picture was from an event called Llama Llama day at the regional library in St. Cloud. The event is to help promote early learning and child development by getting kids excited and interested in books. The financial stability portion of my work was to have an impact on families and adults who were having a hard time getting out of poverty.
Llama Llama Day
The summer before I interned the United Way opened up two neighborhood resource centers at low-income elementary schools. The neighborhood resource centers have a United Way staff their that tries to build relationships with teachers, students, and parents so that everyone can thrive both financially and academically. They help students get food, clothing, and supplies while also offering resources in the community to adults. As an intern, I was involved in the behind the scenes operations and planning of these programs and social policies.
If you are interested in volunteering your time or interning at United Way you can reach out via email or visit their website. I would highly recommend this internship to anyone who is interested in structural social change. You get to be involved in various aspects of the community as well.
Contacts:
Daniel Larson dlarson@unitedwayhelps.org
Jessica Houle jhoule@unitedwayhelps.org
