Eileen Sweeney Graduate Internship in Disability Policy
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Graduate students aspiring to a career in social policy with a focus on disability are urged to apply for this 12-week summer semester internship, established in honor and memory of Eileen Sweeney.
Eileen Sweeney Graduate Internship in Disability Policy
Application Deadline: March 1, 2007
Honorarium: $3,000
Eileen P. Sweeney devoted her life to improving the lives of people with disabilities, children, battered women, the poor, and the elderly. Eileen joined the staff of the National Senior Citizens Law Center in 1980. She worked with us throughout the difficult times of the 80s, leading NSCLC’s work in response to the efforts of the Reagan administration to trim Social Security and SSI disability roles when disability programs were under attack.
During that period, she played an important national leadership role. Among other things, she caused NSCLC to begin publishing the Disability Information Mailing as a tool for fast and ongoing communication to keep advocates abreast of the rapidly moving events.
In great part because of her work during that time, Eileen received the Reginald Heber Smith award in 1985, as the nation’s outstanding legal services attorney.
She subsequently turned her attention to other vulnerable populations and the needs of children, those served by the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, and the Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) programs. Eileen was also a wonderful mentor to young people.
In honor and memory of Eileen, the National Academy of Social Insurance (NASI), in partnership with the Children’s Defense Fund (CDF) and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), is establishing the Eileen Sweeney Graduate Internship. Graduate students aspiring to a career in social policy with a focus on disability are urged to apply for this 12-week summer semester internship. A student will be awarded the internship based on nationwide recruitment and a competitive selection process.
The Sweeney Graduate Intern will have the opportunity to:
- --Work with leading disability policy experts;
- --Gain valuable work experience; and
- --Make professional contacts and attend relevant seminars, and symposia.
For further information about the internship, see the NASI website, http://www.nasi.org/ and click on “Student Opportunities.”
