Read the press release about the 2005 recipients.

Edward Jones

NY Lawyers for the Public Interest
New York City

Jones spent ten weeks in New York City as a legal intern for New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, a group that focuses on disability rights, access to health care for underserved populations, and environmental justice. “As an intern, I worked with attorneys in each of these areas” Jones explained. “I wrote a memo about New York City’s school site selection process for a case in which the city had built a school on a hazardous waste site.” Jones also drafted a motion defending the expert witnesses in a police brutality case.

In addition to researching and writing, Jones said he got to attend agency award luncheons, fundraisers, and golf outings. He also sat in on court proceedings, attended a protest, participated in a series of brown-bag lunches on public interest work, and even took a day-long tour of environmentally hazardous sites in the New York area. “There is no substitute for the hands-on experience I’ve had at a public interest law firm, or for the contacts I made while working there,” Jones said. “Thanks to the UICHR for helping fund this summer experience!"

Emily Carlson

Kensington Welfare Rights Union
Philadelphia

Matthew Stromquist

Lawyers for Human Rights
South Africa

During his internship in South Africa, Stromquist assisted attorneys representing poor and landless clients threatened with illegal evictions from land they occupied. “I consulted with clients, edited briefs for court, and hosted a training session for farm workers, NGOs, and the South African Department of Labor on the rights of land occupation granted to laborers,” Stromquist said. “I saw the power and impact that a truly transformative constitutional and statutory regime can have on improving people's lives."

Alexis Bushnell

Global Youth Connect
Cambodia

Alexis Bushnell worked at the Cambodian Mine Action Center in Phnom Penh, which aims to clear Cambodia of the millions of landmines left over from years of civil war. “Between interviewing former Khmer Rouge communists, editing reports [for] the U.S. Embassy, and visiting actual minefields, there was never any downtime when I wasn't learning,” she said. “I worked on grant proposals, drafted some of the Center's annual report, and visited the facilities where they trained dogs to detect mines.” Bushnell said she saw a lot of good but also witnessed the downside to having many Western NGOs in a poor country. She wishes she could have stayed longer.

Christopher Konkobo

Center for Study of Genocide
Rwanda

Yolanda Villalvazo

Proteus
Des Moines

Robin Dull

Vera Institute for Justice on the Commission of Safety and Abuse in America's Prisons
New York City

Robin Dull is currently a trial attorney at the Civil Rights Division at the Department of Justice in Washington, DC. There she works primarily on housing discrimination and fair lending issues." It's a fantastic job," Dull said. "I have no doubt that I'm where I am in part because of my time at the Vera Institute."