#1 Nonprofit Fellowship Essay Columbia College, Art History Citizens Crime Commission of New York City The Citizens

Crime Commission of New York City is a non-profit, non-partisan organization, working to make criminal justice and public safety policies and practices more effective through innovation, research, and education. The Crime Commission currently focuses on issues related to gun violence, juvenile crime, counterterrorism, and cybercrime. Ive been interning at the Crime Commission since January, extensively working on their gun violence and juvenile crime initiatives. The organization plays the role of a think-tank of sorts, evaluating the effectiveness of current programs, identifying gaps in the criminal justice system, and providing invaluable research on the state of crime in the city. My tasks have primarily included assisting with research, seeking out resources, and drafting advocacy material. Ive worked on the Crime Commissions Girls delinquency project, Raise the Age campaign, and conducted research on the role of social media in youth gang violence. I was immediately drawn to the opportunity to work with the Crime Commission after gaining exposure to the intersection of education and social justice while doing research on the educational needs of at-risk youth in the Harlem community as co-leader of the Design For America Education team. Alongside the internship, I have also been teaching a civics-action class to 9th graders in Harlem as a Democracy Coach for Generation Citizen. Generation Citizen partners college students with classroom teachers to teach an action civics course in which teens solve problems they are facing in their own communities. Incidentally, my class chose to work on the issue of gun violence involving youth in their community, after witnessing a string of gun violence-related incidents near their school. Regularly interacting with at-risk youth who are directly affected by the issues I research at work, has added a deeply personal relationship to my work with the Crime Commission and validated the need to bring top-down, innovative, and most importantly sustainable change to the current situation. The Van Amson Fellowship will allow me to extend my work with the Crime Commission by 8 more weeks, allowing me to work full-time on the projects Ive currently only been able to devote 12 hours a week to. Since Im already familiar with the initiatives, have shadowed meetings with the organizations grantees, and given that they only have a small number of researchers working on such inescapable and pervasive issues, I hope that continuing my work there will have large impact on the work of the organization and its capacity to pursue more avenues of research. Working with the Crime Commission has strengthened my desire to go to law school after graduation and I truly did not expect to feel as passionate about my work there as I do. Their unique approach to criminal justice, examining the root-causes of the criminal activity from various social, psychological, economic lenses has reaffirmed the importance of a strong, varied liberal arts education for the study and practice of law. The emphasis on innovation is also unique and the organization hopes to infuse streamlined business practices to the criminal justice system and programming for at-risk youth, advocating for a silo-busting mentality to social justice. I hope to gain the skills to apply effective research to bringing about the desired social change and to learn how to more effectively organize the various decision-makers and agents involved in the system to facilitate collaboration and a holistic resolution of the problems identified in the system. Reading the texts from Contemporary Civilization alongside the internship has unquestionably enhanced my experience and Im continuously amazed by the amount of instances where I can trace back the roots of the problem or the conception of a particular social structure to ideas promoted by one of the philosophers on the syllabus. For instance, last Friday at work, I was compiling news reports on NYPDs use of Operation Crew Cut, a

#1 Nonprofit Fellowship Essay Columbia College, Art History Citizens Crime Commission of New York City strategy that involves charging gang members with conspiracy based on their activity on social media sites. This information is often obtained by Police Officers creating false profiles (often as young teenage girls) to connect with gang members. Having just read John Stuart Mills On Liberty for class, I immediately drew parallels to Mills conception of privacy and his harm principle. CC gave me a theoretical framework within which to weigh out different ideas and ethical situations, simultaneously sharpening my understanding of the problem and reinforcing the often personally underestimated direct application of the core. I hope to further this ability to think and reason through conundrums without losing sense of their complexities as they occur in reality. The Citizens Crime Commission translates theory into action, advancing the public good by widening the scope of organizations to do good and also charting out what needs to be done. The mission aligns beautifully with the aim of the Community Impact Leadership Program that I participated in my freshman year. CILP aimed to enhance the workings of the programs within Community Impact by using innovation and leadership to improve aspects of the organization and thus augment its capacity to make change and provide opportunities. The Crime Commission works with strengthening programs such as Heights-to-Heights which work to engage students from under-resourced schools. In essence, as with Community Impact, its mission is to provide programs with the support to bring about sustainable, reasoned, and meaningful change in the local community. I hope that the Fellowship will similarly support my ability to impact the Crime Commission and therefore, the greater NYC community.

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EDUCATION Columbia University, Columbia College, New York, NY Expected May 2015 Bachelor of Arts in History and Art History Cumulative GPA: 3.83/4.00. Academic Honors: John Jay Scholar, Deans List Dhirubhai Ambani International School, Mumbai, India Graduated May 2011 International Baccalaureate Diploma Program. Final IB Score: 44/45 points WORK EXPERIENCE Citizens Crime Commission of New York City, New York, NY January 2013 present Research Intern Compiled database of organizations running gender-specific rehabilitation programming for girl delinquents, analyzing trends in successful programming and comparing evaluations of different program models Performed media searches and researched relevant literature to investigate role of social media in gang violence Assisted in drafting material supporting the Commissions Raise the Age legislative campaign

#1 Nonprofit Fellowship Essay Columbia College, Art History Citizens Crime Commission of New York City Generation Citizen, New York, NY January 2013 present Democracy Coach Co-taught action-civics course to 20 middle-school students in Harlem, empowering students by helping them solve the identified issue of in-school gun violence in their community Columbia Business School, Finance and Economics Division, New York, NY October 2012 January 2013 Research Assistant to Professor Enrichetta Ravina Assisted on behavioral economics project on 401(k) plans and investment patterns Collated and organized data on 401 (k) pension plans for 250 corporations using Microsoft Excel Heights to Heights Mentoring, New York, NY September 2012 - Present Volunteer Mentor Devoted 3 hours per week mentoring 2 immigrant middle-school students, incorporating tutoring and creative activities to improve their English language skills and engage students in education and cultural enrichment. LEADERSHIP Design For America, New York, NY September 2009-Present Vice President, Professional Coordinator, Team Leader (Education) Led the education team, addressing the problem of the civic engagement gap in low-income public middle schools Worked with local public schools, non-profits, and professors to conduct relevant research to work on developing a board game that equips middle-school students with skills and tools needed to effectively solve civic problems in local community Organized speaker events, skills-sharing workshops, site-visits, and studio bonding events to support the projects of all teams Community Impact Leadership Program, New York, NY September 2011 May 2012 Team Member Selected as a member of the 10-person team, aiming to increase awareness and involvement in service-related activities Collaborated with team members to design after-school service-learning that empowers students from underresourced high schools with skills necessary to implement service projects Dhirubhai Ambani International School Village Project, Mumbai, India October 2009 May 2011 Head (Empowerment Section), Pilot Team Member Surveyed and organized data for 45 households describing demography, income, assets, and social status, and conducted market research for local businesses to evaluate employment opportunities in 250-person tribal village near Mumbai Fundraised equivalent of $25,000 in collaboration with 12-person team to implement developmental schemes such as womens sewing cooperative and vocational training

#1 Nonprofit Fellowship Essay Columbia College, Art History Citizens Crime Commission of New York City SKILLS Language Skills: Fluent in Hindi and Marathi; proficient in French, elementary Arabic Computer Skills: Proficient in MS Office & Adobe Suite