During my time at Emma’s Torch, I was primarily focused on three projects to enrich the organization-wide programming by creating internal and external resources for our clients — survivors of forced migration. Within the organization, I designed and taught the sexual harassment class tailored to the culinary industry. The lesson plan of this class, which is based on desk research on sexual harassment training at the workplace and client-centered need assessments on three cohorts that have attended Emma’s Torch’s program, has been included in the training syllabus shared with the leadership team. I also worked with the program team to develop the measurements and questionnaires for post-program evaluation, which will be an evidence-based tool to examine clients’ learning experiences and job readiness after receiving the training. This evaluation contributes most to its data retention which represents the effectiveness and sustainability of Emma’s Torch’s program. Outside of the organization, I also spent a significant portion of my time conducting outreach to develop partnerships with social ventures that have the mission of supporting individuals with lived experiences of forced migration, especially the last four weeks when there were increasing needs from asylum seekers bused from Texas to New York. I arranged field visits, which included facilitating information sessions and demonstrations by collaborating with the culinary team in other organizations, and community tabling to reach the populations we serve.

Social Work Research, one of the core courses at the School of Social Work, helped me develop not only practical skills but also — most importantly — the mindset when it comes to practicing social work on a mezzo- and macro-level, such as program evaluations, organization operations, and partnership formalizations — activities that Emma’s Torch is currently undertaking. Particularly in my post-program evaluation, I conducted a literature review to present the logic model to the program team, designed questionnaires with cultural competency and formalized a guideline incorporating ESL practice for staff.

Given the flexibility and creativity of Emma’s Torch, as a clinical social work student, I was also allowed to initiate individual services for clients in need. Both theoretical and practical foundations from my courses on Motivational Interviewing and Trauma and Its Impact provide me with familiarity and guidelines to support individuals with past and/or present complex traumatic experiences and yet the goal to pursue financial autonomy. Moreover, the seminar elective course on immigration prepared me for the context of immigrants in the workforce, which is significant for my work this summer. Employing these skills and knowledge, I was able to deliver one-to-one sessions with clients for tracking performance, goal setting, problem shooting, etc.

In the first two weeks at Emma’s Torch, I kept asking myself a question, which I assume many other interns did as well — what am I going to do these weeks? Emma’s Torch was not planning on a summer intern before I reached out to them, and without a concrete plan and expected projects, my work became frustrating and confusing that I was merely involved in regular duties at the beginning. However, thanks to the orientation provided by the Tamer Social Enterprise Summer Fellowship (SESF), suggestions from the CSSW career services and leadership management, and the guidance of my supervisor, who was also the program director, I was confident bringing up my own ideas and work plans to improve existing services and even create new projects aligned with the organizational missions.

Another challenge I faced was my unfamiliarity with the aforementioned ways of social work at Emma’s Torch — the practice beyond the individual level. Different from the clinical settings in which I interned, the work at Emma’s Torch is more of a cohort or organizational model. Being used to a clinical perspective, I tended to come up with case plans for clients that potentially aimed at addressing mental or psychological difficulties, which Emma’s Torch’s network partners instead would be better to support. I learned to transfer this challenge into an opportunity to hone my skills in case management. Furthermore, with reflective supervision, I was able to build a transformative mindset to envision more possibilities for social work practice. These challenges and learning opportunities alongside have been an asset for me to improve my work experience moving forward.

Working at Emma’s Torch as a fellow turned out to be one of the most valuable internship experiences for me. I have been passionately working with migrant workers and labor rights abroad for years, and my understanding and practice of these contemporary issues in the United States context was upgraded this summer. Meanwhile, my social work practice is extended beyond the clinical/individual level as I worked on a variety of projects by combining different skillsets that I learn from school and fields. What makes this happen is the unique environment at Emma’s Torch. As a small nonprofit (only one founder/executive director and 11 full-time employees, all of whom are amazing human beings who are genuinely passionate and caring about what they are doing and how they are doing it) at an early stage of development, Emma’s Torch provides a safe and supportive space for interns to thrive.

Other than the above accomplished goals, I also appreciate SESF as it not only allowed me to create n internship position that didn’t previously exist, but also created a community for Tamer Fellows to connect and enhance the work we were doing. Thanks to regular meetings of Fellows, I was able to connect with another Tamer fellow who interned at an organization that supports refugee families. With the overlapped served populations and different strengths, we built a partnership between our organizations to support these communities, which became a legacy moving forward.