My name is Coco Gray and I am a class of 2021 Psychology Major. When I started as a first year at Whitman I had no idea what my professional future would look like. Astronaut, marine biologist, park ranger, and school teacher all had potential. But I had never expected that I would be exploring a future in criminal justice After a philosophy class during the second semester of my first year at Whitman, criminal justice was all that I could think about. But ever since that course I’ve been curious to see whether my personal and academic interest in criminal justice reform and prison abolition translates to a professional interest. Thankfully, the Whitman Internship Grant has given me the opportunity to explore criminal justice in a professional setting. Now, I am working as a student intern at the STAR (Successful Transition and Re-entry) Project, an organization based in Walla Walla that is focused on providing people who have previously been incarcerated with the necessary tools to reenter society as productive and successful community members.
Throughout the semester I have been helping the Executive Director of the STAR Project find and research potential grants from a number of different government, legal, and non-profit organizations. Often, we have to assess whether we qualify for the grant we are applying for. This includes assessing the services that the STAR project provides and making sure they match the requirements for the grant application. While I have not yet helped the Executive Director write a grant yet I have been reading previous STAR project grant applications, searching for potential grants to apply for, and exploring what makes a grant application successful. Currently, the Executive Director and I are working on researching and writing a grant application for the STAR project. Successful grants frequently include a deep knowledge or organization you are talking about, a good idea of what you are going to use the funding for, and the ability to write a paper in accordance with whatever the grant requirements outline.
The following programs and services need grant funding to be run successfully by the STAR project staff. The pre-release transition program helps incarcerated people at the Washington State penitentiary by preparing them for re-entry, and helping them filling out college, scholarship, and financial aid applications. The general case management service helps clients with securing a state issued ID, getting health services, child support and custody issues, legal fees, and many other things. Grants fund a number of different programs and services that help the STAR project successfully support formally incarcerated people such as the pre-release transition program, general case management, housing, employment, and education.
Experiences like Coco’s are made possible by the Whitman Internship Grant, which provides funding for students to participate in unpaid internships at both for-profit and non-profit organizations. We are happy to be sharing blog posts from students who were supported by either a summer, fall, spring, or year-long Whitman Internship Grant at organizations, businesses, and research labs all around the world. To learn how you could secure a Whitman Internship Grant or host a Whitman intern at your organization, click here or contact Assistant Director for Internship Programs Mitzy Rodriguez