CIIP Hosts its Annual Closing Ceremony
by: Sierra Romero
On August 4th, students, community partners, and staff gathered at the American Visionary Art Museum to
celebrate the closing of this years Community Impact Internships Program (CIIP). CIIP is the Center for Social Concern’s competitive, paid summer internship program that pairs JHU undergraduate students with nonprofit organizations and government agencies throughout Baltimore City. The program offers an intensive, cohort-based learning environment. The ultimate goals for students who participate are to give students an opportunity to gain real-world experience while being directly involved in a community, support community partner initiatives, and gain a deeper love and understanding of Baltimore.
As the summer drew to a close, all 50 CIIP interns and community partner supervisors were invited to spend an evening in community with one another. Students shuffled in to the museum, picking up a 2023 program book, grab some light food, and chat with one another. The atmosphere was buzzing, oftentimes difficult to hear over the numerous conversations happening across the room.
After a while, Clarissa Chen, this year’s CIIP lead opened the night with appreciation for this year’s cohorts and community partners that made this summer possible. The CSC’s Executive Director, Dr. Jasmine Blanks Jones, followed with more remarks about the office’s vision for increased collaboration with the city. But for now, the attention was on this year’s cohort experience.
Three CIIP interns and their site supervisors spoke this year, all of which were recorded and available on the CSC’s YouTube channel.
- CIIP intern Dua Hussain and her site supervisor Ashley “Ms. Black” Yates from Jubilee Arts spoke.
- CIIP intern Josh McGrew and his site supervisor Isaiah Johnson from Greenmount East Leadership Project spoke.
- CIIP intern Sharada Vishwanath and her site supervisor Maura Elwood from Enoch Pratt Free Library.
Interns and supervisors closed out the night with more chatting, conversations around extending their internship experience, and another successful summer of CIIP. 
This would not have been possible without the leadership of Clarissa Chen – who stepped in to run the internship program, Stacey Tang and Koye Oputa – who were this year’s Student Program Assistants, the 8 Peer Mentors – who guided their intern pods’ internship experiences, and former Associate Director Whitney Johnson who oversaw the program this summer. The CSC thanks them all tremendously for their contribution and leadership poured into CIIP.