Name: Mahima Silwal
Class Year: 2022
Major: Economics
Hometown: Albany, Calif.
Internship Organization: Adhikaar for Human Rights and Social Justice
Job Title: Research and Development Intern
Endowed Internship Funding Award: Goldberg Internship Fund
Location: Woodside, New York
It was an incredible experience being able to join the women-of-color-led powerhouse team at Adhikaar this summer. Adhikaar is a grassroots organization deeply rooted in engaging, organizing, and fighting for equitable change in the Nepali-speaking immigrant community in New York and across the nation. As a woman of color and being of Nepali descent myself, I thoroughly enjoyed learning about the unique ways different issues and policies related to immigration, healthcare, and workers’ rights affect the Nepali-speaking community.
I was hoping to explore my interests in economic justice and healthcare access.
I had always admired Adhikaar’s work in grassroots advocacy and wanted to get involved, but the timing was never right. So when the opportunity to contribute to their boots-on-the-ground work in economic justice and healthcare access arose, I had to.
As a research and development intern, I supported the team with drafting content for newsletters and email campaigns. I also consolidated data for the first-ever national research project on Nepali Temporary Protected Status holders in collaboration with the U.S. Immigration Policy Center at the University of California-San Diego and the ACLU. One of my favorite projects involved creating Adhikaar’s COVID-19 Community Response report series. It was extremely rewarding to see it through from start to finish. In the initial stages, I organized the call log and read about the ways the public health crisis was disproportionately affecting Adhikaar members.
Many immigrants and domestic workers were calling because they were ineligible for federal stimulus aid. As an economics major, this raised a lot of questions for me about the work I want to pursue in the future, maybe somewhere at the intersection of immigration, health care access, economic policy, and equitable change.
Afterwards, I classified the types of support provided to members to produce statistics to highlight Adhikaar’s accomplishments supporting the community since March 2020. It was a learning curve; I was analyzing data related to COVID-19 in real time and supporting content development, all while using graphic design for the first time. I am so grateful to my supervisor, Aakriti, for always believing in me and cheering me on every step of the way. I also loved every bit of this project because I was able to collaborate with so many folks from the communications team.
The best thing about my internship was the team at Adhikaar. Despite being remote, there was never a moment I didn’t feel connected. The team at Adhikaar is truly a family. I never hesitated to ask for support, advice, or feedback about projects. I loved the collaborative nature of everything. It was clear to me that all of us were excited by the work we were doing and that energy really made our work fun.
It was rewarding to engage with a community I so deeply resonate with and learn more about the ways I can pursue a career rooted in advocacy, economic justice, and immigrant rights.
Visit the Summer 2020 Internships page to read more student stories.