The Students for Economic Justice Program (SEJ) is an intensive 6-week program that gives students organizing training through political education, skills building and hands-on, in-the-field experience working on campaigns for economic and social justice. With guest presenters and partners from a variety of civic engagement and social and economic justice organizations around the County the program gives interns exposure to the broader social and economic justice community in San Diego.
All students with an interest in making a difference in their community are encouraged to apply.
Overall Goals
- To provide future leaders and organizers with a critical perspective on organizing for social and economic justice
- To learn lessons from past social and economic justice movements
- To continue developing the culture of best practices within community activism and organizing
- To develop new organizers and strengthen the pipeline of students and community organizing in economic justice
Impact
Our SEJ student interns receive invaluable career-building experience when they are partnered with a local organization also working on progressive issues during the program. Past interns have worked with a wide variety of partners including Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE), Environmental Health Coalition (EHC), Equality Alliance, A Better San Diego, Maximizing Access to Advance our Communities (MAAC), and the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME).
Building upon the connections they made during the program as well as their work with partner organizations, SEJ alumni have gone on to work for San Diego Councilmember David Alvarez, Justice Overcoming Boundaries, Alliance San Diego, Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the City of San Diego, San Diego Education Association (SDEA), American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), San Diego and Imperial Counties Labor Council, and the Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice.
History
CPI launched the SEJ program in 2000. After a brief hiatus, CPI recognized the importance of building new young leaders and decided to re-launch the program in 2011 with six interns. Since then, there have been seven graduating classes of interns.
