Communication and sociology double major Rose Austin (pictured above) is pursuing her second internship related to service. Austin’s first internship with Geneseo’s Center for Community sparked her interest in improving society, leading her to take on her position with The Borgen Project (Josie Kwan/staff photographer).
Rose Austin has a love for improving the world through her work with the non-profit organization The Borgen Project.
A communication and sociology double major senior from Albany, N.Y, Austin has interned with The Borgen Project since June. The project aims to fight global poverty by seeking increased support and funding from United States leaders.
Austin previously interned with Geneseo’s Center for Community where she coordinated events to get students more involved in the Geneseo community both on and off-campus. She organized groups of students to go to different towns in Livingston County and do community service, which sparked her interest in non-profit work.
Through her on-campus internship, Austin saw how rewarding it was to be involved with the community. As a result, she began looking for internships and she found The Borgen Project.
As the public relations marketing intern, much of Austin’s work with Borgen involves spreading the word about the project and its mission—including coordinating with newspapers and radios to put out public service announcements or publish articles. The project seeks to implement change in the U.S. government’s allocation of funds so that people in poverty across the world receive more aid.
Austin points out that the U.S. has a military budget of $600 billion, which is the largest in the world. The United Nations projects that $30 billion in aid a year could help end world hunger. Even if the U.S. redirected the requisite $30 billion from the military, the U.S. would still have the largest military budget in the world.
“Some people question why we should focus on global poverty when we struggle with poverty in the U.S.,” Austin said. “People don’t realize that if we focus on global poverty then we’ll be sending less people to war, experiencing less acts of terrorism and seeing decreased crime. Helping people prosper benefits everyone.”
A big part of The Borgen Project’s mission involves calling and emailing senators or representatives to express support for legislation that address world poverty. Congress is currently trying to cut the International Affairs Budget, which improves living conditions for the poor, according to Austin.
“[Contacting senators and representatives] may not seem like it’s doing a lot, but it actually does help a lot, as it shows representatives what legislation constituents are focused on, which encourages them to support it,” Austin said.
For those interested in supporting The Borgen Project, Austin suggests visiting the website, Borgenproject.org, and going to “Act Now.” The page shows legislation that the project supports and clear steps on how to contact local representative and express interest in the U.S. aiding global poverty.
Austin emphasizes that calling Congress takes less than 30 seconds and can make a big difference in showing senators and House representatives what their constituents care about.
For those looking to work with the non-profit, the website has a contact section for volunteer openings and internship opportunities. Austin encourages students to get involved with the project.
“Getting people to invest in [an] issue that needs more attention is extremely rewarding, especially when it’s such an important one,” Austin said.