Chester Community Fellowships (CCF) 2016
Eligibility and FAQ














Student Eligibility
Current Freshman, Sophomore or Junior
No prior CCF award or S2A2
No additional summer funding (Lang Opportunity Scholarship, Evans Scholarship, Research
grants through the Divisions or Davis Projects for Peace)
Rising Seniors have priority over rising Juniors, who have priority over rising Sophomores
Students studying abroad during the application process ARE eligible to apply.
Placement Eligibility
Chester host site must be able to provide a minimum of 10 consecutive weeks of full time (32
hours, four days per week minimum) service, with Friday off for cohort activity
Chester host site must be willing to present organization at a meeting of the CCF
Students unable to work 10 consecutive full-time weeks should not apply
Host organizations must be independent of the College (i.e. recognized non-profit, NGO or
community-run organizations)
Host site must provide a letter of support for the student, and sign a contract specifying the site
supervisor’s expectations; the CCF’s learning goals and objectives, and resources and supports
provided by the host site. The contract will not be required until after the applicant has been
offered a CCF
Budgeting and award distribution
Applicants will be asked to submit a sample living stipend budget of up to $185 per week for 10
weeks. Eligible expenses include commute, housing, meals and medicines
Upon submission of the final reports, the final distribution of grant will be offered. Students
who do not submit the required reports by September 9, 2016, will forfeit the
final distribution.
Training, reflection and reporting
CCF recipients who are not abroad during the Spring Semester must participate in all
preparation workshops conducted by the Lang Center.
CCF recipients must submit reports evaluating their experiences halfway through the
placement, and by the end of the third week following the experience
Chester Community Fellowships 2016
Application Cover Page
Instructions:
 Complete this application, and label it: YOUR NAME.CCF.doc , or
YOURNAME.CCF.docx (if you are sending it as a Word document)
PLEASE DO NOT SEND THE APPLICATION AS A .pdf FILE
.Prepare and send a resume detailing your service, advocacy or activism
activities, labeled: YOUR NAME.CCF.RESUME. (doc or pdf)
 Send both items electronically, date stamped by noon on Friday,
February 12, 2016. Three letters of recommendation may be sent under
separate cover, either electronically or by mail to: Deb Kardon-Brown,
Assistant Director for Student Programs, Lang Center for Civic and Social
Responsibility at the College address:
1. FACULTY RECOMMENDATION from a faculty member – form
provided, ask for link to form
2. LETTER CONFIRMING “FOLLOWSHIP” SKILLS
from community partner, former employer, former internship host,
colleague or recipient of your service, who can attest to your team
skills such as consensus-building, compromise, responding to
authority
3. SITE CONFIRMATION - from the site supervisor at the agency
offering to host you this summer.
Chester Community Fellows will be announced on Friday, March 18, 2016
Personal Information
Name:_____________
____________ Application code:
(internal use only)
Preferred Email: ________________________________________
Class Year:
Student ID Number:
Current Campus Address:
Home Address:
Cell phone number:
Current Land Line number:
Major/Minor
Have you ever received funding from the Swarthmore Foundation? Y/N
Application Code:
(internal use only)
_____________________
Chester Community Fellowship 2016
Essays
Please answer each prompt. LIMIT your answers to under 350 words for each
prompt!
A. What drives your interest in a Chester Community Fellowship? What do you
hope to gain by serving as a part of a group of student interns serving in Chester?
B. What issue do you specifically wish to engage in during your summer? What is
your background in this issue, and what compels you to pursue an experiential
method of examining it? Are there courses or experiences you have
already had that inform you selection of issue and host site?
C. What experiences have you had in Chester? If you have not been able to engage
in serving in Chester during the academic year, what information do you have
about the city? What challenges do you anticipate, and what skills do you hope to
gain or improve?
D. How well do you perform as part of a team, and how do you take direction?
Please describe an out-of-class experience where you had to take direction or
perform an action that you did not necessarily agree with, in order to contribute
to an end result that you do support.
E. Briefly describe a time when you were engaging in an experience with a
community/group/organization where you were not a part of that community,
group or organization (you were culturally, ideologically or experientially
“outside” of the individual(s), group(s) or organization(s) you were serving.) For
example, providing a service (paid or volunteer) to a community not your own.
How did it feel at the beginning of the experience? How did it feel when the
experience was complete? How did being an “outsider” affect your ability to
serve? How did it affect your ability to learn?
Chester Community Fellowships
Instructions for Recommenders
FOR FACULTY: An easy to use form is available to ease your recommendation
burden. Please send an email to dkardon1@swarthmore.edu to request the form.
Email the completed form back to dkardon1@swarthmore.edu
FOR PERSONAL RECOMMENDERS:




The applicant is applying to be a summer intern pursuing issues of social
justice, and is the process of finding a suitable placement.
Letters should specify the relationship between the recommender and the
applicant, and should provide evidence of the applicant’s ability to
respectfully engage in a learning experience in which they will be serving a
community which is not their own , often in a structure of hierarchy where
they will need .
Letters may be sent by email to: dkardon1@swarthmore.edu, or by “snail”
mail:
Debra S. Kardon-Brown
Lang Center for Civic and Social Responsibility
Swarthmore College
500 College Avenue, Swarthmore PA 19081
Letters of recommendation will be kept confidential. They will not be
shared with the applicant or potential community hosts.
Chester Community Fellowships
Instructions for SITE HOSTS





The applicant is applying for a Summer Social Action Award, and has
identified your organization as an ideal placement for their particular
interests and the skills they wish to build.
While there is no guarantee that the applicant will be awarded, we make
every attempt to award students who have a confirmed placement in
advance of the summer, and suggest alternate funding sources to support
their internship if they are declined the S2A2 award.
Your letter should state the availability of the internship for this applicant,
and your interest in having them serve your organization this summer
Letters need not be long, but please produce them on your letterhead.
Send letters by email: dkardon1@swarthmore.edu, fax (610) 328-8056 or
“snail” mail” :
Debra S. Kardon-Brown
Lang Center for Civic and Social Responsibility
Swarthmore College
500 College Avenue, Swarthmore, PA 19081