Rachel Brown

I will graduate from Tufts University in May 2010 with a BA in International Relations and a concentration in Global Conflict, Cooperation, and Justice. I studied for one semester in Kenya and, in addition to conducting a month of independent research on corruption and security issues in Kenya, and received an ETS/ACTFL rating of advanced level Swahili. I is trained in Ushahidi’s mapping technology, and is a mapping volunteer for Ushahidi’s crisis response team to the earthquake in Haiti. I have also conducted six weeks of academic research in Guatemala, where I focused on the country’s attempts to qualify for funding from the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), and co-authored a paper that was cited by a later MCC publication. I also have experience as a tenant organizing intern at the Community Action Agency of Somerville, where I re-activated the tenant’s association at a local housing development, facilitated tenant meetings, organized capacity building workshops, and meetings between tenants and local authorities. In addition, I am a Jonathan M. Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service Scholar, and is the two-time recipient of an Active Citizenship Summer Fellowship Program grant. I used the grant towards tenant organizing and towards starting and co-leading an after-school art program for high schoolers at the CMML High School in Tamil Nadu, India, and to leading weekend classes for the primary school-aged children who lived in the local orphanage.