O'Neill's Washington Leadership Program puts students in the middle of D.C. action

Three questions about O’Neill’s Washington Leadership Program

Posted on January 20, 2020 by Leslie Wells

Jadah Cunningham stands in front of the Indiana and Indianapolis flags outside Congressman André Carson's office in Washington, D.C. — Jadah Cunningham served in Congressman André Carson’s office during her term in the Washington Leadership Program.

Few students get the chance to participate in a program that places them in the middle of the action in Washington, D.C. Yet the O’Neill School provides this opportunity to its students through the Washington Leadership Program. Each fall and spring semester, O’Neill sponsors the semester-long program that provides a unique opportunity for junior and senior undergraduate students of all majors to gain first-hand knowledge of how Washington works.

The deadline to apply for fall 2020 and spring 2021 cohorts is February 1, 2020. Students who have been through WLP often provide a first-hand view of the experience through takeovers on O’Neill’s Instagram account. One year ago, Jadah Cunningham, an O’Neill media and public affairs major, spent time working in Congressman André Carson’s office. We asked her three questions about her experience:

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Mentor Collective matches O’Neill students with alumni

Posted on January 13, 2020 by Leslie Wells

Elizabeth Cornejo and Sara Hindi sit at a table talking — Elizabeth Cornejo and Sara Hindi were paired through O’Neill’s Mentor Collective program.

• To become a mentor to O’Neill students, visit this link.

• To sign up to be matched with a mentor, visit this link.

O’Neill alumna Sara Hindi (BSPA’15) knew she wanted to connect with students at O’Neill IUPUI, but she didn’t quite know how.

“As a young professional who recently graduated, I knew I could relate to students,” she says. “I had such a positive experience at O’Neill. I wanted to help students as they were trying to figure out their journeys.”

Little did Hindi know her opportunity was on its way.

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O’Neill student wins national LGBTQ+ scholarship

Posted on January 6, 2020 by Leslie Wells

Kyle Casteel smiles, wearing a white button-up shirt, blue blazer and dark glasses.

The fight for LGBTQ+ rights in Indiana is one of Kyle Casteel’s passions. The O’Neill Policy Studies major has worked in political activism for nearly five years, contributing to efforts that seek more civil rights protections for the LGBTQ+ community.

The push is personal for Casteel because it’s his community. Thanks to his courses in O’Neill and a scholarship from the Point Foundation, he is preparing to be better equipped to lead the fight in the future.

The Point Foundation is a national organization that empowers promising lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer students to achieve their full academic and leadership potential. Every year, they offer dozens of scholarships to students across the nation.

The January 27 deadline for the 2020 Point Scholarship is rapidly approaching. If students make it through the initial round, they can expect several additional interviews before final selections in early to mid-summer.

For the 2019–2020 academic year, Point Foundation received 2,100 applications from students vying to become a Point Scholar. They selected just 16 of those 2,100 students for the honor. Casteel was one of them.

This was not his first connection to the Point Foundation. He had received a community college scholarship from Point that allowed him to transfer from Ivy Tech to IUPUI. After he transferred, he says he was in a better position to compete for the full scholarship.

“When I learned I had been selected as a Point Scholar, I immediately felt so seen and validated for my efforts,” Casteel says. “I was really at a point where I had achieved a lot professionally and wanted someone to say my academic pursuits have value. Winning meant my hard work was worthwhile and, because of it, I will finally be afforded the opportunity to focus on my studies.”

Like many students, Casteel faced an uphill battle when it came to balancing work and covering the cost of education. The scholarship amount varies based on a student’s need, but Casteel says his meant he would no longer have to choose between attending classes and working.

Point Scholars must meet certain academic requirements, check in regularly with their Point mentors, and design and execute a volunteer service project benefiting their local LGBTQ+ community.

In addition to the scholarship, Point also offers recipients a network of support and resources to guide them through their academic careers and beyond.

“With the support system that my mentor and the Point staff, my fellow scholars, and alumni represent, the Point Scholarship has made an absolutely seismic shift in how I am able to pursue my education,” he says.

As a future alum, Casteel says he looks forward to serving as a mentor for a future scholar and he hopes more Hoosier students will apply for the program.

“Point Foundation wants and needs more Point Scholars from places like Indiana,” he says. “I’m not the first, but there aren’t that many. I know from experience how important it is for LGBTQ+ people in our state, especially young people, to tell our stories and make people listen. Point will listen to you.”

Analysis examined gun violence in Indianapolis

Posted on December 16, 2019 by Leslie Wells

Map showing concentrations of shootings in Indianapolis

INDIANAPOLIS – Analysis of fatal and nonfatal gun violence in Indianapolis from 2014 through 2016 provides a better understanding of where shootings happened in the city and the social factors that contributed to high rates of neighborhood gun violence.

The policy brief from the Center for Health and Justice Research at the IU Public Policy Institute examined data on Indianapolis’ shootings and community factors. By looking at gun violence at the neighborhood and street segment levels, officials can better target their approaches to fit the needs of those areas.

The data showed that 98 percent of Indianapolis’ 53,922 street segments did not experience a shooting from 2014 through 2016. Of the 929 street segments that did, only 45—0.09 percent—experienced three or more shootings.

Table showing the number of street segments in Indianapolis and how many shootings each segment experienced. Fourteen street segments had 4+ shootings, 31 had 3 shootings, 109 had 2 shootings, 775 had 1 shooting, and 52,993 had no shootings.

While data showed the majority of gun violence happened within certain neighborhoods, there were street segments with high levels of shootings that were spread out across the city and not concentrated in neighborhoods with high levels of gun violence. Results also indicated a strong association between shootings and community-level factors, such as certain types of police calls and whether residents took action to improve the condition of their community.

“We saw that community engagement on individual street segments can mediate the effects of neighborhood concentrated disadvantage on gun violence,” says Lauren Magee, Ph.D., the report’s author and postdoctoral fellow at the IU School of Medicine. “This shows that strategies focused on community-building activities on individual street segments could prevent future violence by reducing disorder, eliminating abandoned homes, and increasing informal social control.”

The research also showed that shootings in so-called “hot spot” neighborhoods appeared to be driven mostly by concentrated disadvantage, which highlights larger social issues requiring coordinated action from social organizations.

Read the full CHJR policy brief on gun violence in Indianapolis at this link on the IU Public Policy Institute website.

Internship leads to scholarship, job in Indiana legislature for O’Neill student

Posted on December 9, 2019 by Leslie Wells

As his patient settled into the chair, Luis Niño retrieved the tools of his trade. In 2017, he was still an optician—a job he took after unexpectedly leaving college six years earlier. He knew it wouldn’t be his final career but he wasn’t sure where to go next.

He began to fit a new set of glasses onto his patient’s face and struck up a conversation to break the ice. The pair exchanged pleasantries—the benign kind you have with any stranger. This patient was not unlike many others he saw every day. The optometrist’s office where he worked was two blocks from the Indiana Statehouse, attracting busy government workers.

The conversations usually turned to careers and politics, sparking a new interest for Luis in how people were making a difference through public policy. While Luis helped his patients improve their vision, they had helped him see his future more clearly.

Luis hadn’t been in a college classroom in six years. He was a sports management major when he left IUPUI in 2011. Like so many students, money and his interest in his major had dwindled. He didn’t want to take out more loans until he had a solid plan, but always knew he would come back; 2017 was the year it would happen.

“I had a conversation with a patient who was running for an elected position,” Luis recalls. “That person influenced my decision in wanting to work in government and politics, but I wasn’t sure if I was ready.”

His fiancé gave him the final boost of confidence to return and he enrolled in O’Neill’s Civic Leadership major.

“All of my classes provided a wealth of knowledge and my instructors truly helped me grow as a student and an individual,” he says.

They also helped guide him toward unique opportunities within the O’Neill School, including internships at the Indiana Statehouse and research opportunities with the IU Public Policy Institute.

He worked as a researcher with PPI, focusing on issues relating to social equity as well as economic development. He worked closely with Drew Klacik, a senior policy analyst at PPI who also taught a course at the O’Neill School.

“What I love about O’Neill is the connection between research and the classroom,” Luis says. “It allowed me to talk to Drew outside of class and develop a mentoring relationship. He really helped guide me into the right lanes.”

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