Social Impact Summer Scholarship

Social Impact Summer Scholarships (SISS) support students pursuing unpaid positions with host organizations that empower them to add dimension to their undergraduate coursework while advancing the organization's mission, goals, and objectives. The SISS program is the Lang Center’s most popular grant program, supporting over 70 students each summer. Scholars receive a wrap-around co-curricular experience, including a series of pre-departure workshops focused on ethical engagement and practical advice in the Spring; reflection exercises during the summer that include academic readings and critical reflection prompts; and, in the Fall, opportunities to synthesize their learning and share back with their peers. After completing their experience, Scholars contribute back to the College community by evaluating applications for next year’s SISS grantees.

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These scholarships are offered annually and follow a regular timeline:

  • October - Required advising opens for the following summer's grant cycle
  • January 15 - Applications open
  • February 15 - Applications due
  • March - Award decisions rendered
  • April - Pre-summer training and preparation for ethical engagement
  • June-August - Student internships, paired with guided activities and reflection facilitated by the Lang Center
  • September - Reconvene and share experience with campus community
  • Spring - evaluate applications for next year

All applicants are required to have a summer funding advising session with a Lang Center Associate or Lang Center staff member before submitting an application through the Lang Center Common App.

Eligibility & Requirements

Students are encouraged to look through our Lang Center Summer Grants Handbook for complete information about eligibility and other requirements.

Resources

Finding an Internship Placement

Current Swarthmore students are invited to utilize our Social Impact Organizations Database (login required)—which provides information on 300+ organizations at which Swarthmore students have had impactful experiences in the recent past—to research potential host organizations. Please note that these organizations operate independently of Swarthmore College and their appearance on this map is not an official endorsement of the organization.

In addition to supporting students who identify their own internship placements, the Lang Center cultivates partnerships with organizations that offer placements to Swarthmore students on a regular basis. These include:

  • Eviction Lab at Princeton (supported by the Robbins/Chang Big Data and Social Change/Liberal Arts fellowship) 
  • Equity Research and Innovation Center at Yale
  • Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS) - Philadelphia
  • Puentes de Salud
  • Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting (through the Pulitzer Center Reporting Fellowship)
  • Washington Office of Latin America (in collaboration with Prof. Nanci Buiza and the Latin American Studies Program)

Named Grants

The SISS program administers a number of named grants. Students interested in pursuing opportunities that may fall within the parameters of one of these named grants are particularly encouraged to apply. These include:

  • using big data in the service of social change or liberal arts
  • exploring how the arts can be used for social change
  • addressing issues related to urban inequalities 
  • environmental preservation and climate action
  • supporting community-based organizations in Africa

A complete list of named awards is available as an appendix in our Lang Center Summer Grant Handbook.

SISS Contact

Katie Price

Senior Associate Director, Lang Center for Civic & Social Responsibility

Lang Center for Civic & Social Responsibility

Contact

  1. Phone: (610) 328-7780
  2. Lang Center for Civic & Social Responsibility 201

Links

  1. Profile
Headshot of Katie Price