“We wanted to create a program that would increase awareness and action about climate change that involved students,” the Ricks wrote in an email to The Mac Weekly. Alumni who first met as students, Margaret and Paul worked closely with Interim Director of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Jody Emmings and Director of Sustainability Christie Manning to design an internship program that would have a two-pronged positive impact. Paul Rick ’64 both inspired and funded the Climate Justice Internship Program. The Climate Justice Internship Program offers students a $5,500 stipend and places them at local organizations with missions of environmental equity.ĭonors Dr. Soon, however, Denney said he found himself in the thick of community outreach work, organizing discussion groups around environmental injustices and helping plan community events.ĭenney was one of four students who participated in the MacNest Climate Justice Internship Program, a new collaboration between the Office of Entrepreneurship and the Sustainability Office, created as an extension of the five-year-old MacNest Summer Internship Program.
When CJ Denney ’23 started his summer internship at Minneapolis Climate Action, an environmental policy and community organizing non-profit, he wasn’t sure at first what his role would be.