Hopeprint’s Social Media Maker

Newhouse student, Kate Brennan ’22, ran the social media accounts of Hopeprint, an organization that runs programs designed to build community and empower refugee families in Syracuse. As part of Kate’s work as the social media specialist, she attended the Hopeprint programs on Mondays and Wednesdays to volunteer and interact with the children and families involved.

“This experience contributed to my understanding of civic engagement by teaching me about the human side of it,” Kate said. “I got to know so many of the people that the organization was helping. The remarkable thing was that most of the program coordinators lived in the refugee neighborhoods they were working in. They said that in order to truly, effectively activate a neighborhood, you have to believe in it enough to live in it yourself. In subsequent experiences, I will look for this same kind of wholehearted belief in whatever organization I am volunteering with.”