Khalia Parish, senior in urban studies, named Newman Civic Fellow

Campus Compact has chosen senior KHALIA PARISH as a 2013 Newman Civic Fellow. Parish joins other student leaders across the United States, who are honored because of their commitment to addressing social issues in their communities over a sustained period of time. During her four years at Stanford, Parish has devoted her research and energy to studying homelessness.

The Newman Civic Fellows are named for the late FRANK NEWMAN, co-founder of Campus Compact and founding member of the National Advisory Board of the Haas Center for Public Service. In 2013, 181 student leaders from 36 states have been named Newman Fellows, who are nominated by their university presidents.

Parish has volunteered at several homeless shelters in the Bay Area, including Hotel de Zink through the student-led organization Night Outreach to the Homeless. She has worked to understand homelessness and poverty from a variety of perspectives, including through the lenses of history, sociology, psychology and urban studies.

In the summer of 2011, Parish interned at the Santa Clara County Department of Mental Health, where she worked with their coordinator for homelessness concerns. During the summer, her work involved interviewing homeless individuals, researching and writing policy reports and observing the workings of the county agency.

Parish’s senior research project is studying new and more ethical ways of addressing homelessness. Having understood the importance of building the self-efficacy of homeless people, Parish focused her project on a shelter in Berkeley with an innovative, cooperative model. After graduation, Parish plans to pursue a dual master’s degree in social work and public policy and eventually work in the field of homeless policy.

Campus Compact is a national coalition of university presidents committed to educating and developing civic engagement and social responsibility on university campuses. The Newman Civic Fellows Awards are made possible through the generous support of the KPMG Foundation.

—JOY LEIGHTON, Haas Center for Public Service