BLOOMINGTON, Ill. — A group of six Illinois Wesleyan University students is spending the summer interning at local west side nonprofits and learning about community challenges that are no longer abstract concepts discussed in classrooms.
As part of the Neighborhood Investment Fellowship summer program, the students recently toured The Bridge, an innovative homeless shelter village in Bloomington operated by Home Sweet Home Ministries. The visit gave students an opportunity to see firsthand how local organizations are addressing housing insecurity through people-centered solutions.
The experience was one of several site visits built into the summer fellowship program led by Deborah Halperin, director of Center for Engaged Learning.
For psychology major Neveah Porter ‘28, touring the homeless shelter village gave her a fresh viewpoint on an issue she has personal experience with.
“What stood out to me was the whole idea of having the individual cabins at The Bridge,” Porter said. “I’ve always seen homelessness in a traditional shelter setting, where people are living dorm-style. It was really awesome to see a place that serves people who need their own space or who might not be comfortable in that type of environment.”
Porter grew up in an area with significant housing insecurity and experienced periods of unstable housing herself. She said it was encouraging to see The Bridge’s philosophy of meeting people where they are rather than treating homelessness as a problem to be fixed. For her, visiting a homeless shelter village reinforced a major value of receiving an Illinois Wesleyan education: experiential learning.
“In a classroom, you read about things in a textbook,” Porter said. “But when you actually go out and see people, you see the parts that aren't in the textbook.”
The homeless shelter village tour highlighted the importance of community engagement for political science major Emma Kudelka ‘27. She has studied housing insecurity and food deserts through Illinois Wesleyan's minor in advocacy, and said seeing The Bridge in person provided her with a new perspective.
“It was different to actually experience it,” Kudelka said. “It’s really important for Illinois Wesleyan students to get out into the community and see the people who are facing the issues we’re learning about because it humanizes them when you’re actually there.”
Both Kudelka and Porter said the summer fellowship has helped them understand what it means to be an engaged citizen.
“You can’t be engaged in something you don’t understand,” Kudelka said. “Being an engaged citizen means educating yourself, understanding the different people who make up your community and continuing to learn.”
As the Neighborhood Investment Fellows continue their summer internships, visits such as the one to The Bridge demonstrate how Illinois Wesleyan’s commitment to experiential learning helps students connect theory to practice. The students are developing the skills and perspective needed to address complex societal challenges long after graduation.
“The fellowship makes me feel really inspired after I’m done with my workday,” Kudelka said. “We’re getting into the community and learning from it. That’s what makes my experience meaningful.”