Having been one of its first participants, Selina Stone now co-ordinates CTC’s Buxton Leadership Programme. In this blog she introduces this year’s participants.
The Programme has kicked off its fourth year with energy and excitement! We have three brilliant interns who are going to be with us for the whole year practicing community organising in local communities while also working in Westminster.
Here is a little bit about each of them …
Dunstan Rodrigues (pictured left):
“Hi, I’m Dunstan – I was raised in South East London and my family are originally from Goa, India. I have studied History at Cambridge and Law at City University and have worked as a youth worker, tutor and charity volunteer. I am Catholic and will be doing my church placement in the Catholic Parish of Manor Park. I look forward to helping my parish address housing issues, build alliances with nearby places of worship, and support new leaders. My political placement is with Christians in Politics, with whom I will equip Christians across the country to engage in politics.”
Shermara Fletcher (pictured right):
“My name is Shermara and I am coming from a Pentecostal church in the city of Birmingham. I run a charity in Birmingham which focuses on homeless intervention and I have recently graduated from the University of Birmingham. My community organising placement will be with the University of East London. My Westminster placement is at the Good Faith Partnership.”
Josh Richards (pictured centre):
“I grew up as part of a large Episcopal church in Edinburgh, before heading to Oxford to study History and Politics. After my first year at Oxford, I took part in the CTC summer internship and was based at St John’s, Hoxton. Having enjoyed the internship- as well as the challenge of trying to apply what I’d learnt in my college and as part of Just Love, Oxford-, I thought I’d come back for some more! I’ll be community organising with St John’s and working as a parliamentary assistant for the Bishop of Durham in the House of Lords.”