Deloris Wilson, JJF Intern

As part of our series on the Juvenile Justice Fund (JJF) Internship Program, I spoke with Deloris Wilson to learn more about her work with our organization. Deloris is the Center to End Adolescent Sexual Exploitation (CEASE) Intern at JJF. She is a junior at Spelman College, where she majors in Political Science.

Why did you choose JJF? I choose JJF because I was first exposed to CSEC [commercial sexual exploitation of children] while in Ghana last semester and I worked with children who were victims of that kind of abuse. And then I read what JJF was about and wanted to get involved.

Were you always interested in work that involves helping people? Yes. My dad inspired me to pursue a career in public service. He did a lot of work in housing developments and my mom is a teacher, which is definitely a service role, so I was encouraged from a young age. And I’ve been able to expand on that while I’ve been in college.

Have you done other internships? Last summer I interned in the office of Congressman David Scott in DC. I’ve interned at the Golden House Domestic Shelter in Wisconsin and I’ve interned in risk management at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Green Bay, Wisconsin. And also I did area development at the United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta.

What has been your most meaningful internship experience so far? Why? So far I would say my internship with Congressman David Scott, because I was able to learn a lot about policy and politics and how our government works. I was able to learn a lot and apply everything I had learned before and after to that experience. I want to go into politics at some point so I was able to get an idea of what it’s like and what I need to do to get there. It inspired me to become more involved in advocacy and seeing what I can do to create change on a legislative level rather than just participating in small community events. Those are great, but high level change has to come from the government.

Can you tell us a little bit about your study abroad experience in Ghana? I studied through NYU [New York University] in Ghana. I took four courses and we had excursions almost every weekend to different parts of Ghana. I did volunteer work, primarily with City of Refuge, an orphanage that works primarily with victims of CSEC and labor trafficking. I also worked with the Human Rights Advocacy Center, which deals with the legal side of anything you can imagine. It was really interesting because Ghana is a developing nation and they are having to balance their new democracy with tribal customs.

What have you been working on since you started your internship in January? I’m primarily working on a focus group for CEASE—I’ve planned my own workshop on professional development for the girls and researched different literary materials for the Voices Circle. I also attended a CSEC Prevention Task Force meeting.

What will you be discussing in the professional development workshop? Personal branding, basically how you advertise yourself, how you get your morals and values across. And that has to do with how you dress, your presence in a room. Confidence and how that affects your public speaking and ways to improve your confidence. How you communicate through your body language, what you communicate with your clothing–are you dressed professionally, or like you’re going to the movies. Resume writing—what to include, what not to include, why resumes are important and how to design one.

What are you hoping to gain from your internship? I want to gain an understanding of what we can truly do to impact the issue of CSEC. I’m looking for long term impact and I know that the focus groups will really make a difference. I’d like more experience in project development, which I’m getting from creating the workshop.

Why do you think the focus groups will be successful? Because they allow the girls to just express themselves. Anytime you go through a difficult situation, if you keep things inside, you can’t progress. The first step is admitting the issue or situation, recognizing the situation you’re in and then you can figure out what to do. The girls can relate to each other and the facilitators are familiar with these situations. It’s a welcoming environment where free discussion can go back and forth, allowing the girls to change paths into the right direction.

What are you hoping to do after you graduate? I hope to pursue a joint juris doctorate and a master’s in public policy and international relations. I want to go straight into graduate school from undergrad. I’d eventually like to pursue a career in international human rights law.

Do you think your experience in Ghana impacted your desire to pursue a career in international human rights law? Definitely, definitely. Before, I was focused on domestic policy, in every kind of sector you can imagine. After going to Ghana and seeing that in this day and age, atrocities like that happen to people and then seeing that even in the United States, basic rights are violated, that inspired me to want to work abroad, but also at home.  It actually really opened my eyes to all the problems at home.

Allison Hood is the Internship Coordinator at the Juvenile Justice Fund.