Johnson Intern Program

Watson A. Bowes, Jr., Chair, Board of Directors and the Rev. Susan Gladin, Executive Director

The Johnson Intern Program, which began in 2000 under the sponsorship of the Chapel of the Cross, is now in its 8th year of service to our community. The program provides young adults a post-baccalaureate opportunity to serve a 10-month working experience in local partnership
organizations committed to social justice combined with leadership training, spiritual formation in the Servant- Leadership model, and life in an intentional Christian community.

During 2007, the program recruited eight interns who began their work in September necessitating a move to larger community living space in Carrboro. When these interns complete their service in June 2008, 35 young adults will have served in the program.

Having become a non-profit corporation with tax exempt status under Section 501(c)(3) of the U.S. Tax Code, the program is governed by a board of directors, appointed by the rector. The Rev. Susan Gladin, Executive Director, and Solita Denard, Associate Director, design and conduct the leadership training for the interns and, in many cases, offer opportunities for the larger community to learn along with the interns. A number of parishioners are active in the program by serving on the board of directors, being mentors for the interns, participating in the leadership training programs, and as financial contributors. Although, theChapel of the Cross, it still retains strong ties and affiliations with the parish. In addition to having its office in the church, the program is actively supported, financially and otherwise, by the vestry.

The Johnson Intern Program received a three-year award from the Trinity Grants Program (Trinity Wall Street Episcopal Church) to support the development of its curriculum for spiritual formation using the Servant Leadership model. Additional financial support came from several other sources, including payments from the partner organizations that employ the interns, the Strowd Roses Foundation. Generous individual contributors continue to be a primary source of support.

During the past year, there was increased visibility among similar programs both within the Episcopal Church and beyond. Our program planned and hosted the national retreat of Episcopal Young Adult Domestic Intern Programs in January 2007. In addition, our director was invited to participate in a national consortium on Young Adult Ministries hosted by the Trinity Wall Street Grants Program in Connecticut. The Johnson Intern Program also became one of two Episcopal programs invited to participate in the Fund for Theological Education’s Volunteers Exploring Vocation program.

While being closely affiliated with the Chapel of the Cross, the Johnson Intern Program is inter-denominational in its leadership, its recruitment of interns, and its service to the community. Roman Catholic, Methodist, Baptist, Quaker, Lutheran, Mennonite, Episcopal, and Evangelical are among the faith backgrounds of current and past interns. All of the partnership organizations in which the interns are placed have a mission dedicated to social justice. Susan Gladin

(from 2007 Annual Report)