Facilitating Student Safety in Communities: Applying an International Model in an Urban U. S. City

Most professional schools now offer internships or externships in which students work with disadvantaged populations, both internationally and within close proximity to the anchor institutions. These placements are often located within underserved or challenged communities with whom the universities or organizations play an important role. In these community-based immersion experiences, students learn pivotal real-life lessons that can be critical to their career development as well as to their development of empathic skills and professional attitudes. Critical to effective learning in these settings are students’ safety and knowledge about the places where they may be working. Student comfort levels are enhanced if these educational institutions are able to adequately prepare them before they begin an internship or externship. This preparation is not only important to the academic and professional success of the student, but it also adds value for the participants and communities where the students will be providing services and learning. Internships often require students to be in new, different, and unfamiliar surroundings, which they may perceive as less safe and secure than those with which they are more familiar. For example, in nursing school education, students most often are placed in hospitals for their clinical rotations. However, for their final clinical rotation, students are required to work in community-based settings, such as a subsidized senior housing complex in a low-income neighborhood. In these settings, students are expected to build supportive relationships with their clients, patients, and/or community members, as part of their learning experience. Working in communities that differ