Evan Caulfield ’26 applies his urban and environmental policy education in the service of aiding refugees during a summer-long internship in Greece
Growing up in New England, Houston, and San Diego—three disparate regions impacted by segregation, the oil and gas industries, and the low-wage border economy, respectively—Evan Caulfield ’26 observed the results of “toxic” public policies “everywhere, all the time.” Although he and his family were not personally impacted, he says, “It comes to a point where you just can’t look away.”
When Caulfield was applying to colleges, he wanted to study public policy and economics, and Occidental offered the opportunity to engage critically with a variety of public policy issues in a liberal arts setting in a large, politically complex city. “That urban environment, on its own, made Occidental a uniquely great choice for me,” he says.
As he took courses on L.A. politics, environmental law, and reimagining public safety, Caulfield’s interest in urban and housing policy impacts only grew. In 2024, the Urban and Environmental Policy (UEP) Department placed him in a three-month summer internship at the Los Angeles Community Action Network, an organization on Skid Row, on the front lines of the city’s housing crisis.
Last summer, Caulfield applied his L.A.-based academic experiences to a more global context. He was one of six 鶹Ƶ students to participate in the inaugural Global Immigration Rights and Social Justice internship in Greece, a 10-week program that gives interns the resources to gain hands-on experience with host organizations that provide refugee support and humanitarian aid. The program is funded anonymously and supervised by Professors Mary Christianakis (critical theory and social justice) and Movindri Reddy (diplomacy and world affairs).
In Athens, Greece, Caulfield interned with SolidarityNow, a nonprofit that supports vulnerable populations through free legal and employment services, education, and other resources. The organization works predominantly with Athens’ refugee population, many of whom are unaccompanied minors.
Caulfield primarily served as an English teacher, employment services provider, and translator. He worked with a group of francophone refugees, mostly men from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Senegal, who needed to learn English to enter the local job market. He also assisted the organization’s sole French-speaking translator in providing language support for asylum applications, the legal clinic, and employment services.
It was difficult work and “emotionally taxing,” Caulfield admits, but he would “absolutely” recommend the internship, which will return next summer, to rising juniors and seniors. “I wanted to globalize my understanding of injustice, and I absolutely achieved that,” he says. “If you have a willingness to listen and a genuine passion for this kind of work, it will be the experience of a lifetime.”
Back at 鶹Ƶ, Caulfield is interning with the Southern California Association of Nonprofit Housing, an organization that facilitates affordable housing development. While his current work is more removed from on-the-ground issues, “My experience in Greece serves as my reminder of the human side of what policy failures look like,” he says. “With that reference, my work holds a level of urgency that can’t be overstated.”
Caulfield is confident that his UEP major will be applicable to his career interests, which include urban agriculture, community organizing, policy analysis, urban and environmental planning, and now teaching. “I feel privileged to have been able to study here, within an academic model that puts people and community at its forefront,” he says.
His biggest takeaway from his Global Immigration Rights and Social Justice internship experience is the idea that collectivism is as much of a human instinct as individualism. “In the United States, we often default to being overly concerned with our own success and prosperity without concern for how that occurs at the expense of other people,” he says. “I found that people in Greece generally do not operate that way, and that it fosters a sense of community in something as simple and general as shared lived experience. In other words, ‘We’re all people, we’re all in this together, so let’s act like it.’”
Top photo: From left, 鶹Ƶ seniors and Global Immigrant Rights and Social Justice in Greece interns Baden Baadarani-Feeney, Evan Canfield, and Vadim Fedutinov grab some street food after dark.
above: Sightseeing near the Temple of Poseidon at Cape Sounion.
