Meet Valerie Sanchez Covaleda, the 2022 Providence Justice Summer Fellow
The Initiative on Cities (IOC) is proud to announce that Valerie Sanchez Covaleda has been selected as the 2022 City of Providence’s Justice Summer Fellow. Valerie will spend the summer working with the city’s
Office of Sustainability and supporting the implementation of the strategies, policies, and programs outlined in Providence’s Climate Justice Plan.
Valerie is a rising junior studying International Relations on the Pre-Law track. She was born and raised in Chicago, and her parents are immigrants from Mexico and Colombia. In high school, Valerie became interested in advocacy work and diplomacy on an international scale, and this, with her background and passion for social justice, has pushed her to pursue a career as an attorney. Outside of classes at BU, most of her time on campus is spent working at the Newbury Center, a resource center for first-generation students like herself, and on BU’s Mock Trial team. In her free time, Valerie enjoys photography, reading, and yoga.
We asked Valerie a few questions about her interest in working with the City of Providence and what she’s looking forward to:
Amelia (IOC): Why did you choose to apply for this fellowship and how did you hear about it?
Valerie: I chose to apply for this fellowship for a few reasons. When I saw an opportunity for a justice fellowship, I was immediately interested because I want to go to law school, and I’ve always been passionate about issues relating to systemic inequalities. This fellowship seemed like the perfect experience to both learn more about climate justice specifically and be involved in implementing solutions to improve these issues. I also saw that in this fellowship I would be working with a Spanish-speaking community, which I was drawn to because I’m Latina, from the same type of community. Last summer, I was able to use my language skills professionally by working at a legal aid clinic, which I really enjoyed and wanted to do again. I learned about this opportunity through a newsletter from the Women in Law club.
How did you first become interested in municipal governance?
I became interested in municipal governance because I come from a major city with a lot of current issues within the city and the city government. Over time, I’ve seen that a lot of the problems that most impact people’s lives on a day-to-day basis can usually only be addressed by communities coming together to change something on the governmental level. Growing up in a place made up of 50 municipal wards, I’ve seen firsthand how important it is that all municipal governments and services come together to ensure that everything is working effectively and fairly in all communities. Everything that occurs in these individual municipalities seems to be small-scaled, but it has a larger impact on communities and reflects greatly on the city as a whole.
What are you most looking forward to about this summer?
I’m most looking forward to working hands-on on a project that will truly help make Providence a more sustainable and equitable place to live. I think that with everything going on with climate change, it’s difficult to see what can be done to reverse the damage, so I’m also looking forward to learning more about what goes into each step of implementing change with both community and local government involvement.