Natalie Hernandez was sitting at a student networking event at the 2023 Population Association of America conference in New Orleans when she received a very important email.
“I had my phone out on top of the table and I saw the (email) notification. I was about to flip my phone back but then I saw it was the NYC Urban Fellows Program. I’m like, I need to open it!” Hernandez laughed. “Was this a wise choice? Because what if they said no? I’d just be sad in the middle of (the program organizer’s) speech.”
She opened it – no need to be sad. She had just been accepted into the New York City Urban Fellows program, a competitive fellowship that picks 25 students from across the United States to work for nine months in the New York City government. It had been daunting for Hernandez to apply knowing that there would be strong competition: Previous fellows hailed from Ivy League institutions and other prestigious universities.
Hernandez made eye contact with her friend across the table and silently mouthed the words, “I got in!”
“And then she starts screaming in excitement,” Hernandez laughed. “The speaker let me step out of the room to call my parents and tell them the news. I did and we were all crying with happiness.”
That conference was in April, 2023. By September, Hernandez had graduated from UW-Milwaukee with a bachelor’s degree in urban studies and a certificate in urban planning, found two other NYC fellows to room with, and packed up and moved to New York City.
A start in urban governance
The NYC Urban Fellows Program introduces young people interested in city government to the finer workings of a major metropolis by giving them jobs within the many agencies that comprise New York City’s government. The fellowship lasts for nine months, though fellows can – and Hernandez has – extend their stay. Fellows are paid a $31,563 stipend to cover their rent and other expenses as they live and work in America’s largest city.
In addition to working their 9-5, the fellows participate in weekly seminars where they can listen to various experts speak on topics of interest and meet with their cohort to air grievances, brainstorm solutions to any challenges they may face, and socialize with their friends.
Hernandez, who has one month left on the job, works with New York City’s Department for the Aging, which provides services for NYC’s older residents. Working in this agency wasn’t exactly what Hernandez had in mind when she started the fellowship, but the placement has turned out to be a better fit than she ever imagined.
“It’s always fun to work in a placement that you had no idea what it was … because you learn so much,” Hernandez said. “My supervisor and coworkers greatly contributed in making this such a great experience.”
As part of her job, Hernandez was tasked with compiling a 34-page report about data relating to healthy longevity to help inform policymakers about issues impacting older New Yorkers, and how they can be addressed.
She was nervous at first; she was a fresh graduate and certainly didn’t feel like a knowledgeable government worker.
“It took some time for me to adjust and trust my skills enough … but now we’re hitting the ground running. Now seeing my work more completed, the more settled in I have felt and I’ve got more confidence,” Hernandez said.
It helps that Hernandez has personal experience with aging and caregiving: She is from the suburbs of Chicago and lives in a multi-generational household, where she watched her mother be a caregiver to her grandmother. Hernandez says she has also thought about the day when she might become a caregiver to her parents.
In addition to compiling reports, Hernandez is now helping with the community outreach portion of a service needs-assessment survey for NYC’s older residents and their caregivers. The Department for the Aging wants to know more about their constituents. Do they rely on someone to take them to doctors appointments? Do they have an active social life? Do they get enough physical activity?
The answers to those questions are important, Hernandez says, because it will help the agency determine how to tailor its services so that more people can access them and gain a better quality of life and age in place.
Aid from UWM professors
She’ll have to wrap up her work soon, though; Hernandez returns from NYC after her lease ends in September. After that, she hopes to find another role in city government so that she can gain experience and start saving money for graduate school.
If it seems like a daunting task, Hernandez knows that she has people in her corner. She reflects fondly on her time at UWM, and especially the professors who supported her throughout her years of college. In fact, her professors were so supportive that they helped her apply to the NYC Fellows Program with barely a week’s notice; Hernandez learned about the program’s existence one week before the deadline for applications. She frantically emailed her professors and her alumna mentor, who were able to provide her the letters of recommendation required for submission in time.
She hopes that now that she’s done it, other students at UWM will learn about the NYC Fellows Program and perhaps apply themselves. She has advice for anybody who might be interested: “Go for it. Trust yourself. The worst that can happen is you don’t get in – but what if you do?”
She also says that the NYC Fellows Program lifted the veil of New York City. The Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building, Broadway, Times Square, and all the streets in between them function thanks to an unseen but dedicated army of civil servants who make sure that the city runs smoothly from day-to-day.
Someday, Hernandez might rejoin their ranks.
By Sarah Vickery, College of Letters & Science