UMass Boston

The Elaine Werby Public Service Internship provides financial assistance to a UMass Boston student who wishes to gain professional experience in the area of research and evaluation related to social and economic justice. The internship will engage a student with a directed work assignment within a CSP project or with an independent research project closely related to a CSP priority.

Werby Interns assist with researching and grant writing for new opportunities. When these opportunities materialize, new Werby Interns staff the projects and grow from the experience. This provides practical training in grant writing, project design and management, reporting, and community-engaged research that cannot be taught solely in the classroom.

The Werby Internship program hosts a number of students dedicated to social justice and public service each year. Werby Interns work on a variety of projects and programs. Recent interns have contributed to the Dorchester Food Cooperative Evaluation, a Guaranteed Basic Income Pilot Program, and Offshore Wind Industry Workforce Programs.

Meet Tayla, Werby Intern

Tayla Dunne-Duarte joined the Elaine Werby Internship program in 2024 while earning her Master's Degree in Conflict Resolution from UMass Boston.

During her internship, Tayla, a Boston native, worked closely with the Center for Social Policy on a variety of projects, including their pioneer research on the cliff effect.

Hands-On Experience

Contributing directly to the CSP's research, Tayla evaluated various initiatives that seek out the center's support. She drafted research methodology for collecting and analyzing data to deliver feedback on the efficacy of those programs.

During her internship, Tayla also assisted her supervisor, Dr. Crandall, in submitting grant proposals for the National Endowment of Financial Education.

Key Learnings & Takeaways

Upon graduation, Tayla plans to use her degree and experience to work on the frontlines of the public sector working directly with individuals who are struggling with housing instability, financial wellness and inclusion, and economic mobility. She also hopes to work towards expanding access to education through the National Guard as a solution to these issues.

Elaine Werby (1921–2016) earned her MSW at Boston College in 1966. After graduation, she joined the staff of the Boston Housing Authority, where she collaborated with her colleagues to make the program racially integrated. She was a community organizer in Boston housing projects during the civil rights era.

Beginning in the early 1970s, first as a professor of community planning and human services at UMass Boston's College of Public and Community Service (CPCS) and, then, as a senior research fellow at the Center for Social Policy, Werby’s professional focus was to ensure that Boston’s citizens, particularly those from low-income backgrounds, have access to good homes.

Werby’s early career working with low-income populations and nonprofit service organizations augmented her expertise on social service delivery and public housing. Her keen ability to connect research to practice was widely recognized. Twice she was appointed by Massachusetts governors to serve on the commonwealth’s mortgage board and she served as chair of both Family Services of Greater Boston and the Jewish Community Housing for the Elderly. She came to CPCS to offer a practitioner’s perspective to students and relished that role until she retired in 1993.

After a brief hiatus, she returned to the Center for Social Policy as a senior research fellow where she worked into her nineties. Over the years she was involved in a number of the center’s major housing studies, research on the utilization of food stamps in Massachusetts, and the effects of welfare reform on nonprofit agencies.

In a wonderful tribute to her life, the Boston Globe writes that "Mrs. Werby helped shape the city's public housing policies for decades."

Her lasting touch is everywhere at the center where she has served as a dynamic and insightful mentor. Student learning meant more to her than anything else.

The Center for Social Policy is affiliated with the John W. McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies in the College of Liberal Arts.