What is Seminary Summer?
Seminary Summer is a 10-week internship being sponsored by the AFL-CIO and the Interfaith Worker Justice. It gives seminarians, novices, rabbinical and Muslim graduate students and other future religious leaders the opportunity to witness worker struggles for a voice in the workplace and work with religious, community and union activists to build support for workers organizing unions. Seminary Summer began in 2000 and ;now has graduated more than 115 students. It is a track of the Union Summer program, which has graduated more than 2,000 activists since 1996.

Why Seminary Summer?
The crisis that we face in this country in terms of economic disparity, corporate greed and injustices to workers demands attention from all of us—unions, government, community and religious institutions. There are those who attend religious training schools who seek to find ways to include worker justice in their ministries. And more and more, labor and religion are teaming up to fight workers' causes—together. Seminary Summer provides an opportunity to further this mission.

What are the qualifications for participating in Seminary Summer?
Seminary Summer participants must be enrolled in a religious training facility at the time of application. They also must be committed to social justice, willing to work relatively independently, able to communicate with a broad range of people, work sometimes long and unpredictable schedules and be flexible.

What will participants do?
The bulk of what Seminary Summer participants do will center around developing skills and helping workers in their fight for workplace justice, while reflecting on how their experience fits into their beliefs and doctrine. This will include working with unions on organizing or first-contract campaigns, which may include visiting workers to find out what they'd like to change about their workplaces, participating in marches and demonstrations or organizing picket lines. It also will include working with religious, community and union activists to build alliances that will help workers in their fight for workplace justice. Throughout their internship, participants will receive guidance and instruction to enhance their work and should actively reflect on their experience. Some participants may also receive academic credit from their institutions.

Will Seminary Summer participants get paid?
Seminary Summer offers a weekly stipend of $300 per week to cover meals and other incidental expenses. Transportation to and from Chicago will be covered, but local transportation and housing costs (if the student relocates) will be borne by the local site placements.

When and where will Seminary Summer take place?
Seminary Summer will not be held in 2006. Please check back for summer 2007.