Meet Our 2026 Fall Interns!

This fall, our office at two incredible interns supporting our work in the 48th Ward: Ella and Charles! Read more about them and their projects below.

Ella: Ella Mattingly is with our office as a UChicago Social Work Fellow. Ella is a a first-year student in a two-year Master's in Social Work program at the Crown Family School of UChicago. They graduated with a BA in Religion from Oberlin College of Arts and Sciences in Spring 2024.  Ella has lived in Chicago for two years, residing in the Logan Square and Austin neighborhoods. Since graduating, Ella has been working as a preschool teacher and a permaculturist. Some of Ella's current interests are social dancing, mutual aid work, and urban natural space development. In this role they will work in human services and resource navigation.

Charles: Charles is an Urban Planning / Infrastructure intern with the 48th Ward Office. He is a recent graduate from Loyola University Chicago with a Bachelor of Science in Data Science, and a minor in Urban Studies. He is currently an Urban Research Fellow at Loyola’s Center for Urban Research and Learning, working on database management projects addressing economic development and workforce skill training. He aspires to be at the intersection of technology and urban planning, utilizing machine learning and data analysis techniques to inform policy and research that serve the communities we live in.

Thank you to our fall interns - we're so glad to have you on board!