Embark on a Journey of Change: Community Development Internships

A community development internship offers a unique opportunity to contribute to society, gain invaluable skills, and experience personal fulfillment. It's a chance to be part of something bigger, working alongside dedicated individuals to create positive change within communities. If you are curious about social change and ready to act upon this concern, this kind of experience might be a good opportunity for you.

Who Should Consider a Community Development Internship?

These internships are well-suited for students majoring in disciplines like business, anthropology, or social/sustainable development, as well as recent graduates seeking relevant work experience. The ideal candidate appreciates the mission of grassroots initiatives and enjoys connecting with diverse members of society, including children and refugees.

What You'll Gain

Community development internships provide first-hand experience that offers knowledge unattainable from a guidebook; it’s only acquired when experienced. The list is endless! A few include communication skills, strategy planning, and event management. On a more personal level, you’ll learn the values necessary in a flourishing society, like empathy and acceptance. Not to mention, you’ll discover how an NGO collaborates with its community and other stakeholders. So, dive in! We guarantee there’ll be unexpected lessons learned along the way.

Professional Skills: Interns develop a range of valuable skills, including communication, strategy planning, and event management.
Personal Growth: These internships foster empathy, acceptance, and a deeper understanding of societal needs.
Real-World Experience: Gain firsthand knowledge of how NGOs operate and collaborate with communities.

Opportunities and Examples

Community Development Internships provide students with the chance to apply what they learn in class to benefit communities. You can help us make a big impact in our neighborhoods and create a new generation of Baltimore community development leaders with your support.

Ascendant Neighborhood Development

Ascendant is a non-profit community development organization headquartered in East Harlem.

Read also: About Grossmont Community College

HUD Intern Program

The Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Interns Program is always interested in finding talented people who have the skills needed to meet our future employment needs. Through a variety of programs, the HUD Intern Program is designed to help recruit and attract exceptional individuals to a broad spectrum of occupations within HUD.

Preservation Interns

Preservation Interns, by means of programs and outreach, support and communicate PPS’s public message regarding the importance of historic preservation in Providence.

Community Development Internship Program (Schaefer Center for Public Policy)

The Community Development Internship Program-housed in the Schaefer Center for Public Policy-gives dynamic, motivated students who have a strong interest in effecting positive change in urban areas the opportunity to strengthen their leadership skills and gain hands-on development experience. By matching students with organizations that directly support Baltimore neighborhoods, this grant-funded internship program aims to improve the city while cultivating the next generation of community development leaders.

NextGen Leaders for Public Service

Community Development interns are part of the NextGen Leaders for Public Service, which supports paid internships in government and nonprofit organizations in Maryland. As students explore careers in public service, internship opportunities are available with Maryland government and nonprofit partner host sites.

Interns are matched with a community-based organization in the city, such as the Baltimore Main Streets program or a public-private partnership dedicated to economic or community-development work. Specific projects are determined by the host sites based on organizational needs but may include community outreach, special events and other daily work that aligns with interns’ abilities and goals. Interns work anywhere from 10 to 20 hours per week and earn $15.00 per hour. Internships are awarded on a semester basis and are 15 weeks in length.

Personal Experiences

Mohammad Adeel Abbas: Mohammad applied to be part of UB’s Community Development Internship Program, he was looking to build upon his past experiences in community development. His job in Pakistan gave him a chance to engage with underprivileged populations, ensure their needs were met and justice was served for them. Through the Internship, Mohammad is working with Waverly Main Street, a non-profit group dedicated to creating a thriving commercial district in the Baltimore neighborhood of Waverly. He has also helped with efforts to prepare the community for the Census. “Coming from a foreign country, Pakistan, this internship provided me the opportunity to engage with different communities of Baltimore,” says Mohammad. and get their problems addressed.
Kaleena Weathers: Kaleena Weathers, an MPA student at UB, is working with Sisters Saving the City as part of the Community Development Internship Program. The group aims to empower youth living in the Baltimore’s Park Heights neighborhood. “I wanted to work with Sisters Saving the City because they work with children and align with the mission of my own of bettering a community and providing resources for the people of that community,” she says. The internship opportunity has also helped Kaleena apply what she’s learning in her classes in a practical way.
Daniel Khoshkepazi: Daniel Khoshkepazi learned about the Community Development Internship Program from a brochure. Daniel, an M.A. in Global Affairs and Human Security student, was working the front desk for the Rosenberg Center for Student Involvement as part of his graduate student assistantship, when Tiffany Green, the internship coordinator, dropped off the brochures to help with recruitment. “My favorite part so far has been working with my director Kim and my coworker, Frieda [Ulman]. They’re amazing. I feel like I have never been able to build this close and a personal relationship with coworkers who are higher up,” Daniel says. “Since the first day, they’ve done everything they can to include me in every part of the operations that are present in Pigtown Main Street.” Through the internship, Daniel participates in various committee meetings and gets to offer input when decisions are made for upcoming events, such as offering ideas for giveaways. It doesn’t feel like a typical internship, he says. “I 100 percent feel like a staff member.
Grow America: At Grow America, we’ve always known that communities grow through opportunity. We’re proud to be one of the country’s first community and economic development nonprofits. Since that time, we’ve worked with thousands of communities in all 50 states and Puerto Rico, providing technical advisory services, professional training, affordable housing investments, small business financing, strategic planning, and direct developer services.

Housing Development Internship Program (HDIP)

The Housing Development Internship Program (HDIP) is a 9 month, part-time, paid internship program that aims to provide a launch pad for college and graduate students from communities of color seeking a career in affordable housing development.

Finding the Right Internship

The following online databases are good places to look for organizations, government agencies, and companies that work on urban issues.

General Job Boards

Indeed: Consistently ranked as one of the best job posting sites worldwide, Indeed is a wise investment for employers. The site attracts millions of candidates each month and its parent company, Recruit Holdings, has recently acquired smaller job boards (and large ones like Glassdoor and SimplyHired) to expand its network. This means your job ads are very likely to reach the right candidates. Indeed offers both paid and free job advertising options.
Careerbuilder: Careerbuilder currently has three pricing plans that you can purchase both monthly and annually. The price mainly depends on the number of job ads you’d like to post. You can also pay per job without purchasing a plan if you have a temporary hiring need.
Glassdoor: Glassdoor is both a popular job board and a powerful employer branding tool. You can use this site to post job ads, build out an attractive company profile and reply to reviews left by your former job candidates or former and existing employees.
Monster: If you ask someone which they think the best job site in the USA is, there’s a very good chance they’d reply with “Monster”. This job board is vastly popular and has three pricing plans to cover your hiring needs. It can also distribute your job ads to newspapers and partner job sites in the USA such as Military.com to help you target the right audience.
Nexxt: You might know it by its former name “Beyond”, but recently revamped Nexxt remains one of the best job boards. This job board might have one of the largest networks of partner job sites in the USA, such as diversity job boards (e.g. DiversityWorkers.com), local job boards (e.g. Bostonjobsite.com) and international job boards (e.g. StepStone).
Resume-library: This Boston-based job site offers a large resume database and job-posting functions. With Resume-library.com, you can search among millions of resumes to find the best candidates in all states and sectors, and you can also post a job ad and get matching resumes. If you’re hiring in the UK, too, check out this job board’s sister site, CV-Library.
Snagajob: Snagajob is a large international job board specializing in hourly work. It includes job ads from various industries including hospitality and retail. Snagajob matches you with qualified applicants out of its 90-million-candidate network, so you can better chances of finding the right hire.
US.jobs: When it comes to job sites in the USA, we can’t ignore US.jobs. By posting job ads in this job board, you can reach candidates through a network of 25,000 niche job sites (e.g. Boston.jobs, Manager.jobs, Manufacturing.jobs). You can also use their services to claim the domain name “yourcompany.jobs”.
ZipRecruiter: ZipRecruiter also scans its database of 16 million candidate profiles to find people with relevant job titles, skills, or experience who would be qualified for your open jobs, and proactively sends them notifications to apply. This helps you get better applicants in a shorter time.
Job2Careers: Job2Careers is a job site visited by millions of job seekers. It’s powered by Talroo, a complete talent attraction solution for employers. By using Talroo, your job ad appears on Job2Careers and other job boards or niche sites, and gets in front of the right audiences via Talroo’s technology.

Nonprofit-Specific Job Boards

PhilanthroSee: A curated job board dedicated to early career roles within the nonprofit sector.
THEIMPACTJOB: THEIMPACTJob shares opportunities within social impact-oriented organizations and delivers career tips, news, and hand-picked jobs through a weekly newsletter.
Work for Good: Since its founding in 1999 as Opportunity Knocks, one of the first job boards focused exclusively on mission-driven careers, Work for Good has helped more than 30,000 purpose-driven organizations find the talent they need.
AFP Global Career Center: A resource for finding opportunities in fundraising and philanthropy.
CharityJob (United Kingdom): The UK’s largest and most specialized job board carrying non-profit, NGO, social enterprise, CIC and voluntary jobs.
Charity Village (Canada): For more than 20 years, CharityVillage has helped thousands of Canadian charities find exceptional talent.
Devex (Worldwide): The media platform and jobs board for the global development community.
Idealist (Worldwide): Idealist connects people who want to do good with employment and volunteer opportunities for action all over the world.

Regional Resources

AFP Eastern Iowa Chapter: Positions posted on the AFP Eastern Iowa Chapter job board are primarily for opportunities in Iowa City, Cedar Rapids and surrounding areas.
AFP Central Iowa Chapter: Positions posted on the AFP Central Iowa Chapter job board are primarily for opportunities in Des Moines, Ames and surrounding areas.
AFP Northeast Chapter: Positions posted on the AFP Northeast Iowa Chapter job board are primarily for opportunities in Cedar Falls, Waterloo and surrounding areas.
Americorps :: CEC: Americorps VISTA staff build capacity with over 40 community partners in East Tennessee. The organization types CEC AmeriCorps assists: Nonprofit, Academic, Faith-Based, Local, State and Federal Government.

Preparing for Your Internship Search

Students will find valuable resources on this page - Guides, Internship Postings, and Links to Job Boards. We have also provided information on how to start a nonprofit and resources for researching salaries and negotiating benefits and pay.

Internship and Career Guides: Begin by downloading the internship or career guide based on your priority. Read through the guide thoroughly, focusing on the resume and cover letter sections initially since you will need a solid resume to apply for opportunities.
Career Communities: Visit the Pomerantz Career Center career communities page to select an advisor that best aligns with your career interests. This affords you more options about who can be helpful if you want to plan a career that aligns with both a nonprofit organization and your interest in a specific area. If you’re not sure which career community to choose, select Helping & Counseling.
Resume and Cover Letter Resources: ResumeTemplates and Resume.org offer dozens of resources, including resume examples and templates. Visit this page to learn about crafting an effective cover letter.
Interview Preparation: Top 40 Essential Interview Questions and AnswersLooking for the most commonly asked job interview questions? This guide includes the top 40 questions with expert advice to help you prepare and succeed.
Salary Negotiation: Helpful Resource: Salary and Your ValueLearn how to research your target salary, highlight your accomplishments and find the right words - and the confidence - to negotiate for better benefits and pay.

The Application Process

If you know which internship you’d like to apply for, fill out the application form online. We’ll then pass your application on to the grassroots organization on the ground.

Embracing the Experience

An NGO works to embody the values of sustainable development: humanitarianism, duty, and improvement. You’ll find your tasks aligned with your work environment, prompting an electrifying internship. Joining an NGO means joining a team. Though it may be small, your contribution will be immense. You will directly help nonprofit organizations expand their scope, gaining invaluable skills along the way. Above all, there is a chance for fulfillment that not all internships grant. Cherish the magic of collective action? A community development internship is a match for you.

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