John Graham Homeless Shelter: The John W. Graham Emergency Shelter has provided food, shelter and hope to homeless individuals and families for thirty-one years. The Shelter offers its services 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to individuals and families with children. Many are the hardest to house including survivors of abuse, violence and rape; people with disabilities; people in recovery; and people suffering with mental illness. The John Graham Shelter summer intern will be a key team player in providing food, shelter and hope to Addison County’s homeless population, with a special emphasis on helping the Shelter to manage its community mentor program.

Addison County Council Against Domestic and Sexual Violence: ACCADSV is a collaborative group of Addison County agencies that work together to prevent domestic and sexual violence through education and closing gaps amongst providers. Our mission is to promote and enhance the safety and well-being of all members of the Addison County Community. The intern will work with community agencies by serving on the Education Committee that plans programs and events to educate community members about issues of domestic and sexual violence. The intern will also have the opportunity to take WomenSafe training and participate in DV Solutions community programs.

Open Door Clinic: Open Door Clinic (ODC) is a free medical clinic based in Middlebury, VT, providing healthcare to low income, uninsured and underinsured Addison County adults. This full-time, 10 week internship experience will provide the intern with a unique perspective on healthcare, public health, and provision of services to marginalized and low-income communities. A particular focus of the internship will be on supporting the healthcare needs of Limited English Proficiency (LEP) patients, especially Addison County’s Latino Farmworker population, through medical interpretation, document translation, and building culturally and linguistically appropriate local healthcare infrastructure.

How do I apply?
Find our more information and apply through MOJO! Log in here, search for “Addison County Poverty Internships,” and follow the instructions to submit a cover letter, resume, and unofficial transcript (can be unofficial). Applications are due on March 11, 2013. Interviews will be held in mid-March and successful applicants will be notified before spring break.

What if I have questions?
Attend the information session:
Wednesday, February 27, 2013 at 4:30 p.m.
Center for Education in Action (EIA) Library in Adirondack House
OR Contact Ashley Calkins, jcalkins@middlebury.edu.

Benefits
Interns will earn $9.20 per hour, 35 hours per week. Students can choose to reside on campus for $100 per week, meal plan included.

Additional Poverty Internship Opportunity on MOJO (with funding opportunities available!)
Middlebury Community Care Coalition, Inc. (MCCC) – Farm-to-Plate Intern: MCCC is a volunteer, non-profit providing basic food and housing for local residents who need assistance. Community Lunch and Community Supper together provide over 18,000 meals each year, and with the participation of the Nash farm, as well as church, student and community organizations. The intern will gain firsthand experience in how food, housing and other poverty challenges of low-income families in Addison County are being supported, will learn operational and management aspects of a volunteer-based non-profit organization, and will gain experience in supporting the needs of members of our community who are housing or food insecure.

Katie and Students at Mulago Child Project in Kampala, Uganda

What did you do?

Through “New England Global Issues Internship 2012 – Uganda, East Africa” I had five weeks of witnessing, engaging, discussing, and processing a variety of global issues within Uganda, leaving me with a wealth of personal connections, eye-opening experiences, and long-term life lessons. The New England Global Issues Internship – Uganda, East Africa is an initiative by the New England region of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA to engage college and university students in global issues (such as poverty, HIV/AIDS, reintegration of children affected by war, etc.) through first-hand experience with  those issues.

The internship also took us to two distinct regions within Uganda. We began in the urban center of Kampala and then traveled to the rural north in Gulu. They each presented distinct global issues and cultural experiences. While in Kampala, we experienced urban poverty and the center of Ugandan economics and politics. We worked through FOCUS’ headquarters in Kampala to visit secondary schools and give lessons, lead discussion groups in the community, built a security fence,  visited the sick at Mulago Hospital, as well as went door-to-door in the Kampala slums to meet the people living there.  In Gulu, however, we worked through Sport’s Outreach – Gulu. While making door-to-door visits, running a medical clinic, and visiting the Gulu prisons, we saw the effects of Joseph Kony and the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) as well as the problems rural poverty presents. The exposure to these two regions provided a more detailed perspective of the country and the variety of cultures and issues facing it.

What did you learn?

            I learned a tremendous amount during this internship. I not only gained exposure to global issues, but this internship also provided numerous opportunities to discuss and learn more about those issues in a larger context. This gave me a much deeper understanding of global issues in a manner simply not possible in the United States alone. I also gained invaluable cross-cultural experience within my team as well as in our various projects throughout the community.

What are your plans for the future?

            As an African Studies minor, this internship gave me first-hand experience within the continent. It also provided native perspective on some historical leaders I had studied (ie. Idi Amin). This trip has confirmed and deepened my desire to work internationally in a faith-based organization. There are still many, many possibilities for that type of work, but it has given me connections within the field and a broader awareness of what opportunities are available.

Think this experience sounded pretty cool? Check out opportunities like this and more on MOJO.