Internship Opportunities

Announcing 2 New Internship Opportunities with Women’s Resource Center of the New River Valley

Volunteer Coordinator

The Women’s Resource Center of the New River Valley is looking for a Volunteer Coordinator Intern. The intern would assist the Volunteer Coordinator with the scheduling, organization and facilitation of volunteer trainings. A stipulation for this internship includes having previously completed the training at the WRC for volunteers and have some experience in working for the WRC.

Program Evaluation Research Assistant

As part of a recently funded grant, I (Dr. M) am searching for one or more students with some research experience (SOCY 380) to join a team to conduct a program evaluation of BRICS—a new program within the Women’s Resource Center of the New River Valley. I am looking for students who are interested in gaining valuable experience in research, the workings of a non-profit organization, and working on a federally funded grant.

All of these internship opportunities could be available during the Spring 2008 and/or Summer 2008 semesters. In addition, the number of credit hours for these internships is variable. If you are interested in any of these opportunities, please contact me for further details.

Crisis Intervention Volunteers play many vital roles: responding to a 24-hour crisis hotline, assisting in the day-to-day support services within the shelter, and protecting the confidentiality and security of our clients. All Crisis Intervention volunteers must complete 50 hours of orientation and training. The training workshops are offered 3 times a year (fall, winter, and spring). Advanced volunteer positions are available to qualified individuals.

CARE (Crisis Advocates Responding Effectively) Companions provide advocacy and support to rape/sexual assault victims. CARE Companions undergo a specialized training, enabling them to respond to victims in a hospital or police setting. Through an on-call system, these volunteers are available seven days a week, 24 hours a day. (Care Companions must complete the Crisis Intervention Volunteer training in order to be eligible for this volunteer opportunity.)

Children’s Program Volunteers work directly with children, doing everything from child care, tutoring, after-school programs, story hours, crafts, games, and enrichment activities. Children’s program volunteers interact with a wide age range – from toddlers to teenagers. Specialized training is provided by our children’s program coordinator.

Internships are available in many program areas. We supervise students from a variety of colleges and majors. If you are interested in volunteering at the Women's Resource Center, contact us at volunteers@wrcnrv.org

Developing leadership capacity at all volunteer levels is a primary focus. Our volunteers are expected to go beyond passive participation and the completion of menial tasks. They serve as mentors, tutors, and teachers. All volunteers receive training and close supervision from both Beans and Rice staff and experienced volunteers

Student Volunteers
College students from Radford University, Virginia Tech, and New River Community College make up the majority of staff members for preschool, after school, and the youth leadership programs. This group participates in the Service-Learning Program

The Boys and Girls Club of the New River Valley is looking for interested college students to serve as interns working directly with children or on research for the organization that will benefit children.

Students interested in working with children can intern with their after school program, helping children with homework, playing games, and working to prevent substance abuse through the Smart Moves program. If a summer internship is what you are looking for, the Boys and Girls Club runs a 7-week summer camp from mid-June to the beginning of August.

If you’d like to help children, but working with them directly is not your forte’ you could intern with the Boys and Girls Club conducting research on substance abuse prevention, searching for grant funding, or work to plan age-appropriate activities for the Summer camp.

Conflict Resolution Center of Roanoke

From the website:

The mission of the Conflict Resolution Center is to provide the community with innovative, affordable and cooperative ways to resolve differences and transform relationships.

The Center accomplishes its mission by:

· Increasing the awareness and use of alternative dispute resolution;

· Providing education and training on alternative dispute resolution and communication skills to individuals, families, organizations, governments and businesses;

· Ensuring the availability of qualified mediators and other resources for the resolution of conflicts;

· Aiding individuals and families, neighborhoods and communities with the prevention of conflicts;

· Promoting an atmosphere of tolerance, cooperation and acceptance;

· Transforming conflicts into opportunities for understanding and growth.

Student Internship and Field Placement Opportunities:

The Center has worked hard to establish a good relationship with instructors from Virginia Western Community College, Roanoke College, Hollins University and Radford University. These colleges or universities have used the CRC as a site for student interns in the Fall and Spring Semester as well as during the summer months. Student interns are required to commit to a minimum of 12 hours per week for at least 3 consecutive months. While interning at CRC interns are provided the opportunity to:

· Work within the Court System

· Work one-on-one with clients

· Perform case management duties such as intake interviews, screening for appropriateness, referring case to other agencies, and scheduling mediation sessions.

· Assist with various special projects related to the business of non-profit organization

To set up a student internship or field placement please email or call Eddy at (540) 342-2063 x302

Mountain Shelter, Inc. is a housing advocacy agency whose mission is to provide safe, decent, affordable housing to low-income and disadvantaged residents of Smyth, Wythe, Bland, Carroll and Grayson Counties and the City of Galax . In the past twelve years MSI has distributed over five million dollars of assistance throughout the service area. Rent, mortgage, deposit, utility bill assistance, financial planning and budgeting skills as well as counseling for first time homebuyers are just some of the programs administered by MSI. Mountain Shelters provides several different kinds of internship opportunities based on student interest and skills. If you are interested in working with Mountain Shelter please contact Andy Kegley akegley@naxs.com

HOPE Inc., Helping Overcome Poverty’s Existence, is a non-profit organization in Wytheville serving Wythe and Bland counties working to coordinate services and assist delivery of multiple human services agencies in the area. Currently there are 9 non-profit organizations under one roof facilitating the the access of services to clients. Since it’s beginning, HOPE has organized a number of successful service projects to assist those in need and is currently working to create a web-based data collection and referral system to facilitate service delivery and reduce the potential for abuse and fraud. HOPE, Inc. works closely with Mountain Shelter, Inc., mentioned above, and has similar needs for interns. Experiences here can be more diverse, getting exposure to various social service agencies with an emphasis on housing needs. Students who are interested in the non-profit, social service sector and have an interest in working with databases and clients If you are interested in working with HOPE, Inc. please contact Andy Kegley at akegley@naxs.com

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has many internship opportunities in several locations. Intern positions include: human resources assistant, case assistant, international case assistant, legal/public policy assistant, LOCATOR assistant, Project ALERT assistant, Team ADAM assistant, development assistant, and communications assistant. If you are interested in joining the mission to recover missing children and prevent the sexual exploitation of children, please visit their website at: http://www.missingkids.com/missingkids/servlet/PageServlet?LanguageCountry=en_US&PageId=252

Tekoa provides:
• An environment that offers opportunities for learning and experiencing the need, importance, value and contribution of working with at risk youth and their families
• An environment with countless teaching moments for future colleagues to assess, plan, deliver, and reflect upon intentional interventions with the assistance and supervision of highly trained, quality professional counselors and therapists
• Opportunities for Tekoa to lend organizational philosophy and treatment approach to future colleagues who in turn will carry forth, utilize and disperse to other professionals in the field

Tekoa strives to support the endeavors of volunteers through quality supervision and training. We seek dedicated individuals who are responsible, nurturing and sincere. While our at-risk youth can greatly benefit from the interactions and experiences shared with volunteers, we insist that volunteers are professionally eager and personally open to fully accepting the opportunities and challenges available at Tekoa. Our programs have the necessity for individuals who have interest and skills in the following areas:

For more information regarding volunteer opportunities email us at adobbins@chpc2.org

The Center for Survey Research (CSR) at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University was established to respond to the growing needs of the campus, community, state and nation for the professional, accurate, and timely collection and analysis of social and demographic data. It is a full cost-recovery unit of the university. The CSR conducts consultations, surveys, polls, statistical analyses, and other vital data functions for virtually every area of social research, evaluation, and policy analysis. CSR services are available to faculty researchers with grants and contracts awarded to the university; to the university administration for surveys related to local campus life and policy; to civic and local governmental organizations; to state agencies, both in and outside of Virginia; to federally funded programs and agencies; and to public and private sector organizations. Various internships related to survey research are available.

If you are interested in having your organization listed above, please email me at jmekolic@radford.edu .