paid community organizing internships in Chicago

[colist at comm-org.wisc.edu]

From: Midwestacademy5 at aol.com

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Midwest Academy

Summer 2006 Community Organizing Internship Program

The Midwest Academy, a 32-year-old national training institute for 
progressive direct action organizing, will hire 10 or more community 
organizing interns for a paid ten week Summer 2006 program. The stipend 
will be $3000, and will be paid biweekly.


We are still determining the exact locations of placements. We project 
that half the interns will work with community organizations on the 
south side of Chicago, on a variety of issues, and the other half will 
work on a health care issue with a statewide organization, Citizen 
Action/Illinois, in suburban locations. Preference will be given to 
applicants living in or near the area where they will work, or in school 
nearby. Applicants in suburban locations must have use of a car. Mileage 
will be reimbursed. Details about locations will be posted as soon as 
available.


Interns will spend the first week of the internship in the Midwest 
Academy five-day training program (see training agenda on our website, 
www.midwestacademy.com.) They will learn how organizers choose issues, 
develop strategy, assess their own organizational power and that of 
their target and opponents, recruit constituents, and move into action. 
(All costs for the training, including room and board, are covered.)


During the nine weeks in the field, interns will conduct community 
outreach and organize one or more public meetings. Interns will receive 
day-to-day supervision from their placement organizations, and ongoing 
training and mentoring from the Midwest Academy. For interns who are 
interested in pursuing a job in community organizing, we will provide 
job search assistance at the end of the internship or upon college 
graduation.

We are looking for young people who are ready to work hard and take on 
new challenges and responsibilities, who have a passion for social 
justice, and who want to learn solid skills in the field of organizing. 
We are particularly looking for people who want to explore a career in 
progressive organizing in Illinois.

Fluency in Spanish or other languages relevant to recent immigrants will 
be a plus for suburban locations. Use of a car will be required in the 
suburbs!

To apply: Fill out the application on our website at 
www.midwestacademy.com. Likely candidates will be interviewed via 
telephone. Review of applications will begin February 15 and continue 
until positions are filled; our target date to complete hiring is March 
31st. Questions? Review our website, then email Judy Hertz at 
mainterns at aol.com.



Note: Space is currently very limited due to funding. Some colleges make 
funds available to students for summer work. If you have a grant (or 
plan to apply for one) and would like to use it to participate in this 
internship, please fill out the internship application and email it with 
a paragraph explaining your proposed source of funds (which should be 
between $2000 and $5000, the full cost of the program). Applicants with 
their own funding must go through the regular application process and 
must follow the same ten week program as other interns.

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Application for Midwest Academy Summer 2006 Internship



Your responses probably won’t fit on one page, but we are looking for 
content, not length! Please paste application into the text of an email 
to submit; do not submit attached files. Submit applications to Judy 
Hertz at mainterns at aol.com.

-Name

-Current Address

-Permanent Address

-Telephone

-Email

-College Attended, and anticipated year of graduation:
(community college students, recent grads and grad students also welcome 
to apply)

-Please describe your race/ethnicity:

-Location you are applying for: South Side Chicago; Suburban; either

-What is your connection to this area, and do you have housing in or 
near the location (as noted above, we hope to determine exact suburban 
locations soon!)?

-Will you have the use of a car this summer?

-Why are you interested in learning community organizing skills? What do 
you most hope to get out of the summer internship experience?

-What previous social justice/organizing efforts have you been involved 
in, either as a volunteer or paid (on campus or off)?

-Thinking of your previous experiences, tell more about one particular 
thing that you did. Explain why you either felt great satisfaction in 
the experience, or did not feel satisfied.

-What are your career goals? (You may be able to name a specific job or 
field, or what kind of skills you want to be using, or what your broad 
goals are. We are looking for your ideas about your future, not 
necessarily a clear five-year career path.)

-Can you carry on a conversation in a language other than English? Which 
one, and how well?
-Is there anything else you would like us to know about you?

-How did you hear about this internship?