IN THIS ISSUE:
*Events
*Volunteer Opportunities
*Internships, Jobs, and Beyond...
*In the Spotlight: Off the Beaten Path: Alternative Summer Service Opportunities
EVENTS
Green Corps Field School for Environment Organizing Interviews
Friday, January 30
11am-5pm
Ida Noyes (1212 E. 59th)
Green Corps is looking for college graduates who want to fix the biggest environmental challenges of our day. Green Corps’ offers a year long paid program with hands on training and experience to solve world wide environmental problems. To schedule an interview, contact Emily Carroll at emily@greencorps.org or (818) 398-2343.
The “How To’s” of Non-Profit Job Search
Friday, January 30th
3pm-4:30pm
Ida Noyes, East Lounge
Interested in non-profit/NGO work and not sure how to even start looking? This workshop, lead by Shayna Plaut (AM ’03), will go over what a non-profit/NGO is, how one can combine their passion for an issue with a skill, the realities of getting paid (and what a “fair” salary is) and various means of networking.
Math and Science Achievement Gap Panel
Tuesday, February 3rd
6:30pm
Ida Noyes – East Lounge
Fact: secondary schools have less than a 50% chance of getting a math or science teacher with even a minor in the subject they teach. Join the panel to learn more about the math science achievement gap and hear from teachers in low-income communities who experience these statistics on a daily basis.
University of Chicago’s Red Cross Club Blood Drive
February 4th and 5th
10am-3:45pm
Ida Noyes
With more than 38,000 blood donations needed every day, do your part to help thousands by donating blood. Please visit www.givebloodgivelife.org, or send an e-mail to rgrooms@uchicago.edu to set up an appointment time. Be sure to include your full name, e-mail address, and preferred times.
Chicago Wilderness Conference: Wild Things 2009
Saturday, February 7
UIC Student Center East (750 South Halsted)
This day-long conference features 70 large and small group discussions with the region’s best experts, most dedicated volunteers, and anyone interested in nature. There is special focus on empowering citizen scientists, stewards and advocates with information, networking and good ideas. If you have questions, call (847) 328-3910 ext. 21. [Note: student registration is $15]
VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES
“Images of Blackness: Facing the Past, Building a New Future – A Symposium” is hosting a Black History Symposium Friday and Saturday from 8am-4pm. Volunteers are needed for setting up exhibits, crowd control, and clean up. Volunteers interested in helping out on Friday, January 30th should contact Eric Brown at erbrown22@gmail.com. Volunteers interested in helping out on Saturday, January 31st should contact CJ Harmon at harmonjr.wc@gmail.com. (Please include name, phone number, and availability for the day.
Volunteers are needed various activities on the days of the blood drive. This is a very rewarding opportunity! One blood donation can save three lives. So, whether you’re donating or volunteering, participating in the blood drive is a fulfilling experience. If interested in volunteering for the blood drive, contact Russell Grooms at rgrooms@uchicago.edu.
The Campaign for better Health Care is seeking students interested in being Health Care Helpline Volunteers. Volunteers will be asked to assist callers in connecting them to health care providers, data base entries, organize resources, etc. For more information, contact Quekan Ibidunni at qibidunni@cbhconline.org or 312.913.9449.
The University of Chicago Folk Festival is seeking volunteers, and has been entirely volunteer run since 1961! As a volunteer, you get to help make the 49th Folk Festival, February 6-8, 2009, a truly fantastic event, listen to some excellent traditional music, and volunteers get a FREE TICKET to a festival performance for every three hours worked. Help of all kinds is needed, including stage and sound crew, CD vending, ushering, selling cookies, and schlepping. All of this takes place on the University of Chicago campus, at Ida Noyes Hall or the Reynolds Club. To volunteer, please visit: http://uofcfolk.org/2009/Volunteer2009.html, or email: folkfestvolunteers@googlemail.com .
INTERNSHIPS, JOBS, AND BEYOND...
2009 Humanity in Action Fellowship
The HIA Fellowship brings together university students from the United States and Europe for a rigorous, interdisciplinary inquiry into human rights, diversity, and minority issues. Students participate in the five-week fellowship in one of six different countries: Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, or the United States. Upon completing the fellowship, Fellows join an active international network of young professionals and are eligible for internship opportunities at the United States Congress, European Parliament, International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, and other civic and political institutions. Check out humanityinaction.org
SPN/IHS Koch Summer Fellow Program
Due: 1-31-2009
SPN/IHS Koch Summer Fellow Program at the Illinois Policy Institute offers a 10 week program featuring workshops in career building and policy analysis at James Madison University in Virginia and the Illinois Policy Institute here in Chicago. Fellowship compensates for travel costs and offers a $1,500 stipend. For more information and an application visit the Institute for Humane Studies website.
Herbert Scoville Jr. Peace Fellowship
Due: 02-15-2009
Sponsors six-to-nine month fellowships for recent college graduates (including graduate students) in Washington, DC. Fellows serve as full-time junior staff members working on peace and security issues, at participating organizations. Includes a stipend of $2,100 per month and health insurance, plus travel expenses to Washington DC. For more information: http://scoville.org/.
The Academy for Global Citizenship (AGC), a prospective International Baccalaureate school that offers a relevant, engaging, and challenging educational program, is seeking interns to assist with fundraising development. The internship requires students to research donors, compile a database, and manage fundraisers. Compensation is included. Email resume and cover letter to: sarahelizabeth@agcchicago.org.
Jeff Metcalf Fellowships are up on line - over 150 Jeff Metcalf Fellowship positions are posted on Chicago Career Connections and many more are sure to come. The Jeff Metcalf Fellowship Program provides University of Chicago 1st, 2nd and 3rd year students the opportunity to spend the summer learning by doing. You will be paid a minimum of $10/hours for 400 hours of work. Deadlines for Metcalfs run from early January through mid February.
Federal Work Study (Off-Campus)
UCSC seeks out and posts part-time and summer work-study positions with Chicago area nonprofit and public sector organizations. Opportunities are geared toward identified interests and skills of our College, graduate and professional school students. View this list for the most current off-campus works study positions.
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Off the Beaten Path: Alternative Summer Service Opportunities
Rachel Cromidas, Staff Writer
Like first-year Maria Ekpo, you probably thought about applying to the ABG Externship program as an underclassman. But when Ekpo didn’t see any host organizations that applied to her interest in refugee work, she searched the University’s Alumni Directory for a host site of her own.
That database led Ekpo to Trudi Langendorf, Assistant Director of the University Community Service Center.
“I met with her to talk about some of the opportunities in terms of working with refugees and immigrants, specifically women and children,” Ekpo said. “She gave me a list of a whole bunch of organizations.” Ekpo hasn’t found an externship sight yet to host her over Spring Break, but she says she is looking for an organization that will also offer her a summer internship.
If you are also searching for a socially conscious, summer internship with a non-profit organization, but missed deadlines for College-sponsored programs like Summer Links and the Human Rights Internship, Ekpo says the Alumni Careers Network is a strong asset. “I’ve ended up with a lot of contacts that I wouldn’t have found on my own,” Ekpo said.
Matt Donato, Associate Director of Alumni Career Services, agrees. “Using the careers network can be a great way to create your own externship or volunteer opportunity. All students who are on campus can just log in, and search the database based on criteria like city, industry, year of graduation, etc.”
Donato advises students to write a brief email to the alumna they find online, introduce themselves, and ask for an opportunity to talk on the phone or meet. Alumni are not required to join the Careers Network, Donato said, so those who do join “are basically saying that they are open to having a discussion with students and other alumni, for mentoring and interviewing.”
The Alumni Careers Network is a good start, but according Shayna Plaut, Assistant Director of Employer Relations at CAPS, there are many more tricks students looking for internships in the Public Sector can use. She will be leading a workshop, titled The "How To's" of Non-Profit Job Searching - Here and Abroad, on Friday, Jan. 30 at 3 p.m.
“The workshop is about how to actually search for non-profit and NGO social justice work,” she said. She wants students to ask themselves several questions: “How do you frame some of your passions, ideals, and the skills you want to acquire into something that would fit into a job description? What am I interested in? What skills do I have? What do I want to learn more about?”
Plaut added, “CAPS is by no means the end all and be all, but we are a resource and we’re pretty accessible. We have various people on staff with experience in non-profits and NGOs, both here and abroad,” who will talk to students about their specific concerns.
Fundamentally, the search for an internship is just that—a search; this means students shouldn’t limit their options to early in the game. Michael Jogerst, Assistant Dean and Director of Career Services at the SSA, suggests using a large, internet database like idealist.org. Gail Zurek, Director of Career Services at the Harris School, recommends publicservicecareers.org.
“What I always tell my students,” Zurek said, “is that ultimately, a summer internship [in non-profit work] is about gaining experience more than it is about a particular title or salary.”
The University Community Service Center (UCSC) fosters the development of civic-minded students by providing substantive community service opportunities through community partnerships based on mutual trust and respect. If you have questions - how to get involved as a student or how to connect to students as a community organization - please contact us.
University Community Service Center
5525 S. Ellis Ave., Suite 160
Chicago IL, 60637
Tel: 773.753.4483
Fax: 773.834.1160
ucsc.uchicago.edu
