Internships, Scholarships, and Awards

Community Organizer: In addition to their work coordinating rides, this role will support the community organizing and justice work of the Office of the Chaplain, the Division of Inclusion, Equity, and Community, and identified community partners. Applicants are welcome to propose or design organizing initiatives. Expected weekly time commitment: 10 hours/week. Specifically, this work may include:

• Building and deepening relationships with local justice organizations and community partners;
• Coordinating justice work between local Northfield area religious organizations;
• Supporting the Office of the Chaplain and the Division of Inclusion, Equity, and Community in planning and promoting justice related programming for the coming academic year;
• Furthering the work of Interfaith Social Action, which organizes for transportation justice and food security at Carleton;
• Being part of our crisis response team, which responds to local, national, and global events in relation to their impact on Carleton.

Research Intern: Identify a research area at the intersection of justice, IDE, and religion at Carleton and prepare a paper to be shared and presented in the fall.  Expected weekly time commitment: 10 hours/week. Possible research topics might include:

• History of Jewish/Muslim/Indigenous life at Carleton
• History of religion and the chaplaincy as an agent of moral change at Carleton
• The theological and moral grounding of Carleton’s founders and its impact on Carleton
• The history of the intersection between religion and queerness at Carleton

Interns would engage archival records, conduct interviews, make site visits, and engage other forms of research. Interns would be welcome to design and present a topic of their interest and would work closely with college chaplains and archivists during their research. 

There are exciting opportunities to build greater inclusion and equity in immigration law and policy in Minnesota, working both with individuals and organizations at local and national levels. The Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota is the State’s largest provider of free immigration legal services for diverse low-income immigrant and refugee communities.

Interns will report to Robyn Meyer-Thompson and Tracy Roy and will be responsible for supporting legal representation to detained immigrants, educational outreach to the immigrant community, and supporting ILCM’s intake and pro bono work.

Each volunteer term will begin with an assessment of both the student’s individual goals and the areas of highest need in the immigrant and refugee communities. Often this will include supporting our legal team with several types of intakes and follow-up for those seeking legal assistance. Duties may include working with on-going cases, research, and day-to-day support in pro bono immigration cases. Interns may also work on the Minnesota Detention Project, which provides free legal screenings to unrepresented detained immigrants in deportation proceedings. These screenings identify potential relief, and evaluate if there are free, full-representation legal services available for the respondent. Interns may also work on other legal, advocacy, and strategic projects depending on current office needs.

To qualify for the internship, students should ideally speak Spanish, Somali or Hmong and be interested in immigration law, education and policy. Flexibility and commitment to fair treatment and support for immigrants are also needed. The internships will be full time from June to August. Students will have an amazing opportunity to learn about essential immigration legal work from professionals who are deeply committed to it and work directly with clients to improve their immigration status.

ISAIAH is a political home for people of faith and good will to work collectively for racial, economic, and environmental justice in Minnesota. ISAIAH is grounded in using the principles and practices of community-based organizing to achieve its mission. The primary strategy of ISAIAH is to develop the capacity and leadership of people to be agents of change in their communities and in Minnesota. ISAIAH is statewide, connecting people of different faiths, races, and backgrounds through our congregational organizing, Muslim Coalition, the Black Barbershop and Congregation Cooperative, Kids Count on Us, the Young Adult Coalition, and the Rural Organizing Project.

Organizing Internship

ISAIAH has been very involved in addressing climate change and public safety, transforming our care systems, fighting for immigrants without documentation to be able to gain a driver’s license, and more. This internship would either work with the Southern MN congregational organizing team or with the Young Adult Coalition. The Young Adult Coalition of ISAIAH is a political home for students, renters, and anyone under the age of 40 who wants to organize together for climate, racial, and economic justice.

This work will likely include:

• Work with grassroots leaders in multiple congregations to hold 1-1 conversations, small group meetings, and/or surveys around people’s experiences of issues such as housing, climate, transportation, healthcare, etc. There may also be opportunities to support congregations to engage in values-centered conversations around the upcoming elections and what our communities need to thrive.
• Work with the Young Adult Coalition on issue campaigns such as weatherizing and electrifying every home, housing, and transit that can include canvassing neighbors, research visits with local officials and partners, public actions, and shaping the narrative through social media.

The full-time organizing intern will work over an 8-10 week period. Depending on the intern’s interests and organizational priorities, the intern could be based in the Twin Cities, Northfield, Mankato, or other Greater MN cities. They must have access to a car, if not in a location with adequate public transportation.

Communications Internship

The Communications Intern will work directly with ISAIAH’s Communications Director. The intern will be trained on executing strategic communications in social justice movement spaces by using narrative shifting language and storytelling across race, class, and religion.

The skills to be potentially exercised and developed include:

• Written and verbal communications
• Copy Editing
• Social Media Skills (Twitter [X], Facebook, Tik Tok and Instagram)
• Traditional Media and Press Relations (Print, Radio and Television)
• Blogging
• Storytelling and Narrative Shifting
• Photography and Videography
• Video Editing
• Digital Organizing

The full-time communications intern will work over an 8-10 week period based in the Twin Cities.

The Binger Center for New Americans protects and advances the rights of noncitizens in the United States through advocacy,  litigation, and community education.  In collaboration with clients, partners, faculty, and students we use the institutions of law and higher education to help foster an inclusive community that respects the dignity and agency of everyone, including non-citizens.

Interns will work with Binger Center faculty and staff. Interns will be responsible for supporting legal and educational outreach to the immigrant community. This will include supporting our legal team with several types of intakes and follow-ups for those seeking assistance, as well as interdisciplinary engagement and community outreach, administrative and operational duties and tasks and annual report data and design support. Duties may include working with ongoing cases, research, policy campaigns, and day-to-day support in all types of immigration cases. Policy work may focus on shaping new immigration-related laws or regulations at both the federal and state levels. Litigation support may include interviewing clients and drafting declarations, researching state and federal statutes, and compiling materials on human rights practices or other matters for use in immigration cases.

To qualify for the internships, students should ideally be able to speak Spanish or another second language and be interested in immigration law, education, and policy. Flexibility and commitment to access and support for immigrants are also needed. The internships will be full-time from June to August. Students will have an amazing opportunity to learn about cutting-edge immigration work from individuals who are deeply committed to it, as well as the chance to contribute to implementing policies with the potential to change people’s lives. 

TakeAction Minnesota works year-round to make change that matters to Minnesotans by organizing at the grassroots, building dynamic and effective coalitions, educating voters, endorsing and electing progressive candidates, impacting state and local policy, and winning issue campaigns. Our work is focused on winning tangible victories that improve people’s lives and also on building the progressive movement to expand what is politically possible. Currently, we’re working on organizing tenants, parents, and young people across the state; building towards a Green New Deal for MN; and electing progressive candidates up and down the ballot.

The Data Internship will fuse data and technology skills, leadership development, data analysis projects, and voter outreach. Assisting with our data and field programs, the intern will gain experience in leveraging people-centered data to create social change and build power for working-class Minnesotans. Applicants should have experience with (or an aptitude to learn) data management and analysis skills. The intern will receive training/onboarding into common progressive data tools such as VAN, EveryAction, Mobilize, GetThru, and BigQuery.

In all of our organizing work, we are committed to developing leaders and building capacity. We take the same approach in working with interns; we see it as a chance to help develop the skills and experience of budding organizers who will work side-by-side with us to create social change for years to come. Interns will participate in training alongside staff, including training from both internal staff and any external trainers who are brought in. And like staff members, interns will have regular individual check-ins with their supervisor and participate in team meetings. Interns will leave this program as qualified candidates for organizing and campaign positions across MN.

For more information, you can reach out to River at river@takeactionminnesota.org.

The Projects for Peace award is an initiative for students at the Davis United World College Scholars Program partner schools, which includes Carleton. This global program encourages students to develop innovative, community-centered and scalable responses to the world’s most pressing issues by funding them to design and implement their own “projects for peace.”

Individual “Projects for Peace” should address the root causes of conflict and promote peace anywhere in the world; take place during the summer; and are awarded grants of $10,000 each. Project leaders increase their knowledge, improve skills, and establish identities as peacebuilders and changemakers. 

Deadlines:

• December 15, 2023, 11:59 p.m. CST:  Mandatory Pre-Application form due
• January 8, 2024, 11:59 p.m. CST:  Carleton deadline for all application materials

Established in 1949 by Ellis H. Dana, Class of 1924, in memory of his grandfather, the Reverend Malcolm McGregor Dana, Trustee of Carleton from 1878 to 1888. The award is given annually as a recognition to a male student in the senior class who, during four years at Carleton College, has shown superior personal achievement in developing a balanced combination of high scholarship, exceptional leadership abilities, and outstanding Christian character, and as a symbol of confidence in the promise of future attainment in his chosen field of public service.