Internship @ Search for Common Ground on Race Internship

Search for Common Ground on Race Internship

Search for Common Ground (SFCG) is an international non-profit organization that promotes peaceful resolution of conflict. With headquarters in Washington, DC, SFCG’s mission is to transform how individuals, organizations, and governments deal with conflict - away from adversarial approaches and toward cooperative solutions. SFCG seeks to help conflicting parties understand their differences and act on their commonalities. With a total of approximately 465 staff worldwide, SFCG implements projects from 28 offices in 24 countries. SFCG’s programs are in Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and the United States.

Summary of Position
SFCG on Race is seeking an intern to support the work existing and future projects within the program. SFCG on Race, or “The One America Project”, is a new initiative designed to inspire racial healing and reconciliation throughout the USA. The long term goal of SFCG on Race is to help mobilize racial healing by providing training to leaders, organizing national gatherings, catalyzing constructive dialogues, highlighting existing efforts, and plugging local organizations and their constituencies into our national online network.

The person selected for this internship will gain exposure to stakeholders in the work of racial reconciliation in the USA, including political, community, religious, and youth leaders. The intern will be integrated into the coordination of existing projects, including Congressional Conversations on Race (CCR). CCR assists members of Congress in having conversations with their constituents that will promote racial healing in their districts. The intern will also be involved in the development of new projects within SFCG on Race.

Hours: Part-Time (20+ hours per week)

Please note that no compensation or benefits are provided.

Responsibilities
Intern duties are wide-ranging and may include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Assisting with website and program literature
• Conducting outreach to participants and partners in SFCG on Race events
• Attending meetings with stakeholders in racial reconciliation programs in the USA
• Coordinating logistics for on-going projects, including the youth component of Congressional Conversations on Race
• Conducting research and compile news summaries on race relations in the United States, tracking developments in racial healing work and policy changes that affect race relations
• Contributing to writing projects, including funding proposals, meeting notes, and program updates
• Researching various funding opportunities
• Assisting with arranging participant and staff travel, as well as meeting logistics
• Miscellaneous clerical work (faxing, mailing, printing, database entry, etc.).

The candidate should exhibit:

• Interest, knowledge, and experience in conflict transformation and/or community capacity building
• Interest, knowledge, and experience in racial reconciliation and in working with youth organizations
• Excellent organizational skills with a proactive style and the ability to meet deadlines, both as instructed and self-imposed
• Mature, professional people skills and strong presentation skills
• Ability to quickly learn and implement multiple tasks simultaneously
• Excellent and professional verbal, written, and interpersonal communication skills
• Knowledge of and experience with Microsoft Office (i.e. Word, Excel and PowerPoint)
• Flexible work attitude: the ability to work productively and independently in a team environment, and with the ability to respond rapidly to changes, yet remain focused on the priorities.

In addition, the ideal candidate will be an undergraduate senior or graduate student, majoring in conflict analysis and/or resolution, ethnic studies, American studies, US history, sociology, cultural anthropology or related field.

Interested candidates should email a cover letter, resume, and one page writing sample to Jeanné Isler at jisler@sfcg.org. Please clearly state the title: SFCG on Race Intern in the subject line. In your cover letter, please clearly state why our program is of interest to you, what you can bring to it, and what you hope to gain from the experience. Also, please include the dates of your availability and the number of hours per week to which you can commit. Finally, please note where you found this posting. No phone calls please.