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Community Intern ProgramSince 1992, the Office of Environmental Justice has managed a training program under a cooperative agreement between EPA and the Environmental Careers Organizations, Inc. (ECO) http://www.eco.org., to provide training opportunities for hundreds of college students. More than 1,900 students from all parts of the U.S., from varied ethnic backgrounds, and all academic levels (undergraduate, graduate and doctoral) have participated in the program and trained on challenging science, engineering, management, education and policy-related projects. Several of these students come from historically black colleges, Hispanic serving institutions, Asian serving institutions, and tribal colleges. The original purpose of the program was to not only expose undergraduate and graduate students to the different kinds of EPA programs with the intention of attracting them into environmental careers, but to also provide EPA with a diverse group of eager young people to enhance the workforce. Soon it became clear that exposure to other environmental programs, outside of the EPA, could be beneficial to the students, since many may not pursue environmental careers, but all would live in a community. A community internship would be a good way for them to find out about local issues and might spark an interest to get involved.In 2000, the Community Intern Program was established and successfully placed 16 students in local community organizations where they might experience environmental protection at the grassroots level and learn about methods used by these local organizations to address local environmental issues. In order for an organization to qualify for an EPA funded intern, they must meet the definition of a "local community-based organization" (PDF 33KB). The program has been so successful that in subsequent years the number of interns placed has been increased to 30 each year and, resources permitting, the program will continue at this level. The Community Intern Program is a terrific opportunity for EPA to strengthen existing partnerships and to create new ones with the community organizations where we work. To view the intern and the community organization they went to each year,
go to: If your organization might be interested in/benefit from having a summer intern, the 2005 Community Intern Program Announcement and Project Description/Application is now available on ECOS website. Remember that all project description forms must be received by ECO by January 31st for placement that summer. Some of the documents provided by EPA are Adobe Acrobat PDF (Portable Document Format) Files. They can be viewed, and printed, with the use of an Adobe Acrobat Reader.
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