United States of America: SFCG LGBT Community Internship Fall 2013
Country: United States of America
Closing date: 31 Aug 2013
The Organization
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 600 staff worldwide, SFCG implements projects in 30 countries. SFCG’s programs are in Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and the United States.
Summary of Position
SFCG USA is seeking an intern to support the work of the Search for Common Ground on the Right of the LGBT Community program. The mission of the USA program is to foster cooperative approaches to resolving conflict issues within the USA. We bring diverse stakeholders together to build consensus solutions to specific, important issues at the national, state and local levels; and we build institutions that foster cooperation and consensus-building over time.
The person selected for this internship will gain exposure to stakeholders in the work of conflict transformation in the USA, including political, community, religious, and youth leaders particularly in the LGBT community. In 2010, SFCG launched a project to find possible agreement among liberals and conservatives around issues involving same sex couples. Currently, SFCG is working to continue this initiative and mount a national campaign to secure passage of more legislation of this type in states and cities across the country.
The intern will also work on developing new projects within SFCG USA, which will include, but is not limited to, the following:
• Helping to implement projects related to race in the USA
• Researching issues relating to the rights of the LGBT community in the USA
• Developing a discussion group for changing DC communities
• Brainstorming for future US-based programs
Start Date: September 2013
Hours: Part-Time (20+ hours per week)
Minimum length of internship: 3 months
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:
• Editing and maintaining the SFCG USA web sites and program literature
• Researching information about LGBT legislation
• Conducting outreach to participants and partners in SFCG USA events
• Attending meetings and events with stakeholders in the LGBT community (some regional travel may be required).
• Conducting research and compiling news summaries on the LGBT community in the United States; tracking developments on related work.
• 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 and event 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.
• Experience with basic web site design and maintenance
• 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.
How to apply:
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 USA Fall 2013 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.
