Department: WES Mariam Assefa Fund

Duration: June through August 2024, with the possibility to extend to the Fall semester (thru December 2024)

Weekly hours: Maximum 20 hours per week

Rate of Pay: $21 per hour

Application deadline: Reviewing applications on a rolling basis until May 15, 2024

About WES:

World Education Services (WES) is a non-profit social enterprise dedicated to helping immigrants, refugees, and international students achieve economic, social, and educational inclusion in the United States and Canada. For nearly 50 years, WES has helped people learn, work, and thrive in new places and helped society recognize the value of people’s education and experience.  

Description:

Launched in 2019, the WES Mariam Assefa Fund (the Fund) is a philanthropic initiative aimed at catalyzing economic and social inclusion, opportunities, and mobility for immigrants and refugees in the U.S. and Canada. Through grantmaking, impact investing, partnerships, and field-building, the Fund supports efforts to build inclusive economies and ensure all immigrants and refugees can achieve their aspirations. To date, the Fund has deployed $25 million in philanthropic investment to 100+ grantee and investee partners in both U.S. and Canada, who share our commitment to building equitable economies where all immigrants and refugees can thrive. Read more about our work here.

The Mariam Assefa Fund Intern will have a mix of research, analysis, and project coordination responsibilities, which may evolve over the course of the internship as the Fund’s activities and operations continue to expand. They will report to the Senior Program Manager and will also support the Director of Strategy and Programs and have exposure to other members of the WES team in the US and Canada. This role will provide an exciting opportunity to gain exposure to multiple areas of program strategy and operations. The internship will run through the summer, from June to August, with the possibility to extend to the Fall semester (thru December 2024). The position will be based remotely, with strong preference for candidates located in the Pacific time zone.

Duties included but not limited to:

1) Research and Ideas Sourcing

• Conduct literature reviews on key research topics related to the Fund’s US strategy and grantmaking approaches, such as employer practices for recruiting and retaining immigrant and refugee workers, worker organizing and collective ownership, best practices in diversity, equity, and inclusion, impact investing, participatory grant-making and trust-based philanthropy, and more, and researching common trends or themes regionally and nationally.
• Coordinate, compile, and disseminate the WES Fund Weekly Review email update, sourcing relevant news and articles, events and partner updates to share with key stakeholders in the WES Fund network.

2) Project Coordination and Other Ad-hoc Support

• Support planning and preparations for key virtual internal meetings and events, including presentations to the WES Board and meetings with WES staff.
• Help to conceptualize, design, and implement virtual workshops and trainings, including working sessions around new and current initiatives and other key meetings with external partners, by generating reference materials, copy-editing content, and summarizing learnings and next steps.
• Support the development of program and grants-related reports, memos, and presentations.
• Develop story ideas, interview questions, and draft copy for blogs or social media and talking points that can be utilized by WES’s Strategic Communications team.
• Provide administrative support to the Associate Director and Senior Program Manager as needed.

The Ideal Candidate will:

• Have a commitment to supporting immigrants and refugees and excitement about exploring alternatives to traditional philanthropy that recognize and shift power to our partners and communities, such as trust-based philanthropy.
• Bring lived experience from immigrant and refugee communities and communities of color, as well the issues that the Fund focuses on.
• Have a deep-rooted intellectual curiosity, an openness to diverse ideas and perspectives, and a continued interest in learning and professional development.
• Bring a “can-do” attitude, have a willingness to stretch up and down in their role, take on additional responsibilities, and quickly establish credibility in new areas of work.
• Build collaborative working relationships with colleagues and external partners, mobilizing people at all levels towards collective goals.
• Bring an entrepreneurial mindset to generate new approaches, spot innovative opportunities, take calculated risks, and initiate action.
• Thrive in an environment that values transparency, collaboration, and an orientation for results.

Requirements:

• Current candidate and/or recent graduate from a public policy, international relations, economics, business, and/or another relevant graduate program.
• At least 2-3 years of professional experience focusing on workforce development, immigration, refugee resettlement, economic development, and/or social sector consulting.
• Awareness of, or interest in, the philanthropic sector.
• Ability to research, synthesize and integrate disparate pieces of data, analysis, and information.
• Demonstrated analytical skills to assess situations, break down complex problems, identify strategic tradeoffs, and apply learnings in a larger context.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills to convey complex information appropriately to stakeholders with different backgrounds and needs.
• Fluency in English required; ability to speak additional global language preferred.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office suite, especially Word, Excel and PowerPoint.

EOE Statement: World Education Services provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, veteran status, or genetics. In addition to federal law requirements, World Education Services complies with applicable state and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment in every location in which the company has facilities. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training.       

https://www.idealist.org/en/nonprofit-internship/4b85a66dcaad4e5c9828173e57c4ebf8-wes-mariam-assefa-fund-intern-remote-world-education-services-new-york?utm_source=symplicity&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=listings-api