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Internships at Workers Interfaith Network
"Through
my internship I got to learn all I could want about organizing and
the labor movement.
From orchestrating mass
mailings to meeting with city councilmen, I got to be part of
every step of the process, and got invaluable experience.
Plus, it's nice to work at a
non-profit small enough that you
become friends with everyone in the office, and I really felt
comfortable asking my co-workers any questions I had."
- Hannah
McConnaughay, 2006 summer intern
Interning with the
Mid-South Interfaith Network provides students with
unique opportunities to
learn community organizing and advocacy
skills; faith teachings on
economic justice and workers rights; and the
impact of public policy
and corporate practices on poor
people and on the economy.
Potential internship assignments include:
v
- mobilizing Mid-South Interfaith
members for living wage and worker rights actions
through turn out calls and mailings
v
- writing and researching
educational, action, or worship, resources for the organization’s
newsletter, email
updates, and website
v
- interviewing workers and writing
worker testimonials
v
- organizing student support for
campaigns
- meeting with clergy and faith leaders to organize support for campaigns
- making presentations to congregations, unions, and community organizations
about campaigns
v
- administrative tasks such as data
entry
Our Campaigns
·
The Memphis Living Wage Campaign,
which is working to solve the problem of taxpayer
dollars being
used to subsidize poverty wage jobs.
The campaign, which involves more than
40 faith, labor, and community
organizations, is working to pass a local law that
requires companies receiving
subsidies or contracts from the City of Memphis to
pay their workers at least
$10 per hour with health insurance or $12 without insurance, and to
require the
City to pay its own workers a living wage.
·
Workers Rights Campaigns.
One
of the most effective ways workers can address
low wages, lack of health care
benefits, and unjust working conditions is by organizing
on the job.
Unfortunately, many workers are harassed or fired for speaking up
for their
rights. The Mid-South Interfaith Network upholds workers’ rights by organizing
the faith community to press companies, especially those that
pay low wages, to improve
wages,
benefits, and working conditions, and to respect their workers' right to
organize.
Internship Details
Interns should be:
-passionate about social and economic
justice
- able to work with limited supervision
- comfortable working with Christians,
Jews, Muslims, and other faith groups
- computer literate, including skilled
in word processing and using the internet
- skilled in verbal and written
communication
Internships are available for both undergraduate and graduate students.
Internships
are available during the school year or in the summer, and can be
full or part time.
We ask that interns work at least 8 – 10 hours per week.
If you would like to apply
for an internship, or if
you are not available for this much time, but would like to
volunteer on a more
limited basis, please contact us.
At the present time, we are only able to offer un-stipened internships.
Interfaith Worker Justice (IWJ), the national organization we are
affiliated
with, has
stipened summer internships available for seminary and undergraduate
students.
Some of these summer interns are placed with the Mid-South Interfaith Network
and with unions in the Memphis area. Click here for
more information about IWJ's
internship programs.
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