Opportunities

Students should contact the program staff directly or click find application information online.

Public Health

• Interns will work with organizational staff on a variety of community health projects including diabetes health education, nutrition and physical activity, planning health screenings and researching/linking community members to health and social service resources. Students will work with agencies that provide health care and related services to vulnerable populations.
   
• Nutrition and Diet-related Disease Prevention - Interns will work at community clinics and health agencies in Northeast LA providing nutrition and diet-related disease services including nutrition education, food assistance program enrollment, and healthy weight maintenance. Students will gain an on-the-ground understanding of the root causes of diet-related disease as well as how health agencies help to increase access to healthy food and provide nutrition resources to their community.

Organizations:

• Community Health Alliance of Pasadena or ChapCare (www.chapcare.org)
• Esperanza Community Housing (www.esperanzacommunityhousing.org)
• Every Woman Counts (LA County) (www.dhcs.ca.gov/services/Cancer/ewc/Pages/default.aspx)
• Foothill Unity Center Health Services Department (www.foothillunitycenter.org)
• Meet Each Need with Dignity (www.mendpoverty.org)

Students should contact the program staff directly or click here for application information.

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Affordable Housing 

Since 2004, 88 Oxy students have participated in the summer internship program in affordable housing and community development. The students work full-time for 10 weeks for nonprofit community-based organizations that help low-income families in Los Angeles find and keep affordable housing and help community groups improve low-income neighborhoods.  During their internships, students conduct research about public issues and public policy and implement projects in urban planning, real estate development, job creation, social services, community organizing, and other areas.

The program also has an academic component: Student interns must complete assigned readings, keep journals of their experience, write a final paper, and attend a weekly on-campus seminar with Professor Peter Dreier, E.P. Clapp Distinguished Professor of Politics and chair of the Urban & Environmental Policy Department.  The interns each receive a $4,500 stipend and get subsidized room and board at the College for the duration of their summer internships. The program is supported by grants from the, Citizens Business Bank,  Union Bank Foundation and the Friedman/Meyer Fund, and the college’s Anderson Fund, Career Development Center and Undergraduate Research Center. The 88 students who have participated in the summer program include 65 women and 23 men; 38% Caucasions, 29% are Latinos, 10% African Americans, and 9% Asians.

“The program is a win-win-win situation--for the students, for the community groups and constituencies they are working for, and for the College," he said. “It’s a ‘win’ for me, too. I enjoy mentoring the students, watching the transformations they go through, following them through their careers at Oxy and afterwards, and knowing that for many of them, the summer internship was a life-changing experience."

Over the 10 years of the programs existence, students have done internships with the Southern California Association for Non-profit Housing, Los Angeles Neighborhood Housing Services, LINC Housing Corporation, East Los Angeles Community Corporation, Little Tokyo Service Center, Strategic Actions for a Just Economy,  the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment,   Esperanza Community Housing Corporation, the Coalition for Economic Survival, the Los Angeles Community Action Network,  the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy, Livable Places, and LA Voice. Contact UEPI's Affordable Housing program if you have any questions.