Call for Applications: Internship with Housing Santa Cruz County

Application Deadline: February 4, 2024

The Humanities Division is excited to announce an experiential learning opportunity for Humanities undergraduates at UC Santa Cruz to work with Housing Santa Cruz County (HSCC). Internships connect Humanities majors and minors to projects in the community, with the aim of mutually benefiting students and organizations. Students gain practical experience, professional training, and learn about positions outside of the university that build on their studies in the Humanities. At the same time, community organizations benefit from students’ assistance and academic expertise.

About Housing Santa Cruz County:

Housing Santa Cruz County (HSCC) is made up of individuals, nonprofit and for-profit businesses, service providers, homelessness organizations and advocates, agriculture leaders, faith-based organizations, labor leaders, financial institutions, housing professionals (architects, contractors) sustainable community leaders (transportation, environment, health, education and energy professionals) nonprofit and for-profit housing developers, local government staff and elected officials, and community leaders. We are dedicated to making Santa Cruz County affordable for all.

Position Description:

Are you interested in shaping housing policy and advocating for positive change? Are you passionate about affordable housing advocacy and skilled in communications? This position will offer opportunities to collaborate with the Executive Director, Admin & Communications Coordinator, the HSCC Endorsements and Communications Committees to learn about and track housing needs in our community, advocate for change and organize events around housing needs.

RESPONSIBILITIES AND EXPECTATIONS

• Policy / Advocacy (50%):
  • Track local affordable housing projects across the county.
  • Help maintain an advocacy calendar to support HSCC’s timely advocacy.
  • Attend Staff Endorsements Committee meetings and provide updates.
  • Conduct research on affordable housing projects across the county.
  • Track project dates and planning commission/council/board meetings.
  • Collaborate with staff and local partners to identify and track advocacy needs.
• Communications / Media (50%) :
  • Collaborate on the creation of engaging social media content.
  • Assist in drafting and updating website copy.
  • Contribute to newsletter creation and distribution.
  • Basic graphic design for promotional materials.
  • Help maintain social media and events calendar.
  • Support in event planning and promotion.

Who You Are: You are a declared major or minor in a department in the Humanities Division, and you are in good academic standing. [required]

• You have strong organizational and research skills.
• You are analytical, meaning you are driven by curiosity to get to the bottom of things and solve a problem or find an answer.
• You are interested in local government processes.
• You are detail-oriented and proactive.
• You are passionate about affordable housing advocacy.
• You have strong communication and writing skills.
• You are familiar with social media platforms.
• You have basic graphic design skills (Canva, Adobe, etc.) [required]

Internship Term: Early February - June 14, 2024

Application Deadline: February 4, 2024

Hours: 10 hours/week

Paid: $20/hour

Location: Hybrid

Reports to: Elaine Johnson, Executive Director of Housing Santa Cruz County

How To Apply

Apply by submitting your resume and a short cover letter (no more than one page) answering these questions: Why this job? Why you? Why now?

Please address your cover letter to Elaine Johnson, Executive Director of Housing Santa Cruz County.

• A tip for writing this cover letter is to consider how this position will further your undergraduate studies as well as your professional career once you have completed your education.
• Review these resume and cover letter resources to ensure that you are a strong candidate.

Once the application window closes, there will be a virtual interview process with top candidates.

This internship is compensated through either student employment with UCSC or through a scholarship award. If you’re a financial aid applicant, the scholarship award option would be incorporated into your aid offer to meet your budgeted cost of attendance. In most cases the award will fill any gap between your aid and budget, or the award will reduce your loan obligation. Once factored into your aid offer, the award is paid through to your UC Santa Cruz student account. If you owe fees for the term in which the award is applied, the award will apply to those fees first. Any remaining funds will be issued to you via direct deposit or by check, depending on how you are signed up to receive refunds. If you have questions about how this award would affect your current aid, please contact the Financial Aid and Scholarship Office at finaid@ucsc.edu or 831-459-2963.

Please contact Experiential Learning Coordinator Kylie Rachwalski at hum-experiential-learning@ucsc.edu with any questions.

This undergraduate internship is generously supported by The Mellon Foundation.