Community Based Learning: Internships and Community Projects

This program provides an academic home-base for students interested in earning credit through internships with community organizations or community-based projects in a range of fields including health, psychology, human services,  education; student and youth movements; community arts; and human rights.

Community-Based Learning is offered for students who have made solid arrangements with community-based organizations or agencies to shape an internship, or students who have developed a project that involves community-based learning, organizing, research, and participation. The 6-credit academic program core provides a learning community where students can learn both  knowledge and skills for community work including somatic experiencing, resourcing, applied interpersonal neurobiology, Theatre for Living and social science writing through somatic labs, readings, discussions, and workshops. In addition, students carry out 2-10 credits of internship or project work (an average of 5-25 hours per week depending on the number of credits), for a total of 8-16 credits in the program. 

Students should reach out to faculty before the start of the quarter with a brief description of the project or internship they want to develop, and be ready to start projects and internships week 3 of the fall quarter and week 3 of winter quarter for students joining in winter.  The first two weeks of fall quarter will take time to finalize internship or project proposals. Internships in healthcare often require a 2 quarter commitment.  Sites that involve working with minors and vulnerable populations may require being able to pass a state background check which may take longer to process -students interested in these placements should begin looking for internships early September.

Through their internship or project work, students will develop strong links to organizations, non-profits , and community mentors and partners who will be students' guides and hosts in their work. Working in conjunction with schools, advocacy groups, community mentors, or non-profit organizations, students will experience and reflect on what it means to support communities in our region. Internships can involve any focus, such as health, adult literacy, food security, homelessness, cooperative development, or public health. Community-based projects could involve oral histories with community members (elders, artists, laborers, community organizers, etc.), or designing a community action plan to address a particular challenge or need of an organization that is developed collaboratively with the organization.  Faculty and the Center for Community-Based Learning and Action CCBLA will work with students to develop project proposals and/or in-program contracts for internships with community organizations. Students can contact CCBLA Director Ellen Shortt Sanchez (shorttse@evergreen.edu), explore community opportunities at https://www.evergreen.edu/individualstudy/findaninternship, or contact program faculty to develop projects. 

For the 6-credit program core, we will meet together as a program to investigate what it means to learn from community-based work, support each other as each person carries out their project or internship, and deepen our knowledge of local organizations and their connections to Evergreen. Skills development work will include energy medicine practices and applied interpersonal neurobiology to be able to integrate brain, mind  and relationships when working in the community develop skills for working respectfully in community, and explore emergent questions. Through readings and other materials, we will focus on the ethics of community-based work, strategies of collaboration and the impacts of cultural identity as constituents of our own and community experience. Through workshops, we will emphasize modes of identifying and valuing community knowledge and develop and deepen skills in documentation, cultural humility, social science writing and reflective writing.  This program is ideal for responsible, self-motivated students who value collaborative learning, are enthusiastic about shaping a community of co-learners, and are committed to learning from and with community partners. 

Anticipated Credit Equivalencies (per quarter)

6: Community Studies and Social Science Skills

2- 10: Internship or Community Based Project