Yspaniola is a Dominican-American 501c3 registered nonprofit dedicated to providing high-quality educational programming from preschool through university in Batey Libertad, in the Dominican Republic. Yspaniola’s vision is to provide our students with the tools they need to successfully advocate for themselves and their communities.
During the COVID-19 global pandemic, we are facilitating small group, socially distant learning for students from pre-primary to third-grade, supporting our six university scholars to continue taking their classes online and develop community programs, and equipping all of our students with the resources to learn from home. Yspaniola has historically operated Experiential Service-Learning (ESL) trips for high school and university students from other countries to visit Batey Libertad and learn about international development and social justice issues on the island, and we are continuing to do this virtually.
Yspaniola offers internships to students who are recent graduates or currently enrolled in Bachelor’s and Master’s programs. Yspaniola is looking for a highly motivated individual who is passionate about education, human rights, healthy child development, and community empowerment to work with us as a Summer Intern in the summer of 2021.
This role includes: supporting administrative tasks such as grant writing, donor communications, and development work and working directly with local students through our literacy and scholarship programs. The internship offers a fantastic opportunity to work in the close-knit community of Batey Libertad with a passionate team of local and international staff and senior management. We are committed to mentoring interns to develop their capacity and understanding of international non-profit management, operations, and development.
The community of Batey Libertad is located inland in a rural, agricultural zone. Interns will reside in the nearby town of Esperanza, where Yspaniola international staff and interns are generally the only foreigners living in the vicinity. This position will report to the Executive Director.
We are looking for a Summer Intern who will ideally be available for at least two months between June 1st and August 15th, and ideally able to start by June 12th (dates may be flexible, please confirm your exact availability when you apply).
**IMPORTANT NOTE: Interns may be required to undertake a 10-day quarantine period at Yspaniola’s volunteer house in Esperanza on arrival in the country. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, social and in-country travel opportunities of our international team may be restricted due to the nature of our work and the vulnerable population that the organization Yspaniola works to support. These restrictions will be in place until such a time as circumstances improve. Our staff is committed to continuing to provide programming while also ensuring the safety of all of our staff members and the families in the community that we serve and Interns must demonstrate that same commitment.
Intern responsibilities will vary depending on the successful candidate’s profile and skills set, however, interns are generally required to support the following activities:
Media and content creation: design engaging content for social media, newsletters, and other communication campaigns. Draft and edit content for Yspaniola’s Annual Report.
Fundraising: support the implementation of Yspaniola’s fundraising strategy, which may include drafting and editing funding proposals and/or reports to donors, writing donor communications for fundraising campaigns, researching potential new grant funders, etc.
Administrative support: includes processing donations and thanking donors, resource creation, and other administrative tasks as requested.
Program-specific support: depending on the intern’s particular skills and interests, but could include:
Designing and delivering summer reading activities in Yspaniola’s library
Delivering a professional development or empowerment course or similar workshops to youth in Batey Libertad
Providing 1:1 academic tutoring to our university scholars
In particular, we are interested in people with the following skills and interests:
Fundraising enthusiasts, to participate in our Pico Duarte Hike
A passion for literacy and reading, to run summer reading activities in our library
Photography skills, with own camera and editing software, and/or graphic design skills
Website editing skills (in particular, WordPress) to update our website
We welcome applicants with ideas about the kinds of projects they are interested in and can discuss the viability of projects during the interview process.
Qualifications:
The ideal candidate will have the following qualifications and skills:
A Bachelor's degree, be preparing to undertake a bachelor’s degree, or demonstrable experience and passion relevant to this position
Proficient in Spanish, able to converse fluently with local staff
Demonstrated interest in social justice issues; knowledge of international development and/or Caribbean history & culture preferred
Belief in Yspaniola’s vision and values; passion for community-based approaches to education and development
Effective verbal and written communicator
Experience working in a low-income community, either in the US or abroad
High level of cross-cultural sensitivity and excellent interpersonal skills
Exceptional organizational skills and attention to detail
Sense of humor and a high level of flexibility
Creative thinker, able to take initiative on new projects
Experience working with children a plus
Familiarity with French or Haitian Creole a plus, as Haitian Creole is commonly spoken in the community
How to apply:
To apply for this internship, please send your resumé, a one-page cover letter explaining why you feel you are an excellent candidate for the role, and contact details for *two references to volunteer@yspaniola.org. Applicants should also confirm their availability to start in June 2021** or confirm their availability. Submissions will be accepted until the position is filled. This is an unpaid internship position.
*We will not contact references until a conditional offer is made