Cultural Orientation Intern

TITLE: Cultural Orientation Intern
LOCATION: Elizabeth, NJ
START DATE: Spring Term
Duration: 10-15 hours per week

BACKGROUND: The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises and helps people to survive and rebuild their lives. At work in more than 40 countries and over 20 U.S. cities, the IRC provides resettlement, education, and empowerment support to refugees and displaced people. 

SCOPE OF INTERN WORK: The Adult Education Intern and/or volunteer supports newly arrived refugee clients in logistics for cultural orientation (CO) classes, where newly arrived refugee clients gain an understanding of community resources and expectations for the resettlement period.  

RESPONSIBILITIES:   

 Cultural Orientation (CO) 

• Provide logistical assistance for remote CO sessions, including scheduling CO sessions with clients, technical support, preparing materials, and helping with documentation, among other tasks.   
• Provide logistical assistance for onsite CO classes, including scheduling CO sessions with clients, setting up the physical classroom space, preparing materials, ordering lunch, and helping with documentation, among other tasks.  
• Contact clients and provide reminders before each CO class.   
• After CO, conduct and document assessments with each client to assess their understanding of cultural orientation content.   
• After CO, provide resources and information requested by the clients.  
• Facilitate CO classes in one-on-one and group settings as needed in English or other languages with interpreters.   

LEARNING OBJECTIVES: 

• Interns will learn about refugee resettlement and refugee social services.   
• Interns will develop administrative, digital literacy, and presentation skills.   
• Interns will learn how to interact with multicultural and limited English-speaking clients.