New program helps students who lost summer internships, jobs because of pandemic
(WLOS) — Many students have lost their summer jobs and internships because of the COVID-19 pandemic. But there's a new state program that's giving them some different opportunities.
The NC COVID-19 Student Response Corps initiative provides virtual public service internships. It's an effort by Gov. Roy Cooper’s administration to match North Carolina college students in need of work experience with local governments and nonprofits who need additional help to support COVID-19 response efforts.
The director of Western Carolina University's Center for Career and Professional Development helped match students with employers. She said this is new ground for many businesses.
"A lot of it was the fact that some of these organizations never thought about hosting virtual interns, and this program allowed them to think about what are possible virtual projects that they could have students working from across the state," Theresa Cruz Paul said.
More than 80 North Carolina college students have been matched to opportunities with local government agencies and nonprofits across the state. Nearly all projects are virtual and include opportunities for interns to assist with grant writing and research, marketing and communications, community engagement and volunteer coordination, data analysis, strategic planning, and more. Interns are working with a variety of organizations, including county economic development departments, local chambers of commerce, nonprofit service providers, arts organizations and others.
The program helps strengthen the public service talent pipeline and prepares North Carolina’s students for employment.
This initiative is led by the NC Strategic Partnerships team, an effort within the Office of State Budget and Management to build partnerships between government, universities, philanthropy and the private sector. Also involved are the UNC School of Government Lead for NC program, Hometown Strong, the NC Association of County Commissioners, the NC League of Municipalities, the NC Rural Center, and several institutions of higher education.
A list of internship opportunities is available by visiting the NC COVID-19 Student Response Corps Database. For more information on the NC COVID-19 Student Response Corps initiative, please contact Caroline Tervo at covidinterns@osbm.nc.gov.