Refugee Barrier Reduction Intern (Spring 2027)

This internship supports the IRC’s economic empowerment program by assisting refugees and humanitarian migrants in overcoming barriers to employment and achieving economic self-sufficiency in the United States. The intern will provide client support, conduct trainings, and coordinate with service teams to facilitate client engagement with resources.

Responsibilities

• Provide clients with support in the completion and submission of various applications to assist the reduction of barriers to employment in the United States (childcare voucher applications, LifeLine phone applications, etc.)
• Conduct training on the topics of public transportation, childcare options, digital literacy, job readiness, and understanding public benefits to reduce barriers to employment
• Participate in supporting clients in Job Application Hours to understand the process of applying for jobs in the United States and submit needed employment applications to achieve economic self-sufficiency
• Coordinate with economic empowerment service teams to support clients over the course of their service provision at the IRC in issues of barrier reduction
• Engage respectfully with all clients regardless of background
• Facilitate and conduct client outings (contingent upon office status) to financial institutions, libraries and various other venues to support client engagement with needed resources
• Other duties as identified by Family Employment Services (FES) Program Coordinator

Requirements

• Self-motivated and able to work independently
• Excellent communication and writing skills, including cross-cultural communication skills
• Works well in a fast-paced environment and adapts quickly to change
• Strong interest in refugee and asylee issues
• Language skills in Spanish, Amharic, Dari, Pashto, Haitian-Creole, French, Kinyarwanda or Swahili are a plus
• Three-month minimum commitment
• Required 24 hours/week
• Preferred full-time
• Preference to current students and recent graduates
• Candidates not enrolled in an undergraduate or graduate program and outside of 12 months from graduation will be processed as volunteers
• Ability to work in-person at the Silver Spring office and at a minimum of 15 hours per week is required

Skills

• Cross-Cultural Communication
• Client Support
• Training Facilitation
• Program Coordination
• Refugee and asylee issues
• Economic Empowerment
• Employment barriers reduction
• In-person client engagement

Languages

English