The Center for Sexual Pleasure and Health welcomes interns from around the country, and recruits three times a year for Spring, Summer, and Fall seasons. The internship program is a great educational experience for anyone interested in sex education, non-profit development, library science, and/or connecting with an amazing, diverse community of sex-positive people from all walks of life. (You don’t have to be a college student to apply!)
Deadlines for the Summer 2012 Application Process:
- Application goes live on the website: We are not currently accepting applications for the summer. Please check back in August for fall positions.
- Application is due: TBA
- Interviewing period begins: TBA
- Summer Internship Decisions Announced: TBA
- Intern Training: TBA
We encourage individuals to bring new ideas to the table and to arrive with a strong interest in collaboration. If you are looking to become an intern, please fill out and submit the application form along with a copy of you resume and two brief writing samples (2-3 pages each). We will contact you with further details once we receive your application.
Benefits of the Internship:
This internship is unpaid, but the perks are many. Becoming an intern at The CSPH gives you access to a wonderful resource center and the vast network of its Founder and Director, Megan Andelloux–a certified and accredited sex educator and sexologist.
This position also provides opportunities for continuing education as Ms. Andelloux regularly brings in trainers and speakers from the field of sexuality to meet with the interns. These either provide specific guidance and presentations, or just talk about their experiences in the field and address concerns and questions people may have. All professional development workshops, including those approved for Continuing Education credits from organizations such as AASECT are available to interns at a low rate.
The folks selected are part of a fabulous team of individuals who believe in social justice and the power of sexual freedom, knowledge, and hard work. Each intern has important responsibilities and is accountable to the rest of the team and staff; this is not a “fetch me coffee and make copies” internship! Aside from the great professional opportunities and the fabulous group of people involved, becoming an intern also has additional benefits, such as free products, lowered registration at select conferences, and the insider scoop on new developments in the field. All internship positions can also include a component of visiting conferences and tabling on behalf of The CSPH.
Internship Positions:
(SOME ARE FILLED FOR THE NEXT CYCLE, SO PLEASE INQUIRE OR NOTE YOUR PREFERENCES IN YOUR APPLICATION)
There are various delineated intern positions, though all the interns work closely together and there is an emphasis on teamwork and cross-pollination.
Social Media Intern – 1 position available
Can commute OR be local
We need a web-savvy individual who is a mastermind at social media. They will manage the social media presence, curate a constant stream of content through all our channels (YouTube, Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, And Yelp), and produce a TGIF roundup each week that will highlight 5 interesting online articles that deserve the public’s attention.
Fundraising and Development Interns – 2 positions available
One must be local
Other can commute OR be local
We are looking for 2 individuals who are interested in researching grants as well as planning and executing fundraising events. Other work would include developing and maintaining a donor and corporate database, and working on The CSPH’s nonprofit status. These interns must be able to communicate directly with the entire staff team and (if you are local) sometimes travel around RI, though owning a car is not a requirement. They will also communicate and collaborate with the rest of the interns, particularly the Programming & Outreach and Website Content interns to publicize their planned events.
Programming and Outreach Interns – 2 positions available
Local only
If you are the type of person that gets stuff done and is always planning events, this might be the position for you! You would be working directly with our Programming Staff person, but will also be doing plenty of work on your own. Work would be divvied up between coordinating regular events and publicizing them, organizing contacts, contacting toy companies, contacting organizations so we can list their stuff on our site, and other random in-person work. These interns will help with event-planning and organization to keep regular and special events running smoothly, such as our professional development series (e.g. Spice it Up series, getting and preparing the media for our Sexual Attitude Reassessment seminars, etc…).
Website Content and Management Intern – 1 position available
Can commute OR be local
This intern is in charge of keeping our website updated and running smoothly, posting reviews/resources and monitoring/fixing broken links. Everything involving The CSPH website will go to this person. They will also be in charge of scheduling when things will go up on the website, creating top 10 lists, writing toy reviews, and in charge of creating our Monthly Newsletter. Finally, they will watch for online mentions of The CSPH and update our History section accordingly (with press info).
Education Interns – 2 positions available
One must be local
Other can commute OR be local
Do you like researching and educating the community about sexual professional and sexuality-related issues? As an Education intern, you would be doing this in a variety of ways. One Education intern will be researching current sexual studies and writing short summaries/critiques of them that will go on The CSPH website; posting gender and sexuality conferences on the site; compiling disability, aging, and spirituality resources; and contacting prominent educators for the Hump Day Heroes section of the CSPH site.
A second Education intern will be in charge of vlogging. This intern must be skilled with video-editing or is willing to learn quickly, and is as comfortable behind the camera as they are in front of it (no equipment is necessary–all tools will be provided by The CSPH). This intern will also be in charge of helping compile disability, aging, and spirituality resources; creating TBA educational materials; and other random projects (e.g. organizing the PostSecrets and question cards).
Library and Inventory Intern – 1 position available
Local only
If you are type-A, highly organized, and a lover of spreadsheets and maintaining databases, then look no further than this position. The Library and Inventory intern will be responsible for helping us catalogue and organize our library (including zines, pamphlets, and magazines), manage lending out books, organize and do data-entry for our question-cards and business cards from contacts. They will also write reviews of books (or coordinate others doing them) that will be posted on our website, seek out new books and resources to add to the library, budget for purchases of this kind, and work to get donations from individuals/businesses.
Note: if there is a position you are interested in, and it is not listed here, please let us know! These positions need to be filled, but we are very open to suggestions.
Internship Program Information
Time Commitment:
- For Summer internships, the position requires 20 hours a week (Local interns are expected to spend at least 13-15 of their 20 hours working in the CSPH itself each week)
- Telecommuting is possible for most of the positions unless otherwise noted
- Staff meetings, trainings, CSPH related events (e.g. tabling), and assigned tasks (e.g. watching a movie for a staff meeting) do count toward your weekly hours, but must be accurately documented
Mandatory Meetings and Trainings:
- Attend meetings held every other week (via Skype if telecommuting)
- Currently scheduled dates for Summer Internship meetings:
- Tuesday, June 12th 5-7pm
- Wednesday, June 27th 5-7pm
- Tuesday, July 10th 5-7pm
- Tuesday, July 24th 5-7pm
- Wednesday, August 8th 5-7pm
- Tuesday, August 21st 5-7pm
- Have a biweekly check-in with Director via phone, Skype, or in-person
- Shadow Director during at least 1 of her lectures/workshops and complete 1 Shadowing Evaluation form for this workshop (complete in Googledocs within 1 week of presentation attended). Any workshops attended beyond the first 1 do not require an evaluation form
- Attend the intern trainings: Tuesday May 22, Wednesday May 23, and Friday May 25 – IF YOU CANNOT ATTEND ONE OR MORE, PLEASE NOTE THIS IN YOUR APPLICATION
- Attend at least 2 professional speakers’ workshops who come to speak to the interns about their work and the sexuality field (events TBA)
Technical Requirements:
- Regular Internet access
- A Gmail or GoogleApps account (or willingness to create one)
- A Skype account (or willingness to create one)
- Experience with GoogleDocs (or willingness to be trained in how to use them)
- A Facebook account (or willingness to create one)
Behavior/Performance Expectations:
- Be comfortable around sexual content, books, media, and other materials
- Work individually and in a group (depending on tasks)
- Dress in appropriate attire (business casual please) when at The CSPH or when representing the CSPH
- Show up for shifts and staff meetings on time (and give plenty of notice if there are issues). This is one of your most important tasks.
- Complete assigned tasks in a timely manner
- Take initiative! We want motivated interns who strive to go the extra mile and complete their tasks with the utmost effort
- Communicate effectively and appropriately (verbally and in writing) with staff and other interns. This includes being conscious of the language that you use and showing respect for others personal lives/boundaries (this will be covered more during training)
- Be willing to help out with some unexpected projects that may arise
- Write a review for any toy you are given, book that you rent from the library, and movie that you borrow from The Center, which will be posted on The CSPH site
- Write 1-2 short essays during the Summer Internship that describes your negative and/or intense emotional reaction to an online story and documents the process you take analyzing these feelings as a lay person vs. how you would respond as a budding sexuality professional
- Complete Weekly Goals (intern document that reports both completed and in-progress weekly tasks/goals) every Saturday by midnight
- Complete an exit “self-evaluation form” at the end of the semester and schedule an Exit Interview with Staff to discuss the self-evaluation (if intern wishes to extend their participation in the program, they will also have to fill out another short form as a re-application)
- Acknowledge and understand that your work load may potentially increase during the end of the internship (due to finishing up your tasks and/or starting school), but that your commitment to your work/hours put in each week at The CSPH will not be affected or changed
