Self-Directed Internship Opportunities

The Nonprofit and Public Management Center provides internship support for students pursuing graduate degrees in the schools of Public Policy and Social Work. Each spring NPM awards stipends to graduate students who will be serving summer internships in nonprofit and public management positions.

How the Program Works

NPM solicits applications in the winter semester. Selected students must have:

• A record of academic and professional excellence;
• Knowledge and skills relevant to their selected organization;
• A desire to extend themselves beyond their previous experience through their internships;
• A commitment to the nonprofit or public management sector.

In addition, internships must be at least 10 weeks in length and only internships served prior to your graduation from U-M are eligible. Accepted students pursuing graduate degrees in the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy and the School of Social Work are awarded up to $2000 each to defray costs associated with their internships, including those with a limited stipend and with organizations anywhere in the U.S. or abroad.

How to Apply

Thank you for your interest in Self-Directed Summer Internship Support. We are no longer accepting applications for 2009 summer internship support. Applications for 2010 summer internship support will be available in January or February of 2010. The application package may include:

• Application form
• Up-to-date resume

Please note that only students pursing graduate degrees in the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy and the School of Social Work are eligible to apply.

Internship Support Awardees for 2009

The Nonprofit and Public Management Center is pleased to support the following students who will be serving internships in nonprofit and public organizations during the summer of 2009.

From the School of Social Work:

Yiwei Chen, an MSW/MPP student, will be working with the Joint US-China Cooperation on Clean Energy. There she will work on program development for the Mayor Training Program, which will design the course and introduce policies of successful energy efficiency programs to mayors across China. Yiwei will also assist with the content of the China Energy Blueprint Web site.

Seva Gandhi, an MSW student, will split her intern time between the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and Reto Juvenil Internacional (RJI). UNHCR is an agency that strives to ensure that everyone can exercise the right to seek asylum and find safe refuge in another state, with the option to return home voluntarily, integrate locally, or to resettle in a third country. At RJI, Seva will work with members of a team from the School of Social Work, working side by side with community members in Liberia to identify changes they would most like to see in their communities. They will then connect with other organizations in the area to help implement this change.

Michelle Paffel, an MSW student, is interning with the Women's Health Association. Women's Health Association works to research, educate and advocate for provision of health care policies that focus on the female population, primarily those who are young and economically disadvantaged. Michelle's focus will be on grants, policy-related issues and education programming for women in the area.

Dan Robin, an MSW student, is working with the Gift of Life Michigan. Gift of Life, the Michigan organ and tissue donation program, is a nonprofit, independent corporation certified by Medicare and designated by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services as an organ recovery organization for Michigan. Dan will work the majority of his time in coordination with the Michigan State House and State Representatives on developing legislation that promotes organ donation education within four areas of education. Dan will also help develop best practices during the transition of outgoing and incoming board members at Gift of Life.

From the Ford School of Public Policy:

Cara Orfield, an MPP student, will work as a Development Analyst Intern for Development Gateway Foundation, an international non-governmental organization working to connect developing countries with valuable technological resources. Cara will support the Aid Effectiveness Team in the testing, marketing and implementation of the Foundation's aid management tools. She will work on improving a software package developed to help countries' Ministries of Finance more effectively and transparently manage international aid dollars.

Laura Rosen, an MPP student,  will intern with LifeSpring Hospitals, an organization located in Hyderabad, India that operates a chain of small hospitals focused on providing high quality, low-cost maternal and child healthcare to low-income women and children in India. Laura will develop a recommendation on how the enterprise can maintain and lower costs, therefore increasing the number of individuals the hospitals serve. An additional project will be to assess community interest in and demand for LifeSpring's community outreach initiatives.

Nadia Wong, an MPP/MSW student, is working with Community Action Network (CAN), whose mission is to serve families in under-resourced neighborhoods in Washtenaw County. They provide educational and life skills programs for children and teens, and supportive housing services for families. CAN advocates for low-income families with schools, community service providers, and government agencies. As Management Human Services intern, Nadia will focus on grant-writing, development of materials for volunteers, and supporting committees and coalitions that CAN is active in, as well as learning more about social policy implications on the organization.

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