Refugee and Immigrant Pantry Education (RIPE) Internship

The RIPE Program honors the IRC SD’s guiding principles of community-based collaboration, fostering a culture of learning and holistic wellness, and upholding the knowledge and power of our clients to ensure that food is a vehicle for positive change in the lives of IRC clients. RIPE seeks to increase access to preferred and nutritious food for at least 1,180 refugees and immigrants to ensure that all displaced families and individuals have quality and nutritious foods that adequately supports their locating safety in San Diego. RIPE hosts a culturally inclusive food pantry, promoting refugee and immigrant-led food production by investing $12,000 into the local food system, and improves food system navigation and knowledge for at least 300 clients through workshops and cultural orientations in dignity-affirming ways.

SCOPE OF RIPE INTERN WORK: In this internship, students will have the opportunity to contribute to the RIPE Program through community engagement and outreach, food stocking and distribution, and the facilitation of nutrition-focused programming.

RESPONSIBILITIES: Based on intern skills and experience, responsibilities may include a combination of program support, administrative/data support, and direct service:

- Collaborate with the Food Nutrition Specialist to plan high quality nutrition instruction and integrate into programming curriculum - Support with outreach to IRC clients using interpreters - Staff the food pantry and distribute the food - Contribute to data recording of food distribution - Aid in monitoring and evaluating RIPE progress through data tracking and conducting client assessments - Participate in training and professional development relevant to the role - Collaborate with interns, staff, other departments at IRC, and community partners - Facilitate internal referrals to other IRC programs - Work in partnership with national New Roots network to maintain holistic approach to programming - Provide RIPE clients with information about the community resources available - Other related duties as assigned

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

- Intern will have the opportunity to enhance their facilitation skills - Intern will expand their experience providing nutritionally informed and culturally humble services - Intern will participate in weekly RIPE intern group supervision to enhance collaborative learning

This is a Spring 2024 internship with anticipated start time being January 8th, 2024.

Qualifications - Must be currently enrolled (or a recent graduate) in an Associate’s, Bachelor’s or Master’s program focused on Nutrition, Public Health, Social Work, Public Policy, or a related field. - Must have driver’s license and reliable transportation - Proven track record working as a team member in a cross-cultural environment - Strong communication and interpersonal skills - Excellent organization and time-management skills - Proactive, motivated, and flexible; able to remain calm and adapt within a fast-paced, sometimes unpredictable work environment - Demonstrated success working and communicating with people of varied English-speaking abilities strongly preferred - Ability to lift and carry up to 50 pounds safely - Experience with direct service strongly preferred