Regional Youth Internship Program
Request our Youth-led Workshops
The Michigan Roundtable's Regional Youth Internship Program is a 14-month paid internship for youth with a demonstrated commitment to building diverse and inclusive communities. Regional Youth Interns meet regularly in Detroit to gain skills in cultural awareness and competency, cross-cultural communication, conflict resolution, workshop facilitation, dialogue facilitation, leadership, and professional workplace culture. Interns use their newly gained skills to develop digital media and other teaching tools to create public awareness in schools and community-based organizations. These tools are meant to start conversations about various issues of injustice identified by the Interns as important to youth across the region.
Crosstown RIDE: Regional Inclusive Diverstiy Experience
The Crosstown Regional Inclusive Diversity Experience, or Crosstown RIDE, is a 5-day/4-night retreat that brings together the Regional Youth Interns for the first time. Interns participate in workshops exposing them to communities in the margins, engage in small group discussions, explore the influence of media on movement building and work together in team challenges.
Workshops and discussion groups are led by Senior Regional Youth Interns who have participated in the program for a year. Senior Interns also serve as cabin counselors, providing support and peer mentorship to new interns.
Following Crosstown RIDE, interns return to Detroit to participate in a 5-week intensive training. Interns work 20 hours each week to build leadership skills and engage in experiential learning opportunities that expose them to innovative strategies of community organizing in the Metro Detroit area. During this time, Interns engage in dialogue that asks them to critically examine the Metro Detroit region as a whole and begin identifying regional inequities. Interns complete their summer with a community media exhibit that showcases alternative media portrayals of the region.
2011-2011 Regional Youth Intern Media Exhibits: Diversity, History, Innovation & Creativity of Metro Detroit.
Congratulations to our graduated 2010-2011 Regional Youth Interns!
Left to right: Mohammed Ashraf, Fancisco Ruiz, Olivia Chavez, Julian Feliciano, Micah Fialka-Feldman, Miriam Cuevas, Jala Sanderling, Cortez Butler. Back: Sam Nelson. Not pictured: Andrea Furtos, Bralynn Saunders.
Interns receive specialized training in a form of digital media (audio, video and graphic design), developing intermediate skills that will be marketable for future opportunities. While developing and practicing these skills, Interns examine historical context, current advocacy efforts, media portrayals and policies that play a role in the injustice they see today.
Using these skills and knowledge, Interns develop a public education campaign that raises public awareness about an injustice they collectively identify as important to address. Following the completion of their digital media products, Interns develop teaching tools (e.g., facilitation guides, activities, and curriculum) that use the media in interactive ways to educate other youth about the issues. These teaching tools will also serve as an earned income strategy for our Interns who will also be available for hire as facilitators for the activities they have developed.
Please visit our Digital Media Corner to check out some of our media pieces!
Apply to be a Regional Youth Intern!
We are currently at capacity for our 2011-2012 Regional Youth Internship Program year. Please visit our website in April 2012 for the 2012-2013 application. If you would like to be contacted when the application becomes available, please email Theresa Tran at ttran@miroundtable.org.