We offer three certified field instructors within the Catholic Charities refugee programs, which consists of seven different refugee programs with different focuses to address the various needs of newly arrived refugees.
About Our Internships
Our internship program is designed to provide intense, culturally and linguistically appropriate services that will enable refugees to become economically and socially independent as soon as possible. As an intern, you will learn how to apply different social work based practice methods in a culturally diverse manner, while also interfacing with various systems within Arizona that refugees must navigate through.
Here are descriptions for the three intern positions…
Match Grant Employment Program (BSW, or MSW foundation)
You will be working in the Match Grant Employment program with newly arrived refugees and be assigned refugee adults to work with in a manner that promotes early employment. As an intern, you will need to implement various culturally appropriate approaches to effectively engage refugees, and will need to conduct the following:
- Determine strengths and barriers to employment.
- Create an employment plan in partnership with the refugees that identifies steps to address various barriers.
- Work with the refugees and provide various interventions such as orientation to the U.S. workplace, resume development, mock interviews, job search, application assistance, childcare and transportation resources, etc.
Interventions will vary based on each refugee's unique needs. You will also need to conduct appropriate follow-up and monitoring of the plan and outcome of the intervention. Another requirement is to record progress in the case file and complete case note recordings with relevant outcomes to program managers for data collection and reporting. You will also have the opportunity to engage with systems on behalf of the refugee and serve as an advocate in areas of public assistance and employer outreach. You may also participate in local stakeholder meetings as well.
Resource Development (MSW FND, or PAC)
For this position, you will be working with the program's Development Manager to identify program needs, resources to vulnerable refugee families, and to enhance community support of refugee programs. This may involve working with various faith-based communities to provide education and outreach about refugees. This may also involve working with local refugee ethnic community-based organizations. You will also be able to observe and participate in resource development that removes barriers to work and self-sufficiency for refugee clients enrolled in our match grant employment program. You may develop plans to reach out to partners in the area of housing, employment, parish and community partnerships, and “basic needs” donations, to better support refugees as they look for work. You may also work with particularly vulnerable families and serve as a liaison and support for them and sponsors to ensure effective communication and needs identification. If you get this internship, you will be participating in macro-level social work and group-based social work. You will be responsible to...
- Research needs and challenges of vulnerable families, as well as program structure and requirements of matching grants.
- Develop an outreach plan and implement the plan with support from his or her field instructor.
- Report outcomes, cash donations, in-kind donations, and document success stories where community support has made a lasting impact on families.
- Understand refugee status, and effective cross-cultural techniques, as well as bargaining and negotiating with community and local systems that support low-income families.
- Be responsible to monitor their resource-development plan, make adjustments accordingly, complete various reports, track outcomes, as well as complete case note recordings, and file documentation.
Orientation Program (MSW PAC)
For this internship, you will work with newly arrived refugees and developing and implementing various orientations that will provide information in a culturally and linguistically sensitive manner to refugees about the U.S. system. Topics may include child welfare, U.S. laws, housing, budgeting and banking, transportation system, health and safety, U.S. school system.
In order to develop an effective orientation, you will need to …
- Research national and international best practices for orientation delivery.
- Develop a methodology to track, evaluate, and document each participant's progress of understanding the orientation topic. In doing so, you must also take into account cultural and linguistic needs of various refugee groups, as well as various education and literacy levels.
- Meet with local ethnic community based organizations as a means to better understand various refugee groups and cultural considerations.
- Be responsible for developing the orientation and presenting it to groups of refugees with support of task and field instructor.
- Document and record participant progress in case files and via case note recordings, as well as preparing outcomes and reports to the funding source.
- Critically evaluate the effectiveness of the orientation and adjust technique or material as needed, including developing a mechanism for receiving participant feedback.
For this internship, you will be involved Mezzo level social work (groups), program development, research, and program evaluation. You must also have working knowledge of orientation topics and be responsible to research, design, implement, monitor and evaluate two orientations.
