Bring diversity to the climate change movement.
The growing “green economy” has a diversity problem.
Climate change disproportionately impacts low-income communities of color, but the climate change movement lacks representation. The industry needs workforce pathways to prepare diverse climate leaders.
First-gen students are an under-tapped pool of talent.
Through our partnerships with college access nonprofits, we have access to hundreds of qualified first-gen students looking for opportunities to make an impact in their communities.
Our internship program builds the pipeline and provides support.
In 2020 we placed 15 first-generation interns at environmental organizations around the US. After placing the interns we also provided management training and intern coaching, ensuring success on the job.
How does it work?
1. As an employer, you provide the internship. We source, screen, and provide you a shortlist of candidates.
Employers with existing internship projects partner with us to diversify their pipeline of interns. Through our partnerships with college access nonprofits, we source and screen high-quality first-generation intern candidates, providing you with top finalists.
2. We provide management training and support to your team.
We know that organizations need to build leadership capacity to integrate talent from diverse backgrounds. We provide onboarding tips, performance review templates, and ongoing coaching for managers.
3. We conduct industry trainings and soft-skills coaching for the interns, providing a community of support and practice.
Each week we will have one industry-specific workshop and one professional development workshop on soft skills. Each intern will also be part of a coaching circle. 100% of the interns cited this support as critical to their success on the job.
“Every time I got off the phone, I thought, this is definitely the person we are going to hire. All of our interactions with FutureMap staff have been high quality, thoughtful, and helpful.”
Anna Sommer, Principal at Energy Futures Group (see her testimonial on LinkedIn!)
“You facilitated connections to qualified interns that we most likely wouldn’t have come into contact with before. I believe this is a program that really does provide mutual benefits for both employers and interns.”
Carissa Patrone, Equity Program Mgr. at the West Michigan Sustainable Business Forum
PRICING
What does it cost for an employer to participate?
The employer will pay the intern and, separately, a program fee. All internships MUST be paid by the employer in order to ensure equity. Our first-gen students often have family financial responsibilities, and in order for them to participate in career-building summer internships, they need to be paid fairly!
How much should interns get paid?
At a minimum, we suggest $15 per hour for 10 hours per week, for 8 weeks. However we have supported interns who work 30-40 hours per week and get paid $19-20 per hour.
What if I’m from a nonprofit and we’d love to have an intern, but don’t have a budget?
If you are a nonprofit with a limited budget, please inquire to learn more about internship subsidies and program fee waivers.
What’s included in the program fee?
Our program fee includes sourcing & screening (recruiting), management training and support, and intern support throughout the summer with a robust professional development curriculum, coaching, and industry-specific workshops.
Enterprise (>$1M revenue): $999
Small business: $599
Nonprofits: Sliding scale; please contact us
FAQ’s
What do you mean by “green” organizations? Is my organization eligible?
Our goal is to build the future generation of climate leaders, and we take quite a broad view of what this means. This could include sustainability, international development, poverty reduction, renewable energy, policy, waste management, public health, or education.
What types of internships and skillsets are eligible, and what if I’m not sure yet?
We have had interns focus on a variety of projects: social media & digital marketing, data analysis, project management, community outreach and partnerships, writing papers and compiling toolkits, conducting research and interviews. If you are not sure yet exactly what projects you might need, we suggest you pick a general focus area so that at least interns can apply knowing roughly what they’ll be getting into!
Timeline
Partner ecosystem
FutureMap worked with 300 first-generation and low-income college students and recent graduates in 2020 to provide career readiness training. Their successful summer ‘20 internship program is the basis for this. Their partners, the All Ways Up Foundation & the Schuler Scholar Program, are pioneers in workforce development among college access nonprofits.
Student Energy has worked with a network of 50,000 young people from over 120 countries to build the knowledge, skills, and networks they need to take action on energy. Their Energy Transition Certificate as well as the largest youth energy summit in the world form the basis for robust industry training and networks for all interns.
Energy Democracy Leadership Institute (EDLI) is an energy and climate justice grassroots organizing and leadership program with a demonstrated commitment to leadership by and for youth of color, people of color, indigenous people, women, and LGBTQI+ identified individuals, as well as those most impacted by climate chaos. EDLI is a recent creation of the NC Climate Justice Collective.