Summer 2025 Restorative Justice Educational Internship

Restorative Justice Educational Internship Description and Application

Forging Opportunities for Refugees in America (FORA) is seeking to recruit extremely passionate individuals to advocate for the educational rights of refugees through participating in individualized High Impact Tutoring. We currently serve over one-hundred refugee students, ages K-12, with diverse backgrounds and experiences. As many FORA students were denied any access to formal education, FORA aims to bridge the gaps between the students' grade level and current skill set.

At FORA, we prioritize refugee literacy, but recognize the previous successes and experiences of each student. Although many of our students have been denied access to literacy, we recognize their extremely crucial abilities to identify problems and solutions and form values based on observations. FORA is an additional resource for educational needs, but our students’ resilience and strength have molded FORA into the community we are today. We also recognize the adverse experiences of the students and families we serve and incorporate trauma-informed care in an educational setting into our tutoring program.

Applicants do not need a background in education. We welcome all individuals looking to gain experience working with refugee youth. Above all, we value individuals who prioritize building and maintaining a diverse community with refugee youth, fellow interns and staff members.

We encourage anyone interested in the intersection of restorative justice to apply!

Dates: June 23- Aug. 15

Hours: At least 18 hours (4 days)/ week.

Timeslots: Mon-Fri from 9:00am-1:30pm.

Compensation: All internships are unpaid. Eligible volunteer interns will be nominated for a Presidential Volunteer Service Award. Eligibility is based on hours volunteered and age.

Location: All internships are held in-person at our education-empowerment center at 6435 N. California Avenue.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Lead individualized tutoring sessions with a refugee student, following FORA’s provided curriculum on subjects including reading and math.
• Maintain classroom standards, ensuring each student has the adequate materials needed for academic and emotional success.
• Read alongside the student, asking comprehension questions, introducing new vocabulary, and reviewing literacy concepts such as point of view, setting, protagonist, etc.
• Explain concepts of counting, addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, area, perimeter, fractions, etc.
• View tutoring in a social justice lens, advocating for students socio-emotional and academic needs
• Approach educational standards in a trauma-informed lens

Required Qualifications

• As you will be assisting in educational efforts, you must be fluent in English.
• A “people-person,” using joy and strong interpersonal skills to champion FORA, inviting others to invest in what we do.
• Eagerness and willingness to work with children between kindergarten and high school.
• Willingness to learn operational systems and procedures to best model our mission.
• The desire to view education through a social justice lens and advocate for educational rights for refugees.
• Google (docs, sheets, presentations, etc)

Outcomes

At FORA, the Restorative Justice Educational interns will use a social justice lens to lead individualized tutoring sessions and reverse the educational implications of extreme persecution of minority communities. Interns will become immersed in an activist community and build bonds with students, tutors, fellow interns and staff members. At FORA, we believe in fostering a horizontal organization where interns, volunteers, students and staff are given a platform to amplify their voice and ideas, advocating for themselves and their community. Interns will work directly with supervisors on a day-to-day basis to receive sufficient support and feedback about tutoring, questions and/or concerns. Lastly, individuals will learn how to advocate for the civic and academic success of refugee youth and restore the foundational right to education for all peoples through individualized tutoring.

Eligible participants will be nominated by FORA for a Presidential Volunteer Service Award, a prestigious award from the White House and Americorps recognizing individuals for their dedication to service. Awards are based on age and hours of service completed.

Timeline to Apply

We will be accepting applications on a rolling basis until April 4, 2024 at 5pm Central Time. Slots are limited, so we encourage you to submit your application as soon as possible. Please find the application attached to this document.

Application Expectations

All applicants must submit their application and an updated resume to giuliannal@refugeefora.org by the deadline stated above. Applicants should expect an email from FORA Outreach staff inviting them to an interview within 3-4 business days upon submission. Interviewees will receive a final decision based on their interview.

If you have any questions, please contact Chief Outreach Officer Giulianna Larson (giuliannal@refugeefora.org).