Local Internships at CAN Headquarters
Internships at CAN's headquarters at the University of
California, Santa Cruz connect classroom learning to real world social justice
advocacy. U.S. interns are a crucial piece of the network. On a given day,
interns may staff our booth at the farmer's market, coordinate a speaking tour
for farmers, help facilitate the direct market, plan events, write grants,
translate, or give presentations. Interns in Santa Cruz often culminate their
experience with a field study, but many choose to work behind the scenes,
providing essential support for the organization. For example, CAN interns
successfully lobbied UC Santa Cruz, whose dining services now purchase coffee from the FairTrade Direct market. Similar campaigns
are active at other universities. 
CAN interns at UC Santa Cruz meet weekly where we
report in on the current activities and stay abreast of issues in the fair trade movement. Meetings
are lively and often include pot-luck dinners. Interns come from all different
academic disciplines, from Economics and Marketing to Biology, and Latin
American Studies. CAN offers 2.0 or 5.0 credit internships, and joyfully
accepts not-for-credit interns as well. Internship positions may be available
working on CAN's campaigns at other universities around the country.
Some of CAN's current activities include:
- consumer education campaign
- playing a key role in the sustainability movement on campuses state-wide
- grant writing
- outreach and education events
- maintaining communication with partner cooperatives
Please contact CAN outreach coordinator Grace Voorheis
at outreach@canunite.org for more information.
Above: CAN interns doing outreach at a sustainability conference
