Intern With Us!

MaineTransNet regularly welcomes undergraduate and graduate students from Maine colleges and universities, and students located in Maine who are attending out-of-state educational facilities remotely, to complete for-credit internships and fieldwork placements through engaged participation in our organizational work. Interns generally join our staff for 1-2 semesters of part-time work during the academic year, or full time over the summer.

Values around field placements:

As an anti-capitalist organization, MTN’s values are often at odds with the expectations of unpaid work placed on students as part of their degree-seeking process. We believe these expectations further systemic issues within the nonprofit sector around equitable pay and career access for historically excluded communities. We also understand that most post-secondary institutions do not stipend students during their fieldwork semesters, and actively discourage, or prohibit students from being compensated while completing internships and fieldwork required for their degrees. Additionally, as a small nonprofit, MTN does not typically have access to funding that supports stipends for interns when their academic institution does not provide this resource to the student.

To balance this, we do give preference to applicants with internship opportunities funded by their institutions when available. However, this constitutes a very small percent of our Interns. In accepting Interns, we make every effort to balance who is most qualified to work with our organization with applicants for whom working with MTN would make a substantial difference in their career and education.

With all Interns, we believe in fully incorporating you into our staff for the duration of your program. Interns don’t fetch coffee or take notes at meetings: rather, they are given the opportunity to actively engage in our work. We are especially interested in engaging with Interns’ specific learning goals and expanding upon professional skill sets they identify as areas of exploration and growth. We are invested in your education and long-term career success. As such, we have offered enthusiastic letters of recommendation to most of our former Interns, many of whom have gone on to successful careers adjacent to their work with MTN.

Required Skills to be an Intern at MTN:

  • Fluency in and willingness to grow in knowledge of transgender cultural humility

  • Access to a computer during your regular working hours

  • Enrollment in a post-secondary learning program, such as college or graduate school, and ability to use this internship for credit towards completion of that program

  • A demonstrated connection to the State of Maine, the people who live here, its learning institutions, or direct connection to an indigenous community whose territory comprises the land often referred to as Maine

  • Passion for social justice, community building, gender liberation, and helping people

  • Commitment to continued learning and growth as part of a personal and introspective process of engaging in anti-oppressive work, most especially as it relates to racism, transphobia, ableism, and ageism

  • Willingness to engage daily with challenging issues related to trauma, sexual/domestic violence, suicide, mental health challenges, discrimination, sex work/survival sex, experiences of houselessness, family rejection, and poverty as they impact our constituency in specific and material ways

 

Please note: MaineTransNet (MTN) accepts Interns on a rolling basis. Interns are supervised by our Executive Co-Director, Kris Pitts, MPS, MSW. Interns are accepted across a variety of fields of undergraduate and graduate study, including communications, public health, human services, and social work; please note that MTN does not accept social work Interns for Clinical Supervision. To inquire about field placement opportunities, please contact us at info@mainetransnet.org; you may attach a resume and include a brief statement of interest including information regarding your field of study, preferred semester/timeline, professional goals, and interest in working with MTN (including if you are proposing a specific project).