Internships and Experiential Learning Opportunities
We believe it's crucial that our students not only learn about human rights promotion in the classroom, at the library, or on their laptops, but that they experience human rights promotion firsthand, on the ground, for themselves. If you've committed to pursing a minor with us, we're committed to doing everything possible to set you up to be a human rights changemaker. For these reasons, we're proud to present a curated slate of internship opportunities specifically for our Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs undergraduate students: our signature Human Rights Changemaker Internships. We've collaborated with a plethora of organizations in Lincoln and beyond who do cutting-edge human rights work, and we are interested in having you on board. Learn more about the program here, and learn about next semester's internship opportunities here.
Here is a list of organizations where HRHA students have completed internship and experiential learning opportunities where they did human rights work, on the ground, across Lincoln, across Nebraska, and across the world. Stay tuned as the list grows!
Indigenous Roots Teacher Education Program (ROOTS) Founded by a collaboration between UNL, the Nebraska Department of Education, and Little Priest Tribal College, ROOTS helps to prepare American Indian students to become certified bilingual elementary education teachers. The objective is for these American Indian students to become teachers in Nebraskan schools that serve American Indian students. RIGHTS PROMOTED: education, indigenous people's rights.
Lincoln Literacy provides language and literacy services to immigrants and refugees in the Lincoln community. Its mission is to strengthen Lincoln's community and assist people of all cultures by providing English language and literacy education. It relies on trained volunteers as instructors, beginning with a few dozen instructors, and later expanding to serve thousands of refugees and immigrants every year. RIGHTS PROMOTED: education, literacy. TO APPLY: Visit this page.
Civic Nebraska aims to strengthen democracy in Nebraska and beyond by mounting youth civic leadership, civic health, and voting rights initiatives. Civic Nebraska's voting rights work relies heavily on research, and as such, it is the only organization in Nebraska that specializes in non-partisan voting rights research, advocacy, observation, and education. RIGHTS PROMOTED: democracy, political participation, voting rights.
Nebraska Appleseed fights for justice and opportunity for all Nebraskans; at the most basic level, their goal is to connect Nebraska's people with those in power. They take a systemic approach to complex issues, such as child welfare, immigration policy, affordable healthcare, and poverty. Their works takes their staff of attorneys, organizers, and more to wherever they can do the most good, including the Unicameral, the courthouse, and the broader community. In their community work, they seek to mobilize the public to make change on the issues that most affect Nebraskans' lives. RIGHTS PROMOTED: voting, political participation, democracy, migration, health, housing, education, economic rights, workers' rights, children's rights. TO APPLY: Go here to see current internship opportunities, or to sign up to volunteer.
Lutheran Family Services exists to provide human care services that strengthen individual, family, and community life in Lincoln. LFS has over 300 employees, who together speak 30 languages. Their community-strengthening services include high-quality direct support services for refugees, immigrants, asylees, and victims of international human trafficking; many opportunities for UNL students are within these programs. RIGHTS PROMOTED: rights to social security, right to asylum, children's rights. TO APPLY: Click here for the application form and instructions.
Holland Children's Movement has a mission to ensure that Nebraska's children and families are prioritized in public policy decisions. They accomplish this work through public policy research, strategic advocacy, public engagement, and collaborations with decision-makers. RIGHTS PROMOTED: Children's rights, worker's rights, economic rights.
Center for People in Need is a non-profit organization that provides services to meet the basic needs of low-income people in Lincoln, NE. Their ultimate goal is to help people achieve economic independence. The Center provides food, emergency services, language skills training, employment skills training, and educational opportunities. RIGHTS PROMOTED: economic rights, right to social security. TO APPLY: Sign up to volunteer here.
People's City Mission is a non-profit organization that has been serving Lincoln for over 110 years. Their mission is to provide emergency assistance to low-income and homeless people in Lincoln by giving them food, shelter, clothing, and medical care. On any given night, they shelter about 350 people, and they serve 33,000 people annually. RIGHTS PROMOTED: right to social security, right to health. TO APPLY: Apply to volunteer here.
I've Got a Name seeks to end sex trafficking in Nebraska by raising awareness and organizing action. They accomplish this mission through street outreach to people vulnerable to trafficking, and through initiatives to raise awareness. RIGHTS PROMOTED: physical integrity, liberty, freedom of movement, freedom from slavery.
Clinic with a Heart has a mission to provide free healthcare to the uninsured and underinsured people of Lincoln, NE, and to provide this care with hospitality, dignity, and grace. The Clinic is held on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and some Mondays. RIGHTS PROMOTED: right to health. TO APPLY: Click here for current opportunities.
YouTurn Omaha's mission is to prevent violence among adolescents and young adults. They use intervention and prevention strategies to help young people move away from violence and find other ways to address conflict. By maintaining a visible presence in at-risk neighborhoods, they promote collaborative efforts between youth, parents and guardians, schools, service providers, law enforcement, and other stakeholders. RIGHTS PROMOTED: Physical integrity rights. TO APPLY: Visit this page to learn more.
Hanna Polak Films focus on human rights, and have raised global awareness of neglected human rights violations. For this work, Hanna Polak has been nominated for an Oscar and an Emmy, among many other awards. In particular, The Children of Leningradsky and Something Better to Come have recieved international acclaim for raising awareness of violations of the rights of children. She is spending several months in Lincoln editing a film about the Yazidi genocide, and HRHA student Elsie Stormberg is interning as a production assistant. RIGHTS PROMOTED: Protection from genocide, accountability for genocide.
Asian Community and Cultural Center has two complimentary missions: to support and empower all immigrants and refugees in Lincoln, and to share Asian culture and the cultural heritages of its clients. The ACCC supports immigrants and refugees through language and citizenship classes, translation and interpretation services, youth outreach programs, women's groups, computer classes for seniors, tax preparation assistance, health care assistance, domestic violence counselling, employment assistance, and family communication classes. In addition, the ACCC shares Asian culture through a variety of cultural festivals and events that are open to the public.