Community Program Intern Job Listing at Casa Milagro Foundation / Tropical Adventures Foundation in Miami, FL

Internet

Casa Milagro Foundation is a not-for profit organization dedicated to working in the areas of environmental conservation, education and community development in the country of Costa Rica. The foundation is divided into 3 programs: Tropical Adventures, Vecinos del Mundo (VdM) and the Environmental Policy Advocacy Program.

The Community Program Intern would be working with the VdM program. The mission of this program is to bring cultures and people together in the community of Hojancha, Costa Rica in a collaborative effort to increase cross-cultural understanding with an emphasis in community development, education, culture and conservation. Vdm is still in the development phase so the Community Program Intern will assist us with building up the program and developing the first projects.

The town of Hojancha is not much different than many other small, rural towns in Costa Rica. The list of problems includes, but is not limited to, the following:

Large percentage of students that do not finish school
High rate of alcohol and drug abuse
High rate of teen pregnancies
Lack of activities available to residents
Lack of resources to help people return to school, or to prepare for and search for a job.

Hojancha is however a good place to live for families though since it is a quiet town and it is a very clean town compared to other towns in Costa Rica.

The overall goal of VdM is to set up a facility to house programming but since that would cost a lot of money we are first starting with building up the program by starting with some projects. While we are developing this new program, at the same time we are becoming more immersed and knowledgeable about the community and the actual and perceived needs before rushing into developing intensive programs. Ideally we would like to implement some projects, some ideas include:

Language Exchange
Cultural Events
Educational Activities
Entertaining Activities
Student Training & Support
Community Technology Center

We already started with language exchange and we have had our first cultural event. If all goes as we expect, this model will be used as a template for starting with VdM in other towns in Costa Rica. The Community Program Intern would assist us with developing the entire VdM program and getting the projects started. Another part of the internship would be dealing with coming volunteers. The Tropical Adventures program of the Casa Milagro Foundation brings in volunteers to help the VdM program. Since the Community Program Intern would be developing the program and its projects, the intern would also coordinate volunteers that are here.

Position Location: Hojancha, Guanacaste, Costa Rica