Sacred Grounds Intern

Founded in 1936, the National Wildlife Federation has grown into America's largest and most trusted grassroots conservation organization with 52 state/territorial affiliates and more than six million members and supporters, including hunters, anglers, gardeners, birders, hikers, campers, paddlers, and outdoor enthusiasts of all ages and stripes. The mission of the National Wildlife Federation is to unite all Americans to ensure wildlife thrive in our rapidly changing world. We advance this mission through programming focused on conserving wildlife, restoring habitats and waterways, expanding outdoor opportunities, connecting children with nature, advancing environmental justice, and addressing the causes and consequences of climate change.

To support our mission, we are seeking a Sacred Grounds intern to join our Conservation and Education Department in Washington D.C.  Sacred Grounds is a program on the Education team’s Garden for Wildlife program. Sacred Grounds works with the faith community to care for creation through gardening with native plants. Planting native plants helps people and wildlife. They provide food for birds, butterflies, and native bees which in turn pollinate our own food. Additionally, they slow the flow of polluted stormwater, keeping our waterways clean and safe, especially important in an era of climate change. With Sacred Grounds we work with congregations of a variety of faiths to both help create a native plant pollinator garden on their grounds and engage/educate their members about planting native plants at home.

This short-term internship position offers $18.50 per hour for up to a 5-week period at a maximum of 30 hours per week. 

Principle Duties (major areas of responsibility):

• Help organize all the events and activities associated with the Sacred Grounds congregations including:
  • partner and congregation meetings
  • focus groups
  • field trips
  • congregation garden consultations and garden bed preparation
• Conduct and compile background research on climate impacts in the Washington DC region
  • free tree programs
  • stormwater rebate and incentive programs
  • local green infrastructure examples
  • residential native plant gardens
  • local native plant nurseries and plant sales
• Compile the results into digestible information for lay audiences to share with congregations in tables, fact sheets and PowerPoint presentations.
• Help with associated miscellaneous administrative tasks as needed

Qualifications:

• Experience and interest in native plants and wildlife, habitat restoration, community organizing, organizing events, creating communications/outreach materials using graphics (flyers, social media) desirable
• Familiarity with excel, PowerPoint and google documents necessary
• Being comfortable working with a variety of faiths (Muslims, Jews, Christians and more) and enjoy communicating with people and organizing multiple community activities is vital

NWF Values:

Your actions are expected to reflect the staff values of the National Wildlife Federation: collaboration, mindfulness, empowerment, inclusivity, and mission focus.  Your competencies should include:

• Being motivated by values of equity and responsibility to those most marginalized;
• Consistently bringing a high level of empathy and social skills to work and interpersonal interactions;
• Being committed to deepening an environmental justice approach in policy priorities, program development and partner engagement;
• Actively seeks feedback, direction, and guidance from all team members and keeps staff informed of decisions that impact them;
• Being dedicated to advancing NWF’s internal equity transformation and compelling partners and allies to incorporate equity into their work; and
• Passion for and commitment to NWF's mission

Applicants are invited to learn more about National Wildlife Federation’s required equity competencies at https://www.nwf.org/About-Us/Careers.

Travel Requirements: 

Visit congregations in the Washington D.C. area.

Location and Work Mode: 

This position will be based in the National Advocacy Office in Washington D.C. The National Wildlife Federation is committed to a flexible and empowered work environment with an authentic community of care for all staff. In this position, the employee may work hybrid with some remote, some in office and some at congregations to be decided jointly with their supervisor in the final stages of the interview process. For more information on Work Modes, please review the benefits section