Student Opportunities
Part of our violence prevention efforts include training individuals to work with community partners, research affiliates, and academic entities. We offer opportunities to undergraduate and graduate students in the New Orleans area so that they can gain experience in a variety of approaches to violence prevention.
Internship, Practicum, & Research Assistant Positions
For students, we provide a guided learning experience rooted in our values and principles. It includes a combination of working hours, training, community engagement, and self-paced and collaborative learning for an individually developed internship. We want students to see the root causes of violence and understand how personal and collective understanding and action are key to prevention.
Interns will complete a minimum of 120 hours in total, working 10 – 20 hours a week, over one or two semesters.
Eligibility
Undergraduate and graduate students in Public Health, Psychology, Social Work, Medicine, Sociology, Political Science, etc. interested in broadening their understanding of violence prevention work, including hands on experience in research and evaluation and outreach and dissemination
Knowledge & Skills Gained
Equity Diversity & Inclusion
Effective & professional communication (written and verbal)
Trauma informed research and practice
Violence prevention in specific cultural contexts (including youth)
Community engagement best practices
Example Activities
Working with VPI faculty and staff
Engaging with community partners
Collaborative learning
Preparing and facilitating presentations
Professional development
External training
Additional Benefits
While we have limited paid positions, we are able to accommodate student work study; requirements for practicums, field placements, or service hours; and independent studies. Some of these options may require additional faculty sponsorship. Successful completion awards students with a certificate of completion that can be listed on resumes.
Students will also receive help constructing resumes and cover letters to represent their efforts for future applications. Performance based benefits may include academic and job application letters of recommendation; co-authorship on dissemination materials; or future opportunities linked to the Violence Prevention Institute.
Tracks
Arts Based Community Events & Evaluation
This option focuses on building evidence on the impact that arts-based programs has on violence reduction and prevention. Students work with our annual Youth Art Contest as well as our developing mural evaluation initiative.
Community Program Evaluation
Links students with community partners to create new evaluation plans, enhance existing plans, and/or assist in the management and reporting of collected data.
Exploratory
This internship is ideal for students who want a broad experience with the VPI. Students will work across multiple projects and support the internal operations of the VPI while building a diverse skill set.
Youth Programming
This internship option focuses on supporting youth programming, including the Junior Civic Safety Council, assisting with lesson planning, youth engagement, and program logistics, and providing research support for program evaluation.
Data Management & Analysis
Students work with our data specialists to code, clean, manage and analyze datasets.
LGBTQIA+
Students work in collaboration with VPI and NOLAHYPE to explore and support the specific needs of the LGBTQIA+ / Queer & Trans community.
Policy & Advocacy
Students develop policy briefs and translate existing research to multiple audiences while demonstrating the connection of various issue areas to violence prevention.
Grant Manuscript Writing & Support
Under the mentorship of experienced faculty, students gain hands-on experience in drafting, editing, and submitting grant proposals for external funding sources.
Address
1440 Canal Street, Suite 1510, New Orleans, LA 70112
social media
@tulanevpi