103: Key Lessons from Seven Years of Intern Iterations
What can we learn about volunteer engagement from the more formalized structure of intern engagement? Jason Frenzel from Huron River Watershed Council, shares his assessment-driven strategy for ensuring that the community, the intern, and the agency all benefit from the experience.
Guest Bio:
Jason Frenzel
Volunteer & Stewardship Coordinator
Huron River Watershed Council
Jason has been a Manager of Volunteers since 2001 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. His work at the City of Ann Arbor and now the Huron River Watershed Council has given him the opportunity to oversee a wide array of volunteer programming. Jason plays a leadership role in many community initiatives where he has rounded out his experience managing and facilitating small and large groups. He is an advisor to his local volunteer managers network and was the president of the board of directors of AL!VE, the national association of Volunteer Managers. Jason has held his Certification in Volunteer Administration, an international accreditation for Volunteer Engagement Professionals, since 2009. He also served as a City Councilmember in Ann Arbor.
Show Notes:
The Huron River Watershed Council’s internship initiative addresses a trifecta of community needs, intern needs, and agency needs. Jason is taking an iterative approach to its design and his approach has evolved over the years to become ever more aligned with the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) goals for the organization.
In addition, the internship program contributes to growing future scientists and community members that will become ambassadors and continue to advocate for the health of the watershed. Internships also forge strong alliances with local educational institutions.
He recommends that colleagues who want to start or improve intern engagement perform a SWOT Analysis of resources available in their area, so they know the assets they can work with; to make sure they are also creating contingency plans in case things don’t go as expected, and to plan for risk and liability issues for this special kind of community service.
Position descriptions for HRWC’s intern and volunteer roles can be found here.
If you want to learn more about the work of the Huron River Watershed Council, visit https://www.hrwc.org/.
You can also find Jason on LinkedIn.
Note from your Hosts:
For more information about the legal definitions and requirements for unpaid interns please visit https://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs71.htm These tests may not apply to organizations legally entitled to engage unpaid staff - 501(c) organizations, etc. - but this is still a good framework to use to determine if you’re running an intern program under the legal definition or if the work would be better classified as skills-based, or service-learning volunteer activities.