Roots & Routes IC – Youth Visionary Collective Intercultural and Collaborative Interns

Agency Description: 

Roots & Routes IC (Intercultural Collaborations) is an California 501c3 nonprofit organization dedicated to facilitating intercultural spaces to share ways of knowing to better take care of the world and one another. Roots & Routes mostly partners with Indigenous and Afro-descendant communities in Northwestern Ecuador, although a focus for 2026 is to begin educational programs and community-based internships for mostly Global North youth. In 2024, R&R released a co-produced film called Together for Water 💦 (see together4water.com) and have been screening the award-winning documentary in film festivals all over the world. Roots & Routes is in the process of creating in situ water guardian schools for youth from communities located along the watersheds, from the source to the sea. Overall, the aim of Roots & Routes IC is to put the Chocó Biogeographic Region on the map, as it is the only Pacific Coast tropical rainforest in the Americas and the rainforest, the rivers, and the Indigenous and Afro-descendant communities who protect and defend both are under grave threat. Another community with whom Roots & Routes work is a community from all around the U.S. and the world called the Youth Visionary Collective, an intercultural internship and online learning program that has helped to build Roots & Routes from the bottom-up for 5 years now!

Intern Responsibilities: 

By working directly with Dr. Hazlewood, also a UC-AFT Teaching Faculty in Rachel Carson College and Environmental Studies, and other seasoned interns, the internship is an opportunity to hone professional and life skills and to learn how to grow an international and community-based NGO/nonprofit organization. The YVC has four 10-week seasons each year. During their 10 weeks, interns will work on various creative and promotional assignments: creating/translating social media posts and reels, writing blog articles, writing financial proposals, conducting scientific research, conducting interviews, and crafting the season’s newsletter. Interns should possess or be willing to learn the following skills: social media & marketing; graphic design; outreach; newsletter creation; blog writing time and resource management; collaborative skills; a drive to learn from people from diverse cultures.

Other Requirements:

Be open-minded, responsible, and ready to collaborate with youth from all over the world.

Intern Shifts:

There are 1-2 required weekly meetings, but we can work with interns’ schedules and find a time in common.

Location: This is an online, remote internship. Although in the future there will be in-person internships in communites in Ecuador.

Key Words: Agroecology/Food Systems, Biodiversity Conservation, Climate Change, Enviro Justice/Social Movements, Political Ecology/Geography, Water/Marine Systems