Internships, Service Learning & Work Study Opportunities

Please scroll down to find a list of current internship, service learning and work study opportunities.

Internship Placements

The City of Arcata Internship Program offers qualified candidates, who are usually toward the end of their course of study, a meaningful and educational work experience to supplement and enhance academic goals. In return, the City derives the full benefit of the students' capabilities as well as gaining fresh perspectives from assistance with special projects and short-term assignments within City departments and divisions. Additionally, and also beneficial to student career development, City internships enable students to establish effective working relationships with industry professionals and to gain insight into local government procedures while serving the broader community,

Internship Eligibility

Students work with their academic advisers in determining the suitability of an Internship with current coursework and the type of Internship most beneficial to the student. The City offers semester based unit earning Academic Internships and Non-Academic Internships which earn no units. Once a suitable Internship has been identified, the City will review applications, interview applicants and make a selection.

If selected, the student and their Professor then create a Student Learning Plan of which both the educational institution and the City of Arcata sign on and agree to. Interns usually contribute between 60 - 150 hours per semester depending on course requirements. It is important that students start early if they wish to be placed with the City, there are City on-boarding requirements such as Livescan fingerprinting and policy paperwork to process before accessing and working within a local government organization. General Internship Application Form Applications are submitted to the respective department where the internship is offered.

Service Learning Students

The City of Arcata Service Learning Program is an excellent collaboration between students, community partners and faculty. This program connects academic coursework with service to address community defined needs. Service Learning students typically complete 25-30 hours of service which is often performed as a group endeavor of students working together to complete the tasks identified, but can also include individuals or whole classes looking to further cultivate skill sets and community participation. Service Learners are eligible to receive course credit for their contribution, and they work closely with assigned faculty and related class assignments to achieve this.

Service Learning Eligibility

Eligibility is project/proposal based with only certain designated academic departments participating per semester. Please check with your educational institution to learn which departments are participating in Service Learning for the current academic year. Students and/or City Staff will identify a community need and initiate a collaboration of working together to develop a service plan to address the identified community need. Service Learning is open to students at all levels of their education plan.

Please contact the City of Arcata Personnel Division if you are a group of students or an individual student wishing to perform Service Learning.

Current Internship & Service Learning Opportunities

The programs listed below are available as internships or service learning programs, note that vacancies are intermittent depending on current City projects, and already filled vacancies. Always check with us to confirm your interest in a position and whether it is currently available:

The programs below are available to qualifying applicants from Cal Poly Humboldt's School of Business:

Work Study Placements

The Federal Work-Study program benefits everyone in our community. Students gain an opportunity to serve our local community, explore career interests, and earn money to meet their living expenses. The local economy is boosted by the new employment opportunities work-study helps create.

The Federal Work-Study program offers non-profit organizations, government agencies, and schools a reimbursement for a portion of the student’s salary. The positions must be career-related or academically relevant to a student’s program of study and students can perform up to 20 hours per week when school is in session and up to 40 hours per week when school is not in session.

Work Study students are placed on the City's payroll for the duration of their Work Study Grant Award and once the award is fully dispersed the Work Study assignment ends. For the duration of the assignment, the student will be required to fill out City time sheets in accordance with City procedures as well as tracking hours on the Federal program worksheets. Federal work-study assignments are generally August 1 through May 15 and students are strongly encouraged to sign up at their educational institution as soon as possible as funds are limited at the Federal level.

Work Study Eligibility

To participate in Federal Work-Study*, the City will review applications received (which includes the student submitting confirmation documents of the amount of the Federal Grant Award) and the City will conduct interviews with those applicants most academically qualified for the current assignment being offered. Applications are submitted to the respective department where the assignment is offered.

General Work Study Application Form

Recreation and Police Work Study Application Form

*Prior to beginning work, the student must meet with a Work-Study Coordinator at their educational institution.