Long Beach Parks, Recreation and Marine serves the community with recreation programs and services are offered at 170 parks with 26 community centers, two historic sites, two major tennis centers, one of the busiest municipal golf systems in the country with five courses, the Long Beach Animal Care Services Bureau, the largest municipally operated marina system in the nation and six miles of beaches.Find information about hundreds of recreation classes and programs for youth, children, teens, seniors and families who reside throughout Long Beach.
Program Information The City of Long Beach Department of Parks, Recreation and Marine’s Park Planning & Development Division is offering an engaging and educational internship program in which college undergraduate or graduate students can apply traditional academic classroom learning to real-world work experience within a local government parks agency, in order to develop personal and professional skills for future career development and placement. The internship will provide a view of the work performed by professionals in the Department of Parks, Recreation and Marine (PRM) to ensure that the needs of the community are met. The internship goal is to provide interns with the following opportunities: Gain practical experience in parks specific project design, management and construction. Understand the impact of park and recreation infrastructure and services to the community and how the agency operates in a municipal government setting. Understand and appreciate duties and responsibilities of PRM personnel. Become involved in activities that will develop professional skills and foster professionalism. Develop a personal philosophy of park and public project design. Determine professional strengths and areas in which to grow/improve. Develop an understanding of organizational and administrative procedure. This is an unpaid service-learning internship that provides a rewarding and valuable experience for those seeking introductory work experience or college credit. INTERNSHIP ELIGIBILITY Applicants must be a student enrolled in an undergraduate program (at least junior standing) or graduate program, pursing a degree in park/recreation administration, business or public administration, planning, landscape architecture, urban design, geography, community engagement, marketing/communications, and/or similar relevant majors, and have a GPA of 3.0 or higher. INTERNSHIP QUALIFICATIONS The Department is looking for applicants with the following qualifications: Required Have competency in various computer software programs, including Microsoft Office and Internet applications, ArcGIS, Adobe Acrobat Pro, etc. Have strong written and oral communication skills Possess honed research and analytical skills Are motivated self-starters, able to flexibly work independently and work effectively in a team environment Can conduct basic office functions as needed, such as data entry, file management, and customer service Have humility and a desire to work on a variety of assignments, from daily tasks to high priority park projects Have a basic understanding of park operations, park planning principles and community outreach strategies Can assist staff in collecting and preparing data for various projects and staff reports Can provide support to a small team of staff, potentially including assisting staff at community meetings Can research funding sources and assist with writing grant proposals Preferred Can conduct field work, collect parcel data and search land records Can prepare maps and planning reports of limited or variable complexity Can speak one of the City’s language access languages (Spanish, Khmer, Tagalog) STUDENT BENEFITS The Internship affords opportunities for both career enhancement and personal growth, including resume building and results-oriented work experience. Internships provide the experience and benefit of having worked for an award-winning parks agency with a respected reputation. The Internship is structured to provide each student with daily tasks, priority projects and opportunities to assist staff with tangible deliverables, providing a sense of pride and accomplishment, as well as an important building block for students’ resumes. DEPARTMENT BENEFITS The Internship should be mutually beneficial to both the student and the organization. The internship is an experiential learning opportunity that fosters professional growth. In return, interns are expected to bring solid core work habits – a demonstrated ability to effectively complete assignments, strong communication skills, humility and a desire to learn, and knowledge sufficient to successfully carry out and complete internship assignments. The Department benefits from interns’ enthusiasm and project support which allows the Department to accomplish tasks with additional bandwidth. INTERNSHIP SCHEDULE & LOCATION The internship time commitment ranges from 20-30 hours per week, depending on student schedules. Specific internship schedules will be determined upon internship offer, but will be routine week to week. The Department’s hours are 8:00 am – 5:00pm. Interns will report to the Park Development Officer, will work at the Department offices at El Dorado Park, and may have periodic field work at City Hall or any of the City’s 170 parks. INTERNSHIP DATES & DEADLINES Two five-month park internships will be offered each year to bright, engaged college students who meet internship eligibility requirements. Fall Internship September 2018 - January 2019 Application Deadline: August 10, 2018 Spring Internship Anticipated January 2019 - May 2019 Anticipated Application Deadline: November 15, 2019 Application Instructions Applicants shall submit one copy of each of the following in PDF format to Meredith.Reynolds@longbeach.gov: Cover Letter Resume Letter of Recommendation - from a professor or previous employer Writing Sample—an existing written assignment that demonstrated candidates best written work