Research & Evaluation Intern

Deadline to Apply: September 25, 2024Start Date: October 15, 2024End Date: May 15, 2025

The Organization

At Thrive Scholars, our mission is to help high-achieving, low-income underrepresented students get into and graduate from top colleges equipped to achieve their full career potential, with the focus of helping Scholars achieve economic mobility. 

Our comprehensive and data-driven program model focuses on the key inflection points that can be the difference between graduating from any college and graduating from a top college with the grades, degree, career skills, and network needed to thrive in any career. Thrive Scholars originated in Los Angeles as South Central Scholars (“SCS”) twenty years ago. Over this time, the organization has refined its program model and, in the last five years, has focused on expanding nationally; reaching more high-achieving underrepresented students, growing the number of Scholars we serve; and deepening our program impact. Looking ahead, Thrive Scholars is embarking on a new strategic plan which will include launching new program offerings and continued organizational growth. Thrive Scholars has approximately 85 permanent employees and 170 summer employees. 
(Please read Thrive’s Economic Mobility Statement below.)

The Internship Experience 

As an Intern at Thrive Scholars, you will get first hand experience learning the ins and outs of research and evaluation at a growing non-profit. With the collaborative nature of our organization, you’ll have the opportunity to work across departments and brainstorm and spearhead new projects and initiatives. Interns will receive mentoring from their supervisors and other staff, as well as the opportunity to communicate and network with professionals across career fields. This internship runs October 15, 2024 through May 15, 2025, with the possibility of extension through Summer 2025. Interns will work an average of 15 hours per week at a rate of $17.50/hour.

The Opportunity:

At Thrive, we strive to make data-driven decisions and to continuously evaluate and improve our programs, ensuring the highest quality and most impactful experience for our Scholars. As the Research & Evaluation Intern, you will work with our Research and Evaluation team on projects that will allow you to develop your skills in data collection, research, evaluation, as well as marketing and communications. Sample projects may include survey development, compiling up-to-date research in the field of educational access, data quality assurance, quantitative and qualitative data analysis, and report creation. For this position, curiosity and an interest in education research and evaluation is essential, and experience with data analysis is a plus. Working with the team, you’ll experience the full cycle of evaluation—data collection, analysis, reporting, and utilization—in a nonprofit organization. The position is ideal for an undergraduate student interested in research and evaluation practice and the ability to commit to 15 hours of work per week. 

The ideal intern candidate will demonstrate the following characteristics:

• Initiative and accountability

• Strong organizational skills

• Strong collaboration and communication abilities

• High level of enthusiasm and ability to work in a high-energy virtual environment

• Intellectual curiosity and an interest in learning about the behind-the-scenes management of a non-profit

• Passion for working with and/or on behalf of first-generation, BIPOC students from economically disadvantaged communities

• A current or past Thrive Scholar (preferred but not required)

---

Thrive Scholars provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment based on race, color, religion, gender, gender identity, national origin, sexual orientation, age, disability, or veteran status. Knowing their importance to the success of our work, Thrive Scholars is committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion, and we aspire to build a diverse staff team and community. We strongly encourage people of all backgrounds to apply.

For more information, please visit thrivescholars.org

Thrive Scholars’ Economic Mobility Statement:

We know that everywhere in our country, there are incredibly high-achieving BIPOC students from economically disadvantaged communities who have big aspirations for their future. By virtue of everything they have achieved—academically, personally, and extracurricularly—these students demonstrate tremendous promise to continue to achieve at great levels in college and in their careers. However, as a result of structural barriers they encounter during the pivotal transitions from high school to college to career, we know that many are hindered from reaching their career ambitions and their goals of economic mobility and financial security. We understand these barriers to be complex and rooted in deep societal inequities and in systemic racism, and we believe they must be addressed at all levels—individual, institutional, and systemic.    

    

At Thrive Scholars, we have found that we are well-equipped to make a meaningful impact on the individual student level. As an organization, we have identified some of the main barriers that get in the way of Scholars getting that first job out of college that will position them to realize economic mobility. We have developed, over the last twenty years, key interventions, delivered through our College Access, Summer Academy, College Success, Mentorship, and Career Development programs - all aimed at helping high-achieving students from economically disadvantaged communities overcome these obstacles to experience economic mobility. This is our North Star. We do not believe that is all of the work that needs to be done at a societal or even individual level in order to promote a just society where every individual can succeed holistically, but we believe this part of it is where we as an organization should focus. 

Apply