Overhead shot of the Academy's Museums4Inclusion job fair
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Conduct an inclusivity assessment of your organization, identify your capacity and workforce needs, then get connected with M4I partners nationwide. Explore internship pathways, rotation models, and job roles; browse sample event and planning schedules; and download performance management resources to help you measure the success of your program.

Conduct an Inclusivity Assessment

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How is your organization currently employing inclusion best practices? Does your company currently have a diversity and inclusion plan? Not sure? Conduct a readiness assessment to find out.

Downloadable readiness assessment coming soon!

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Connect With Partners

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The roots of the program are in San Francisco Bay Area. Here are some partners to help you get started:

  • The Arc SF
  • SFUSD
  • Department of Rehabilitation

Our network is growing—check back frequently as we add locations.

Feel free to reach out in the meantime to be introduced to resources in your area!

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Complete a Partner Agreement

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Once you find a partner, you will need to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) or Partner Agreement. Work with your new partner to adjust the Proposed Schedule section of the MOU.

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Roles

Job Coach: A job coach is supplied by the partnering organization. The role of a job coach is to support the intern as they learn new roles and skills. They also will work with their clients on timeliness, communication, personal hygiene, and professionalism. The amount of time an intern is actively supported by their job coach can vary from intern to intern. At the start of a new role or project, a job coach might be present most of the time and then gradually take a step back as the intern gains more independence.

Supervisors and Department Supervisors: The supervisor role is filled by the hosting organization (your organization). Supervisors are individuals who are already in supervisory positions. The role of the supervisor is to provide all the training, guidelines, expectations, job description, and general information to the intern and partnering organization. The supervisor also oversees the internship and monitors progress, offering insight into the position and increasing responsibility as needed. Each department hosting an intern will need its own supervisor who is close to the specific duties an intern is performing.

Partnering Organization Coordinator: The partnering organization will need to provide a coordinator who will establish work hours, rotation schedules, intern goals, and overall program flow. This coordinator may also function as a job coach.

Host Organization Coordinator: Your organization will need a coordinator to manage the internship program, create communication between departments, keep the program moving cohesively, and, if applicable, plan events.

Departments: Your organization may have a few departments hosting interns. Each department will have its own intern position and job description. The role of the department and supervisors is to simulate a real position with real expectations. Each participating department will have at least one internship role that is closely aligned with a real position within the organization.

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Internship Pathways

Pathway programs provide a variety of entry points to employment. By working with a few service agencies and different pathway programs, interns will have more opportunities to build work experience before recruitment.

Pathway 1: Serving transitional-age youth with disabilities in school district or other youth-based programs.

Pathway 2: Serving adults with disabilities in learning and achievement programs.

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Job Types & Descriptions

Writing a Position Description

A Variety of Roles

When crafting your internship program, consider the departments your organization has to offer. In one of the rotation models, interns have the opportunity to cycle through three different locations and be exposed to three different types of work, such as customer service, general office support, IT, or education-based presentation and interpretation.

The hope is to offer a few different experiences so that interns can make an informed decision about what type of work they want to pursue. With so many types of working environments, it can be very helpful for interns to experience jobs that are customer-facing, heavily computer-focused, and detail-oriented, such as food service or working with money.

Job Description

Each internship position should be an example of what a job in that type of work would actually entail. Avoid “carving” positions or providing busywork that does not exist in the real work world. Again, the goal is to introduce interns to career paths and work environments.

Each position should have a job description, written and formatted in the same style as hired positions within your organization. The job descriptions should have defined expectations, duties, and roles. The intern will receive this job description as they enter their new role.

Sample Internship Position Description

School Programs Intern – Arc & Museums4Inclusion
POSITION DESCRIPTION
(16 hours per week)

POSITION SUMMARY: This position reports to the staff of the Student Education team in the Teacher & Student Engagement department and is responsible for assisting in facilitating on-site facilitated field trip programs for 4th–5th grade classes. Interns participating in the program will learn teaching techniques, how to conduct office work, and gain an understanding of how to communicate with students of varying ages and backgrounds.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES and RESPONSIBILITIES:

Interns will learn the skills to perform each of the responsibilities below:

  • Assist education staff in teaching programs in the Academy’s labs and classrooms for grades 4–5
  • Speaking to groups of students and teachers
  • Prepare and maintain supplies and educational materials
  • Setup and clean-up of classroom materials
  • Maintain professional communication with colleagues
  • Administrative support, including accessing computer files and using the copy machine
  • Actively participate in staff meetings and trainings
  • Time management of projects
  • Follow all Academy safety regulations
  • Other duties as required

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS and ABILITIES

The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required:

  • Interest in working with children and youth
  • Attention to detail, organizational, and time management skills
  • Interpersonal and communication skills
  • Openness to new ideas and flexibility to shift tasks when needed
  • Willingness to learn and strong desire to support the Academy’s mission

PHYSICAL DEMANDS and WORK ENVIRONMENT

While performing the duties of this position, the volunteer is frequently required to talk, hear, and tolerate high levels of noise. Reasonable accommodations will be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform these essential functions.

Rotation Models

The rotation model you choose depends on how many interns you will host and how many participating departments you have. The model for the youth program may differ from the adult program based on your interns’ needs and readiness. Most organizations align their programs with the school year, but these models could also be used for a summer program. You may wish to begin with a small amount of interns, or take on either a Youth Program or an Adult Program only, allowing your program to grow from there.

Transition Age Youth Program Rotation

Interns in a youth program will have fewer days and shorter shifts. The goal for youth is exposure to the job site. Individuals in this program are learning about professional appearance, timeliness, general professionalism, and museum job exploration.

Interns will start the year in one location and gradually move through other locations and departments, or simply increase the scope of their work as the year progresses. Since the goal of the youth program is building job skills, a single department that’s especially dynamic will suffice. For example, the public floor is an excellent place to learn how to excel in a job. Even if the department hosting the Youth Program does not have a variety of locations, the work and responsibility can increase.

Adult Program Rotation

Interns in the adult program will have more days and longer shifts than the youth program. The goal for the adult program is museum career exploration and job readiness. This program also provides opportunity to work on professional skills and seeks to dig deep on improvement and preparedness. Location rotation allows an intern to experience different career tracks and inform the direction they take after they complete their internship.

Ideally, the adult program interns start the year in one location and move through three departments over time, allowing for the interns to experience different styles of work. Depending on the intern, it may be beneficial for the intern to work solo, but you might also consider pairing up interns in a department if you feel they might benefit from more peer support.

Some departments might wish to sign on for all three rotations while others may only be able to provide one. The Partnering Organization Coordinator can work with you to determine your capacity and how many departments you need to sign on.

Rotation Example 1: Three Interns, Four Departments

September–November

  • Intern 1 Location A
  • Intern 2 Location B
  • Intern 3 Location C

November–February

  • Intern 1 Location D
  • Intern 2 Location A
  • Intern 3 Location B

February–May

  • Intern 1 Location C
  • Intern 2 Location D
  • Intern 3 Location A
Rotation Example 2: Six Interns, Eight Departments

September–November

  • Intern 1 Location A
  • Intern 2 Location B
  • Intern 3 Location C
  • Intern 4 Location D
  • Intern 5 Location E
  • Intern 6 Location F

November–February

  • Intern 1 Location G
  • Intern 2 Location H
  • Intern 3 Location A
  • Intern 4 Location B
  • Intern 5 Location C
  • Intern 6 Location D

February–May

  • Intern 1 Location E
  • Intern 2 Location F
  • Intern 3 Location A
  • Intern 4 Location B
  • Intern 5 Location C
  • Intern 6 Location D
Schedules & Frequency

Internship days and hours will be set between your organization and the partnering organization. The partnering organization host will have extra curricular trainings and education on specific days, which will inform the schedule you settle on.

Youth Program: Generally, the partnering youth organization will also require their clients to be in school, limiting the internship in days and time. Such a program might only be three hours a week over two days.

Adult Program: The partnering organization will help set the days and times. This program might be around 12 hours a week.

Sample weekly schedule

Monday:

  • Adult Program Internship (10:15 am–2 pm)

Tuesday:

  • Youth Program Internship (10–11:30 am)
  • Adult Program Internship (9–11:30 am)

Thursday:

  • Adult Program Internship (9–11:30 am)

Friday:

  • Youth Program Internship (10–11:30 am)
  • Adult Program Internship (10:15 am–2 pm)

Inclusive Events & Celebrations

Events and celebrations mark the intern's passage through the program and help build community, support, ideas, and participation. Here are some event examples to use as inspiration for your own events.

Meetings: A monthly meeting to discuss program goals, upcoming events, rotations, progress, etc. Who’s invited: Department Supervisors, Coordinators, Partner Liaison, and Job Coaches

Meet & Greet: A start of the year mixer. A chance for supervisors to meet interns, coordinators, and job coaches. Who’s invited: Interns, Supervisors, Coordinators, Job Coaches, Partner Liaison

Mid-Year Open House: A mid year open house where families and friends can come see the interns in their role. Usually this event occurs during the second rotation and after the interns have been in a role long enough to be performing their duties well. Who’s invited: Family or friends of the interns (you may want to limit the number of visitors per intern based on the space available in each location), Interns, Supervisors, Coordinators, Job Coaches, Partner Liaison

Graduation: Celebrate the interns’ completion of the program at the end of the year with food, presentations, speeches, and certificates. Who’s invited: Family or friends of the interns, Interns, Supervisors, Coordinators, Job Coaches, Partner Liaison

Staff Events: Be sure to include interns in all staff events.

Sample Annual Calendar

Here's a sample annual calendar of events and milestones to adapt, adopt, or tailor to your own program.

August

  • Event Planning: Meet and Greet
  • Meet with Partners to discuss new program year
  • Meet with Supervisors to discuss new program year
  • Event: Meet and Greet
  • Intern training begins

September

  • Monthly meeting with Supervisors, Coordinators, and Job Coaches

October

  • Monthly meeting with Supervisors, Coordinators, and Job Coaches

November

  • Monthly meeting with Supervisors, Coordinators, and Job Coaches

December

  • Monthly meeting with Supervisors, Coordinators, and Job Coaches
  • Interns' Winter Break

January

  • Monthly meeting with Supervisors, Coordinators, and Job Coaches
  • Rotation 2 starts

February

  • Monthly meeting with Supervisors, Coordinators, and Job Coaches
  • Event Planning: Mid-Year Open House

March

  • Monthly meeting with Supervisors, Coordinators, and Job Coaches
  • Event: Mid-Year Open House

April

 

  • Monthly meeting with Supervisors, Coordinators, and Job Coaches
  • Rotation 3 starts

 

 

 

May

  • Monthly meeting with Supervisors, Coordinators, and Job Coaches
  • Event Planning: Graduation

June

  • Monthly meeting with Supervisors, Coordinators, and Job Coaches
  • Event: Graduation
Contact Us
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