Fall 2026 Internship Cohort: Organizing, Communications, Programs, and Development

Get paid to build power in your community.

Community Voices Heard is a member-led organization of low-income New Yorkers, led by and centering Black and brown women. Since 1994, our members have won on public housing, welfare reform, jobs, and participatory democracy by organizing the people closest to the problem. We organize statewide for working democracy, economic power, and housing justice, because when conditions change for Black and brown women, they change for everyone. Our vision is a New York where the people who live it hold the power to change it.

This fall we are hiring seven paid interns to work alongside our organizers, communicators, programs staff, and leadership team in Harlem, Yonkers, Newburgh, and Poughkeepsie. This is not a coffee-and-copies internship. You will be on doors, in meetings, on the content calendar, and in the room where campaign decisions get made.

We are looking for people who care about their communities and want to learn how change actually happens. You do not need a degree, a resume, or prior political experience. If you have organized your building, run a group chat that got people to show up, or just kept showing up yourself, that counts here.

This is a fall election season. Every placement includes some field work. Whatever your role, expect to help with turnout when it counts.

Available Placements

Applicants select their top two preferences in the application. We confirm final placement at Super Day, where you meet your prospective supervisor.

Organizing Intern, Base Building (2 positions - NYC and Hudson Valley): Knock doors and talk with residents across our chapters. Recruit members, turn people out to meetings and actions, and learn one-on-one relational organizing from the people who do it every day.

Organizing Intern, Digital Mobilization (1 position): Move people to action online and offline. Run text and phone banks, manage turnout lists, track engagement, and connect digital contacts to real-world organizing.

Communications and Social Media Intern (1 position): Tell the story of member-led power. Draft social content, produce short-form video (including the NY Minute series), capture member spotlights, and help maintain the content calendar.

Programs Intern (1 position): Support member meetings, trainings, orientations, and program events across chapters. Help with logistics, attendance tracking, follow-up, and the systems that keep programming running.

Development and Fundraising Intern (1 position): Support fundraising and donor outreach. Research prospects, help prepare grant and donor materials, support event logistics, and track relationships in our donor database.

Executive Support Intern (1 position): Work directly with CVH leadership. Support scheduling, meeting preparation, board and partner communications, and follow-through on organizational priorities—a close view of how a statewide organization actually runs.

What You Will Do

• Carry a real project with clear deliverables, scoped in writing with your supervisor in week one
• Meet weekly one-on-one with your placement supervisor
• Track your hours in ADP and submit them biweekly for supervisor approval
• Join biweekly cohort learning sessions on organizing fundamentals, power analysis, policy advocacy, and career pathways in movement work
• Attend at least two field experiences: a chapter meeting, member action, lobby day, or public hearing
• Present your project to CVH staff at the end of the term

What We Are Looking For

• 18 or older
• Able to commit up to 24 hours per week for 12 weeks, September 21 through December 11
• Genuine interest in racial and economic justice and in the communities CVH organizes
• Willingness to talk with strangers, including on doors and by phone
• Reliability and follow-through
• Available some evenings and weekends, when organizing actually happens
• No degree, resume, or prior experience required

Students seeking academic credit are welcome. We will work with your institution to combine credit and pay.

What We Provide

• $17.00 per hour, paid hourly through CVH’s regular biweekly payroll (direct deposit)
• A written scope of work and pay terms before your first day, no exceptions
• Transportation reimbursement
• Meals at in-person cohort sessions
• Childcare support for parents attending required sessions
• Real references and a real network in New York movement work

We review applications on a rolling basis. Apply by September 4, 2026, for priority consideration. The application takes about 20 minutes. A cover letter or resume is required; attach it in the portal

Selection has two rounds. Strong applicants are invited to a 15- to 20-minute video screen over Zoom. Finalists are then invited to Super Day on September 16, 2026, a single in-person interview day where you meet your prospective supervisor and other candidates. Offers go out on September 18. The cohort starts September 21.