CRB Program Intern

Job Title: CRB Program Intern

Job Type: Part-Time Employee (Seasonal)

Dates: January - March 2027 (with option to renew for future seasons)

Pay Range: $21/hour

Hours: 4-8 hours/week

Location(s): Oakland, CA and Richmond, CA

About Aspire Education

Founded in 2005, Aspire Education Project (Aspire) is an Oakland-based nonprofit organization with more than 20 years of experience delivering high quality, affordable educational services for students throughout the Bay Area.

Our flagship program is Community Reading Buddies (CRB), a program that trains Bay Area teens to serve as mentors for younger students, supporting their literacy growth and fostering a joy for reading. More than 90% of the Youth Mentors who participate in CRB demonstrate growth as leaders and communicators, while young readers grow in confidence and competence. For more information about the history, mission, and impact of Community Reading Buddies, please visit our website: https://aspireeducation.org/crb/

About The Role

Each CRB Program Intern is responsible for supporting one of our in-person or virtual CRB program sites serving 10-15 pairs (20-30 students). Our CRB program takes place after school twice a week (M/W or T/Th) on school campuses, community spaces, or online thanks to partnerships with other youth-serving organizations.

Here’s what a typical session day might look like:

• 4:00 Arrive at site and set up space, checking in with site staff. Review curriculum slides.
• 4:15 Welcome teen Youth Mentors and help facilitate training
• 4:30 Welcome elementary Buddies and oversee Mentor-Buddy pairings, take attendance, observe activities, and generally troubleshoot to make sure things go smoothly
• 5:30 After Buddies leave, help facilitate debrief with Youth Mentors
• 5:45 Clean up space, submit attendance and session notes.
• 6:00 Leave site

In addition to these responsibilities, there will be a capstone project at the end of the CRB season, in which Interns will create an end-of-program report for their assigned site. Additionally, there are opportunities for additional hours if folks are eager to contribute to projects like recruiting, marketing, fundraising, and other organization-wide needs. There are also opportunities to substitute for program interns at other CRB program sites.

Here’s what the Spring 2027 CRB season looks like, at a high level:

Week of January 18: Training for CRB Program Coordinators and Interns begins

January 25-29: Training for teen Youth Mentors begins

Week of February 1: Spring sessions begin (twice per week either T/Th or M/W)

Week of March 22: Spring sessions end

Job Responsibilities:

• Support one to two in-person CRB reading sessions in Oakland, Richmond/San Pablo, or online. Reading sessions take place twice weekly (Monday/Wednesday or Tuesday/Thursday) from roughly 4-6 pm
• Assist Program Coordinators in planning and facilitating Youth Mentor trainings
• Assist Program Coordinators in organizing materials and activities for the data and documentation of the CRB program (e.g., making sure documents are updated at all times, exporting data, checking volunteer hours against attendance, checking mandatory volunteer file uploading, etc.)
• Maintain Youth Mentor (high-school volunteers) and buddy (elementary students) attendance records and follow up on absences
• Support communication to program participants, families, and partners
• Observe and support Mentor-Buddy pairs during program sessions as needed
• Help facilitate small group discussions with Youth Mentors during the program sessions
• With the support of other staff, create an end-of-program report summarizing your site’s impact, challenges, and successes
• Other duties and tasks as assigned

Required:

• Have a passion for reading, literacy, and working with youth
• Experience working with children, preferably at the lower elementary school level
• Ability to communicate well with teens, young children, and parents
• Ability to work collaboratively as part of a team
• Good organizational skills and ability to handle multiple tasks at once
• Familiarity with Google Workspace
• Located in Bay Area, CA with ability to commute to Oakland or Richmond / San Pablo for in-person reading sessions
• A LiveScan background check, TB test, and Mandated Reporter training are required. Aspire will reimburse for the cost of the LiveScan as well as Mandated Reporter training time and certificate costs.
• Authorization to legally work in the United States

Not Required But Great:

• Language skills (especially Spanish, Arabic, Vietnamese, Mandarin, or Cantonese)
• Experience as a participant (Buddy or Mentor) in the CRB program

Interns are paid part-time employees.

You will accrue paid sick leave at the rate of 1 hour for every 20 hours worked.

You are paid for training time and reimbursed for costs like your LiveScan background check and mandated reporter training.