Sustainability has become a major buzzword over the past few years. Anyone who wants to appear to be a qualified leader has jumped on the bandwagon and started using the word loosely. For the most part we identify “sustainability” with the environment, but it can really apply to anything. My definition is something like “helping to create a situation in which you can keep doing what you’re doing for a long time.” It’s really about a long-run mindset instead of a short-run mindset. For Institute for Sustainable Communities sustainability is a long run thing. They’re a Montpelier, VT based non-profit that has had sustainability on its mind since it was founded in 1991 by Vermont’s then-governor Madeleine M. Kunin.
ISC works in a wide range of areas – Climate & Environment, Community Building, Civil Society, Education for Sustainability, Social Entrepreneurship, Health, Social Justice, Youth, Advocacy & Leadership, and IQCs. That seems to cover most of the areas that non-profits generally address, so how does an organization with an $11 million budget take a sustainable approach to its work? Instead of focusing on the actual work that needs to be done, Institute for Sustainable Communities seems to focus on the communities themselves. They try to “build capacity and infrastructure from the top-down and the bottom-up leaving a legacy of leadership as well as enduring results.” That sounds like a sustainable approach to creating positive change to me. If you like what you hear, then you should check out ISC’s Jobs and Internships page. Right now they have two internship openings – Gulf Coast Sustainable Communities Network Internships (New Orleand, LA or Biloxi, MS) and ISC Programs and Development Team Internships (Montpelier, VT or Washington, DC). There’s no mention of whether the internships are paid, but you can apply online via e-mail (be sure to check out the individual descriptions for details).
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Tags: community development, development, Internships, Louisiana, Mississippi, non-profit, program development
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