Rural Internship Initiative
Information for Internship Sites
Internship sites that take on an intern agree to provide the intern with a meaningful project or role that aligns with the student’s college major and future career goals.
Information for Internship Sites
The Rural Internship Initiative provides eligible Golden LEAF Scholars with professional work experience related to their career field in a rural North Carolina community.
Internships are offered on a competitive basis. The Golden LEAF Foundation provides funding to pay interns $15/hour for their work. The internship takes place over a period of at least eight weeks, between May and August.
Internship Site Responsibilities
Internship sites include, but are not limited to, businesses, non-profits, governmental entities, and/or companies in a qualifying county. Supervisors also commit to reporting on intern performance via bi-weekly surveys as well as mentoring the student on the role, professionalism, and rural community leadership. All participating internship sites will enter a three-party agreement with the Golden LEAF Foundation and a temporary employment agency, which will be the intern’s employer of record and will manage payroll and similar services.
Internship Site Benefits
Internship sites that accept a Golden LEAF intern receive added summer capacity and benefit from working with one of North Carolina’s brightest young people, at no cost to the company. Most importantly, internship sites play a role in developing the capacity of the next generation workforce and encouraging our state’s young people to live and work in rural North Carolina.
Healthcare Sites
While the Rural Internship Initiative aims to provide its participating scholars with valuable work experience, there are guidelines for activities scholars may engage in within a healthcare setting. Please review this document for a list of permissible healthcare activities. If you have questions about hosting a scholar in a healthcare setting, please contact us at [email protected].
Internship Site Interest Survey
Golden LEAF Scholars are responsible for identifying a site to complete their internship. To support this process, Golden LEAF is gathering information from entities interested in participating in this initiative.
Please complete the form below to communicate your interest in hosting a Golden LEAF Scholar participating in the Rural Internship Initiative. This list will be shared with Scholars beginning in fall 2023, as a resource to locate internship sites. Students will be responsible for reaching out to sites from this list.
If you have any questions, please contact Arlena Ratliff, Golden LEAF Scholarship Program Manager at [email protected].
Note: The survey may take a few seconds to load. If you have trouble accessing the form, please contact us at the email above.