Volunteering/Community Service

Gain new skills, explore new locations, provide community service or build your resume through volunteering. Some of these organizations may also have paid positions. These websites offer great information about nonprofits that are seeking interns and staff.

Key Resources:

Service Year Programs

These programs are 1-2 year commitments that provide skill-building through community service or community development. Compensation may be low, but there are other benefits. Many of the programs have an annual recruitment period so it is critical to start your research early in order to meet these once-a-year deadlines. 

Key Resources:

  • Peace Corps
  • Corporation for National and Community Service
    A federal agency that helps more than 5 million Americans improve the lives of their fellow citizens through service.
  • Americorps
    AmeriCorps engages more than 75,000 Americans in intensive service each year at nonprofits, schools, public agencies, and community and faith-based groups across the country.
  • CaliforniaVolunteers
    The state office that manages programs and initiatives aimed at increasing the number of Californians engaged in service and volunteering.
  • EarthCorps
    EarthCorps brings together passionate and hardworking young adults from across the country, and around the world, for a yearlong leadership training program in Seattle, Washington.
  • GreenCorps
    GreenCorps offers a year-long training program that will prepare you for a career in environmental organizing.
  • Teach for America
    You’ll teach for at least two years in a low-income community, where you’ll show students what’s possible when they work hard and dream big.
  • City Year
    At City Year, we’re working to bridge the gap in high-poverty communities between the support that students actually need, and what their schools are designed and resourced to provide. In doing so, we’re helping to increase graduation rates across the country, and changing the lives of the students we serve.