John Garcia Development Department Summer Internship Program

ABOUT LATINOJUSTICE PRLDEF

Founded in 1972 as the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, LatinoJustice PRLDEF (LJP) has been a leading civil rights and social justice organization for five decades. LJP’s core issue areas include voting rights and redistricting, economic justice, immigrant rights, criminal legal system (policing and prison) reform, racial justice, leadership development, and issues related to Puerto Rico. LJP uses impact litigation, advocacy, and community education and engagement, among other strategies, to protect and advance the rights of Latinx and other communities of color. LJP has offices in New York City, Orlando, FL, and Austin, TX.

LJP’s Development Department is responsible to help LJP strengthen, diversify, and build sustainable short- and long-term donors. Playing an integral role to raise the funds LJP needs to carry out its programs and operations in service to Latinx communities. The Development Department collaborates with the greater External Strategy & Affairs team to carry out individual and corporate fundraising campaigns. LJP’s headquarters office is located in New York City at 475 Riverside Drive in Manhattan, on 119th Street near the Columbia University Barnard College Morningside Heights campus.

THE JOHN GARCIA LEGACY SUMMER INTERNSHIP

LatinoJustice PRLDEF established the John Garcia Legacy Summer Internship Program to honor the memory and legacy of our former Director of Communications and Community Engagement, who worked at LJP from 2008 to 2018, mentoring dozens of young leaders and activists.

This summer internship program aims to support young people seeking to pursue careers in communications, development and/or community engagement. The 8-week program begins on Monday, June 9 2025. Each of the three (3) interns will be assigned to the CAP Leadership Institute, Development Department, and to our Communications Department. John Garcia Legacy Summer Interns are expected to work full-time (35 hours/week) for eight (8) weeks, receiving a total stipend of $4,200.00 from LatinoJustice PRLDEF. Interns selected will be assigned as described below:

Development Department- The John Garcia Development intern will work with Development Department staff taking on discreet projects that include research, interviews, writing or event planning to increase organizational revenue from individual, corporate and institutional sources. During this internship, the Development Intern will be assigned department-specific projects including, but not limited to:

1. Deepen, through research and outreach, the LJP story bank for impact narratives that development and communications staff can use to pitch for funding and/or top raise the organizational profile.

2. Work with development staff to develop and implement tactics to cultivate program, staff and board alumni for support through activities like crowdsource digital fundraising campaigns, event coordination or development of an alumni directory.

3. Help to build out information related to institutional and corporate funding opportunities, involving research, proposal development and report data as assigned by the Institutional Development team.

INTERNSHIP QUALIFICATIONS

We are proud to have a professional team deeply committed to our mission. We look to hire individuals who share our commitment, who are emotionally intelligent, emphatic, and good team players. We strive to maintain a positive, interconnected, value driven culture, where opportunities for individual and professional development are available to all. If this sounds like the kind of place you’d like to be, we invite you to apply. We are seeking:

Energetic, motivated undergraduate students with a commitment to social justice work

Strong writing, research, and communications skills

Bilingual Spanish/English is preferred but not required

Please note: LJP staff works in hybrid model with 60% flexible remote work. At the time of this posting, this internship is designed as hybrid.