Emergency Management Summer Internship

We have a really amazing opportunity for deaf and hard of hearing undergraduate students in the Rochester New York area that would be interested in doing a paid summer internship with the Monroe County Office of Emergency Management. Please see the full description below and contact Jim Fugate at [email protected] with any questions.

An NSF grant awarded to RIT will be funding two 10-week summer internships to work at the Monroe County Office of Emergency Management (MCOEM) at 1190 Scottsville Road, Rochester, NY 14624. The NSF grant is a CIVIC grant titled: “Bridging the Gap between Essential Emergency Resources and Services and the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Community in Monroe County NY: A Geospatial-Visual Approach” (Award #2322255 CIVIC-FA Tack B). The original NSF-CIVIC proposal emphasized workforce development through training the next generation of Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing (DHH) students in Emergency Management practice. This initiative was piloted in the spring and summer of 2024, resulting in two successful internships with the MCOEM during the summer 2024. The intent of the internship program for summer 2025 is to follow up on the efforts from last summer as well as some new initiatives including the following:

1. Investigate and document awareness of Public Safety officials at local, county and state levels of issues related to DHH populations in emergency management practice.

2. Assist public safety officials in community outreach efforts to the local DHH community.

3. Engage in training activities for first responders by addressing the cultural and communication barriers DHH individuals face during emergencies.

This internship is open to all Deaf and hard-of-hearing graduate or undergraduate students in programs related to public policy, political science, criminal justice, and other related programs in the humanities. To prepare for the internship, prospective students are strongly encouraged to participate in the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) training class that will occur Wednesday evenings, 6 to 9 PM, from April 2 to May 28.

The 10-week internship is expected to occur from Monday, June 2 to Friday, August 8. Interested students should submit their resumes to Jim Fugate at [email protected].

Any questions about the internship may also be directed to Jim.