Rock & Walworth Counties

Address: 1545 Hobbs Dr., Delavan, WI 53115 (Delavan Office)

Telephone: 262-728-8296

Contact Person for Field Placement: Jennifer Tropp, Director of Family & Community Services (608-755-2477

Services Provided: Community Action is a local, non-profit organization that provides a wide range of programs focused on poverty issues and providing individuals and families with opportunities to strive for and reach their greatest potential. Community Action's wide spectrum of programs and services include housing, family resources, at-risk youth programming, affordable health care and basic and emergency services.
Internship opportunities will be provided within the Family & Community Services Department of Community Action. Programs provided within this department include Twin Oaks Shelter for the Homeless, Family Building Blocks (a family resource center program), the One-to-One Empowerment Program (targeted case management services for households at-risk for homelessness), the Senior Benefits Specialist program, and housing counseling, homebuyer and mortgage foreclosure counseling. All of these programs operate within Walworth County out of the office in Delavan. In addition, the Delavan office works with the local community to provide a number of direct assistance projects including Salvation Army emergency assistance funds, FEMA assistance funds and Elkhorn Light and Water utility assistance. The office also coordinates applications for the local weatherization program, assists the local Volunteer Lawyer program and provides office space and hours for the local energy assistance program. Additional department programming includes the Hub Center (at-risk youth) and AWARE (food and clothing assistance) programs in Rock County. At this time, internship opportunities are available only in Walworth County.

Summary of Expected Responsibilities and Learning Outcomes of Student Interns: Due to the diversity of programs within the Family & Community Services Department, there are a number of internship opportunities available. An internship could be structured within a single program of the Department (Twin Oaks Shelter, One-to-One) or be structured in a manner that allows the opportunity for the student to work with a variety of programs in the department, resulting in exposure to work with a variety of populations, issues and types of program services. Our expectations of an intern would include being open to learning, reliability/dependability, the ability to work with people in a non-judgmental and creative manner, willingness to accept supervision and an interest in having a well-rounded experience that includes the many facets of direct service work (outreach, individual & group work, administrative tasks, etc.). Specific internship responsibilities will be developed based upon the interests of the student and the needs of the organization at the time of placement. In general, our current preference is for an intern interested in an experience working with a variety of programs in the department.