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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQ)
FOR THE GLIDE EMERGING LEADERS INTERNSHIP PROGRAM
About The Internship
About Glide
How to Apply
| About the Internship |
| Why does Glide want interns? |
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We have a powerful, working model of community service and community renewal that is unique in the field. The internship, endowed by the Epworth Trust, is our opportunity to build new community leaders who can experience Glide’s service model and apply their experience to their own future community work. |
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| Is this internship paid? |
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Yes. The current wage is $10 / hour. In the summer, interns work 30 hours per week. In the fall or spring, 10-15 hours per week is typical, including time for the Friday seminar and recovery circle.
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What are the hours of this internship? How long does it last?
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The initial immersion into Glide’s programs and services is a structured, 2- week process that you will experience together with your fellow interns. Once you are placed in your own project, you and your supervisor will work out a work schedule that matches both of your needs.
A typical internship runs 30 hours per week (15 hrs/wk fall & spring) for 9-12 weeks. Interns in the spring semester can choose to extend their internship into the summer (30 hours per week) if they are interested and have proposed a viable project. We are currently considering taking year-long interns into the program.
If you are interested in this option, please inquire with the Intern Coordinator at the time of your application.
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| Do you offer summer internships? |
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Yes. Glide has both standalone summer internships (30 hours/ week for the summer) and the opportunity to extend or build on a spring internship into the summer. |
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Do I need to be a Christian to do this internship? What if I am Buddhist, Muslim, agnostic, Jewish, spiritual but not religious, an atheist, or have some other set of beliefs?
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We are putting together a diverse team of interns and welcome applicants from every background, religious and non-religious. The fact that you are interested in Glide’s work with the poor and marginalized is a good indicator that your belief system overlaps with Glide’s organizational philosophy. Our previous interns have come from a range of spiritual backgrounds, including Buddhist, Jewish, agnostic, as well as Methodist, and many told us that their internship experience deepened and strengthened their own personal growth and spiritual journeys in ways that were unique to them.
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| What types of work will I be doing? |
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After the two-week immersion, where you have the opportunity to work in many locations across the organization, we will spend time with you to place you in work that brings together both your interests and the needs of the organization. Glide’s services span the spectrum of our community’s needs: medical, educational, housing, food, job training, psychological services, childcare, and more. Previous interns have worked on projects related to child literacy, architecture & design of community spaces, building the community web pages, leading support groups for clients, and coordinating procurement of essential hygiene products for people without homes.
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| I hear that the neighborhood around Glide, the Tenderloin, is pretty bad. Will I be safe? |
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The Tenderloin is in fact a neighborhood that is home to some of the poorest, most marginalized residents of San Francisco, and is one of the primary reasons Glide has grown into such a unique organization. As in any urban environment in the United States, there is a risk of crime. While most of our interns adjust quickly to working in the Tenderloin community, you will want to check it out and make a decision based on your own assessment.
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| Is academic credit available for my work as an intern? |
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Some interns have arranged for academic credit to be granted for their internships. This is usually arranged directly between the student and the academic department where the credit is given. There are “field work” courses listed in many departments that may be good matches for the work you do in this internship; these usually require a UC faculty member to approve and sponsor the project. If you are interested in getting credit towards graduation for this internship, you should contact a professor or academic department as early as possible to find out what requirements need to be met in order for credit to be granted. Your intern coordinator at Glide may be able to help you make arrangements to meet these requirements.
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| Can only UC students apply? |
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Yes. The stipulations of the funding for this internship require that interns be enrolled as students at UC Berkeley, UC Davis, and UCSF. Please note: Seniors with a May degree date are not eligible for the summer internship following their graduation. It may be possible to make exceptions for graduating seniors who are enrolling in another degree program in the fall at UC Berkeley, UC Davis, or UCSF. |
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| Are graduate students eligible for this internship? |
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Yes. Students from all graduate and professional programs are welcome and encouraged to apply. |
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| What kinds of students are you looking for as interns? Are some majors preferable to others? |
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We encourage students of all religious and academic backgrounds to apply. We are seeking a diverse team of students, and no majors are inherently preferable. Our past interns have majored a full range of fields including in Architecture, Social Work, Anthropology, and pre-medical studies. |
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| About Glide |
| What is Glide? Is Glide a church or a social services agency? |
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Glide is both and more. What started as a church has, in the last 40 years, developed into a new model for community building and development that puts theology into action and takes it to the streets. The Glide Foundation is currently one of the largest and most comprehensive providers of services in the city of San Francisco. As an intern, you will have the opportunity to visit Celebration, Glide’s Sunday morning event, as well as work in several of Glide’s social service programs. Come see for yourself how Glide “walks the talk” of Cecil Williams vision. To find out more about Glide, you can browse our web site at www.glide.org. |
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| What is Glide’s mission? |
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Glide’s mission is to break the cycles of multi-generational dependency, poverty, and low self-worth by providing a spiritual home of unconditional love. Glide strives to create a healthy community by offering effective services that foster holistic healing in an environment of cultural integrity and diversity. |
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| What types of services does Glide provide in the community? |
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Glide has developed a network of comprehensive programs to meet the needs of the Tenderloin community. This includes the Daily Free Meals Program that serves nearly 1 million meals a year: family, youth and child care programs; seniors programs; training and employment services, including high-tech training; health services, including a health clinic, mental health services, recovery programs and HIV/AIDS outreach programs; and low-income, permanent housing. You can find out more about Glide’s programs at http://glide.org/ourwork/work.asp.
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| Does Glide place restrictions or limitations on its services because it is a church? |
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No. Glide focuses on the needs of the people it serves, and our programs emerge to meet those needs. For example, many Glide programs use a client-centered harm reduction model that allows clients to work within their own value systems to build goals and strategies for change.
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| How to Apply |
| I’m interested! How do I request an application? |
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You can download the application directly from the website here. The application is a Microsoft Word document you can fill out and email back. If you prefer, you can send a request for a paper or electronic application to: James Lin, Emerging Leaders Recruitment Coordinator, Glide Memorial UMC, 330 Ellis Street, San Francisco, CA 94102, phone 415-674-6014, email emergingleaders@glide.org. |
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| What is the application deadline? |
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While we accept applications up to the start of each internship cycle, please note that the internship slots may be filled well before that point, especially for the summer internship:
Approximate dates of the internship:
• Spring: late January – mid-April
• Summer: mid-June – mid-August
(often full by mid- to late-April)
• Fall: mid-September – early December
You may submit your application early if you wish.
Please note that students from universities that run on a quarter system may start (and end) their summer internships slightly later to accommodate the academic calendar at their schools.
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| How do I submit my application? |
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The simplest way to submit your application is to fill out the MS Word application form and email it back to us. The recommendation from a faculty/staff/supervisor can also be emailed, either separately or together with your application. If you prefer, you can print out the application and fill it out by hand before mailing it in. |
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| Whom should I ask to write the recommendation letter? |
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The recommendation letter should be written by a professor, staff member, or supervisor who has worked with you or mentored you. This might be a professor/TA who supervised some academic work or taught a class you took, a staff person who worked with you on a volunteer project, or a pastor or supervisor who knows you well. Peer recommendations from a friend or fellow student should not be submitted. It may help your referee to tell her/him about the internship and why you are applying for it.
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| When will I find out whether I have the internship? |
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Final decisions are often made shortly before the start of the internship. Applications submitted before the deadline may be reviewed first, so early application is encouraged.
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| Whom do I ask if I have further questions? |
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Contact James Lin, the Recruitment Coordinator, at emergingleaders@glide.org, or call 415-674-6011. |
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