Economic Empowerment Intern - Fall

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world's worst humanitarian crises, helping to restore health, safety, education, economic wellbeing, and power to people devastated by conflict and disaster. Founded in 1933 at the call of Albert Einstein, the IRC is one of the world's largest international humanitarian non‑governmental organizations (INGO), at work in more than 40 countries and 29 U.S. cities helping people to survive, reclaim control of their future and strengthen their communities.

A force for humanity, IRC employees deliver lasting impact by restoring safety, dignity and hope to millions. If you're a solutions‑driven, passionate change‑maker, come join us in positively impacting the lives of millions of people worldwide for a better future.

Economic Empowerment Intern

Hybrid, IRC‑LA office in Glendale

September/October 2025

4‑6 months;
Flexible (16‑hour) work week.

This is an unpaid internship.

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world's worst humanitarian crises and helps people to survive and rebuild their lives. At work in over 40 countries and 29 U.S. cities to restore safety, dignity, and hope, the IRC leads the way from harm to home.

The Economic Empowerment Intern is an intern position to support IRC‑LA's financial education program. This program aims to increase participants' financial literacy and provide them with financial coaching and access to low‑interest loans. The intern will coordinate and provide financial counseling/coaching services for clients and assist with administrative work, data entry, and other program implementation work. The role reports to the Economic Empowerment Supervisor and/or Financial Coach.

• Work with a range of clients, such as recent refugee arrivals, asylum seekers, naturalized citizens, and undocumented individuals.
• Split time roughly equally between administrative work and client‑facing work, in both 1:1 and workshop settings.
• Leverage a program that allows networking across other IRC teams.

• Provide 1:1 financial coaching and counseling, including creating a personal budget, establishing a bank account, taking out loans, establishing credit, and advanced asset‑building topics such as analyzing credit reports and co‑creating effective debt‑management plans.
• Assess client needs and develop individual financial action plans.
• Provide credit and car purchase workshops to potential loan applicants.
• Assist with client data entry, outreach for economic empowerment programs, resource management, and follow‑up calls to collect quantitative data for clients.

• Ability to communicate well with people of varied backgrounds.
• Comfort, functionality, and effectiveness in multicultural and multidisciplinary teams.
• Excellent organizational skills with high attention to detail and computer literacy.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including ability to make presentations.
• Ability to work independently, be a self‑starter, and manage multiple tasks.
• Fluency in English required.
• Proficiency in Spanish, and/or Farsi/Dari required.

Don't hesitate to contact Volunteer.

LA if you have any questions.

Standard of Professional Conduct:
The IRC and the IRC workers must adhere to the values and principles outlined in the IRC Way – our Code of Conduct. These are Integrity, Service, Accountability, and Equality.

Equal Opportunity

Employer:

IRC is an Equal Opportunity Employer. IRC considers all applicants on the basis of merit without regard to race, sex, color, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.