Labor Summer | Community Labor Center

2025 Labor Summer Program

Spend your summer learning about the social and economic justice issues that affect working people in our region and applying your skills to support labor and community organizations making a difference for these workers and their families!

This full-time paid internship is offered by the UC Santa Barbara Community Labor Center in partnership with the Central Coast Labor Council and is designed to train the next generation of labor and community organizers.

You will be matched with a labor union or community organization in Ventura, Santa Barbara, or San Luis Obispo Counties where you will gain hands-on experience in labor and community organizing, develop skills, and build networks that will prepare you to pursue work in labor-related jobs in the future. This is a great opportunity for graduating students who are interested in working in labor or allied organizations: several of our former interns went on to find jobs in the movement, including with their host organization!

Program dates: Monday, June 16 - Friday, August 8, 2025

Application deadlines:

For Host Organization: Friday, January 31, 2025, 5:00 PM
For Student Interns: Sunday, February 9, 2025, 11:59 PM

Info sessions (for intern applicants):

Wednesday, January 15, 12:00-1:00 PM
Monday, January 27, 2:00-3:00 PM
Tuesday, February 4, 10:00-11:00 AM

Program details

All interns will attend an in-person orientation from June 16-20, 2025 (with June 19 off for the Juneteenth holiday). This orientation will cover the basics of labor organizing, history of unions, and provide training and workshops to develop organizing skills applicable to your summer placement. This will also be an opportunity to get to know other interns in your cohort and meet staff at some of the host sites.
Interns will then spend the next seven weeks (40 hours per week) at their host organization (labor union or community organization on the Central Coast) putting their knowledge and skills to work supporting local campaigns and workers' rights.
A closing retreat will be held August 7th-8th during which interns will share their experiences and learnings, and reflect on what they have accomplished in the program.

Who are we looking for?

First and foremost, we are looking for students who have an interest in and commitment to social and economic justice!
Students who are able to work with diverse populations.
Must be available for the entire 8 weeks of the internship: from Monday, June 16 to Friday, August 8, 2025.
Because this is a full-time commitment (approximately 40 hours per week), interns cannot be taking summer classes during the internship.
Placements are in-person and located throughout Central Coast counties, interns must be living near or able to commute to the worksite (most placements are NOT on campus, some are as far as Camarillo, Santa Maria, and potentially San Luis Obispo).
Many of our placements require some level of Spanish proficiency.
Because of the type of work involved, and because our goal is to prepare students for possible jobs in the labor movement, we prioritize applicants who are juniors and seniors in the 2024-2025 academic year (including Spring 2025 graduates).