Planting Seeds, Growing Futures: EcoRise Summer 2025 Internships

This summer, sixteen EcoRise green career interns planted more than gardens; they planted seeds of possibility. In Austin, San Antonio, and New York City, their work rippled outward as they cultivated resilience, justice, and care in their communities. Along the way, many students experienced a series of firsts: first time leading focus groups, first time managing volunteers, first time harvesting food for neighbors, or first time writing professional proposals. These first steps in green careers are shaping their future in sustainability—futures rooted in action, equity, and hope.

Through our green career internship program, students embark on a journey of exploration and discovery that creates pathways for future success. They develop skills through hands-on work experiences, build meaningful connections, and learn how community solutions can honor cultural traditions, promote equity, and nurture the restorative power of nature. By partnering with frontline-serving and community-based organizations, EcoRise offers high school students immersive, paid internships that build knowledge, confidence, and leadership. Our goal is to expand access to green career exploration and workforce readiness opportunities that are authentic and reflective of the diverse lived experiences of youth.

This summer’s internships fell into two big themes: community care and environmental action. Some students worked to strengthen connections, equity, and resilience in their neighborhoods. Others focused on building healthier environments through hands-on sustainability projects. Together, their stories show how young people are already leading change in their communities.

Interns Planting Seeds of Community Care

Feeding Families and Growing Resilience with San Antonio Food Bank

For Aubrey, Esmeralda, Joy, and Kayla, powerful lessons in climate resilience come from the soil beneath our feet. They spent their summer interning at the San Antonio Food Bank, where they learned how local, climate-resilient food systems can nourish both people and the planet.

Working alongside mentor Mitch Hagney, they helped harvest over 50,000 pounds of melons and other produce at the Mission San Juan Farm, practiced organic farming, and distributed food weekly to families with low incomes at the Pica Pica Plaza farmer’s market. From weeding fields to working behind the scenes at the food bank warehouse, they learned how food is produced and how food access can become more equitable in order to build stronger, more connected communities.

Honoring Elders and Building Connection with Cortez Consulting

Elijah’s internship brought him face-to-face with a community he hadn’t connected with before: Austin’s elders. He worked with Dr. Laura J. Cortez and Nirali Thakkar at Cortez Consulting Services, a public engagement firm dedicated to inclusive community collaboration. Elijah helped facilitate focus groups and conduct surveys in senior community spaces as part of the Quality of Life on Aging Study, then analyzed the data to help his mentors better understand how to support one of Austin’s fastest-growing and often overlooked populations. He also assisted with photovoice initiatives and intergenerational engagement events, including training foster grandparents to lead outreach in their own communities.

Expanding Access to Nature with the Austin Public Library + CCCN – Austin

Siblings Franck and Janet spent their summer exploring how public spaces can foster both environmental connection and community care. Working with Yasmine Anderson from Cities Connecting Children to Nature – Austin (CCCN) and Laura Tadena from the Austin Public Library, they supported the Nature-Smart Libraries initiative, which reimagines libraries as gateways to nature through programs, lending kits, and outdoor‑rich spaces. They analyzed nature-play data, helped host an inclusive job fair, and created proposals to improve green practices across the library system for projects such as solar panels, storywalks, and air-quality monitoring.

Small Acts, Big Ripples: Stewardship with The Trail Conservancy

Maintaining trails, managing volunteers, and supporting a youth summer camp program is how Clara and Luke spent their summer. They interned with The Trail Conservancy, an organization whose mission is to protect, enhance, and connect the community to the Ann & Roy Butler Hike‑and‑Bike Trail at Lady Bird Lake. Under the guidance of Mandi Thomas, Maddy Kelly, Jonatan Salinas, and Bailey Armosky, they engaged community members of all ages in the organization’s programming, brainstormed ways to attract more teens to get involved, and explored how strong partnerships, creative outreach, and everyday stewardship help protect public spaces for everyone to enjoy. Clara and Luke left their internship with a clearer understanding of how environmental impact grows—from small acts, to ripples, to real change.

Interns Leading Environmental Action

Growing Liberation with The Black Feminist Project

This summer, EcoRise launched a school-based green careers internship pilot in the Bronx in partnership with Teacher Ambassador Garth Marchant and Fannie Lou Hamer Freedom High School. This internship experience was co-created with The Black Feminist Project to complement the NYC Department of Youth and Community Development Summer Youth Employment Program by offering targeted exposure to green careers, workforce readiness, and leadership development.

Rooted in the belief that young people can grow stronger futures for their communities, NYC interns Aileen, Joel, Jostin, Madison, and Rashaun spent the summer with The Black Feminist Project, a Bronx-based organization advancing food justice and community wellness through education, advocacy, and sustainable agriculture. They supported farm operations, climate education, and community events while exploring how food systems can be tools for resilience and liberation. Along the way, they built sustainability knowledge and workforce skills in communication, collaboration, and systems thinking.

Designing for Health and Education with Gardopia

Connecting with the land and community, Najia and Dazzel experienced firsthand how hands-on work can nurture healthier neighborhoods. They interned with Katie Bordini, Dominic Dominguez, and Sherry Lim, at Gardopia Gardens, a nonprofit dedicated to growing healthy communities through garden-based learning. They built a compost bin, restocked the plant nursery, harvested vegetables, and collected eggs. Using SketchUp and GIS mapping tools, they helped design school gardens and consulted on a sensory and produce garden at a juvenile detention center.

Their experience highlighted how local action and education can provide a pathway for communities to take their health, education, and environmental stewardship into their own hands.

From Seeds to Futures: Expanding Access to Green Careers

These internships weren’t just summer jobs, they were pathways into sustainability fields that have often been out of reach for young people, particularly those from frontline communities. By partnering with local organizations, EcoRise helps build the capacity of small, community-based nonprofits while ensuring internships focus on youth development, equity, and lasting community impact. Learn how to host or mentor an intern.

Supporters

We’re deeply grateful to the volunteer mentors who guided these students and to our supporters, the Green Workforce Collaborative in Austin, the Wayne Hollomon Price Foundation in San Antonio, the CD&R Foundation and Pinkerton Foundation in NYC, and the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for making these experiences accessible this summer.

Because of them, the seeds planted this summer will continue to grow into stronger, more just, and more sustainable futures.