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Inside the Chapter

Inside the Maryland Chapter

Internships & Volunteering

See below for:
1. Brief Summaries of Internships
2. Example Internship Detailed
3. How to Arrange College Credit
4. What is the Sierra Club?
5. Directions to the College Park Office
6. Baltimore Inner City Outings

Chapter History

1. Brief Summaries of Internships

ASSISTANT OFFICE MANAGER
Assist Sierra Club Maryland Chapter Coordinator in daily running of office and volunteer coordination to support educational outreach, campaigns, and training programs.

LEGISLATIVE - MARYLAND GENERAL ASSEMBLY
Influence, track and prepare analysis of legislation, attend hearings, prepare alerts, distribute fact sheets to legislators and the public, write and deliver testimony to legislative committees. Generate support for pro-environmental bills through such means as phone calls to Sierrans and letters to the editor. Write updates for Maryland Conservation Council Report. This internship usually requires access to a car.

LEGISLATIVE - ACTIVIST COMMUNICATION SYSTEM
Establish and manage the Activist Communication System, including phone banks and mailings, to influence legislators to vote to protect the environment and consumer welfare in the Maryland State legislative session in Annapolis.

MEDIA
Update contact information, databases, and fax files to improve the Sierra Club Maryland Chapter's press outreach systems. Support campaigns with media releases.

PUBLICATIONS
Layout newsletters for one of 9 groups within the Chapter and assist the Chapter Newsletter Editor with production.

SPRAWL AND DEVELOPMENT
Participate in public educational outreach about sprawl versus smart growth, land use and transportation planing, Metro Purple Line concept, in Washington DC, Maryland and Virginia. Present "Red Alert" video on air quality & transportation to civic and other organizations. Attend, write summaries and letters about meetings, hearings, and events.

MARKETING/PROGRAMS
Assist with organizing May Sierra Club Maryland Chapter Gathering. Outreach to Sierra Club activists to form "Jamboree" Logistics & Program Committees. Assist committee functions. Call and advertise to Sierrans to encourage registration and process registration forms. Attend, coordinate & assist at Jamboree.

COMMUNITY ORGANIZING
Empower and educate a community to affect positive changes for the environment and quality of life. Research the field to understand problems and solutions, conduct surveys and interviews, attend meetings, write letters, distribute literature, maintain lists of interested parties, assist organizers of events.

INVASIVE PLANT REMOVAL PROJECT COORDINATOR
Invasive species are the biggest threat to biodiversity on the planet after habitat loss. Sierra Club is working with invasive plant removal leaders at sites around the state. Coordinate, promote & build participation at invasive plant removal sites. Work with site leaders to set up meeting locations. Sign up volunteers for trips giving appropriate information on requirements and hazards. Meet and coordinate carpools, distribute education sheets to participants. Participate at least once at each site.

INVASIVE PLANT REMOVAL SCHOOL PILOT PROJECT SITE ORGANIZER
Invasive species are the biggest threat to biodiversity on the planet after habitat loss. Sierra Club is working with invasive plant removal leaders at sites around the state. Participation in invasive plant removal projects are an excellent in introduction to and appreciation builder for the natural environment. Coordinate, organize, and carry out invasive plant removal field trips for elementary school classes at local schools. Coordinate, promote & build participation at invasive plant removal sites. Work with site leaders to set up meeting locations. Sign up volunteers for trips giving appropriate information on requirements and hazards. Meet and coordinate carpools, distribute education sheets to participants. Participate at least once at each site.

WEBSITE
Assist nine Sierra Club groups and Maryland Chapter improving web pages and posting newsletters and alerts to website.

2. Example Internship - Detailed Description

ASSISTANT OFFICE MANAGER

GOAL:

To assist Sierra Club Maryland Chapter Staff in the daily running of the office, volunteer co-ordination, and support of campaigns and training programs.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

1) Help to organize and streamline filing, database, and office systems.

2) On a weekly schedule answer phones, pass on messages and respond to inquiries at the office.

3) Prepare "how to" information sheets for office activities.

4) Attend meetings with activists and government officials, take notes, and make reports.

5) Attend festivals and events, help organize, greet, and outreach, to support the Energy, Forest, Sprawl/Metro Purple Line, and other Sierra Club Campaigns.

6) Phone bank to organize and generate turnout for meetings.

7) Write a brief summary of experience in the office and critique of organizational systems.

3. How to Arrange College Credit

This is a good time to consider interning with the Sierra Club Maryland Chapter. We have internships during the semesters and breaks. We do not at this time have stipends available. Students arrange to receive school credit by contacting a professor to sponsor them in a department suitable to the internship. An agreement is arranged between the student, professor, and Sierra Club as to what the internship will consist of. This may include a certain number of hours, a task or set of tasks, a journal and/or a paper to be written, or completion of a finished product, and a schedule of meetings with the Sierra Club person who's directing your internship. Generally 1 credit hour = 45 hours, 2=90, 3 = 135. Internships can be somewhat tailored to your situation.

4. What is the Sierra Club?

"Everybody Needs Beauty As Well As Bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul alike." - Sierra Club Founder John Muir, 1912.

MISSION STATEMENT: The Sierra Club's purpose is to explore, enjoy, and protect the wild places of the earth; to practice and promote the responsible use of the earth's ecosystems and resources; and to educate and enlist humanity to protect and restore the quality of the natural and human environment; and to use all lawful means to carry out these objectives. We support the right to a clean and healthful environment for all people including for native people - the rights to democracy, to participate, to equal protection, to know, to sustainable environmental benefits, to equity, and to generational equity. We support an end to pollution. We support the precautionary principle - polluters should bear the burden of proof that their activities are safe. Safeguards should be put in place when there is threat of serious or irreversible damage.

THE SIERRA CLUB WORKS to protect the environment through legislative and grassroots efforts. The Sierra Club is unique among environmental organizations because it is run by grassroots volunteers. Almost all the work that is done is accomplished by dedicated volunteers rather than paid staff. This makes the Sierra Club one of the most effective environmental organizations in the country.

THE SIERRA CLUB ENCOURAGES PEOPLE to get out into nature and promotes appreciation of the natural environment. You may be interested in helping lead or attend stream cleanups, invasive plant removals, or hikes in areas that need protection. In the office there's plenty of work to do including data entry, computer work, member outreach, phones, news clippings, PR work, mailings and organizing. Around the state you can attend hearings, meetings, and demonstrations, lobby your public officials, table at festivals, or participate in petition drives. In the nine groups in Maryland and with the Student Sierra Coalition, there are various leadership and committee positions available and niches for a variety of special skills or expertise.

CAMPAIGNS: Sierra Club Maryland Chapter is currently working on:

- Better Communities Less Traffic Campaign: An anti sprawl, pro smart growth and smart transportation campaign including stopping the ICC and Truck "Tech"way in Montgomery County, and other outer beltway segments We are promoting the Metro purple line - a rail line that would circle the beltway (including rail at the Woodrow Wilson Crossing). We are using a 10 minute video produced by the region's anti sprawl organizer to educate the public on air pollution, transportation, and sprawl to generate political support for expanding transit versus roads.

- The Air & Energy Committee is working for legislation this year to reduce our energy dependencies and provide alternative sources of energy. Energy Efficiency - An Energy Savings Investment Program to provide a steady funding source for energy efficiency and clean energy incentives. Renewable Portfolio Standard - Requires utilities to include solar, wind and other renewable kinds of energy in their portfolio of energy sources.

- Protect our Forests Campaign: Our state-owned forests in Maryland are being used as tree farms for revenues distributed to local counties and the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR). Education funds and funding for DNR should be increased and disconnected from the destruction of natural ecosystems of our publicly owned parks and forests. Our parks are also at risk of paving and development for the benefit of private interests. The Forest Committee is actively pursuing legislation to protect the Ancient Old Growth State Savages Forests in Western Maryland from logging by "Wildlands" designation.

National Campaigns Marylanders are working on include:
- Protecting the Arctic National Wildlife Sanctuary from Oil Drilling
- Environmental Justice locally and around the world
- Population Growth & Resources
- Global Warming

There are also many other critical issues that people are working on all around the state. Please call the office to let me know where you are located, what kind of work you may be interested in doing, or to sign yourself into the office volunteer schedule. There are some exciting times ahead!

For information or to arrange internships please call me and send me a resume by email or fax with a short letter of your interests. Hope to hear from you soon!

Laurel Imlay
Sierra Club Maryland Chapter Office
7338 Baltimore Avenue, Suite 101A
College Park, MD 20740
301-277-7111
301-277-6699 fax
maryland.chapter@sierraclub.org

5. Directions to the College Park Office

Sierra Club Maryland Chapter Office
7338 Baltimore Avenue, Suite 101A
College Park, MD 20740
301-277-7111

Location is on Route 1 just South of the University of Maryland Campus in the upper part of the College Park Shopping Center in the level above Starbucks coffee & Vertigo Books.

By Car:
Take the 495 Beltway to the College Park Route 1 exit.
Go South on Route 1. Pass the campus on your right.
After Southern most entrance (College Avenue) make right at next light (Knox Rd) into the College Park shopping center where there is a drug store, bike shop, video store, restaurants, Vertigo Books, etc.
Park behind or at the shopping center.
Sierra Club office is in offices above the shops on same level as back parking lot.
Bring quarters. There is a bit of free parking on Knox Rd.

By Metro:
Take Green Line to College Park Metro Station, then walk or take the bus:

- BUS: East Metro exit, facing Paint Branch Parkway. Take #83 bus marked "Rhode Island" for 6 minute bus ride to Baltimore Avenue (Route 1) & Hartwick road. Buses run every 30 minutes at 25 and 55 after the hour till 9:25 pm. There are also UMCP shuttle buses running every 15 min up to the Campus that are free.

- WALK (10 minutes): West Metro exit, the community side (not the huge parking lot side). Walk 1 block up Calvert Road take first right on Dartmouth then first left on Knox Road. Go 6 (short) blocks. Cross Route 1 to the Shopping Center. Take stairwell between Chipotles & Vertigo Books up to 2nd level.