Internship Opportunities

Individuals may approach the AACIHC for an internship for two reasons:

  1.  University requirement for their degree program; or
  2.  To obtain experience in a desired area, and they are approaching us on their own to build their resume.

Current AACIHC Intern Listings

  1. Health Education Intern (Accepting applications as of 6/3/2024)
  2. Epidemiology Intern (Accepting applications as of 6/3/2024)
  3. Policy Analysis Intern (Accepting applications as of 6/3/2024)
  4. Public Health Administration (Accepting applications as of 6/3/2024)

Purpose Statement:

The Arizona Advisory Council on Indian Health Care (AACIHC) was established per A.R.S. 36-2901.01 so as to give tribal governments, tribal organizations and urban Indian health care organizations within Arizona representation in shaping Medicaid and health care policies and laws that impact indigenous peoples.  This is an extremely important task, given that health disparities in Arizona are extremely disproportionate for our Tribal populations. 

Per the Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) health profile report, published in 2017, deaths due to certain lifestyle preventable conditions have been and remain significantly higher for American Indians/Alaskan Natives (AI/AN), when compared to all other racial ethnic groups. This held true for diabetes, chronic liver disease/cirrhosis, motor vehicle accidents, and self-harm (suicide) and unintentional accidents. Native Americans are also amongst the highest prevalence of hypertension in the United States as a whole.

Additionally, in 2020 alone, the State of Arizona experienced an overall decline in life expectancy, which was significantly higher than the U.S. overall; 2.8 years in Arizona vs 2.1 years nationally. [1] However, the decrease in life expectancy was not uniform across all demographics, with American Indians experiencing a decrease in life expectancy of approximately eight (8) years.  There are a variety of factors that contributed to this, including higher rates of chronic health conditions, lifestyle health-related risk factors, social determinants of health, and location of residence.  The AACIHC takes the unique factors affecting indigenous peoples into account in its work.

By engaging in administrative and legislative advocacy on behalf of Tribes, by bolstering health education efforts amongst peoples that have been historically underserved, and by creating a pipeline of healthcare professionals capable of providing culturally competent care, the AACIHC strives to eliminate this historical and long-standing gap in health disparities.

 

Policy Analyst Intern (2)

 

Job Summary:

The AACIHC is offering unpaid internship opportunities to individuals (students and adult workers) seeking to gain more experience in the health education sector. In particular, we seek individuals who wish to work with indigenous peoples of Tribal nations in Arizona, with the aim of reducing health disparities among historically underrepresented and underserved peoples.

The Policy Analyst Intern would join the AACIHC team for 12 weeks, working 4 to 10 hours per week. However, for college students and organizations, we can be flexible with the number of weeks and hours per week, based on your education program’s requirements for internship qualifications.

We believe that opportunities should not be open just to individuals with the funds to enroll in college. Internship consideration will be based upon your cover letter, your interview, and your resume. 

In this role, you will have the opportunity to assist the team with our ongoing public health policy initiatives. 

Your responsibilities will include:

  • Researching, tracking, and analyzing public health policies that may impact the social determinants of health 

  • Creating educational and advocacy materials such as factsheets, policy briefs, infographics and other educational materials for respective leaders, partners and stakeholders on a variety of topics related to public health policy, tribal health, and social determinants of health. 

  • Support and assist with root cause analysis, needs assessment, legislative tracking, and other policy/program initiatives (as needed)

  • Assisting with outreach events such as health fairs (as needed)

You will have the opportunity to be coached and mentored by our legislative specialist and executive project coordinator by collaborating with them on health education, advocacy, and public health policy initiatives. 

Start Date: As soon as an interested party has applied, we will schedule a meeting that accommodates your class or work schedule. Our on staff team members work staggered shifts, ranging from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m., so we can accommodate meetings that work around your schedule. 

 

Hours and Time Commitment: To be discussed during the initial meeting. 4-10 per week. 

  • Research and analyze public health policies: 

    • The creation of public health policy education materials can be done on your own time, on your own schedule. The expectation would be to check in with your internship supervisor, as tracking policies is a fast and  collaborative process, and often several drafts and edits must be gone through to achieve a final product. 

  • Educational and Advocacy Materials: 

    • The creation of public health policy education materials can be done on your own time, on your own schedule.  The expectation would be to check in with your internship supervisor, as the creation of health education materials is a collaborative process, and often several drafts and edits must be gone through to achieve a final product. 

  • Community Events: 

    • If you have an interest in attending community events or providing advocacy assistance to members of the community, this will need to be during regular business hours. 

Required for Consideration: 

  • You will need to upload a copy of your resume and a well-written cover letter explaining how your skills are a good fit for this position.

What You Will Gain 

  • Knowledge and experience regarding common social determinants of health and public health policies affecting the American Indian population in Arizona and the United States. 

  • Experience in the development of advocacy and educational campaigns and materials creation for educational and advocacy purposes. Please note that we can customize an internship for you based on your field of study. (e.g. someone specializing in cancer prevention can focus on cancer prevention for their health education materials)

  • Field experience such as participating in meetings, legislative hearings, and assisting with community engagement efforts. 

  • Experience in advocacy, public health policy or health equity initiatives

  • Understanding of the importance of fostering strategic partnerships between public health and health care professionals, and community-based organizations to achieve health equity

  • In-person and virtual public health outreach, advocacy and engagement strategies.

  • Collaboration with a diverse team of professionals. 

If you have any questions or would like to learn more, please reach out to either::

Corey Hemstreet, Legislative Specialist | Email: [email protected]

or 

McKayla Keams, Executive Project Coordinator | Email:  [email protected]