Internship Programs
Mental Health & Public Health Internship
A PHIG-funded program that connects Ethiopian and immigrant students to paid, hands-on experience in schools, clinics, nonprofits, and faith communities across Colorado.
What is PHIG?
Public Health Infrastructure Grant
PHIG is national public health funding designed to strengthen the public health workforce and the systems that serve communities.
For the Colorado Ethiopian Community, PHIG funding makes our Mental Health and Public Health Internship possible. Instead of one-off volunteer hours, it lets us place students in structured, supported roles where they gain real experience — and where the organizations hosting them get meaningful capacity in return.
The grant is focused on building a future workforce in public and behavioral health, especially from communities that are usually left out of those conversations. That means Ethiopian, East African, immigrant, refugee, and asylum-seeking young people getting a genuine foot in the door.
How the program works
- 1Students apply and share their field of study, language skills, and community interests.
- 2CEC matches each intern with a partner organization whose work fits their goals.
- 3Interns work on real projects — outreach, after-school support, counseling settings, research, and events.
- 4CEC provides check-ins, mentorship, and support to both interns and host organizations throughout the term.
Our Partners
Organizations We Place Interns With
Seven partner organizations across schools, counseling practices, nonprofits, and community outreach.
Spring Institute for Intercultural Learning
Immigrant support and intercultural learning
Ardent Grove
Trauma-informed mental health and nonprofit work
Center for Immigrants and Immigration Services
Immigrant, refugee, and asylum seeker support
DOTY / CEC Mental Health Outreach
Community mental health outreach in the Ethiopian community
Aurora Public Schools — Boston P-8
After-school programs, grade-level support, and culturally responsive conversations with students
Lasting Peace Counseling
Counseling support for immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers
Hand to the Future
Youth support, community outreach, and nonprofit program assistance
2025–2026
Recent Intern Cohorts
Students studying public health, neuroscience, counseling, political science, and journalism — many of them bilingual in Amharic or Tigrigna.
Summer 2026 Cohort
- Rufta AtsgebaSpring Institute for Intercultural Learning
- Ghaya Merghana, Mahlet BelayArdent Grove
- Omnia MahmoudCenter for Immigrants and Immigration Services
- Yebelle MelakuDOTY / CEC Mental Health Outreach
Fall 2026 Cohort
- Eyosias Lemma, Tsion ZekariasAurora Public Schools: Boston P-8
- Hebron FekadeArdent Grove
- Emillia LemmaLasting Peace Counseling
- Yadel Ashenafi, Rahel EndalewDOTY / CEC Mental Health Outreach
- Ada GonzalesHand to the Future
Summer 2026
Meet the Interns
The students behind the work — and where they're headed next.
Rufta Atsgeba
Spring Institute for Intercultural Learning
University of Northern Colorado
Rufta is planning to start a master's program in clinical mental health counseling and wants to bring mental health awareness to her own community. She speaks Tigrigna and brings mentoring and interpersonal skills that matter deeply in immigrant and Ethiopian communities.
Yebelle Melaku
DOTY / CEC Mental Health Outreach
Political Science & Journalism, Colorado State University
Yebelle brings communication, research, leadership, community outreach, mentorship, and bilingual Amharic skills. She's interested in public and behavioral health because she wants to better understand mental health in underrepresented and immigrant populations and reduce stigma through outreach and advocacy.
Ghaya Merghana
Ardent Grove
Neuroscience, Regis University
Ghaya brings research, analytical, and technical skills including RStudio. She's focused on how mental health is shaped not just by biology, but by culture, access to care, stigma, and community support systems — connecting science directly to community need.
Mahlet Belay
Ardent Grove
Public Health, University of Colorado Denver
Mahlet is BLS and CPI certified, multilingual in Amharic and English, with coursework in public health, psychology, health policy, environmental health, global health, and epidemiology. She wants to work as a physician in pediatrics or family health, serving communities without access to care.
Omnia Mahmoud
Center for Immigrants and Immigration Services
Public Health with a Psychology minor, University of Colorado Denver
Omnia has experience in epidemiology, environmental health, health promotion, behavioral health, and community health, and works with children with autism as a Registered Behavior Technician. She's passionate about reducing mental health stigma in immigrant and minority communities.
Impact
What the Program Made Possible
Three-day mental health conference
Interns helped organize and run a three-day mental health conference hosted at an Ethiopian Orthodox Church, bringing wellness conversations directly into a trusted community space.
Support for middle school students
Interns worked inside Aurora Public Schools after-school programs, helping students move closer to grade level and navigate different cultural experiences at home and school.
From placement to employment
One intern was hired by her partner organization after completing her placement — proof the program builds real career pathways.
Interested in interning with us?
We welcome students in public health, mental health, social work, education, and related fields — and organizations that want to host an intern.