Teen Empowerment: RNR Internship with the Neutral Zone 2026

ROLLINS COLLEGE

Neutral Zone Internship

Center for Leadership & Community Engagement

Position Description

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General Information: 

TThe Neutral Zone was founded by teens, to provide a venue for needed social, cultural, educational, recreational, and creative opportunities for Ann Arbor area high school teens. The mission statement of the center was written by youth and continues to be the voice and heart which drives the center's creative programs and opportunities:

“Neutral Zone is a transformative, youth-driven community where youth embrace their power, ignite their creativity, and launch their future to build equity, justice, and collective liberation.”

Neutral Zone was founded by teens and adult community members in 1998 as a concert venue to provide a safe, supportive space for teens on Saturday nights.  Today the organization has grown to supporting an after school drop in space, weekend concerts, and special events, and hosting over 15 after school programs in visual and media arts, music performance and technology, literary arts, community leadership and education. During the school year approximately 250 young people visit weekly, 100 young people visit summer programming, and another 500 young people visit through school and community partnership projects during the school day. Neutral Zone has demonstrated key benchmarks for sustainability. The Board of Directors is reflective of our mission-nearly half our board are teens leading through partnership of youth and adults to govern our center.   

As a student staff member at Neutral Zone, the intern will be exposed to and immersed in hands-on experiences in theory and in practice of both Neutral Zone’s youth-driven approach to youth programming.  Students will be encouraged to consider approaches to youth and adult partnerships that foster strong youth participation and civic engagement.  This approach will be emphasized through, program design and evaluation, direct practice with youth, community engagement, and organizational management. Professional development will be supported through both training and mentorship.  We aim to ideally have two interns so they may rely on each other. Though we have a parking lot, we also are very close to a bus and would suggest utilizing it whenever possible.

The ideal candidate(s) will possess a strong desire to work with diverse populations of young people, engage collaboratively with staff, be highly accountable, and be committed to thinking in creative ways to engage young people as future leaders. 

**At Rollins, we value academic excellence and share a common service philosophy: "Together, we inspire purposeful lives through distinctive, engaged learning and exceptional service." Accordingly, the selected candidate must be able to embrace and model this service philosophy in his/her day to day work and provide competent, collaborative, responsive, and respectful service to others. 

Position Details:

The Neutral Zone intern will have opportunities to support the following work throughout the internship experience:   

• Talking and engaging with teens in the drop in space through activity and conversation.
• Work with the NZ staff to coordinate summer program outreach and registration. 
• Work with NZ staff to lead at least 4 weeks of summer program experiences in leadership and the arts. 
• Work with NZ staff to design, implement and lead the summer program evaluation. 
• Participate in community outreach events that promote the Neutral Zone to diverse, community populations. 
• Support research and grant writing to leverage new project and partnership initiatives during the school year. 
• Support the updating of our data registration system to a salesforce platform. 
• Engage in intern meetings on a bi-weekly or monthly basis with other two MI based RNR interns
• Help with the planning and outreach for our Fall 2026 program registration

Skills gained by serving as a Neutral Zone intern: 

• Knowledge and experience in youth-driven practice
• Training in restorative practice
• Interpersonal and professional communication skills
• Evaluation design and implementation
• Large-scale event planning
• Understanding of a professional office culture
• Ability to work with diverse populations 

Requirements:

• Candidates must be a Rollins undergraduate student graduating no earlier than December 2026
• Candidates must be able to serve from May 19th to August 8th, 2026. The organization is willing to work with applicants regarding date flexibility.

Preferred Qualifications: 

• Past experience working with diverse youth populations across gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, race, and religion. 
• A strong connection to the visual arts, literary arts, or music performance and technology. 

Specific Internship Details and Compensation: 

The intern will receive a stipend of $12,250 which should be used for time on the job (compensation), necessary travel, living expenses, food and groceries, cultural outings, and academic credit internship costs. The intern will need to work with the Neutral Zone and the Center for Leadership & Community Engagement to secure housing.  More than likely, the intern will have shared housing with other Rollins RNR interns in the Ann Arbor community. Housing expenses are allocated at $7,200 and will be directly paid from Rollins to housing accommodations. 

The internship will take place from May 19th  to August 8th and will be approximately 40 hrs/week. The position receives office space, use of a computer, and a parking pass. The intern will receive a stipend which should be used for time on the job (compensation), necessary travel (community partner visits, etc), living expenses, food and groceries, cultural outings, and academic credit internship costs. 

The intern is also REQUIRED to participate in the Rollins College academic internship program, and they will receive 4-credits as a part of this experience. The stipend above should also be utilized to cover the $500 internship course fee. Thus, the intern will receive the remaining total after the costs above (housing, internship, travel expenses) are dispersed on a bi-weekly basis evenly distributed over the length of the internship.  The selected candidate must register for the academic internship course before April 6, 2026 through the Center for Career & Life Planning. All RNR interns will also be required to participate in an orientation in late April.  For questions pertaining to the stipend or application, please contact Meredith Hein at mhein@rollins.edu 

Application Procedure: Applicants must submit the following materials: cover letter, resume, and references on or before March 1st via the Rollins College Handshake Job Portal. Applications will be reviewed by the Center for Leadership & Community Engagement and select candidates will then be passed along to interview with Neutral Zone. For more information regarding the specifics of this position, please contact Hananiah Wiggins at hananiah@neutral-zone.org. Applicants must be available for a virtual interview sometime between March 9th-March 12th.