VOLUNTEERS & INTERNS

Our volunteers represent downtown property and business owners, downtown employees, the Town of Chapel Hill staff and elected officials, University staff and students, downtown residents, and the community-at-large. We are also a court-ordered community service site for both teens and adults; and a service-learning site for high school students. All volunteers willing to give their time to downtown are welcome.

Volunteer opportunities are available throughout the year with opportunities during the week (day & night) and on the weekends. Contact Meg McGurk at meg@downtownchapelhill.com or 919-967-9440.

Clean & Green 

  • Clean & Green volunteers clean up public and private property throughout downtown.
  • Duties may include picking up litter, cleaning graffiti, and cleaning public property such as trash receptacles, bus shelters, benches, and street poles. Volunteers have the flexibility to work whenever their schedule allows. We give you the supplies and directions - you hit the streets!
  • Great opportunity for groups of volunteers!

Special Events

  • Assist the CHDP during special events such as Locally Grown summer concerts & movies, holiday events in November and December, and much more throughout the year.
  • Duties include flyering, crowd control, ticket-taking, planning, coordinating with event participants, and other logistical work. 

Photographers

  • We need pictures of downtown during special events, UNC football games, street fairs, concerts, and parades. 
  • Photographers are also needed to just spend the day or night downtown and take pictures of life on Franklin Street! 
  • Click here for volunteer photography guidelines.

Kyrie - our wonderful summer 2011 intern!Internships: 

The Chapel Hill Downtown Partnership accepts interns that are interested in working on projects that will help revitalize the downtown district.  Projects may be catered to a variety of interests including but not limited to:  economic development, marketing & communications, panhandling & homelessness, parking, architectural design, historic preservation, journalism, special events coordination and governmental affairs.

We are open to working with anyone that has an interest and desire to make downtown a better place.

 

Please send resumes to Meg McGurk at meg@downtownchapelhill.com.  Subject line should be INTERNSHIP.

Current Opportunities (Posted 4/26/12):

BLOGGER: Intern will help with a variety of projects – researching ideas, writing original blog content, and lots of brainstorming! Intern should be marketing, communications, or journalism major; posses great writing skills, have blog writing and social media experience. Most importantly - intern must be passionately enthusiastic about downtown Chapel Hill and open to exploring new businesses and meeting people. Intern must be comfortable with public speaking and representing our agency in the public realm. Must be knowledgeable of the Chapel Hill community; especially downtown and surrounding neighborhoods. Internship is not office based, must be very self-motivated and self-directed. (CHDP blog) Please send writing samples and cover letter.

JANE'S WALK USA INTERN: Intern will create and implement a unique Chapel Hill walking tour in the theme of Jane’s Walk USA. Jane’s Walk USA is a series of free neighborhood walking tours that helps put people in touch with their environment and with each other, by bridging social and geographic gaps and creating a space for cities to discover themselves – all based on the principles or urban activist and writer Jane Jacobs. Intern will work with CHDP board members and staff to come up with a topic/theme for the walk; but intern will be self-guided to then design, plan, and implement the walk. The internship will culminate with the event to be held at end of summer or beginning of fall. Visit http://janeswalkusa.wordpress.com/ for more information on this nation-wide initiative. Intern must be comfortable with public speaking and representing our agency in the public realm. Must be very knowledgeable of the Chapel Hill community; especially downtown and surrounding neighborhoods. Internship is not office based, must be very self-motivated and self-directed. This is a great opportunity to be creative, while engaging downtown businesses and residents in a feel-good event. Send cover letter and resume.

LOCALLY GROWN SUMMER CONCERT & MOVIE SERIES: Intern will assist the Chapel Hill Downtown Partnership and Town of Chapel Hill with a series summer concerts and movies on the Wallace Plaza. Intern must be comfortable with public speaking and representing our agency in the public realm. Must have knowledge of the Chapel Hill community; especially downtown. Internship is not office based, must be very self-motivated and self-directed. Intern must be available on Thursday evenings for the events - June to August. Intern will assist with marketing (flyer/poster distribution, online postings, blog entries); event coordination(checking ID's, putting on wrist bands, changing out kegs, setup/cleanup, running the popcorn machine, assisting with kids activities & programming like trivia/costume contests/dance parties, photography); volunteer coordination; and business engagement (work with 10 to 12 restaurants that participate in the Dinner & A Movie promotion – intern will coordinate.)

GRANT COORDINATOR: The Downtown Partnership has received a Keep America Beautiful Grant  (http://preventcigarettelitter.org/) to address cigarette butt litter in the downtown business district. The project would begin immediately and would involve convening a committee of community members interested in the issues, conducting cigarette litter scans & clean-ups, researching committee recommendations/ best practices of other communities, and working with the business community to address their specific issues. The grant ends in mid-September but the bulk of work would be completed by mid-August. This is not an office-based project and requires someone motivated to complete work on their own time but with deadlines. Approximately 5 hours a week of work. This is a good opportunity to learn grant management skills as well.