Population Served: As a result of historic and systemic discrimination, opportunities for socio-economic growth and good health are not evenly accessible to different racial and ethnic groups, income groups and other identities. Projects in progress at CCPH aim to serve low income, diverse populations such as immigrant, refugee, and BIPOC communities who may be most burdened by climate exposures and pollution. The information collected and produced during this project in the food safety program will be utilized to assess disproportionality in service delivery with aim to eliminate institutional racism and health inequities that may be present within the program.

Project Overview: The project serves the Food Safety program, with support from the Health Assessment and Evaluation program, and is comprised of two components. In the first project component, the intern will conduct a demographic background survey of food establishment owners in-person at food establishments. We plan to prioritize survey collection in communities mapped as being racially diverse, high poverty, and low education to accelerate the identification of inequity in service delivery. The second project component is to design and complete a data analysis of historical inspection violations against various mapped community demographics to see if differences in cited violation frequency or type exist. This portion of the project should conclude with written report summarizing the findings.

Goals of Project: This intern project contributes to decreasing barriers for food establishment owners and food workers to receive resources and/or funding by utilizing data assessment and population demographic maps to identify variance in violation issuance. The data assessment will help inform programmatic aspects including but not limited to the development of opportunities to better engage community, produce and maintain educational programs, create grant opportunities, design and implement effective intervention strategies, and provide staff training on topics relating to unintentional bias and systemic racism, etc.

Additional Opportunities: Shadow opportunities are available for the intern in any other department Environmental Public Health (EPH) program. Options include joining Environmental Health Specialists (EHS) in fieldwork: soil evaluation for new on-site sewage systems; site-assessment and sample collection relating to on-site sewage system failure; water sample collection of recreational water facilities and swim beaches; food safety inspection; and solid waste education events. Interns can also attend Technical Advisory Committee meetings of different programs and Board of Health meetings.

Internship Time Frames: Summer 2025 – approximately May to August 2025 and/or Fall 2025 – approximately September to December 2025.

Location: We are open to hosting a hybrid intern(s) (virtual with a portion of the experience in-person). The survey collection portion of the assignment requires the intern to be fully in-person with reliable transportation at least half of the total internship hours. The data analysis portion of the project can be done virtually. Students must be located in either Washington or Oregon even when completing virtual work. If relocating to the area for the project, Portland State University may offer dorm rental during summer months. Outreach to public health staff through email or bulletin board post announcing intern seeks room for work can be circulated.

Travel: A personal vehicle would be needed to complete fieldwork during in-person internship hours. Intern will need to travel between food establishments throughout the county; federal mileage reimbursement rate will be provided.

Compensation: This is an unpaid internship, however, federal mileage reimbursement rate will be provided for official use of personal vehicle.

How to apply:
To apply, please complete this online internship application. Be sure to upload your cover letter, current resume or other supporting documentation in the application. Please indicate the program you are interested in in your cover letter and application subject field. Please note that these positions are limited and competitive; we encourage applicants to treat this like they would a job application.