Since its inception in 2008, the annual Human Development and Family Science (HDFS) Internship and Professional Day has grown to include attendance by over 250 undergraduate majors and more than 45 university, local and regional program representatives. At this event, students are provided with an exclusive venue to learn about careers in Human Development and Family Science and to discover opportunities for practicum, service-learning and full-time internship positions. Through conversations with our community representatives, students also have occasion to practice their professional communication skills. The agencies, organizations and programs represented at the Fall 2021 event include:
ADCANP/CTF
The Children’s Trust Fund Prevention Program Evaluation Project explores how community-based programs and services successfully support the development of protective factors while strengthening children and families in Alabama. As a member of our research team, you will enhance your knowledge of social science research that can be applied to coursework. Develop database management skills while working with statistical software. You will also be able to network and build relationships with peers, graduate students, and faculty in HDFS.
Adolescent Development and Evaluation Lab
Our lab has a program evaluation contract with the Alabama Department of Public Health. We manage survey data from youth participating in sex education programs implemented by health organizations and non-profit organizations in the state. If you are interested in working in program development and evaluation, you will get an opportunity to see how state organizations report their community engagement to government agencies.
Alabama Council on Human Relations, Inc. Head Start and Early Head Start Programs
Alabama Council on Human Relations, Inc.(ACHR) is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization founded exclusively for charitable and educational purposes. ACHR Head Start programs support children's growth from prenatal to age 5 through a variety of services, including early learning and development, health, and family well-being. Our programs help children and their families get ready to succeed in school and in life through learning experiences tailored to the child and families current needs and abilities.
Alabama Healthy Marriage and Relationship Education Initiative (AHMREI)
The AHMRE Project is an applied research project that implements relationship education programs with adult couples and evaluates program effectiveness. The AHMRE project welcomes undergraduates interested in undergraduate research assistantships or practicum. Opportunities include collecting, entering, and managing data, as well as recruiting for and observing classes in the community. Internships are also available that offer the full experience of community-based relationship programs and research methods.
The Alabama Healthy Marriage & Relationship Education Initiative, or “AHMREI,” has been funded by grants from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Family Assistance for 18 years. The AHMREI consists of two related projects: the Alabama Healthy Marriage and Relationship Education (AHMRE) Project focused on serving adult couples in the community and the Alabama Youth Relationship Education (AYRE) Project focused on serving youth in high schools.
Alabama Public Television
Since 1997, Alabama Public Television has provided programs, services and resources to childcare professionals, teachers, and parents that support early childhood development and learning.
Alabama Rural Ministry
Alabama Rural Ministry is a nonprofit Organization that focuses on home repair in Lee, Macon, and Sumter counties year-round and a day camp in Tuskegee, AL during the summer. In our home rehabilitation we aim to create homes that are warm, safe dry, and beautiful. We exist to end substandard housing in rural Alabama and we’re doing that through home repair and kids day camp ministries. Serving with us means a summer of practicing compassion, hospitality, and selfless/Christlike service. We have fall and spring academic internships in our office working with our case manager and during our summer programs, we have a full time, 11-week internship where we host teams of middle/high school students from churches who serve at one of our two sites in rural Alabama for a week at a time. We have 2 available positions: Day Camp Counselor and Construction Coordinator. It’s like a camp experience for them, but they’re out serving instead of playing games all-day. We also coordinate the ministries throughout the summer and lead the teams in a discipleship experience.
Alabama Youth Relationship Education Project (AYRE)
Service learning with our project, provides undergraduate students the opportunity to implement school-based youth relationship education programs. We have also recently incorporated two additional curricula that touch on stress-reduction strategies and personal finance. During this experience we encourage our students to connect what they are learning in the classroom to civic engagement. We also have meetings to process the teaching experience and build professional development. A new aspect of this project is the University Consortium, which brings together “near-peer educators” from universities in the surrounding areas (AU, AUM, Tuskegee, ASU) to train and implement programming.
APAEP Alabama Prison Arts + Education Project
Auburn University Early Learning Center
The Auburn University Early Learning Center is an NAEYC accredited laboratory preschool serving children ages 2, 3, 4, and 5 years old in half-day sessions. The center has a four-fold mission of high-quality care and education, lab training for undergraduate and graduate students, scholarly research, and collaboration with local, state, and national organizations to improve the quantity and quality of early care and education.
Auburn University MFT Center
The AU MFT Center serves the tri-county area for couple, marriage, and family therapy. Students are needed to code the within-session therapist behaviors and connect client data to therapy sessions. Undergraduate students also help with role-plays for different therapeutic scenarios.
Baby Steps Inc
Baby Steps empowers pregnant and parenting students facing an unplanned pregnancy at Auburn University to have their education and their baby by providing housing, support, and community.
Bonnie's Kids Child Care Center
BigHouse Foundation
Our mission is to connect the needs of foster families with the generosity of the community through the love of Jesus Christ. We aim to impact the lives of children in foster care in a positive way through meeting their needs and serving their foster families. We are passionate about advocating for these families and educating the community on the needs of children in the foster care system.
BraveHeart Center for Place and Purpose
Our mission is to engage, educate and elevate life quality for persons with moderate-severe disabilities, their families, Auburn students and the greater East Alabama community by cultivating compassion, connection and community through outreach, relationships, and inclusion.
Camp Kesem
Child Care Resource Center
Child Care Resource Center, Inc. is an accredited Family Resource Center (ANFRC). Services include: Training and professional development for childcare professionals to promote quality childcare, family assistance with locating quality childcare, financial assistance for childcare, family support services, resource and referral, parent education, prevention of child abuse and neglect, fatherhood, goal-driven case management.
Children's of Alabama
The Child Life Program at Children’s of Alabama recognizes that illness and hospitalization are stressful events in the lives of children and their families. By using age appropriate education, preparation and supportive activities, we strive to minimize that stress and help children and their families cope positively with their healthcare experience.
Child Life Specialists are part of the health care team. They are professionally trained in understanding and meeting the unique needs of children and teens in the healthcare environment. All Child Life Specialists are required to have a minimum of a bachelor’s degree in child life, child development, child and family studies or related field. The Child Life Council provides professional certification for Child Life Specialists (CLS).
The Child Life Program at Children’s of Alabama recognizes that illness and hospitalization are stressful events in the lives of children and their families. By using age appropriate education, preparation and supportive activities, we strive to minimize that stress and help children and their families cope positively with their healthcare experience.
Children's Harbor
Children's Harbor strengthens families with children facing a life-altering medical diagnosis through refuge, respite and resources anchored in hope.
Child Sleep, Health, & Development Lab
The Child Sleep, Health, & Development Lab at Auburn University conducts research funded by the National Institutes of Health. Our studies include examination of sleep and physiological regulation (how one responds to stress) and the impacts on domains of development (e.g., health, behavior, relationships, etc.). We offer internships as well as class credit (HDFS 4980). This is a hands-on research experience with flexible schedules. On-site training is provided.
Circle of Care Center for Families
The Circle of Care Center for Families offers programs and services designed to strengthen and support families while improving the quality of life and promoting the safety and well-being of children in Chambers County.
Circles Opelika
The mission of Circles Opelika is to resolve poverty and thrive. We provide training and resources to assist with reaching family goals that will aide in economic stability to include increasing their social capital.
City of Refuge- City Kids
City of Refuge is a one stop shop for women in children in crisis. City of Refuge has been around for 26 years and is located on Atlanta's Westside. City Kids serves kids ages 6 months old-6th grade. We have a full functioning on site preschool, as well as an elementary after-school program.
EAGLES Program
The Education to Accomplish Growth in Life Experiences for Success, or EAGLES, is a comprehensive transition program (CTP) for students with intellectual disabilities. The program provides a post-secondary education opportunity for students with intellectual disabilities to engage in a two or four-year campus experience to help students achieve their employment and independent living goals upon successful completion of the program.
The EAGLES program is a non-degreed program focusing on (1) academic enrichment, (2) personal and social skills, (3) independent living skills, (4) health and wellness, and (5) integrated work experiences. Students in the program receive an inclusive post-secondary education providing them with an enriching and rewarding Auburn experience as they prepare to transition to gainful employment, that aligns with the student’s strengths and interests and independent living. The EAGLES program curricula are structured to help students become contributing members of society through their career interests both now and in the future.
Esperanza House
Esperanza House is here to provide development and investment into the lives of the Latino community in Auburn and Opelika. The focus being on helping families with physical and financial needs, as well as spiritual needs. It is our pleasure to be a blessing to the families and their children in our community to invest and enable them as we sharing the love of Christ and the truth of gospel with them. We are always looking for amazing volunteers to help serve and be a light. Esperanza House is focused on the children in their education, families in meeting needs, and the community for enrichment and opportunity. The goal is to love like Christ would.
Esperanza House is a non-profit organization with a focus on youth development, childcare, education, and advocacy in the Auburn-Opelika area. Our mission is to improve the quality of life for Hispanic children and families. Esperanza House desires to intentionally develop and implement programs that meet the needs of low-income, Hispanic families and their children in such critical areas as mental health, youth development, childcare, education, and advocacy.
Ultimately, our mission is to lead people into growing relationship with Jesus Christ. We strive towards this by providing Bible studies and devotions for children and their families.
Family Child Care Partnership - Early Head Start
Family Child Care Partnerships Program assists family childcare providers to provide high quality childcare services and to pursue National Accreditation and provides support and services through an Early Head Start Child Care Partnership collaboration.
Harris Early Learning Center
The Harris Early Learning Center is a state-of-the-art preschool facility for over 200 children ranging in age from six weeks to five years of age.
The teaching philosophy of the facility is grounded in the concept of "developmentally appropriate practice" in which children "learn by doing" and are guided by a curriculum designed to capitalize upon knowledge of how young children learn.
The facility also maintains a research mission and is designed to maximize opportunities to conduct developmental research on children and their families. The Center is managed by Auburn University and the College of Human Sciences.
The Center employs 37 full time teaching staff, approximately 15 part-time staff, a facility manager, administrative personnel, a cook and an assistant cook. In each of the 16 classrooms, there are two full-time teachers.
Lee County Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA)
The mission of Lee County CASA is to provide carefully screened, trained, and supervised volunteers to advocate for the best interests of children in dependency proceedings resulting in a safe and permanent home where the child can not only survive, but THRIVE.
Lee County CASA volunteers are appointed by Judges to advocate for abused and neglected children from birth to age 19 in Lee County by providing them a voice in court proceedings. The goal is to ensure that they don’t get lost in the overburdened social service system or languish in inappropriate and temporary foster and group homes. CASA volunteers are specially trained and remain on each case until it is closed and the child is placed in a safe, permanent home. For many of our children, their CASA is the only constant adult in their lives.
Lee County Keeping Family Connections
CASA: The mission of Lee County CASA is to provide carefully screened, trained, and supervised volunteers to advocate for the best interest of children in dependency proceedings resulting in a safe and permanent home where the child can not only survive, but thrive.
Keeping Family Connections: Providing supervised visitations between children and their non-custodial parents in a safe, neutral, and child-friendly environment.
Lee Russell Council of Governments
The Lee-Russell Council of Governments (LRCOG) Area Agency on Aging (AAA) provides information and assistance, education, and coordinated services to its target population in Lee and Russell Counties. The primary purpose of the Area Agency on Aging is to plan, develop, and maintain a coordinated service delivery system which best meets the needs of older and disabled people in our region - especially individuals of greatest socioeconomic need.
LCYDC Therapeutic Foster Care
Lee County Youth Development Center Therapeutic Foster Care/Therapeutic Foster Care-Enhanced program provides foster homes for foster children whose placements meet the needs of intellectually disabled children or for children that have a serious mental health or medical/emotional need that would otherwise require a specialized out of state placement. LCYDC TFC/TFC-Enhanced Program serves children with special needs stemming from a variety of causes, conditions and diagnostic categories identified as emotional and/or behavioral disturbance; psychiatric diagnosis with associated behaviors, delinquency, developmental disorders, and/or medical needs; and described issues can be met through services delivered primarily by trained, professional therapeutic foster parents. LCYDC TFC is “A place of service…Offering hope to children and families…Strengthening communities”.
Lighthouse Family Retreat
Lighthouse Family Retreat is a faith-based non-profit that exists to strengthen every family living through childhood cancer. We host restorative retreats and develop helpful resources so that families and their support systems can find hope in God and help in their fight.
Our flagship offering, Seaside Retreats, is a respite for families living through childhood cancer, who we call our Retreat Families. We serve them by organizing volunteers to provide a week of deep rest, relational connection, great laughter, and palpable kindness.
Make-A-Wish Alabama
Make-A-Wish Alabama is a nonprofit organization dedicated to granting life changing wishes for children with critical illnesses.
Military REACH at Auburn University
Military REACH is a grant partnership between Auburn University's Human Development and Family Science (HDFS) department and the Department of Defense (DoD) and the US Department of Agriculture – National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA / NIFA ).
Military REACH bridges the gap between military family research and practice by making family science and psychological research accessible and practical for military families, direct service helping professionals, and those who work on behalf of military families.
Office of Global Education
In our increasingly globalized society, it is critical for Auburn University graduates to enter the workplace with a full appreciation and understanding of the differing values and customs of world cultures; how the world’s markets, goods, and services are interconnected; how hunger and food insecurity are addressed; and how environmental sustainability issues affect quality of life worldwide.
The Office of Global Education seeks to provide International study abroad and internship opportunities that enhance student's education, both personally and professionally.
Our House
Our House is a ministry of By Our Love, an Alabama non-profit corporation resulting from several years of local mission outreach to children and their families who live in Auburn Public Housing, Ridgecrest Apartments. We are called to love, serve, and be present to our neighbors. A few ways that we do this are through k-12th grade after-school tutoring, 3rd-5th grade recreation program, Girl Scouts, 8th-12th grade career prep, events for our moms, and other events for our entire community.
Prescott House Child Advocacy Center
Every day, children who are victims of abuse or witnesses to violence come to Prescott House to begin their journey toward healing. Our goal is to give children an opportunity to share their indescribable stories in a child-friendly setting. We promote a child-centered approach as we gather teams of professionals to better serve these children.
Project Uplift
Project Uplift is a youth mentoring program that serves children in Lee County ages 5-12. The main goal of the program is to help children develop constructive, happy lives, so that delinquency in our county will decrease.
Rape Counselors of East Alabama
It is our goal at Rape Counselors of East Alabama to reduce the physical and psychological aspects associated with the trauma of sexual assault and to enhance the treatment and recovery processes. RCEA empowers people through healing and social change to eliminate all forms of sexual violence. We are committed to transforming lives by providing services and education to meet the needs of our diverse community.
Ronald McDonald House Charities of Alabama
With diligence, integrity and compassion, Ronald McDonald House Charities of Alabama joins and aids families in their efforts to find hope, support, happiness, and growth, regardless of obstacles placed before them.
Storybook Farm
Storybook Farm is here to provide youth experiencing serious life-altering circumstances with some serious life-changing help. Our animal-assisted and nature-based programs center around what kids are passionate about, what they are interested in, and what they love. Our farm is a safe, supportive, and enriching environment where the joys and accomplishments are celebrated. We’re wild about our work and won’t be finished until every child can experience the power of the human-animal bond.
Our mission is to empower children impacted by adversity and to reclaim the wonder of childhood through relationships with animals and nature.
Twin Cedars CAC
The mission of Twin Cedars Child Advocacy Center is to facilitate and achieve healing and justice for abused and neglected children in both Lee and Macon County. The purpose of our program is to raise awareness so that all cases of child physical and sexual abuse can be reported, investigated, and treated through the collaboration of our multi-disciplinary team. Our multi-disciplinary team is composed of members from the Department of Human Resources (DHR), Intensive In-Home Services (IIHS), Law Enforcement, the District Attorney's office, as well as, both mental health and medical professionals. The Child Advocacy Center (CAC) model streamlines all victim services through a child-friendly setting with specially trained professionals.
United Way of Lee County
The Mission of the United Way of Lee County is to increase the organized capacity of people to care for one another. One of the ways that we do this in our community is by generating and applying the necessary resources to meet the needs of the community, recognizing that meeting basic human needs should be the overriding consideration in all decisions.
Urban Avenues
Urban Avenues is a Birmingham native non-profit with a strong mission that focuses on connecting the disconnected communities in Birmingham through the means of intentional conversation. We employ people to connect through the means of food, film, and culture. Our four ventures: Five Loaves, Fish Camp Films, Porch Sittings, and CareHealth all correlates with the heart of our mission.
WinShape Camps
Founded by S. Truett Cathy in 1985, WinShape Camps launched life-changing summers with our very first overnight camp. That early experience set the stage for how we do camps today—creating fun and faithful places for young people to grow. What we do makes a huge impact, serving 40,000 campers, their families and 900 summer staff each year. On top of our attention to hospitality and service is a commitment to excellence, all qualities we admire and share in Chick-fil-A.
Women's Hope Medical Clinic
Women’s Hope Medial Clinic and Hope Adoptions is a Christian, 501(c)(3), non-profit organization devoted to serving the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of women, men, and families facing unplanned pregnancies. We support clients with free services throughout their pregnancy. Hope Adoptions is licensed adoption agency, and we are able to assist our clients in making an adoption plan.