A unique pair of internships at UCLA and beyond!
Since its inception, ADP has provided students with hands-on, closely supervised training in early childhood education. The COVID-19 pandemic demanded that we diversify the internship to include community-engaged internships that provide students with the opportunity to work with young children, their families, and their communities beyond UCLA. This year marks our third year of this exciting pilot program! ADP has partnered with over a dozen non-profit agencies to engage students in a range of experiences contributing to combating the intertwined effects of systemic racism, poverty and the COVID-19 pandemic.
The UCLA Childcare Internship
Since the fall 1997, all of our approved ADP Childcare Internship sites are accredited by the National Academy of Early Childhood Programs. Each ADP student intern is placed at a pre-approved site and paired with an experienced teacher. Their supervising teacher serves as their guide and mentor throughout the three quarters of their internship. Placements are based on each classroom’s needs, our commitment to broadening student experience (i.e., students are not placed at a site at which they have already worked) and, for the off-campus ECE University Village placement, ability to take the bus, bike or drive to Sepulveda and National Blvds, 20 minute travel from campus. (Note: we are not currently placing students at ECE Krieger.)
UCLA Childcare Internship Placement Sites
Sites change according to availability each quarter, and most on campus. Students applying for the internship should be aware that some of these child care programs function between the hours of 7:30am-5:30pm. Therefore, careful consideration should be given to scheduling classes around the internship. Here is a list of the sites at which students have been placed at in order to complete the required 240 internship hours for Psychology 134A/D, 134B/E and 134C:
- UCLA Department of Psychology Infant Development Program (IDP), located at the Fernald center on the northern edge of campus:
- 320 Charles Young Drive North
Los Angeles, Ca 90095-1462 - UCLA Early Care and Education, with three locations on and off campus:
- Krieger Center (off Bellagio Drive, near the dorms in the northwest part of campus)
- Fernald Center:
320 Charles Young Drive North
Los Angeles, Ca 90095-1462 - University Village Center:
3233 S. Sepulveda Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90034
The ADP Community-Engaged Internship
ADP’s combined internship model is entering its third pilot year. Currently, interns complete at least 150 hours at their UCLA childcare site and 50-60 hours in their community-engaged internship. Cohort A completes the internships in sequence, i.e., fall and winter at the UCLA childcare site, then spring in their community-engaged internship. Cohort B students will work 9 hours per week in the UCLA IDP classroom throughout all three quarters, and throughout the 12 weeks of summer they will also work 6 hours per week in a community-engaged internship.
Some internships are designed to be remote, some hybrid, and some in-person throughout metropolitan LA. Interns’ activities have included:
- Caring for preschool-age children in a Headstart program in Koreatown
- Advocating at city and state levels for nutrition subsidies for family-based childcare providers
- Coordinating events and social media to support ongoing training and equity efforts of early intervention professionals
- Conducting research and collecting the stories of children and families awaiting asylum at the Tijuana border