Interested in applying? Read the information below, then follow the application steps. The application deadline is December 18, 2018.
Overview
Throughout the year, No More Deaths’s Desert Aid project hosts a month-long program where out-of-town volunteers spend four weeks putting water, food, and supplies in the desert of the Arizona borderlands.
No More Deaths is, historically, a predominantly white organization, and we are committed to addressing this issue within our work. In response to feedback from past and present volunteers who identify as people of color, we have decided to host a POC-only Desert Aid volunteer program for the month of February. The goal of this program is to intentionally create POC No More Deaths spaces as a step in a larger organizational shift toward centering, supporting, and uplifting the voices of people of color interested in this work.
The February POC month-long program focuses on breaking down some of the barriers that can make our volunteer program inaccessible, such as the high costs of participating: volunteer fees, travel costs, lost wages from taking time off work. The program also seeks to address the fact that in our usual programming, native-Spanish-speaking volunteers have additional responsibilities among majority nonnative speakers. It also seeks to address the challenge that POC volunteers face in our usual programming of navigating the heavy emotional landscape of the work without adequate support from peers who share similar identities and experiences, including personal, familial, and other connections to the Mexico–US border. The February POC volunteer program will be facilitated exclusively by long-term No More Deaths POC volunteers.
We encourage anyone who is interested in border-solidarity work and identifies as POC to apply for this volunteer program. Our capacity for training, hosting, and supporting volunteers is limited. We will accept four to six volunteers for this program. A four-week commitment is required.
Schedule
| Session start date | Session end date | Application deadline |
|---|---|---|
| Sunday, February 3, 2019 | Sunday, March 3, 2019 | Sunday, December 18, 2018 |
Financial support
No More Deaths will waive all volunteer fees for participants who are accepted into the February POC month-long Desert Aid volunteer program.
Additionally, No More Deaths will provide a $200 travel stipend to each accepted participant to help offset the cost of traveling to Tucson for the program.
All volunteers who are accepted into this program will be able to access the No More Deaths Gear-Lending Library free of cost.
Steps for applying
- Please read all the information above. Also review the FAQ.
- Find someone from a grassroots organization you have worked with or been involved with (activist collective, nonprofit, advocacy group, volunteer/community-service organization, etc.) to write you a letter of reference. Tell them what program dates you are applying for and ask them to fill out the following form before the application deadline:
- By the application deadline, submit an application.
- Wait to hear back from the volunteer coordinator. We get a high volume of applications and can only accept four volunteers per session. Expect to hear back from us within two weeks after the application deadline.