Why it’s different

Most internships run in parallel. Someone joins, does some work, and leaves, and the next intern starts from scratch. Very little carries over.

The Succession Program is built as a vertical. Each year, participants take on more responsibility, and the people supervising them are peers who held the same seat about 18 months earlier. Knowledge stays inside the program instead of leaving with each graduating class.

How it works

1. Year 1

   Contribute

   Work on real projects in coalition infrastructure and environmental program coordination, supervised by a program member who started before you.

2. Year 2

   Lead

   Lead a project at a partner organization.

3. Year 3

   Supervise

   Manage two Year 1 interns while carrying a senior project of your own.

Year 3 participants become the supervisors for the next Year 1 group, and the cycle continues.

Peer supervision is the point

Supervisors remember what it felt like to be new because they were new recently. They carry real accountability for the people they support, not just a mentoring title.

Leave the program better than you found it

Before completing their first term, every participant proposes a new program idea for the people who will follow them. Each group adds something to the program, not just to their own résumé.

A professional credential along the way

Much of the work uses Esri’s ArcGIS platform, the global leader in GIS. The program is designed so that work can lead toward a recognized Esri credential.

The basics

Where

Fully remote

Time

10–15 hours per week

Length

Multiple semesters, with responsibility growing each year

Pay

Unpaid for now; we are pursuing grant funding for future stipends

Who

Self-directed students curious about how the environmental sector works, from GIS and geography to environmental studies

Status

Pilot phase; our first alumnus has completed the program

Once the model is proven, we plan to publish it openly so other organizations can adopt it.