RAISE Summer Cohort
Opens Active Registration
Connecting Alaska Native and American Indian youth aged 14 to 19 with clinical career internships, workforce skills, and cultural Elder mentors.
Southcentral Foundation’s RAISE Intern Program is officially recruiting for its upcoming Summer Cohort Session. This highly regarded youth pipeline connects Alaska Native and American Indian teenagers aged 14 to 19 with valuable clinical workplace rotations, professional life skills, credited academic courses, and hands-on traditional Elder circles.
Building early workforce skills in a supportive, culture-first environment is key to helping youth develop positive identities and long-term career aspirations. By offering three separate sessions per year (summer, winter, and graduate cohorts), the RAISE program acts as a premier professional gateway.
Interns developing workforce heritages and ancestral storytelling circles.
Summer interns coordinate work schedules across various campus departments, including dental clinics, optometry, maternal care, administrative offices, and information technology. Each rotation provides active professional experience paired with peer advisor guidance.
combining career skills & ancestral tradition
In addition to clinical rotations, RAISE incorporates significant traditional training. Interns spend focused sessions with regional Elders, practicing native languages, sewing traditional fur mittens and kuspuks, beading earrings, and learning regional Alaskana subsistence heritages.
“RAISE is about helping our youth understand who they are, where they come from, and where they can go,” said a RAISE Intern Supervisor. “Providing clinical careers alongside ancestral Elder circles gives our teenagers a strong foundation for their futures.”