United States Enforcement and February 2006 

Environmental Protection Compliance 

Agency (2201A) 

Office of Environmental Justice (OEJ)

Environmental Justice Fact Sheet 

 ECO Intern Program 

The ECO Intern Program provides students with 

real-world experience by working in EPA on a 

variety of environmental and public health issues. 

About the Program 

Since January 1992, EPA has invested more than 

$30 million in extramural funds to support this 

valuable program which has trained more than 2,500 

ECO Associates to date. 

The program benefits both the student and EPA. 

The student gets to spend up to 9 months working 

full-time at an EPA laboratory, regional office, or in 

a headquarters program while the EPA Sponsor gets 

the benefit of the student’s skill and eagerness, for a 

nominal investment on the average of $12,000 

extramural dollars per trainee-ship. The 

Environmental Careers Organization (ECO) 

cooperative agreement is managed by Linda Smith 

(Project Officer) and Renee Goins (Program 

Manager) of the Office of Environmental Justice. 

For more information, call 202-564-2515. 

Background 

EPA and ECO have had a mutually beneficial 

partnership since the late 70's. Their goal continues 

to be to attract the best and brightest students with 

the hope that they will pursue a “green” career. 

EPA is committed to equal employment opportunity 

and diversity in its workforce. Through innovative 

and effective internships, the Office of 

Environmental Justice has contributed significantly 

to these endeavors. At least 55 percent of the 

trainees are students of color, many from minority 

academic institutions of higher education. 

One of the barriers to increasing the cultural 

diversity of environmental decision-makers, policymakers and science managers has been the limited 

number of students of color who choose to pursue 

environmental degrees, thus eliminating them from 

consideration for these positions. 

To help address this concern, there is an easy, userfriendly vehicle for students from diverse cultural 

backgrounds to work in EPA through paid 

internships. This program allows an EPA Sponsor 

to meet qualified students and encourage them to 

pursue “green” careers. The most impressive year to 

date was 1997, when over 400 interns were placed! 

Since the Office of Environmental Justice took 

responsibility of the program in November 1992, the 

program has trained approximately 2,500 interns, 

and about 50 of these students have been hired into 

permanent positions. Perhaps more importantly, the 

program has spurred about 25 percent of the 

participants to change their original career paths and 

choose environmental occupations. 

 

In May 2004, EPA signed a new three-year 

cooperative agreement with ECO. 

Intern Eligibility 

To become an ECO Associate, the student must 

currently be enrolled at a university or community 

college, or have graduated within 3 months, or be 

planning to return to school within 3 months of the 

start of the internship. 

The student may contact the EPA location at which 

he/she would like to train to see if an internship is 

available. Another option is for the student to apply 

directly with the Environmental Careers 

Organization and indicate his/her geographic 

preferences and/or be considered for an internship 

anywhere at EPA as well as at all other locations 

served by ECO. 

 In any case, to be considered, the student must 

e-mail his/her resume or complete the ECO 
Application on the ECO Web site 

(http://www.eco.org) or send a resume to: 

Environmental Careers Organization 

Attention: Liz Cavano 

30 Winter Street, Sixth Floor 

Boston, MA 02108 

EPA Sponsorship 

To sponsor an ECO Associate, an EPA organization 

must develop a project for the internship (1 page or 

less) and have extramural funds available. The 

weekly stipend can vary but is usually $500 for an 

undergraduate. The length of the trainee-ship 

depends on the EPA organization’s need but is 

usually from 12 to 26 weeks (approximately $14,000 

for a 12 week undergraduate which includes $2,500 

for travel). Next, the EPA organization must notify 

Renee Goins, by phone (202-564-2598), by fax 

(202-501-1106), or by e-mail (goins.renee@ 

epa.gov). 

The EPA organization may either identify a student 

or have ECO send applications from their database 

which match the skills required in the project 

description. After selecting a student, the EPA 

organization must obtain a formal budget sheet from 

ECO which will indicate the exact cost of the intern, 

prepare a commitment notice for this exact amount, 

and forward the budget sheet, the commitment 

notice and the project description to Renee Goins, 

MC-2201A, or deliver the package to Room 2224 

Ariel Rios South. The EPA organization will be 

notified of the date the intern may begin the traineeship with ECO. 

Notice to Interns 

• To be an intern you must be a U.S. Citizen. 

• Interns must be students (see Intern Eligibility 

description on the previous page). 

• An intern may be advanced an additional $500 of 

stipend to compensate if a geographical move is 

required. 

• Students must send a resume to ECO. 

Notice to EPA Sponsors 

• Children of EPA employees are not eligible. 

• EPA Sponsors fund interns with extramural 

money. 

• Any travel that the intern will do as part of the 

trainee-ship must be added to the cost of the 

internship at the time the original paperwork is 

submitted. 

• The EPA Sponsor is responsible for ensuring 

that appropriate travel reports are submitted by 

the intern to ECO at the completion of each trip. 

• Interns are ECO employees. They do not count 

under the EPA FTE ceiling. 

• EPA sponsors must send request for interns to 

Renee Goins. 

For General Information call: 

Renee Goins 

202-564-2598 

202-501-1106 (fax) 

Attention: EPA Sponsors 

 

Send Project Descriptions and Funding 

Packages to: 

 

via Regular Mail: 

EPA Office of Environmental Justice 

1200 Penn. Ave., NW (Mail Code 2201-A) 

Washington, DC 20460 

or 

Hand Deliver or Federal Express to: 

EPA Office of Environmental Justice 

Ariel Rios South Building 

1200 Penn. Ave. NW, Room 2224 

Washington, DC 20004 

(Tel. 202-564-2515)