CSUN Students May Intern for County

Students at Cal State Northridge will soon be earning college credits for helping Los Angeles County government employees do their jobs under a plan approved Tuesday by the Board of Supervisors.

The pilot project, called the Community Based Enterprise Education Program, will place CSUN interns in various county departments beginning early next year, county officials said.

Though specific details have yet to be worked out, officials said a typical arrangement might have a CSUN engineering student working with the county’s flood control district on a watershed plan, or a student interested in urban planning working with the Department of Regional Planning on various development issues.

The participants will not be paid, but will receive academic credit in their respective majors for the work, officials said.

A variety of county departments and programs at CSUN are expected to be part of the program, and the Department of Human Resources and CSUN officials will serve as its monitors, officials said.

“We’re very excited about the opportunities in this program and working with [CSUN President] Blenda Wilson and CSUN in a program that will benefit the county as well as the students as they pursue their career goals,” said Joel Bellman, spokesman for Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, who introduced the motion.

“We have a strong philosophy at the university that the students should be part of the community,” said CSUN spokeswoman Carmen Ramos Chandler. “And in return, the county is going to learn what talented people the university has to offer.”