If you’ve ever been in New York City on a 100 degree day, you know it’s not the best place for your lungs. The air is thick and hard to breathe, the smell of the streets is downright disgusting, and the only respite is when you walk by the occasional open door of an establishment that has its air conditioning pumped up to the max. It’s not a good place for a kid to spend the summer – especially if that kid has asthma or other pulmonary problems (which are much more frequent for city children). That’s why The Fresh Air Fund, a not-for-profit agency, has provided free summer vacations in the country to more than 1.7 million children from disadvantaged communities in New York City since 1877.

Your First Job Will Be a Breath of Fresh Air

The Fresh Air Fund offers a number of programs to get kids (also known as Fresh Air Children) out of the city and into some fresh air. Every summer they send more than 3,000 kids to summer camps and more than 5,000 kids to spend time with host families in suburban and rural areas through the Friendly Town Program. The Fresh Air Fund also offers some year-round camping opportunities as well as a career awareness program for teens. Managing these programs takes a lot of work, so the Fresh Air Fund is always looking for people to work for them both at the Summer Camps and in New York City. Most of the jobs are seasonal, but there are still some entry-level opportunities worth looking at. Jobs at The Fresh Air Fund are typically in one of four areas: Public Relations, Camping, Community Outreach, and Friendly Town. Public Relations seems the most likely to offer year-round job opportunities, although it seems that most of their focus is currently on internships. In Community Outreach, the Agency Liaison, Social Work Assistant, and Outreach Assistant jobs all look the best suited to new grads. The timing may be a bit off to get started working for The Fresh Air Fund, since they’re a summer focused organization, but you should use the e-mail addresses listed on their Work in NYC page to send a resume and cover letter if you’re interested in working to help city kids get some fresh air.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

• FreshAir.org
• Jobs at the Fresh Air Fund
• About the Fresh Air Fund
• The Fresh Air Fund’s Programs
• The Fresh Air Fund’s History

Don’t you just love fresh air?

We've identified The Fresh Air Fund as having career opportunities in the following categories:

• all employers
• New York
• non-profit
• outreach
• public relations
• social work

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