Portland Tennis & Education Mission: We strengthen youth, inspire families, and build communities that reach their potential.

PT&E is a non-profit organization that offers one-on-one tutoring, group tennis instruction, life skills instruction, and parent advocacy and training to K-12th grade participants in our year around program. 

We are dedicated to the academic success and lifelong health of Portland’s underserved youth, supporting them in becoming well-rounded learners, exceptional athletes, and global citizens. PT&E is part of the USTA National Junior Tennis and Learning network. We are supported by the USTA Foundation, the national charitable arm of the USTA.

Portland Tennis & Education serves 70 incredibly diverse and resilient youth in kindergarten through 12th grade. 95% percent of our students are youth of color and 81% are bilingual. Moreover, their parents are extremely hard workers with the vast majority working multiple jobs and/or long shifts. However, our North Portland community does face a variety of systematic challenges, including gang violence, low-performing schools, and a high poverty rate. Two-thirds of students at our neighborhood elementary and middle schools fail to meet both reading and math standards. Moreover, Roosevelt, the local high school, had only a 73% on-time graduation rate in recent years. 

The poverty rate in our neighborhood is also much higher than the city’s average and all of our youth come from low-income families. The students in our program face a variety of other challenges as well—limited parental education, incarcerated family members, family immigration status, and learning and physical disabilities among them.

St Johns Racquet Center (SJRC) is the home for PT&E. We are one of the few NJTLs that have their own tennis center. This allows us to have total independence to run our educational, tennis, fitness and character development curricula, as well as service the public tennis needs. 

The Opportunity

Portland Tennis & Education (PT&E) and St Johns Racquet Center (SJRC) Internship:

We are looking for an individual that has the desire to understand all aspects of running a non-profit organization, as well as all business related duties to run a public tennis facility.

As a PT&E intern, you will have the opportunity to support students ages K-12 (referred to as “Scholar Athletes”) by creating and supervising our nonprofit youth tennis program content and on-court activities. This management position works directly with the Executive Director, Tennis Director, and other members of the management team to set program schedules, define on-court expectations, and support tennis-focused staff. This position also helps tennis staff (“Tennis-Based Coach/Tutors”) to successfully plan and facilitate tennis activities.

As PT&E’s tennis programming takes place at the St. John’s Racquet Center (SJRC) in North Portland, this intern role also serves as one of the SJRC managers for customers selecting SJRC as their tennis home. This role offers the opportunity to make SJRC to be known as the prime tennis destination for people wanting to play tennis locally. This element involves leading efforts in scheduling private, marketing for group lessons, mixers, clinics and coordinating yearly USTA Leagues.

PT&E’s Intern also has the opportunity to work with existing Tennis-Based Coach/Tutors and shape PT&E’s tennis program with the goal to make Scholar Athletes love and play tennis for life, regardless of their level of tennis skill or aspirations. In short, we strive to imprint the game of tennis for life with our Scholar Athletes.

Seven (7) Core Functions (in no particular order of prominence):

1. Stabilize & Grow PT&E Program – Player I.D. & Cultivate Pathways
2. Nurture & Work with Existing and New Tennis Coaches
3. Support Leadership for Our Public Facility: Maintenance/Marketing/Safe Haven
4. Formulate & Coordinate Public Tennis: Lessons, Clinics, Leagues, Revenue Generation, etc.
5. Advance Tournament Opportunities for Selective PT&E Youth
6. Forge a More Refined Interface with High School Programs (internal & external)
7. Support & Execute Tennis-based Character Development Curricula to PT&E Youth

Activities: 

• Lead effort to teach character development, life skills based on the game of times
• Mentorship through college site visits, outdoor recreational and environmental outing opportunities
• Preparing our middle scholars’ transition to private advance academic and athletic high school settings
• Marketing duties, donor cultivation, grant writing, and communication with selective partners
• Procurement of supplies and interfacing with vendors for PT&E and SJRC
• Building a strong marketing bridge between our POT&E and SJRC public clientele
• Supervise PT&E’s nonprofit youth-facing tennis program
• Create weekly/monthly/quarterly tennis program content
• Work with other Tennis-Based Coach/Tutors
• Create player development pathways
• Work with Executive, Program and Tennis Director, and other staff to set tennis schedule
• Support reestablishment and expansion of SJRC clientele
• Participate in meetings and complete all required tracking processes necessary to uphold the program’s commitment to meaningful data collection and evaluation methods (e.g. Scholar Athlete on-court evaluations, weekly/monthly tennis report cards, etc. 
• Assist with program-related events and activities that benefit Scholar Athletes, including fundraisers, one-day youth programs, and more.
• Additional administrative support as needed (e.g., Square monthly reports, Court Booking reports, forecast supplies needed to teach PT&E and SJRC programs, create brochures with all information about court bookings, private and group lessons, etc.)
• The PT&E and SJRC Intern reports directly to the Executive Director and Tennis Director, who is committed to meaningfully mentoring and guiding this individual as they grow, learn, and work to reach near-term and long-term career goals.

As a successful candidate, you have:

• A positive, team-focused, growth-oriented leadership mindset
• An unwavering commitment to going above and beyond to support youth to meet their full potential
• Experience working with youth in an athletic environment and building tennis programs for all ages and genders through an entrepreneurial spirit
• Ability and willingness to work with students from diverse cultural, academic, athletic, and under resourced economic backgrounds
• Involvement and awareness with and about National Junior Tennis and Learning (NJTL) network
• Experience working with general public across all ages, gender, athletic levels, and economic backgrounds
• A keen sense of judgment; ability to make sound decisions and provide guidance to others in moments of uncertainty
• Ability and desire to build rapport with program partners, including but not limited to volunteers, students’ families, staff members, and program supporters
• Basic proficiency and comfort utilizing Microsoft Office, Google Drive, Square Up, Court Bookings, and Zoom
• The ability to work a full-time, including weekends
• A spirit of flexibility and willingness to pivot between in-person and online programming in keeping with our current hybrid program

As a successful candidate, you may have (not required):

• College degree or higher
• Played collegiate-level tennis
• Currently holding tennis certifications (USTA, USPTA, USPTR)
• An entrepreneurial interest in growing the PT&E program and SJRC client base and transitioning into a more senior-level, full-time position over time
• Spanish language and cultural dexterity skills
• Experience working with youth from marginalized communities and / or those who have experienced trauma
• Knowledge of player identification techniques and creating tennis pathways for introductory, intermediate, and high performance juniors
• Knowledge and/or competence in executing sports-based character development and life skills curriculum

The Details

• Hours are dependent on PT&E program and SJRC hours; usually fall within a Monday through Friday for PT&E program, and Monday through Sunday for SJRC. This will include special events and trainings that may take place on weekends

• Location: Portland, Oregon – North Portland, St. Johns Area (7519 N. Burlington Ave)
• Supervisor: Tennis Director and / or Program Director
• Weekly Schedule: To be determined based on program need and candidate experience areas
• Housing Provided: Not Available
• Ground Transportation Stipend: N/A
• Dedicated Workspace Provided: Yes
• Monthly Living Allowance: $1349.00
• Relocation Stipend: $750 (those living more than 50 miles from the organization)
• Post Service AmeriCorps Benefit: Segal Education Award ($6000) or Cash Benefit ($1800)