I would recommend speaking with local rental places, lab processing houses, and local studios a lot of them have lists of assistants and request to be placed on their list. Also get a list of photographers that you would like to work with and e-mail them / call them with your resume and a link to your site and follow through with calling back with them asking if they need an assistant. Call back about every moth or 2. Persistence, like the saying the squeaky wheel gets the oil.
Good Luck!!!!!