Washington Internships. Deirdre Martinez

      AEI is a conservative think tank, founded in 1943. It is associated with neoconservative domestic and foreign policy views. According to the institute its mission is “to defend the principles and improve the institutions of American freedom and democratic capitalism—limited government, private enterprise, individual liberty and responsibility, vigilant and effective defense and foreign policies, political accountability, and open debate.”

      AEI has a large internship program, accepting fifty students each spring, summer, and fall. The work is substantive, and students are assigned to an issue area that matches their interests (economic policy, foreign and defense studies, social and political studies, media affairs, The American magazine, publications editing, information systems, marketing, and human resources). Interns are also assigned a policy mentor in their area of interest. Internships are unpaid, but AEI interns don't have to worry about a food budget; AEI interns enjoy a complimentary gourmet breakfast and lunch. AEI also arranges a number of lectures and discussions with impressive speakers and coordinates a number of tours for each of their intern classes.

       Center for American Progress

       http://www.americanprogress.org

      On the opposite side of the political spectrum you will find CAP, which was started in 2003 by John Podesta, former chief of staff to President Clinton. CAP's stated mission is to create a “long-term, progressive vision for America—a vision that policy makers, thought-leaders and activists can use to shape the national debate and pass laws that make a difference.” Their staff and fellows work on a wide range of policy issues, organizing events, producing reports, and providing congressional testimony.

      With a staff of 150, CAP brings in fifty interns each term to work on one of their issue teams. Interns participate in meetings, contribute to research projects, and are invited to discussions with organizational leadership. The program provides a stipend, but no gourmet lunch.

       Where You'll Be

      There is a vast range of nonprofit advocacy organizations in Washington representing particular interests. On one end of the spectrum are small organizations working on a single issue and with very limited budgets and hence staffing. EPIC, the Education for Peace in Iraq Center, has two rooms above a shop on Capitol Hill. There are thousands of organizations like EPIC working on campaign finance, gun control, the death penalty, you name it. Their staffs might be limited to a founder and an assistant, or may be a little bigger as a result of a successful grant application. On the other end of the spectrum are multi-issue flagship organizations that have been around for decades, are highly visible, and have strong fundraising capability. They may have staffs of a hundred or more and can afford to recruit academics and others from the top of their respective fields. These think tanks and advocacy and membership organizations often own impressive real estate scattered across Washington, where their names are proudly displayed above the front door. Organizations such as these (Brookings Institution, Cato, the Children's Defense Fund, the Heritage Foundation, AARP…) typically have large, organized internship programs that sponsor a dozen or more interns every summer.

       What You'll Do

      Many of the smaller organizations have limited resources, which means they usually don't have enough staff to do everything they would like to do, and are not able to pay high salaries to the staff they have. This has several consequences. First, these employers tend to have a staff that is committed to the organization's cause. Second, staff are given freedom to take on new projects, which can be an opportunity to establish themselves as an authority on an issue. Third, interns are welcome and are often provided the opportunity to contribute meaningfully to the work of the organization. An intern working for an advocacy organization may be asked to prepare reports or fact sheets that the organization will publish, to write congressional testimony, or to conduct research on a new issue area. Working for EPIC, for example, you might write for their blog, conduct research, and help publicize their programs.

      In the larger organizations, you will typically be assigned to an office that is either administrative or focused on a policy area. At the Children's Defense Fund, for example, you can ask to be assigned to the President's office, which will provide great exposure to nonprofit management. You might instead choose an assignment with its health or juvenile justice divisions, where your work will likely be more directly related to policy-making.

      At a think tank, you may be assigned to a particular scholar whose area of expertise matches your area of interest or you may find yourself working for the editor of their journal. You are likely to spend some time completing administrative tasks, and you may also be asked to write short articles or one-pagers that are posted to their website or published in their journal, perhaps even coauthoring a research article with a scholar whose work you admire.

       The People You'll Meet

      These groups frequently work in coalition with one another and often socialize together. As on the Hill there are opportunities to attend briefings, receptions, and lunch events. You may work with top names in your field if you are working for one of the better-known groups. Even if you're working in a smaller organization, opportunities to meet interesting people should abound.

       What You'll Get

      This is an excellent choice for a student who wants to work on a particular issue area, such as children's health, foreign policy, or minority issues. This sort of internship experience could lead to full-time work with an advocacy organization. While many individuals continue their work in advocacy organizations, others use their advocacy experience to move into positions in Congress or in one of the federal agencies. My experience is an excellent example. Early in my career, I was a policy analyst at National Council of La Raza, the nation's largest Hispanic advocacy organization. While my focus was poverty policy, I was particularly interested in employment policy, and since NCLR didn't have an employment project at the time, I was able to add that to my area of expertise. As a result I was part of NCLR's advocacy campaign on the issue of worker retraining needs during congressional consideration of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). I made an impression on Congressman Becerra's legislative assistant, with whom I met to discuss NCLR's position on NAFTA, and when he decided to go back to graduate school, he suggested I consider becoming Congressman Becerra's legislative assistant for education and labor. I was offered the position and within two years I was Congressman Becerra's legislative director. This trajectory is not uncommon in Washington, where people change jobs within two years and there's always a more interesting job around the corner.

      As for the pros and cons of working in a large think tank versus a small advocacy organization, two students who were in small advocacy organizations last summer had this to say: