Job Description
Winter/Spring 2021 Undergraduate Internship, National Political Advocacy Department (Organizing Division - Program & Planning Team)
ACLU - Internships
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Washington, DC
WINTER/SPRING 2021 UNDERGRADUATE INTERNSHIP OPPORTUNITY
AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION
NPAD, Remote
The Organizing Division of the National ACLU National Political Advocacy Department (NPAD) has a remote opening for an Undergraduate Internship.
For 100 years, the ACLU has been our nation's guardian of liberty, working in courts, legislatures, and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed by the Constitution and laws of the United States. Whether it's ending mass incarceration, achieving full equality for the LGBT+ community, advancing racial and immigrant justice, establishing new privacy protections for our digital age, or preserving the right to vote or the right to have an abortion, the ACLU takes up the toughest civil liberties and civil rights cases and issues to defend all people from government abuse and overreach. With nearly two million members, activists, and supporters, the ACLU is a nationwide organization that fights tirelessly in all 50 states, Puerto Rico, and Washington, D.C., for the principle that every individual's rights must be protected equally under the law, regardless of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, disability, national origin, and record of arrest or conviction.
INTERNSHIP OVERVIEW
Interns will have the opportunity to support the ACLU's organizing operations, including national and state-specific campaigns. We seek to provide students with opportunities to develop a deeper understanding of organizing, grassroots leadership development, and campaign planning and execution. While this position will require meaningful collaboration with the entire Organizing Division, the person in this role will primarily work with our Program and Planning team. Over the winter and spring, this team will focus on projects like:
Continuing our work on ongoing priority campaigns to defend and advance civil rights and civil liberties across the country
Supporting key legislative priorities on the state level by partnering with ACLU affiliate staff to build and scale local volunteer engagement programs
Developing and implementing national campaigns on priority ACLU issues
Coordinating with the Distributed Organizing team to drive national volunteer recruitment and membership engagement
Managing our organizing responses to urgent and important social and political developments as they arise
Interns will have the opportunity to attend substantive meetings, events, and conversations on organizing, political campaigns, and broader ACLU work. The internship position is based in the ACLU's National Political Advocacy Department and will be supervised by the National Leadership Development Organizer. Logistics for the role include:
Time Commitment: The internship requires a full-time or part-time commitment of 10, 15, 20 or 35 per week
Internship Duration: Internships are a 10-week period (part-time) or a 12-week period (full-time). Winter/Spring interns are expected to start in January
Stipend: A stipend is available for those students who do not receive course credit. Students who receive outside funding are eligible for a partial stipend to bring their total summer funding up to the level of ACLU's stipend amount for that term, if applicable. Arrangements can be made with educational institutions for work/study or course credit
ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
Interns will have the opportunity to gain valuable experience by working alongside members of our national organizing team to execute local and national ACLU campaigns by:
Engaging with ACLU People Power volunteers, supporting their work, and overseeing their leadership development
Providing insight on team campaign plans
Participating in volunteer-facing trainings and webinars on key organizing skills
Drafting written materials for campaigns
Immersing yourself in distributed and field organizing tactics to grow your organizing skills
Taking initiative by identifying additional projects you're interested in engaging on
Working collaboratively and respectfully with a diverse team of colleagues to co-create an inclusive and productive team culture
Other duties, as assigned
EXPERIENCE AND QUALIFICATIONS
Must haves:
A commitment to defending and advancing civil liberties, civil rights, and social justice
A demonstrated commitment to equity, diversity, inclusion, and belonging (EDIB) and the ability to apply an EDIB analysis to the organizing work we engage in both internally and externally
A willingness to approach the work with a growth mindset and an ethos of learning-by-doing
Self-motivated and able to work independently and as part of a collaborative team to bring projects to successful completion
A demonstrated interest in organizing as a theory of change for driving social and political movements
An ability to work in a fast-paced environment and to meet clear deadlines
Nice to haves:
Experience organizing or working on campaigns
Proficiency in programs like Microsoft Office, Google Suite, and Slack.
Applications will be considered on a rolling basis and accepted until the position is filled.
This posting provides a general but not comprehensive list of the opportunities of the internship. It does not represent a contract of employment. The ACLU reserves the right to change the posting at any time without advance notice.
The ACLU is committed to providing reasonable accommodation to individuals with disabilities. If you are a qualified individual with a disability and need assistance applying online, please e-mail benefits.hrdept@aclu.org. If you are selected for an interview, you will receive additional information regarding how to request an accommodation for the interview process.