Public Affairs Fellow

Position Details

Stewards Individual Placement Program (SIPP) provides individuals with service and career opportunities to strengthen communities and preserve our natural resources. Participants work with federal agencies, tribal governments, and nonprofits building institutional capacity, developing community relationships, and supporting ecosystem health.

From urban retreats and historic structures to battlefields, monuments, memorials and more, the National Park Service (NPS) National Capital Region (NCR) has it all. Approximately 55 million locals and visitors from around the world come to the NCR for inspiration, relaxation, exercise and fun. The region encompasses all of Washington, D.C., Harpers Ferry National Historical Park in West Virginia, and portions of southern Maryland and Northern Virginia. The NCR is home to thousands of significant assets including parks, parkways, historic landmarks, sites, and trails. Through outreach, communication, public events, and official announcements the Communications and Community Engagement Department, within the NCR, creates opportunities to improve public awareness and involvement in the work of the National Park Service.

The intern would serve within the Communications and Community Engagement Department. Through engagements with the news media and public events like stakeholder meetings, the public affairs intern will promote the National Park Service’s missions, including the service’s environmental, historical, and cultural stewardship responsibilities. The intern will also help translate science, engineering, and natural resources management content into plain language products such as news releases and feature stories as well as visual communication elements like video news releases and infographics so people can make informed decisions more easily and meaningfully, especially as it pertains to planning, environmental and public comment requirements.

Position Responsibilities will include:

• Work with supervisor to administer media relations and public involvement campaigns.

• Respond to written or verbal media and public queries.

• Prepare speeches, news releases, and public presentations

• Work with supervisor and other public affairs staff to plan and execute community outreach events.

• Plan and develop social media content.

• Translate technical information or other complex information, such as regulations, policies, and procedures into plain language visitors and residents can use to

• make informed decisions

• Work with mentor/ supervisor and other public affairs practitioners to create visualizations of data for use by the public.

• Maintain control of government-issued equipment like laptop, camera, and identification/ access cards.

Benefits:

• Hourly Rate: $20/hour (pre-tax)

• Professional development funds available

• Trainings available including Department of the Interior Social Media Training course, Attendance to the Planet Forward Summit (or similar), will be enrolled in the Digital.gov Communities of Practice that include weekly, prescribed trainings and seminars led by public relations practitioners, and many more opportunities!

Required Experience

Minimum Requirements:

• 1-year specialized experience (example: creation of news releases; responding to media and public queries; assisting in community outreach planning and coordination of media relations and public participation campaigns)

• Bachelor’s degree from a U.S. accredited institution in one or more of the following: journalism, advertising, radio and television, public relations, tourism; integrated

• marketing communications

• Portfolio including a cover letter, sample news release, sample visual communication product, and sample media engagement and/ or public engagement plan

• required

• Driver’s license

• Must be a US citizen

Preferred Qualifications:

• Adept at the Adobe Creative Cloud suite of applications and Microsoft Office, especially Excel

• Fluency in one additional language