Fellow

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

The Democracy Summer project seeks to bring about political change in America by training and deploying the next generation of Democratic organizers and leaders to win elections at every level. This one-of-a-kind Democratic Fellowship—founded in Maryland by Congressman Jamie Raskin but now undertaken across the country—teaches high school and college students state-of-the-art tactics in voter registration and political organizing, the dynamic history of political and social change in our country, and essential lessons for political leadership.

Democracy Summer expanded nationally for the first time in 2021 in an historic partnership with the DCCC and multiple campaigns of Democratic Members. In 2024, we expect to have over 100 Partner Campaigns and more than 1,000 college and high school students participating in every state in the union. Democracy Summer Fellows engage in a full-blown pro-democracy, pro-voting rights and pro-freedom curriculum and an exciting summer of on-the-ground organizing, with voter registration, door knocking, phone banks, rallies and political events.

Our virtual curriculum has featured lectures on the struggle for democracy and voting rights from academic luminaries like Harvard Professor Alex Keyssar, who speaks on his books The Right to Vote: The History of a Contested Right and Why Do We Still Have the Electoral College?; expert voting rights lawyers like Marc Elias, who speaks about how to understand and combat rampant voter suppression; elected officials like former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the late John Lewis, a stalwart supporter of Democracy Summer until his death; and labor leaders like the Executive Director of the Labor Heritage Foundation, Elise Bryant, who gives our Fellows insight into the major contributions of the labor movement to political, economic and cultural democracy.

In prior years, the program has also featured powerful supplementary teachings throughout the summer on confronting the climate crisis, ending gun violence and the power of the NRA, opposing the assault on reproductive freedom, addressing wealth inequality and regressive tax policy, advancing immigration and refugee policy, taking on the Electoral College and the National Popular Vote campaign, challenging redistricting and gerrymandering, understanding the domestic budget and the military budget, examining U.S. foreign policy and Congressional power to declare war, improving education policy, promoting civil rights and civil liberties, and opposing the continuing spread of voter suppression tactics in GOP-controlled state legislatures. Other popular speakers have included Rev. William J. Barber II, Prof. Laurence Tribe, Bob Bauer, Senator Elizabeth Warren, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Greg Moore, Rob Richie, Cindy Terrell and many more.

Selected Fellows must:

• Commit to fully participating in at least 4 hours a week of virtual seminars, discussions and workshops.
• Weekly speaker sessions will take place virtually on Mondays from 12pm-2pm ET/ 9am-11am PT. An additional two-hour interactive Zoom workshop session will be hosted at various times throughout the week. Fellows will be assigned a virtual workshop time based on their campaign and region.
• Commit to fully participating in an additional 10-15 hours a week of in-person organizing work with their campaign. Schedules will vary by individual campaign.
• Be at least 16 years of age.

Job Type: Internship

Pay: $500.00 per month

Schedule:

• 4 hour shift

People with a criminal record are encouraged to apply

Work Location: Hybrid remote in Las Vegas, NV 89101