Serve as a Democracy Intern with Learning Life
Are you a middle or high school student in Washington DC or within one hour’s drive of DC?
Will you be in 8th-12th grade in the fall?
Need to complete community service hours?
Interested in politics, government and policymaking?
Do you have a GPA of 3.5 or higher?
Then apply to serve as a summer or fall Democracy Intern with Learning Life!
About Learning Life
Learning Life is a Washington, DC-based nonprofit lab devoted to innovating education, democracy and diplomacy by spreading learning in everyday life beyond school walls. In our increasingly interconnected yet divided world, we develop inclusive learning communities in order to widen and deepen participation in democracy and diplomacy.
With this mission in mind, we run three programs: the Democracy Learning Community (DLC), Family Diplomacy Initiative (FDI), Citizen Diplomacy International (CDI).
About the Internship
Learning Life’s high school Democracy Interns support the DMV (DC-MD-VA or Washington DC region) Democracy Learning Community, especially though not exclusively the DLC’s Youth Summit on Youth Policymaking and DMV Democracy Festival, with the goal of mobilizing DC area middle and high school students, plus retired or current DMV policy professionals and elected officials to take part in one or both of these fall events. Interns assist with a variety of tasks including research, data management, communications, poster design, fundraising, and community outreach via social media, email, phone and in person.
The internship runs from early June to mid-August, or late August to mid-December, typically for ten hours per week, though students requiring more hours for school or community service credit can in some cases work more hours per week. Each week, interns have 1-4, though usually 1-2 meetings, mostly online, with 1-3 meetings in person over the course of the internship. Each week, meetings include one weekly tasks meeting with Learning Life’s Founder and Director, Paul Lachelier to get feedback on work completed and assign new tasks, plus periodic program meetings to advance our democracy work, and internal meetings (Learning Life Board of Directors, Board of Advisors, and intern team meetings) to help interns network and learn about how nonprofits operate. Besides these meetings, interns set their own schedule to complete their weekly tasks.
Because summer and fall Democracy Interns devote a significant portion of their internship encouraging youth and policy professionals to participate in the DMV Youth Summit on Youth Policymaking, all interns commit to participating in the Summit in the fall. The Summit is tentatively scheduled for Saturdays, September 12, 19, 26, 1:00-2:30pm via Zoom, then culminating in person on Saturday, October 3, 2-5pm at the DMV Democracy Festival. The Summit fee is waived for all Democracy Interns.
Summer interns who satisfactorily complete their summer internship have the opportunity to intern ten hours per week in the fall. Those summer interns who are offered fall internships get the benefit of 2-3 hours of professional development support (resume and cover letter review, Linkedin profile development, network expansion, informational interviews with professionals of interest to the intern) included in their weekly internship hours, guided by Paul Lachelier.
The Democracy Internship is unpaid, but offers substantive, resume-building experience in community organizing, democracy and policymaking, and given satisfactory performance, a formal reference, Linkedin endorsement, and upon request, a recommendation letter.
The Interns We Are Looking For
Applicants should be 8th-12th grade students in the Washington DC area in the fall of the year in which they apply for a summer or fall internship with Learning Life. Applicants should have a GPA of 3.5 or higher, and ideally, demonstrated interest in politics and democracy. Students who apply should be motivated, sociable, highly organized, detail-oriented and punctual. Demonstrated skills with Canva, video editing, or engaging youth via social media are pluses, but not required.
To learn about some of Learning Life’s most recent interns, and learn why they chose to intern with us, visit our People Page.
How to Apply
Send your resume to paul@learninglife.info. Students with Canva, video making, or social media engagement skills should share 3-5 links to or attachments of their best media along with their resume. No need for a cover letter. Please indicate in your email when you would like to start interning with Learning Life: early June (summer), or late August (fall). Paul will contact you to schedule an interview if your resume matches what we are looking for.
Thank you for your interest!
