Internship Location: Remote
Organization Type: Nonprofit/NGO
Policy Areas: Child Care/Education
I interned remotely with the National Association for Family Child Care (NAFCC) as their Policy & Advocacy Intern, where I worked on national-level projects to support and elevate family child care providers in public policy. During my internship, I learned how to synthesize complex policy environments into digestible tools that advocates and decision-makers can use. One of my main contributions was developing an interactive State Opportunity Index dashboard, which scored all 50 states on how supportive their policies are for family child care providers. While working at NAFCC, I relied heavily on what I learned in the Policymaking Process and Public Management courses. Understanding how policies are made, and who influences them, helped me think strategically about how to frame our work for different audiences. My public management training helped me manage a multi-stakeholder project and communicate across teams. As a learning experience, I was surprised by how much variation there is across states in their approach to family child care, and by how many advocacy opportunities exist at both the state and local levels. This revealed a lot of opportunity for venue-shopping. The most valuable part of the internship was adapting and creating tools, analysis, and methodology that will support NAFCC’s advocacy work well after I leave. I absolutely recommend interning at NAFCC. You get hands-on experience with national policy, advocacy strategy, and nonprofit operations, while contributing to a mission-driven organization focused on equity Overall, this experience helped me see that I want to work at the intersection of policy, advocacy, and implementation. I’m especially interested in roles where I can do research and analysis that translates into more effective advocacy decisions and pushes equity-focused policy at the national, state, and/or local level.