Internship Location: Remote
Organization Type: Nonprofit
Policy Areas: Health policy
Over the summer, I held the public policy and advocacy intern position at the National Ataxia Foundation (NAF), which is a rare disease focused nonprofit based in Minnesota. NAF provides support for patients with ataxia, conducts and funds ataxia research, and advocates for policies that affect rare diseases. I worked with the community services department, with most of my time being spent working on NAF’s annual advocacy hill day, in which hundreds of advocates come together in meetings with members of Congress to advocate for specific legislation. I participated in congressional meetings, collected data, and prepared training videos for this day, amongst other tasks. I also redesigned NAF’s advocacy and hill day webpages. From this internship, I deepened my understanding of the policy process, especially ways in which advocacy can affect outcomes. I hope to continue working in health policy, so this internship has been very valuable to my time at La Follette!