Internship Location: Madison, WI & Remote
Organization Type: State government
Policy Areas: Economic/Community Development, Social Welfare Policy, Grant Administration
I interned with the Division of Digital Access, Consumer and Environmental Affairs (DACEA) as a Non-profit Grant Analyst and Storyteller. My internship was both in-person and remote, with occasional trips to different areas of Wisconsin for site visits related to my summer-long project. My position centered around the Public Service Commission’s Non-profit Access Grant, which offers funding to nonprofits aimed at expanding telecommunications access to underserved populations in Wisconsin. I assisted my supervisor Laura Fay, a program and policy analyst within DACEA, in tasks relating to the 2022 Non-profit Access Grant, including reaching out to recipients, maintaining records relating to report submissions, and creating grant amendments. My main task throughout the summer was a report on the 2020 and 2021 grant recipients. I used the documents from those cycles to summarize and analyze the success of each program. In doing so, I familiarized myself with the document organization systems used within the Public Service Commission and the reporting requirements for grantees. Another aspect of this project was performing site visits with several past grantees. After performing an initial analysis, I selected a number of grantees to interview. I then organized and led these interviews. Ultimately, my report was sent for review and will be presented to the Commission in a hearing. Beyond my report, I also used the site-visit interviews to understand where the grant could be improved. This feedback, along with trends in barriers I identified from the reports, was also reported to the Commissioners in hopes of improving the grant for future recipients.