Florida PIRG Students works with professional staff at colleges and universities to make sure our peers have the skills, opportunities and training they need to create a better, more sustainable future for all of us. Our campus chapters provide the training, professional support and resources students need to tackle climate change, protect public health, revitalize our democracy, feed the hungry and more.

Internship Program Details:

Our approach requires each intern not only to develop expertise in campaign strategy, but also to become skilled in organizing and the political process. As an intern you will work side by side with professional organizing staff. Due to the ongoing pandemic, this is a 100% remote internship with no in-person requirements.

The Campaigns:

• 100% Renewable Energy: We have the power to harness clean, abundant energy from the sun and the wind, and we can do it more efficiently and cheaply than ever before. Yet we’re still producing and consuming energy in ways that do lasting damage to our environment, our health, and our climate. We can have healthier communities right now and a livable future for generations to come — but to get there, we need to transform the way we produce and consume energy. Institutions of higher education are key to the path to 100% renewable energy because they are significant energy consumers. That's why we're working to commit USF Tampa and UCF to 100% renewable energy.
• Eliminating Single-Use Plastic: Nothing we use for a few minutes should threaten our health and pollute our future for hundreds of years. Every day, people throw away tons of plastic “stuff”—cups, plates, bags, containers, forks, knives, spoons and more. All of this waste not only clogs our landfills, trashes our parks, and litters our streets, but it also washes into our rivers and oceans, where it can harm wildlife. It’s time to stop trashing our future. We're working to get campuses across Florida to ban single use plastic products, including straws and take-out foam cups and containers.
• New Voters Project: Our generation is the largest and most diverse group of potential voters in the country, with our own values, ideas and issues that we care about. Despite the challenges of a fully online model of organizing, young people showed the country that this would not stop them in raising their voice in their campuses, communities, and at the ballot box. Through our work, we organized a youth wave of thousands of activists who helped register, educate, and turn out their peers virtually on over 16 campuses across the state. This work continues this spring as we work to build upon the foundation of civic engagement our student leaders and vote coalitions have created.

Responsibilities will include:

• Organizing political support. Florida PIRG interns will help to broaden the constituency for our campaign, assist in building, organizing, and managing a coalition of groups.
• Devising an effective strategy to commit campuses to 100% renewable energy, eliminate single-use plastics, and implement civic engagement plans on campuses. Interns will work to craft effective tactics for the campus to use and work to hit goals each week that elevate the status of our campaign work.
• Media outreach. Florida PIRG interns work to get our issues and opinions covered by the media, through news releases, “op-eds,” online webinars, and more.
• Attending a weekly skills workshop. Each week interns will be taught grassroots campaigning skills from our professional staff, some of whom have worked in student organizing for over 30 years.

The list of skills workshops include:

• Digital campaigning - How to mobilize student voters in the time of COVID-19
• Working with the media - Generating media coverage on the youth vote
• Running a meeting - From getting the right people in the “room/zoom” to facilitating a productive meeting
• Building diverse and effective coalitions and mobilizing student leaders
• Developing winning campaign strategies and tactics
• Public Speaking - in forums varying from virtual classrooms to town halls and press conferences
• Using social media to educate and mobilize

A commitment to making a difference on issue based campaign work
Strong organizational abilities
The ability to engage others, whether one-on-one or in a group
The ability to think strategically
Strong writing and communication skills

Internships are available for undergraduate and graduate students in law, political science, public policy, sociology or environmental studies, but students in any area of study may apply. Previous campaign and/or advocacy experience is a plus.