A semester of rewarding experience to gain grassroots organizing skills while working to make our communities a better place.

The TexPIRG Campus Action Internship and Volunteer program is designed for college students who are passionate about political engagement and looking to increase their experience in political organizing and strategy. This program provides interns with opportunities to build their leadership skills, political engagement, and interest in advocacy careers. Interns and volunteers will work remotely on one of our campaigns including phasing out single use plastics, turning out the youth vote, tackling hunger and homelessness, and more! Students taking part in digital learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic can still apply and be considered for the position.

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 campus organizers working with students in Texas.

The Campaigns:

• Break Free From Plastics: Interns will raise awareness and grassroots support from our campus community to leverage support for passing campus policy to eliminate single-use plastics. Interns will work to raise the voices of their peers, faculty, and media to show support for action.
• Hunger & Homelessness: Interns will work with campus and community to address food and housing insecurity on and off campus. Interns will organize educational awareness events, service projects, fundraising drives, and campaign for institutional changes.
• Save the Bees: Interns will work with Austin City Council to pass a resolution to certify Austin as a Bee City. After the resolution is passed, we will work with campus and community partners to organize and execute the outlined commitments, including reducing and regulating pesticide use, creating and enhancing pollinator habitat, and organizing educational awareness events and opportunities for the public.
• New Voters Project: Interns will work on the TexPIRG campaign to pass policy on campus that makes voting easier for everyone, especially students, by expanding vote my mail opportunities, on-campus voting, and other resources. Additionally, we will work to set our campuses up for the 2022 midterm elections.

Responsibilities for interns will include:

• Organizing political support. TexPIRG interns will help to broaden the constituency for their campaign, assist in building, organizing, and managing a coalition of groups that are interested in our campaigns.
• Devising an effective strategy to implement civic engagement plans on college campuses. Interns will work to craft effective tactics for the campus to use to increase participation on campus at all levels and set goals to win the campaigns.
• Media outreach. TexPIRG interns work to get their campaign issues and opinions covered by the media, through news releases, “op-eds,” online webinars, and more.
• Attending a weekly skills workshop taught and led by TexPIRG Campus Organizers.
• Volunteers are welcome to assist in any of these responsibilities, given the interests of the individual

Examples of potential skills workshops:

• Digital campaigning - Voices for 100% Renewable Energy and stories of support from students and faculty
• Working with the media – Generating media coverage on the need to transition away from fossil fuels
• 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

Internship Requirements:

• 10-15 hours per week
• 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 from any major. Previous campaign and/or advocacy experience is a plus.

For questions or more information, contact Sydney Kale at 803-354-2789 or skale@studentpirgs.org.

By providing my contact information, I am consenting to have the Student PIRGs, and their affiliates contact me with information about this and future campaigns.