SUMMER 2010 POLICY AND ADVOCACY INTERNSHIP OPPORTUNITY
AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION FOUNDATION
Advocacy Department, NY

The American Civil Liberties Union Foundation (“ACLU”) is a nationwide,
nonprofit, nonpartisan organization with more than 500,000 members dedicated to
the principles of liberty and equality embodied in the Constitution and our
nation’s civil rights laws. The ACLU’s Advocacy Department invites applications
for a Summer 2010 Policy and Advocacy Internship with ACLU’s Center for
Equality, focusing on racial justice and immigrants’ rights issues.

Advancing equal rights is among the ACLU’s core goals. The ACLU’s Center for
Equality focuses on four issues: racial justice, immigrants’ rights, voting
rights and disability rights.

In the area of racial justice, the ACLU’s Racial Justice Program (RJP) aims to
preserve and extend constitutional and other rights to segments of the
population that historically have been denied their rights on the basis of
race, ethnicity and national origin. Among other activities, RJP works to
eliminate harsh felony disfranchisement laws that bar people with criminal
records from voting; to ensure that all children have access to quality
education, regardless of race or ethnicity, and eliminate the school-to-prison
pipeline; and to reduce the unwarranted targeting of people of color by police,
the racially disproportionate imposition of incarceration, and the over-use of
detention for juveniles.

In the area of immigrants’ rights, the ACLU’s Immigrants Rights Project (IRP)
advances the civil liberties and civil rights of non-citizens, and works to
combat public and private discrimination against immigrants. Among other
priorities, IRP engages in litigation, policy advocacy, and public education
against state and local anti-immigrant measures; racial profiling by local
police and sheriff’s deputies engaged in federal immigration enforcement;
unlawful immigration detention; and denial of judicial review and due process
for non-citizens.

The ACLU’s policy and advocacy staff provide counsel to state-based affiliates
on legislative and policy issues and support state-based campaigns that advance
immigrants’ rights and racial justice. Among other responsibilities, they work
with affiliates to lobby state legislatures, advocate for administrative policy
changes, organize directly-affected communities, and change public opinion.

OVERVIEW

The internship program is designed to provide an intern with the opportunity to
learn about public interest work. The intern will work with policy and advocacy
staff who specialize in racial justice and immigrants’ rights issues.

The summer term internship requires a 10-12 week commitment and can be either
full-time or part-time with a flexible schedule. Interns are highly encouraged
to obtain funding from outside sources as the position is unpaid. Arrangements
can be made for work/study or course credit.

ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

•Conduct research on issues relating to racial justice and immigrants’ rights;
•Research and analyze state legislation;
•Assist with the development of public education and advocacy materials and
reports;
•Other projects as assigned.

EXPERIENCE AND QUALIFICATIONS

•Current law or graduate student.
•Experience in policy advocacy, public education, community organizing and/or
legislative lobbying. Undergraduate students entering their junior or senior
years with demonstrated experience in these areas will also be considered.
•Demonstrated experience and familiarity with immigrants’ rights and racial
justice issues.
•Excellent research, writing and communication skills.
•Must demonstrate creativity and the ability to perform complex analytical
work.
•Strong computer skills, particularly web-based research including proficiency
with Microsoft Office Suite (i.e. Word, Excel, and PowerPoint).
•Commitment to civil rights and civil liberties.

The ACLU is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer and encourages
women, people of color, persons with disabilities, and lesbian, gay, bisexual
and transgendered individuals to apply.

The ACLU comprises two separate corporate entities, the American Civil
Liberties Union and the ACLU Foundation. Both the American Civil Liberties
Union and the ACLU Foundation are national organizations with the same overall
mission, and share office space and employees. The ACLU has two separate
corporate entities in order to do a broad range of work to protect civil
liberties. This job posting refers collectively to the two organizations under
the name “ACLU.”

Application instructions:

Please send a cover letter, resume and short (preferably non-legal) writing sample, as well as the names and telephone numbers of two references, to hrjobs@aclu.org
(please include "Re: Summer 2010 Policy and Advocacy Internship" in
the subject line)– or by mail to:

Human Resources
American Civil Liberties Union Foundation
Re: Summer 2010 Policy and Advocacy Internship
125 Broad Street, 18th Floor
New York, NY 10004

The deadline for applications is April 16, 2010 but applications will be
accepted until the internship is filled. Please indicate where you learned of
this posting.