Public Policy Internships in Washington, D.C.: A Comprehensive Guide
Washington, D.C., the heart of American politics, offers numerous public policy internships. These internships provide invaluable experience for students and recent graduates interested in shaping the future through policy work. This article explores the requirements, opportunities, and benefits of public policy internships in the nation's capital, with a focus on the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) and other notable programs.
The Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) Internship Program
The Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) offers paid internships during the Fall, Spring, and Summer terms, providing students with a chance to work alongside policy experts in Washington, D.C. across a range of different issue areas. The program is tailored to meet the goals of each intern in their professional and personal development. Interns working with BPC’s various teams will have the opportunity to see bipartisanship in action.
Core Values and Strategic Strength
Inclusivity is both a core value and strategic strength at BPC. The center welcomes anyone who wants to champion bipartisanship, regardless of their politics, demographics, identity, or circumstance. BPC strives to create a holistic internship experience, providing a collaborative and intellectually stimulating environment conducive to the intern’s goals.
Internship Structure and Responsibilities
Interns at BPC work with a specific project or functional area, providing administrative support, assisting with events and meetings, conducting research, and assisting with the development and writing of reports, white papers, and proposals.
Eligibility Requirements
To be eligible for a BPC internship, applicants must be rising juniors or above, graduate students, or recent graduates.
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Internship Terms and Stipends
- Fall and Spring Semesters: Internships are in person, part-time, and paid, with a stipend of $3,000. Interns average 18-20 hours per week, allowing them to gain valuable experience while maintaining their regular class schedule.
- Summer Program: BPC has a robust in-person summer program. Interns work full-time and receive a $6,000 stipend for ten weeks of work. Interns must be rising juniors or above.
Note: BPC's Fall/Spring/Summer internships are in person in the DC office. BPC is in the office three times a week from Tuesday - Thursday and has the option to work from home on Monday and Friday.
Available Internship Areas at BPC
Each semester, BPC offers internships in various project and functional areas. Teams may occasionally have the capacity for more than one intern, considered on a case-by-case basis. Some of the available areas include:
Communications Department
The communications department intern works directly with the press, digital, and events staff, promoting BPC’s work to the public and monitoring the organization’s media coverage. Successful applicants are bright, ambitious self-starters with an interest in public policy, politics, and communications. Undergraduate (rising juniors and above) and graduate students, as well as recent graduates, are eligible to apply.
Development Department
The development intern gains experience and knowledge of the components needed to sustain a successful non-profit organization. The intern assists in the day-to-day activities of fundraising, working closely with the BPC development team and members of BPC’s project areas.
Economic Policy Project (EPP)
BPC’s Economic Policy Project (EPP) develops bipartisan policy recommendations designed to enhance the economic opportunity, prosperity, and security of the American people. The intern will interact with data and legislation covering the policy areas worked on by the four teams within EPP. They will support long-term policy projects and papers, conducting background research and writing. They will also draft blog posts and assist staff in preparing responses to Hill and media requests. Interns are expected to attend meetings to engage with the members on the team and interact with the various projects that EPP is involved in. Other facets of the internship include monitoring major congressional activity, analyzing budget documents, and attending webinars. The intern will also assist in administrative tasks for the team including event planning, tracking press mentions, and distributing meeting notes. Interns will be working across the entirety of EPP’s policy portfolio but will be assigned a specific policy team to contribute roughly 80% of their time towards. This assignment will be entirely up to the intern’s policy interests.
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The EPP includes the following teams:
- Fiscal/Financial Security Team: Provides timely analysis of fiscal and economic policy and works with external stakeholders and members of Congress to pass meaningful and durable fiscal solutions.
- Labor Market Policy Team: Analyzes work trends and provides insights through blogs, explainers, and reports to understand labor market trends.
- Task Force on Higher Education Financing and Student Outcomes: Launched in 2018 to rethink federal and state approaches to higher education in ways that promote affordability and accountability throughout the system.
- Retirement Security and Personal Savings: Continuing EPP’s work on retirement policy, the Funding Our Future coalition was launched in 2018 by the Bipartisan Policy Center and financial advisor Ric Edelman. The goal of the campaign is to raise the profile of challenges facing the American retirement system and to strengthen people’s ability to retire securely in America.
Energy Team
The BPC Energy Team focuses on generating and advocating pragmatic clean energy policies through engagement with a broad set of stakeholders and experts from diverse political perspectives. The intern will work directly with BPC’s Energy Project team on analysis and research, event planning, monitoring news and congressional activity, blogging, communications activities, and administrative support.
Democracy Program
BPC’s Democracy Program strengthens the foundations that sustain free, fair, and representative democracy in our diverse nation. The intern will work with project staff on writing and research, event planning, tracking news, and congressional activity, blogging, and communications activities.
The program includes the following projects:
- Structural Democracy Project: Develops and champions bipartisan, systemic reforms that rebuild our government’s ability to put country over party and build consensus.
- American Congressional Exchange (ACE): Enables members of Congress from opposite parties to visit each other’s districts and build the trust essential for bipartisan collaboration.
Health Program
BPC’s Health Program strives to develop policy recommendations that improve the nation’s health outcomes and reduce preventable health care costs, geared towards the public and private sectors. Interns will work with project staff on policy research, writing info briefs and blogs, event planning, congressional tracking, communications tasks, and administrative responsibilities, as needed.
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J. Ronald Terwilliger Center for Housing Policy
BPC’s J. Ronald Terwilliger Center for Housing Policy was launched to support bipartisan policies that help realize the goal of a decent, safe, and affordable home for every American family. The intern will work with Center staff on writing and research, event planning, tracking news and congressional activity, blogging, and communications activities.
Early Childhood Initiative
BPC’s Early Childhood Initiative is working to build a high-quality system of early care and education that supports all of America’s families. The intern will work with project staff on writing and research, event planning, tracking news and congressional activity, and communications activities.
Immigration and Workforce Policy
BPC advances policies that strengthen legal immigration and address the challenges at the border. The intern will work with staff on research and writing, preparing material for private and public discourse, and monitoring current events and congressional activity. The internship will also include engagement in other functions of the project such as event planning, fundraising, and communications. Interns will be asked to handle multiple assignments and deadlines.
Operations Department
BPC’s Operations department is a functional team within BPC that consists of HR, IT and Facilities. The Operations Intern will support the team by performing various administrative tasks to support the department’s daily activities and take on various projects as they look to improve their processes. Responsibilities include documenting HR processes, creating and maintaining onboarding and offboarding checklists, scheduling interviews, researching and drafting policies and processes, helping with IT set up and maintenance, set up of conference rooms and office space, drafting internal employee communications, researching their ability to increase their diversity candidate pipeline, staff engagement, learning and development, benefits, total rewards and working with facilities on a variety of projects.
Application Process
Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis until a qualified candidate has been identified. Applicants should submit an application for every internship they are interested in and avoid sending multiple submissions to the same internship. Incomplete applications and applications submitted after the deadline will not be considered. Due to the number of applications received, BPC is unable to contact those who have not been selected for an internship. No phone calls, please. citizens are eligible to apply but must have a valid work permit or visa verifying eligibility to work in the United States.
Robert F. Bennett Award
The Robert F. Bennett Award was established in 2016 in memory of a consummate legislator who served Utah and the nation with tremendous distinction for three terms in the United States Senate. BPC will present a $1,500 award to each recipient. The application deadlines for the fall, spring, and summer semesters will be reflected accordingly on the Careers Page each semester. Early applications will be prioritized, but all applications submitted before the deadline will be considered. BPC Semester Interns (Fall and Spring) work part-time and receive a stipend of $3,000. BPC has no minimum GPA requirement.
Other Public Policy Internship Programs in Washington, D.C.
Besides the BPC, several other organizations offer public policy internships in Washington, D.C., each with its own requirements and focus areas.
Holland & Knight's Public Policy & Regulation Group
Holland & Knight's Public Policy & Regulation Group operates a fall, spring, and summer internship program geared toward current undergraduate students. Student interns will participate in regular meetings with the firm's senior personnel to discuss their practices, backgrounds, and experiences. Strong analytical and critical thinking ability, as well as a keen attention to detail and strong writing skills are essential requirements. Generally, interns work a minimum of 18 hours and a maximum of 30 hours. Eligible candidates are current undergraduate students in good standing. Summer candidates must plan to be enrolled in class for the following fall semester. The program will be in-person in their Washington, D.C., office.
The National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care
The National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization in Washington, DC, offers a public policy internship for graduate/law students. The position requires a time commitment of 20 hours per week (or more if required by your school). Interns are required to attend 1 - 2 virtual staff-wide meetings per week. Candidates must be enrolled in a graduate program, law degree program, or be an undergraduate Archer Fellow, and have exceptional writing and computer skills, research knowledge, and willingness to work on a wide range of projects. This internship is a remote position and is open to all students around the country. However, if students are located in the Washington, D.C. area there is opportunity to attend in-person meetings, networking events, and forums on Capitol Hill.
Women's Congressional Policy Institute (WCPI)
The Policy Internship program strives to develop the next generation of women leaders in public policy and in the nonprofit sector. Interns are responsible for assisting WCPI staff in their legislative, programmatic, and administrative work, including publishing their Weekly Legislative Update and assisting with congressional briefings and other events on Capitol Hill. This paid internship is open to current undergraduate students of all disciplines/majors, and those who have graduated within the past 6 months. The internships will be hybrid, with in-person work in their office and on Capitol Hill combined with some remote work. Interns will be paid the $17 per hour D.C. minimum wage.
Texas A&M University Public Policy Internship Program (PPIP)
Texas A&M University recognizes internships as an integral part of its curriculum, enabling students to participate in structured, supervised learning experiences off-campus. The Public Policy Internship Program (PPIP) strives to provide out-of-classroom opportunities that help students build on and enhance previous coursework. PPIP is an academic, service-designated course to help students obtain policy-related internships in Washington, D.C., and Austin, Texas. Students are expected to work full-time at their internship placement within our program. Citizenship is required for all PPIP locations, due to the requirements of our hosting offices.
U.S. Department of State Student Internship Program
The U.S. Department of State Student Internship Program offers paid internships in various bureaus located in Washington, D.C. and at Department offices around the United States. Students can work in one of the many offices which make up the respective geographic or functional bureaus.
Geographic Bureaus: Oversee policies for a given region of the world.
Functional Bureaus: Focus on specific issues and are responsible for policy areas which affect all regions and countries. These bureaus include the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (DRL), International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL), International Organization Affairs (IO), Political-Military Affairs (PM), and Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs (OES).
Students must be returning to school immediately following the internship in order to qualify for the program. You are eligible to apply for this program if you have not yet completed your registration at a college or university for graduate or post-graduate studies (including law school) or are awaiting an admissions determination for graduate or post-graduate studies (including law school).
Applicants must create (not upload) a USAJOBS resume in order to move forward to the actual application.
Applicants must provide proof of student status in the form of an official or unofficial transcript.
Students tentatively selected for the internship program must undergo a background investigation and receive either a Public Trust, Secret or Top Secret security clearance. The clearance process can take up to 150 days to complete from the time the forms are received by the Bureau of Diplomatic Security (DS).
Cornell in Washington (CIW) Internship Program
Cornell in Washington’s internship records feature more than 1,000 internships secured by previous CIW students, a plethora of internship search resources and one-on-one advising with our associate director. CIW is not an internship placement program. Participants secure their own internship with assistance from CIW. Internships can be either paid or unpaid. No academic credit is earned for the internship unless required for your academic program. Spring students are recommended to work three days a week, approximately 20-30 hours per week. Summer participants typically work full time internships.
Benefits of Public Policy Internships
Public policy internships in Washington, D.C., offer numerous benefits, including:
- Professional Development: Interns gain practical experience in policy-making, research, and advocacy.
- Networking Opportunities: Interns can make valuable connections with professionals in the field.
- Skill Enhancement: Internships help develop critical skills such as writing, research, and communication.
- Career Advancement: Internships can lead to future job prospects and career advancement in public policy.
- Understanding of Policymaking: Interns gain an understanding of how policy affects various sectors and the direction of the country.
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