Hi Readers! Thank you so much for taking the time to peek at our post for NARAL’s 2020 Intern Day. Aaron, Emma, and Taylor have created a list of 10 things every repro intern should know. Before you get to reading, get to know the writers:
Hey! My name is Aaron and I am the Southwest Organizing Intern at NARAL Pro-Choice America. I’m currently a third-year undergraduate student studying Political Science and Philosophy at the University of Colorado Boulder. I decided to intern with NARAL because of my firm belief that every American should have the freedom to make their own reproductive health decisions. My internship with NARAL has enabled me to advocate for an issue I am passionate about and learn invaluable lessons on community organizing.
Hello! My name is Emma and I am the Midwest Organizing Intern at NARAL. I am based out of Minneapolis, MN where I attend the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities campus. I am an undergraduate studying Political Science and Spanish. I chose to intern with NARAL because repro freedom is something that I am very passionate about. I am also passionate about doing advocacy and organizing work. The internship I have at NARAL combines both of these passions in a beautiful way and makes me excited to come to work every day.
Hi, My name is Taylor and I’m NARAL’s Northeast Organizing Intern. I am a junior at Michigan State University, majoring in Social Relations and Policy as well as Women’s and Gender Studies. In my work as a student and an advocate, I center gender equity and reproductive rights. After organizing around these issues within my community and on my campus, I really wanted to see how the work operated at a macro level — which led me to my position here at NARAL Pro-Choice America.
We all gained tons of experience and education through our positions at NARAL, and we wanted to share it with you. Here are the 10 things that every repro intern should know:
- No day is the same, but it keeps things interesting! Organizing is a department that keeps me on my toes. You may not know what the next day of work will bring, especially during election season. At first, this was anxiety inducing for me, but I realized that I actually really enjoyed that aspect of my internship. There’s never a dull moment and with an ever changing list of tasks, there are always ways for me to learn and gain experience. I also learned that keeping a to-do list of overarching projects that I was working on was helpful to make sure that nothing got lost in the shuffle. —Emma
- There’s a lot of jargon and so much to learn as an intern. Don’t beat yourself up for not having memorized every single piece of legislation, pro-choice champion, or Supreme Court case in your first week. There is so much to learn, and over time you will learn what you need to know to be an effective reproductive freedom advocate. Pace yourself while building your knowledge base — read articles about breaking reproductive freedom news, volunteer to help out in rapid response moments when important legislation is moving, and attend events where your organization hosts pro-choice elected officials and listen to them speak. Through your work over time, you’ll become increasingly comfortable in what you know. — Taylor
- You will meet amazing reproductive freedom champions. One of the most amazing parts of being an organizing intern at NARAL is the volunteers you interact with. Very few jobs allow you to teach, learn from, and work with volunteers from every walk of life. During my internship, I led events uniting high school students, grandmothers, musicians, and medical practitioners. Together we would share laughs, life experiences, and why we’re passionate about protecting reproductive freedom. My internship taught me how diverse and intersectional the broader movement for reproductive freedom and justice truly is. They inspired me to work hard and stay hopeful. Community organizing during a pandemic is uniquely challenging, but the volunteers and members we worked with made it all worthwhile. —Aaron
- You will encounter anti-choice individuals, and they will say mean things to you. Don’t let it ruin your day. As an organizing intern, I do a lot of outreach to get people involved in our work. Every once in a while, I come across someone who is against the work NARAL does. Although negative experiences tend to stick in my mind more than positive ones, I take a second to step back and realize that the positive experiences outweigh the negative ones by a long shot. —Emma
- An intersectional framework is essential. I think one of the most impactful takeaways I can share from my time at NARAL is how important an intersectional framework is when advocating for reproductive freedom, and how even more important it is for interns to demand and center this framework. Historically, the mainstream repro movement hasn’t used an intersectional framework, opting to center white feminism over a more inclusive perspective that centers equity.The interns, and young folks at the organization in general, are the faces and the future of the reproductive freedom movement. If we want to be the ones fighting for equity and freedom for everybody, then it is absolutely paramount to center a framework that takes into account every body. We represent the future of this movement. As an intern, it’s easy to feel less inclined to speak up in order to ensure that the work being done fits this idea, but it is essential. Look to the community you’ve built and your fellow like-minded colleagues for support. —Taylor
- You may have people in your life that don’t approve of the work you’re doing. Don’t get discouraged — do what you’re passionate about. I, like many people working in reproductive freedom, don’t always get the approval of my family. During the beginning of the holiday season I, like many college students, was bombarded with questions from family over Zoom-Thanksgiving about what I’m doing with my life at the moment. I found myself hesitating to tell aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents that I was working for a reproductive freedom organization. But I realized that despite their judgments, I am passionate and proud of the work I have done with NARAL — and I won’t let them discourage me in figuring out what I love to do. —Emma
- You’ll probably be working with data (don’t worry, it can be fun). I know personally that when I applied to be an organizing intern, I was by no means expecting to do comprehensive data analysis and research. However, data analysis was a fairly significant part of my job (and this isn’t limited just to organizing). It sounds way scarier than it actually is, but the fact of the matter is that this analysis is essential in effectively advancing our movement. Whether it be seeing how to most efficiently support and educate our member base, informing new targets and goals we create as an organization, or simply assessing what worked and what didn’t. Excel can be daunting, but once you knock out a few projects, you start to get the hang of it. Remember: don’t be afraid to ask questions! —Taylor
- There are many soft skills you’ll pick up along the way. If you don’t know how to do something well when you start, you’ll get better at it along the way. Many of my virtual organizing events presented some kind of challenge that I was forced to overcome. Sometimes it was something to do with communication, while other times it had to do with technological issues. Since we have some volunteers who were less tech savvy than others, this meant instructing them through the process of getting set up to make calls or send texts. They taught me how to offer clear and concise instruction and ultimately helped me develop into a better leader. —Aaron
- At every step, you will run into reminders for why your work is so important. Some of the most important and personally meaningful moments may come when you least expect them. For me, it was certain conversations with voters and volunteers that served as a reminder that our work has very real implications for millions of Americans. The stories that our members and voters shared describing the pre-Roe era, their own struggles accessing abortion care, and how anti-choice legislation would have impacted them helped me remain driven and dedicated. The testimony and voices of volunteers and voters serve as a reminder that real people are counting on us to fight as hard as possible to defend reproductive freedom for every body. —Aaron
- The people that you meet and the skills you learn will last you a lifetime (shoutout to organizers!). In repro, you’re fighting for incredibly important and oftentimes personal issues. Working with individuals who are sharing very personal stories with you (and you with them) is great for developing interpersonal and relationship building skills. It really makes you a better, more well-rounded person. As an organizing intern, you listen a lot — to volunteers, to coworkers, and to all those in between who hold passion for the movement. Learning to listen is crucial for building powerful communities with members who support each other. All of us agree that as organizing interns, we have learned so many valuable skills and met so incredible members that have made us much more effective and compassionate actors of change. —All
