Save Our Interns! | Article

My career started with an internship.

Today, I am the executive director of the Environmental and Energy Study Institute, a nonprofit committed to advancing climate change solutions. But back in 1999, I was a lowly summer intern in the Montpelier, Vt., office of Senator Jim Jeffords. It was completely transformative. Not only was Jim exceptionally kind to temporary labor like me, his staff was also loaded with some of the smartest and most impressive people I have ever met, many of whom I still interact with in professional and personal circles. This internship hooked me on federal policy, which set me on an entirely new trajectory and informed the rest of my academic studies. It also led to subsequent jobs the following summer on Jim’s reelection campaign and then in his Washington, D.C., office after I graduated from Clark University. Looking back, it seems that just about everything on my resume traces back in some way to Jim Jeffords. And it all started with an internship.

It was critical that my internship was paid. There was no way I could have afforded to intern in Jim’s office for free. I needed money for coffee, mini-golf, which was a thing for me during the summer of ’99, and, oh yes—college.

My experience as an intern was far from unique. Everyone, it seems, starts their network as an intern, and leverages their internship experience into something bigger and better. This is especially true in the climate policy world, where internships are really important if not essential. The importance of internships is amplified in D.C., with interns as much a fixture on Capitol Hill as representatives, senators, and lobbyists.

It all worked pretty well ... until the coronavirus pandemic hit and upended internship programs throughout the capital. Among the first workplace casualties was the spring intern cohort, and since then the pandemic has been unsparing. For thousands of students, the dream of a summer internship in D.C. was extinguished as employers decided to cancel their internship programs altogether. Now, students are left wondering what a missed opportunity means for their careers.

Fortunately, at EESI we did not suspend our internship program.

Our experience shows that a remote internship program can work, but not without thoughtful deliberation and planning. We created a new, written plan that sets clear expectations and establishes technology requirements as well as a modest subsidy to help offset Internet access costs. We have prioritized interns, hosting daily online “check-in” meetings to foster a community that would otherwise be forming in the office. And we continue to pay our interns, which is a matter of principle and equity.

The results of our efforts work are undeniable: our remote interns are making substantive contributions to EESI and feeling good about it in the process (no need to take my word for it, check out what one of our summer interns, Grace, had to say here). We still help launch the careers of the next generation of climate change problem-solvers and advocates. Just in my 10 months at EESI, our intern alumni have advanced to think tanks, advocacy organizations, and a community solar company.

Unfortunately, the coronavirus pandemic will be with us for a while and the lack of federal leadership in response to the outbreak has solidified that awful fact. But EESI remains committed to helping develop the next generation of climate policy experts, advocates, and communicators. EESI is also committed to paying our interns for their work to ensure our internships are accessible to candidates of all backgrounds.

The urgency of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and finding solutions to a changing climate will not skip a summer just because we are in the middle of a pandemic. Our work is too important to stop, and the work of our interns is vital to accomplishing our organizational goals. We need our interns as much as they need us, and with a little bit of adaptation, we have ensured that passionate young people continue to build rich networks of connections and experiences to carry with them into their future climate careers.

Author: Daniel Bresette