Legal Summer Internship Spotlight: The Center for Collaborat

If you’re hoping to use your legal skills to do policy research and to effect community change, the Center for Collaborative Change (“the Center”) has an internship opportunity for you. The Center is a nonprofit organization based in Newark, New Jersey which strives to “engage community and civic leadership in policy and program development in order to accelerate Newark’s revitalization while ensuring that the process includes and responds to the priorities of its community members.” Through research and collaboration, the Center is working to transform the Newark community, and it is looking for Community Law & Policy interns (including law students and students from other graduate degree programs) this summer to help in its mission.

The Center seeks candidates from “multi-disciplinary backgrounds,” with excellent research skills who are “comfortable with collaboration,” says Caroline Nagy, a Legal and Policy Analyst for the Center. A 2010 graduate of NYU Law and former intern at the Center, Ms. Nagy believes the Center’s internships help law students appreciate “how legal advocacy fits into other types of advocacy in [the] community-based, community-organizing, coalition-building movement.” Interns can look forward to performing policy research in areas like housing development, economic development, health, education, community relations, community engagement, green living and policy and systems change. Internship tasks will also include researching best practices, examining regulatory issues, gaining writing experience, getting involved in the Newark community and interacting with community leaders.

The Center focuses on “bringing people—Newark residents—and policy together,” says Ms. Nagy, who describes successful interns as “social entrepreneurs” who are team-work oriented and community-focused. For more details on the Center for Collaborative Change and its internship program, see the information and links below.

• Application Deadline: March 15, 2011, but applicants are urged to apply sooner as decisions are made on a rolling basis
• Location: Newark, NJ
• Compensation: Not compensated, but school credit can be arranged
• Start Date: June 1 (start date is flexible)

Summer 2011 Community Law & Policy Internship Information
The Center for Collaborative Change site

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