You are viewing a preview of this job. Log in or register to view more details about this job.

LFA Summer 2020 Communications Internship

The Problem
Tonight, in the richest country in the history of the world, 2.5 Million children will go to sleep without a home. More Americans are dying of suicides than car crashes, and our life expectancy has declined for four straight years. At the root of all of our pain and bitterness lies a more fundamental challenge — dislocation from place and from community. America has a heart problem, and it is breaking our country apart. We need a unified and bold solution that matches the urgency and immensity of this moment. We need leaders who show that another way of living and leading— a community-based approach rooted in care — is indeed possible.

The Solution
Lead For America’s model offers a comprehensive intervention of care to our nation — we work for a more perfect union, built upon communities that care and led by the people who know their communities best. By 2040, Lead For America aims to build a bench of 1 million of our nation's most dynamic and diverse leaders working on our communities' toughest challenges, inspiring their fellow citizens to do the same, and catalyzing a community revitalization movement nationwide.

How We Get There
Pathways. At this time of urgency, local leadership is more important than ever, particularly in locations where the narrative of success so often means leaving and never coming back. Through our flagship Hometown Fellows program, we recruit, train, and place our nation’s most dynamic, diverse, and high-integrity leaders in high-impact local government, tribal government, local non-profit, and civic-oriented local business roles. These leaders work selflessly to reinvigorate our civic institutions and serve as democracy entrepreneurs in the communities they call home. The fellowship works towards the following objectives. 
  1. Connect communities with the talent they need to tackle their toughest challenges. Our first cohort of 54 Fellows headed to their placements across 21 states in August 2019. In alignment with our commitment to locally-driven change, 100% of the fellowship in our inaugural year was sustained by financial commitments from Fellow hosts and local philanthropy.
  2. Uplift and equip outstanding young leaders to spark locally-rooted change. Our Fellows, aged 21-30, have already shown a commitment to a life of service for a specific community or cause — we then give them the training, mentorship, community, and support they need to be catalytic and humble leaders throughout and beyond their fellowship term.
  3. Support a long lasting and sustained community revitalization movement. Although the paid fellowship is a 2-year placement, all Fellows commit to at least four years of service to their community or their cause. While Fellows provide immediate value to the community in tackling projects of critical importance during their first two years, we believe the long-term impact of a representative, locally rooted, and nationally connected leadership force will drive transformative change for our nation.
Education. Activating catalytic community leaders nationwide begins with our education system. Our focus on education rests upon the reality that meaningful civics education and engagement is critical to cultivating adept, informed, and intentional leaders. We build partnerships between young leaders and public institutions to add problem-solving capacity to resource-strapped local governments while empowering young people as change agents. Our education initiatives include:
  1. GovChallenge. To strengthen the pipeline between young talent and public institutions, GovChallenges gets students working on real challenges sourced from local governments. Teams present proposed solutions to the governments themselves and winning teams work with the government to implement their solutions. We currently have GovChallenges in Chatham County, NC, Boise, ID, Bronx, NY, and Redmond, OR. 
  2. Summer Fellows. Undergraduate students work within a local government for a summer to add critical capacity in the short term and inspire our nation’s next leaders with the possibility and practice of our public institutions. Our second cohort of Summer Fellows will begin their internships in June of 2020.
Systems Change. We recognize that building a national, community-rooted revitalization also requires working with and adapting existing systems. Strengthened civic education and pathways to public service will not be enough to change the fact that it is becoming more and more difficult for our nation’s communities to attract and retain the best talent and strengthen their civic fabric. Our systems change approach pushes our systems to validate and support collective wellbeing and is threefold:
  1. Place-Based Initiatives. We collaborate with local leaders and organizations to build a model of deep, sustained involvement in a given location. Our place-based initiatives support cross-sector collaboration to saturate a town or city with a critical mass of local leaders who work to strengthen the community’s civic fabric. In our first year we launched our first place-based initiative, Lead For Poughkeepsie, and are actively working to build partnerships with additional locations. 
  2. Policy Advocacy. We are actively working with 2020 presidential campaigns, Service Year Alliance, and the National Commission on Military, National, and Public Service to advocate for policies like increased funding for national service and a domestic GI Bill that would significantly reduce the cost of attendance for students committing to serve their home communities and nation after graduation.
  3. Civic Accelerator. We identify and invest in seed-stage, mission-aligned entrepreneurs who either 1) respond to one of our validated challenges or 2) who are working on their own venture.
Why Join Our Team
Lead for America is on a path of rapid growth, receiving more than 800 applications for over 50 fellowships across the nation in the first year of its program and building partnerships with leaders at organizations including Service Year Alliance, the Harvard Kennedy School, and the UNC School of Government. As Lead for America aims to expand its program to all 50 states in the next year, new creative possibilities are opening up, giving LFA an opportunity to shape the national discourse around leadership and community service. Those who join our team will be part of a new movement that aspires to ultimately engage, connect, and amplify leaders of all ages working at the local level to cultivate a community-centered culture and society that can revitalize American democracy.
Communication Interns
Communications Interns will join a department focused on building Lead for America’s brand and reputation from the ground up. Communications Interns will brainstorm, create, and implement communications and PR strategy, work with the recruitment and partnership teams to align messaging, and develop clear, creative, attractive, and shareable content for the website and social media.
Communication Intern Benefits
Communication Interns will receive a variety of benefits from working with LFA, including the opportunity to:
  • Be a member of the LFA community, which includes staff, interns, Fellows, Corps Members, and GovChallenge Fellows   
  • Receive exclusive notifications about future internship and professional opportunities through LFA’s dozens of partner organizations
  • Take independent ownership over impactful projects
  • Present your work to the LFA team during mid-semester reviews
  • Receive letters of recommendation from LFA executive staff
  • Receive assistance in obtaining class credit at your college or university
  • Participate in brainstorm sessions with LFA brainstorm staff to actively shape the direction of a rapidly growing non-profit
Skills and Qualifications
  • The ability to be detail-oriented, multitask, meet deadlines, and think critically and creatively
  • The ability to communicate with others persuasively and effectively 
  • The ability to work efficiently and learn quickly in a fast-paced environment
  • Excellent interpersonal, writing, and organizational skills
  • A commitment to changing the world through change at the local level
  • An alignment with Lead for America’s five core values (see website)
Key Dates
Application Deadline: 11:59pm PST on 3/1/20
Semifinalist Announcement: 3/5/20 (Semifinalists receive case study)
Semifinalist Application Deadline: 11:59pm PST on 3/12/20
Finalist Announcement: 3/19/20 (Finalists interview week of 3/23)
Intern Selection Day: 3/30/20