Human Rights Internships

The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) represents 1.5 million public and private professional employees, primarily teachers in pre-K through 12th-grades U.S. public schools. AFT's Human Rights and Community Relations Department Internship Program is a project-oriented internship coupled with the exposure to the roles that advocacy, administrative, communications, research, and marketing functions play in the department's daily operations. Interns will grapple with some of the leading public policy issues affecting working families, which include education, immigration, civil, human and women's rights, gender, LGBT, ELL instruction, achievement gap, and faith-based initiatives. Attending relevant congressional briefings, policy seminars and meetings is also an integral part of the internship program. This internship helps develop leadership skills such as communications, organizing, advocacy, and time management.

Internship assignments vary in focus and design but are planned to provide the maximum exposure and learning experience for the interns. Internship projects may include but are not limited to the following:

• Assisting department staff with research, single-issue campaigns and projects.
• Assisting in the development of training and educational materials assigned by the department staff.
• Attending meetings to discuss policies that affect our members and all working families.
• Translating AFT department materials from English to Spanish.
• Writing, editing and collecting articles and pictures for the department's quarterly newsletter, "Human Rights News."

Qualifications:

Basic computer and research skills, knowledge of Microsoft office, self starter and able to work independently. Able to travel short distances within the city and attend meetings and congressional briefings. Leadership abilities, good academic performance, strong interpersonal and communication skills, knowledge of unions and commitment to social justice a big plus. Bilingual-Spanish/English desirable but not required. Knowledgeable in HTML, Photoshop, Quark and Adobe illustrator are desirable but not required.

To apply:

Please e-mail your resume, cover letter and a writing sample to César Moreno Pérez, Senior Associate, Human Rights and Community Relations Department at cmoreno@aft.org.

About the Human Rights and Community Relations Department:
The human rights and community relations department monitors trends, publications, laws and federal regulations in the areas of civil and human rights. The department provides research and development support to the AFT executive committees on civil and human rights and women's rights; assists local and state federations in the development, implementation and maintenance of state and local affiliates on civil, human, and women's rights issues; develops and maintains a network with community- based organizations, national civil rights and women's rights groups, interfaith organizations, and the AFL-CIO and its affiliates to ensure the AFT's priorities are disseminated.