Advocacy in the Sun: Summer Internship Re-Cap

Summer is the perfect time for advocacy! The weather is great which makes canvassing and outreach a breeze. There seem to be a plethora of festivals and health fairs to table at. The mood is positive and optimistic. Most importantly, students are looking for meaningful ways to spend their summers. Knowing this, Planned Parenthood of PA Advocates conducts a 10 week Grassroots Organizing internship every summer.

Planned Parenthood of PA Advocates is a force to be reckoned with in PA. It is made up of the public policy staffs of Pennsylvania’s five Planned Parenthood affiliates including mine: Planned Parenthood of Western PA. Together we recruit, hire, train and supervise our interns. We started recruiting in January, interviewed potential interns in February and March, made offers in April, and kicked it all off with a three day Action Camp in late May!

Action Camp is a crucial part of a major summer internship initiative. This year we gathered our 12 interns and 8 staff members under one roof for three days of training. It wasn’t all work though! We had plenty of time to include a reception/barbeque, a pool party, and a canvassing trial run. The time and effort to put on the Action Camp was well worth it. Our interns in their exit interviews said that they felt well prepared for the 10 weeks ahead of them after the training. They learned about our issues inside and out. They even lobbied to state representatives on the last day of the Action Camp!

This year we focused on advocating for comprehensive sex education. This was the perfect goal as we currently have two pieces of legislation in the PA state house that we are working on: HB 1163 and HB 1162. HB 1163 (The Healthy Youth Act) would mandate comprehensive medically accurate sex education in all Pennsylvania public schools. HB 1162 (The Notice Home Act) would require a “notice home” to be sent to parents of children who are not receiving comprehensive sex education in their schools. The bills will not be receiving a committee vote until this fall so we took the summer to lobby, canvass, phone bank and educate around the issue.

I’m pleased to say it was a successful venture and we will absolutely be doing it again next year. Advocacy is a volatile field to work in and predictably, things didn’t always run smoothly. In late July, we obviously had to shift some of our focus to health care reform issues which we had not prepared for. Our interns and staff fell right in step though and in the end, we met our goals on both issues. The numbers don’t lie. We knocked on 3,393 doors, dialed 5,563 numbers, identified 1, 627 new supporters, and obtained 821 new emails and 889 new c4 opt-ins. Most importantly, our interns had fun while doing work they care about. They will walk away from their internships with valuable on the ground organizing experience that will help them in their professional development. And maybe, just maybe…we’ll spot them at a Planned Parenthood Policy Summit one day. Here’s hopin’!