Notes from the Field: Gabrielle Bozarth '17

Gabrielle Bozarth interned at the Center for American Progress during the 2016 Summer Term. The following is an excerpt from her internship report.

During the summer of 2016, I was an intern for the Progress 2050 team at the Center for American Progress. This team focused on the changing demographics of the United States, and how that impacted public policy. As a newer team at CAP, Progress 2050 had three staff dedicated to the department, and two interns – myself included. Working with such a small team in a progressive institution that employs hundreds of staff and has over 70 interns gave me the opportunity to do critical and important work that was ultimately published by CAP. As the intern who had more advanced research skills on my team, this was an aspect of my job that I was called to do quite frequently – I wrote over 10 memos and issue briefs on various policies and events throughout the nation, but specifically on policing, police unions, and hate crimes.

My research over the summer revolved around topics that interested me. Due to the newness of the team as well as the very broad topic of “changing demographics of the US”, I was able to dive into issues that I was passionate about, that I knew nothing about, and that I felt were underrepresented in both policy and popular media. For example, before my internship I knew nothing about police unions beyond their existence and their support of the Police Bill of Rights. Over the course of my internship, I learned more about the current state of police unions, policies being pushed for, their effect on elections and political landscapes. I wrote a 15-page brief for the executive director, in preparation for the article she recently released on the pernicious effects of police unions in departmental investigations – and I know that the work I did helped her suggest important and impactful policy.

The highlight of my summer was co-authoring a piece on Black Women’s Equal Pay Day, about the economic repression of Black women, with my fellow intern Naomi Kellogg. The piece focused on our perspective as young millennial women about to enter the job market, and we also produced a gif about the wage disparity Black Women face to accompany the article. Once it was published and began to circulate, we were picked up and cited by multiple news outlets and we were even retweeted by Nancy Pelosi!

Through this work, I discovered that I want to seriously consider PhD programs in addition to JD program post-graduation. I am incredibly grateful for my internship experience at CAP, and specifically the team that I was a part of. My supervisors encouraged me to be involved in local politics, attend rallies and hearings, go to relevant events on the Hill and at other institutions – even when they conflicted with my work hours. I became very close with both my direct supervisor and the executive director of the department – these are relationships I hope to continue to cultivate throughout the rest of my time at Dartmouth and beyond.