Summer 2024 Fellow: Sophia Bi
Office Description:
EPIC aims to end poverty in California by elevating the voices of people experiencing it, creating and implementing bold policies rooted in their needs, and advancing a state agenda focused on equal opportunity for all.
All of our current and future efforts will help change the narrative about poverty from one based on lies and stereotypes, to an authentic narrative based on the strengths, assets, and lived experiences of individuals and communities.
Led by Michael Tubbs, we conduct listening sessions throughout the state to hear the stories and ideas of people living in poverty, and help educate the public and policymakers. We also provide platforms for people to tell their own stories to help heal feelings of shame and stigma, increase agency, enable political action, and ultimately, change the narrative. And we collaborate with partners and lawmakers in order to develop a shared policy agenda focused on poverty elimination that centers the wisdom we hear from our partners and from Californians across the state during our listening sessions.
Description of the Work
In 2025, our interns and fellows will lead and support projects that address a wide variety of activities including research, community outreach and engagement, program design and development, systems development, marketing and communications. Specific opportunities offered in 2025 include:
- Election Year Follow-up Research and Planning
- 1. Map out the state and local anti-poverty ballot measures that won in 2024, which can help us identify new counties to visit in 2025 and potential partners
- 2. Summarize the existing traction Identify the lawmakers, partners, and other stakeholders who led and/or are engaged in each effort
- 3. Document any news/press coverage
- Anti-Poverty Policy Research
- 1. Undertake a state and national landscape analysis of existing innovative anti-poverty legislation to help us identify potential policy solutions we might want to champion in CA. This study could include documenting insights that address the following: Impact on current participants – Barriers to access (such as eligibility requirements) – Implementation challenges
- 2. Identify the agencies EPIC and our partners could engage to learn from their work and explore potential scale or replication in CA; schedule and facilitate meetings with these partners
- 3. Outline a summary of key insights including recommendations for anti-poverty policy reform worth amplifying in other parts of the state and/or replicating in CA
- Communications & Storytelling
- 1. Help develop and maintain EPIC’s policy webpage through research and content creation
- 2. Develop a comprehensive list of the “Legislation EPIC Supports” by adding other anti-poverty policies in CA, focusing on wins in 2024
- 3. Identify stories worth featuring on EPIC’s social media and policy page that convey the impact of anti-poverty policies in the lives of Californians across the state
- 4. Generate content leads by facilitating interviews to learn more from policy advocates, people living in poverty, and other stakeholders
Desired Skills, Experience, and Coursework:
- Unwavering belief in the EPIC’s mission.
- Demonstrated commitment to disrupting the status quo, which perpetuates wealth inequality, gender oppression, and systemic racism.
- Experience working closely with others, taking initiative and being resourceful, and managing multiple work streams.
- Background or interest in project management, research, writing, community engagement, communications and social media.
- Background or interest in the areas of housing, safety net, worker empowerment, wealth-building, and/or criminal justice.