Summer 2023 Fellow: N/A
Office Description
At Compass Family Services, we’re passionate about helping homeless and at-risk families become stably housed, emotionally and physically healthy, and economically self-sufficient. Compass was founded in 1914 as Travelers’ Aid San Francisco to provide assistance to the 18.5 million newcomers who visited the city of San Francisco for the 1915 World’s Fair. Since then, our history has followed the trajectory of San Francisco’s history, serving the most vulnerable populations during the Great Depression, World War II, immigrants and refugees from Asia in the 1950’s, and homeless youth during and after the Summer of Love.
Today, while helping families secure long-term housing, Compass Family Services provides the most comprehensive range of support services designed specifically for those in distress. Our Policy & External affairs team is a product of our commitment to leveraging the lived experience of the families in our programs and the deep institutional knowledge of our program staff to inform and improve the local, state, and federal systems that serve homeless and at-risk families.
We’re proud of our 100+ year legacy of serving all the people of San Francisco.
Description of the Work
The Policy & Organizing Intern would work closely with the Manager of Policy & Organizing and the Director of External Affairs & Policy to develop, plan, organize, and implement Compass Family Services’ (Compass) public policy and organizing strategies.
We’re a tight-knit and action-oriented team, and we hope to provide you with impactful work opportunities, substantive projects, and meaningful mentorship throughout the summer in order to gain hands-on experience in local policy and advocacy work, as well as to develop critical insight into how to solve family homelessness in San Francisco (SF).
We want to work with you to develop experiences and projects you’re excited about, and these can include, but are not limited to:
- Helping to build strategic partnerships and coalitions by attending meetings with key stakeholders across both the SF city government and the nonprofit sector
- Working closely with Alisha and Compass’ direct service staff to incorporate client-based advocacy into Compass’ external affairs and policy strategy, which includes helping to run a client advisory group and organizing in-person advocacy opportunities in the city
- Collaborating with the Impact & Learning Team to produce a data-driven policy research brief
- Attending weekly check in meetings with Hope and Alisha, as well as weekly brown bag lunches that Alisha will organize between the intern and different members of Compass’ leadership team and staff
Desired Skills
- General knowledge of and/or interest in family homelessness, local policymaking, and community organizing
- Self-directed, self-starter able to manage multiple priorities and relationships
- Excellent oral communication skills
- Proven research, writing, and analytical skills
- Work collaboratively with diplomacy, honesty, integrity, humor, and tact
- Deep commitment to discussing, integrating, and promoting diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging throughout a complex and dynamic organization
