Stories

“This summer I had the privilege of working for the National Democratic Redistricting Committee as a research intern. I mainly worked with their 501 (c)(4) branch, called the National Redistricting Action Fund, that focuses on grassroots organizing. My work included researching for our various state directors that targeted our most gerrymandered states on varying topics such as Arizona Redistricting Committee members or finding target Native American communities in Wisconsin to phonebank. As a person that focused on East-Asian history in school, I wasn’t really sure how far behind everyone else I would be, as most of the other interns were more policy and law oriented in their studies. I also had really amazing coworkers who taught me everything I needed to know and were extremely helpful in recommending me to books and movies that would help me get a quick rundown of everything I needed to know early on. I think I got to cultivate some really good relationships despite everything being over zoom because of how helpful and open to conversation everyone was. Overall, it was extremely informative because I really didn’t know much about redistricting and despite knowing that the census was important, I don’t think I really realized everything that comes with getting a fair count of all citizens. I also got to do a lot of stuff that I’ve never done before like strategize rapid response solutions for all the crazy stuff that happened this summer regarding the census, phone banking, and organizing and helping with events. I think the opportunity allowed me to broaden my political history and public policy knowledge in ways that I wouldn’t be able to inside of the classroom while also gaining some much needed professional experience before I head back to school next fall.”

--Haley Butler '20