An often unsung element of OK Policy’s mission is the opportunity to engage college students and recent graduates into Oklahoma policy work. Below are our Fall 2020 Interns and Fellows who will be playing a crucial role for our work in the coming months:
Josie Phillips, Policy Intern – Josie graduated from the University of Oklahoma in Spring 2020 with a double major in Economics and International & Area Studies and a minor in Spanish. Previously, she has volunteered through the Women’s Resource Center and worked as a tutor and campaign manager. She joined as a policy intern the summer of 2020 and is a 2018 alumna of OK Policy’s Summer Policy Institute.
Liz Spencer, Open Justice Oklahoma Intern – Liz is a senior at the University of Oklahoma studying Management Information Systems, with her main focus being in data analytics. Her areas of political interest include promoting legislation for Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women (MMIW), Oklahoma’s incarceration policies, and violence against women.
Lilly Strom, Communications Intern – Lilly is a senior at Oklahoma State University earning a degree in Architecture Design. She has experience working in the field of Architecture in Chicago and San Francisco where she learned how architecture, design, and policy interact with cities and the surrounding communities.
Tucker Wilkie, Policy Intern – Tucker is a senior at Texas Christian University, where he studies Political Science and Comparative Race and Ethnic Studies. Previously, he worked alongside The Net Fort Worth, an organization devoted to restoring dignity to those experiencing homelessness. He served as a policy intern this summer and is a 2018 alumnus of OK Policy’s Summer Policy Institute.
Former OK Policy Intern Emma Morris joined our team in August as a Public Policy Health Care Fellow for the coming year. Emma is a 2020 graduate of the University of Oklahoma who earned bachelor degrees in women’s and gender studies, as well as public & nonprofit administration. She served as our Public Policy Intern this past spring and is an 2019 Summer Policy Institute alumna.
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Our internship program is a paid program that allows college students and recent graduates to be mentored by OK Policy’s professional staff in policy analysis and advocacy, research and data, communication, and other areas of our operations. Our fellowships, meanwhile, are paid, year-long deep dives into a specific policy area. In just the past six months alone, our interns have been deeply involved in helping craft work in areas such as voting rights, health care, education, criminal justice, evictions, economic opportunity, and much more.
OK Policy is committed to providing internships and fellowships as paid positions, which recognizes their contributions to our important work while also allowing them to pursue their policy interests without sacrificing their quality of life as students or recent graduates.
Our internship program is supported by people such as yourself who want to see Oklahoma as a place where everyone can thrive regardless of the color of their skin, their ZIP code, or how much they have in their bank account. Your support is vital to help OK Policy continue to attract Oklahoma’s best and brightest students into our work. Learn how you can make a difference by visiting okpolicy.org/donate and use the keyword “intern” today!
If you’d like to learn more about our internship or fellowship programs, please contact OK Policy’s Operations and Development Associate Kourtni Cain, who serves as our internship coordinator. Kourtni can be reached at kcain@okpolicy.org or 918-794-3944.