Career-Specific Programming

Programming Areas

When you apply to The Washington Center, you select a career-specific programming area. The programming area you select will be lead by one of our program advisors who will plan programming activities for you and other interns who share your general interests throughout the course of the semester, review your assignments, and visit you on-site at your internship.

 

*Please note that the programming area you select does not depend on the internship you choose. You'll work with someone in the Office of Internship Site Relations, on an individual basis, to find an internship related to your unique interests. Likewise, the internship and programming area you select does not limit you from the courses you can choose from.

 

We offer the following programming areas:

 

• Advocacy, Service & Arts [7]
• Business & Global Trade [8]
• International Affairs [9]
• Law & Criminal Justice [10]
• Media & Communications [11]
• Political Leadership [12]
• Science, Technology & Society [13]

For students with undergraduate degrees or graduate students not wishing to receive credit:

 

• Postgraduate Professional Development [14]

Additional Resources

• Read about recent programming events [15]
• Civic Engagement Projects [4]
• Roundtable on Philanthropy & Social Responsibility [16]
• Public Policy Dialogues on Capitol Hill [6]
• The Portfolio [17]

 

Simpson-Mineta Leaders Series

The Alan K. Simpson - Norman Y. Mineta Leaders Series

The Simpson-Mineta Leaders Series is founded in the spirit of the lifelong friendship of two extraordinary leaders from opposite sides of the aisle. Norman Y. Mineta and Alan K. Simpson met during World War II when Simpson’s Boy Scout troop met with Mineta’s in the Heart Mountain Relocation Center in Wyoming where Secretary Mineta’s family was then interned with over 10,000 other Japanese-Americans. Despite their differences, both their friendship and their commitment to leadership and public service endured.

 

The Simpson-Mineta Leaders Series aims to create a forum in which students from around the country and the world can engage with extraordinary leaders, explore issues of contemporary public concern, and articulate their own views about the meaning of leadership and citizenship in today’s society.

 

Past speakers include:

• Secretary Madeleine K. Albright, The Albright Group
• Anna E. Cabral, U.S. Treasurer
• Dick Cheney, U.S. Vice President
• U.S. Congressman James Clyburn (D-SC), House Majority Whip
• Sam Donaldson, ABC News Anchor
• Carlos Gutierrez, U.S. Secretary of Commerce
• U.S. Senator Chuck Hagel (R-NE)
• Brian Lamb, founder, chairman and CEO of C-SPAN
• Mike McCurry, White House Press Secretary
• Lori Montenegro, National Correspondent–Washington Bureau, Telemundo
• Dr. Klaus Scarioth, German Ambassador to the United States
• Jim Lehrer, Executive Editor & Anchor, PBS
• Lawrence Korb, Founder of the Center for American Progress
• Kevin Klose, Former President of National Public Radio
• Dennis Hastert, Former Speaker of the House of Representatives
• Byron Dorgan (D-ND), Former Senator
• Trent Lott (R-MS), Former Senator
• Norman Mineta, Former Democratic Congressman, Secretary of Commerce, and Secretary of Transportation

Read about recent SMLS events [19]

 

Additional Resources

• Civic Engagement Projects [4]
• Roundtable on Civil Society & Social Responsibility [5]
• Public Policy Dialogues on Capitol Hill [6]

Civic Engagement Projects

Students are provided the opportunity to become positive change agents by participating in civic engagement projects on important domestic and international issues. They learn about the issue by interacting with national and local community leaders and participate in a direct service and/or advocacy project. Students can choose to join a TWC-guided project, or design their own individual project. 

 

Recent projects have included:

 

Animal Welfare

Interact with speakers from the Humane Society of the United States, the country’s leading advocacy group committed to animal protection, and learn how they can influence public policy. Also, hear from community educators who teach about respecting and caring for animals and from groups that rescue, foster and re-home homeless animals. Students volunteer at pet adoption events and participate in a group clean-up project at a local dog park, where they learn how dog parks benefit dogs, their owners and the community.

 

Domestic Violence

This project partners with the National Network to End Domestic Violence, which lobbies for legislation and funding for state organizations to support domestic violence victims. Students advocate on Capitol Hill to reauthorize the Violence against Women Act (VAWA) and create reports on Domestic Violence Homicides in their own states. They also work with Becky’s Fund, a local anti-domestic violence group, on a research project about campus safety and dating violence. International students prepare presentations on domestic and sexual violence in their countries.

 

Homelessness Action Group

This is a Direct Service and Advocacy Project that partners with So Others Might Eat (SOME), a 40-year old social service agency, the National Coalition for the Homeless, Samaritan Inns, and the Homeless Children’s Playtime Project. Students learn about homelessness in the Greater Metropolitan Washington Area and interact directly with the homeless, formerly homeless and homeless advocates. Participants volunteer with SOME in the dining room and clothing distribution center, cook dinner for residents at Samaritan Inns, or tutor homeless children. They attend an Advocacy Workshop on hate crimes against the homeless and take action to combat these attacks.

 

Immigrant Rights

Students learn about the history of immigration in the United States, the immigration policy debate and issues facing Latino, Asian, African and Middle Eastern immigrants. Direct Service opportunities include tutoring Latino children at the bilingual school CentroNia, helping Spanish-speaking domestic violence victims to obtain special visas through Mil Mujeres (“1000 women” in Spanish), tutoring African immigrants at the Ethiopian Community Center, and processing deferred deportation applications for young undocumented immigrants at Casa de Maryland.

 

LGBT Project

The LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) project explores issues around LGBT identity, history and culture. Students are exposed to national advocacy organizations such as the Human Rights Campaign and tour Washington, D.C. neighborhoods that have played an important role in the community’s history. Community leaders engage participants in becoming advocates and change agents. Students can participate in community events and service opportunities that impact LGBT health issues and current legislation.

 

Local Green Project

Students learn about and engage with local environmental issues such as sustainable development, clean water, urban farming, carbon foot printing, and renewable energies through tending urban farms and planting wetbeds. They learn about local food sourcing by interacting with one of the country’s premier chefs and touring Farmers' Markets. Students volunteer with the Watkins Elementary School Urban Gardens program, the Lands and Waters Environmental Education program, and the Anacostia Watershed Society, which helps to restore and protect the Anacostia River.

 

Torture Abolition

This is an advocacy project in partnership with the Torture Abolition and Survivor Support Coalition (TASSC), an organization founded by and for torture survivors. Students interact directly with survivors, mainly from Africa, who have been tortured and imprisoned by their own governments. Project participants team-up with survivors to visit congressional offices where they support legislation that benefits survivors in the U.S. and abroad, and advocate for an end to torture worldwide.

 

Veterans

Students are exposed to multiple issues of concern to veterans including health care, homelessness, education and employment. The group partners with Team Red, White & Blue (Team RWB), which helps veterans reintegrate into society through physical exercise and social activities. Students participate in races and other activities with veterans. Speakers have included representatives from Team RWB, the U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs, Student Veterans of America, Paralyzed Veterans of America, the U.S. Department of Interior, and a shelter for homeless female veterans.

 

Read about recent civic engagement projects [20]

 

Additional Resources

• Roundtable on Civil Society & Social Responsibility [5]
• Public Policy Dialogues on Capitol Hill [6]

Roundtable on Civil Society & Social Responsibility

At The Washington Center, we define civil society as the arena in which people come together to pursue the interests they hold in common – not for profit or political power, but because they care enough about something to take collective action. This event, delivered once each semester, brings together outstanding speakers from the corporate, government and NGO sectors to explore top local, national and global strategic partnerships in-depth, and to give students’ insight and understanding of the principles, challenges and potential of civil society and each individual’s responsibility to strengthen it.

 

This event is comprised of two key segments:

 

• A keynote address, delivered by a recognized leader engaged in a national or international cross-sector partnership designed to facilitate social/economic/environmental change.
• Guided roundtable discussions, focused on specific social challenges and facilitated by leaders from all three sectors that explore the evolving range of partnerships, alliances and collaborations to impact local, national and international priorities. Students who participate in roundtable discussions are selected in advance by TWC’s Program Advisors, based on matching their professional and social-issue interests to the topic and facilitator.

Past speakers include:

 

• Suzanne Basalla, Executive Vice President, TOMODACHI Initiative
• Matthew Blakely, Director, Motorola Solutions Foundation
• Donna Woodall, Citizenship Director, Microsoft Corporation
• William McGinly, President of the Association for Healthcare Philanthropy
• Scott Sapperstein, Executive Director of Public Affairs at AT&T
• Aaron Sherinian, Vice President of Communications and Public Relations at the United Nations Foundation (UNF)
• Kevin Webb, Director of Mitsubishi Electric America Foundation
• Katherine B. Bradley, President of the CityBridge Foundation
• Herb Tillery, Executive Director of the College to Success Foundation
• Alison Derbenwick Miller, Director of Corporate Citizenship of the Oracle Education Foundation
• Douglas Wood, Program Officer of the Ford Foundation
• Lori Smedley, Senior Vice President of The Washington Center
• Chris Park, President of the New York Life Foundation
• Anna A. Flores, Vice President, Consumer & Community Affairs of the American Express Company
• Ed Goldberg, Senior Vice President, External Affairs at Macy’s, Inc.
• John Marks, President of the Search for Common Ground Foundation
• Perry Yeatman, Senior Vice President, Corporate Affairs, and President of the Kraft Foods Foundation

Read about these recent events [21]

 

Additional Resources

• Public Policy Dialogues on Capitol Hill [6]
• The Academic Course [22]
• The Portfolio [17]

Public Policy Dialogues on Capitol Hill

Public Policy Dialogues on Capitol Hill (PPDCH), sponsored by Verizon Wireless, provide students with the unique opportunity to meet and interact with members of the Senate or Congress representing their state or congressional district.

 

The purpose of the PPDCH exercise is to:

• Help you improve your understanding of citizen advocacy and representative democracy through personal meetings with members of the Senate or Congress and/or their staff
• Develop teamwork, communication (written and verbal), research, and civic participation skills
• Enhance your understanding of the member’s position on an issue of interest to you

Domestic students will be grouped by state and congressional district to attend one meeting with a member of the U.S. Senate or Congress and/or their staff. International students will meet with a committee focused on a specific region of the world.

 

After your meeting with the member of the Senate or Congress and/or their staff, you will write a one-page follow-up thank you letter. The purpose of the letter should be to provide additional thoughts and reflection about an issue or topic discussed during the meeting and to thank the member and his/her staff for their time. This is not simply a thank you letter, but rather an exercise in citizen advocacy.

 

Read about TWC interns visiting Capitol Hill [23]

 

Additional Resources

• The Academic Course [22]
• The Portfolio [17]