2023 Stanback Fellow - Water and Agriculture - Duke University Students Only

Overview

NRDC is a non-profit environmental advocacy organization. We use law, science, and the support of 3.1 million members and online activists to protect the planet's wildlife and wild places and to ensure the rights of all people to clean air, clean water, and healthy communities. NRDC was founded in 1970 and our people helped write some of America's bedrock environmental laws, including the Clean Water Act and many of the implementing regulations. Today, our team of more than 700 lawyers, scientists, economists, policy advocates, communications experts, and others work across the United States and the globe from our offices in Bozeman, Montana; Chicago; New York; San Francisco; Santa Monica; Washington, D.C.; and Beijing.

The Stanback Fellowship Program is a partnership between Duke University and NRDC and other non-profit environmental organizations. The purpose of the program is to provide students with significant project-based learning experiences in energy, conservation, advocacy, policy, research and applied resource management.

Stanback Fellows placed with NRDC will gain skills in research and analysis, written advocacy, oral advocacy, legislative and/or regulatory processes, and inclusive and equitable policy development. The Fellows will be an integral part of NRDC’s team and will gain exposure to a variety of activities including attending policy meetings, working with private sector stakeholders, engaging in joint advocacy with other partners, conducting policy analysis and development, and doing legislative and regulatory research and drafting.

We particularly encourage candidates whose identities have been historically under-represented in the environmental movement. You should apply if you are eager to be part of a cross-cutting team; learn about clean energy and equity; gain valuable policy, writing, speaking, and analytic skills; and to be an active team member tackling climate, equity, and policy issues. Eligible candidates include those with undergraduate or graduate level experience in energy, science, engineering, economics, public policy and/or law, including candidates with multi-disciplinary experience and/or joint degrees. You must be a current student to apply.

Total compensation for these internships will be $6,000 for each undergraduate-level intern, with the funding provided in the form of a stipend provided by Duke University. For graduate-level interns, total compensation for these internships will be $10,000 for the internship, with the funding provided in the form of a stipend provided by Duke University for $6,000 and $4,000 from NRDC to supplement that stipend for equity purposes.

NRDC is seeking six Duke University Students for our Stanback Fellowship program partnership with various NRDC programs.

Position Summary

NRDC is seeking a summer policy intern to work with the Water & Agriculture Team in our Santa Monica office (or remotely). Over the course of the summer, the intern will have the opportunity to develop skills in drafting policy language, preparing policy analyses, developing policy campaigns, strategizing coalition building, and/or drafting white papers, blogs, issue briefs, literature reviews and other outward facing communications for our team’s regenerative agriculture policy platform. These efforts will be used for NRDC’s broader Farm Bill advocacy in 2023.

Responsibilities

• Write literature reviews on regenerative agriculture topics including agroforestry, soil science research coordination, drought in the West, and water conveyance systems.
• Analyze policy opportunities to advance the team’s regenerative agriculture priorities at the state and federal level.
• Write model policy language to help build, promote, and scale up investments in regenerative agriculture.
• Coordinate, prepare written materials for, and participate in meetings with legislative staff to advance the team’s policy priorities in the Farm Bill.
• Help build, deepen, and expand NRDC’s Farm Bill & regenerative agriculture policy coalition.
• Collaborate with other NRDC team members to ensure consistent messaging, buy-in, and coordinated advocacy on regenerative agriculture.

Qualifications

• Commitment to NRDC’s values and mission.

NRDC hires passionate students who possess the intelligence, skill, self-confidence, and maturity to take on substantial responsibility. Our interns play an active role on the frontlines of the environmental movement, and over the course of a summer will work on a variety of projects and amass experience they could not obtain elsewhere.

NRDC is committed to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion, both in our work and in our workplace. We believe that celebrating and actively welcoming diverse voices and perspectives is essential to solving the planet's most pressing environmental problems, and we encourage applications from candidates whose identities have been historically under-represented in the environmental movement.

We are an equal opportunity employer and do not discriminate in hiring or employment on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, marital status, sexual orientation, national origin, citizenship, age, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law. Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

Our offices are open and we are operating in a hybrid model. We offer NRDCers flexibility, we ask them to come into the office and spend meaningful time there in collaboration with their colleagues.  We call this purposeful presence.

As a science-based organization, NRDC aims to do our part to help contain the COVID-19 public health crisis. For the sake of health, safety, and equity, we ask that people be vaccinated unless they have an approved medical or religious accommodation or other exemption in accordance with state and local law. We consider a person to be vaccinated two weeks after receiving one full course of a CDC-approved vaccine. In accordance with state or local law, new hires will be asked to attest to vaccination, those wishing to do so may request medical or religious accommodations or other exemptions via NRDC Employee Relations. NRDC treats all vaccine-related data confidentially, in keeping with local, state, and federal laws.

To apply, visit www.nrdc.org/careers and upload your résumé and cover letter. Please mention where you saw this posting and upload any additional materials that showcase your abilities. Due to the high volume of applications, we will contact only those candidates we would like to interview. Please no phone calls, emails, or in-person résumé drop-offs. If you experience technical problems while applying or if you are a person with a disability and need assistance applying online, please reach out to iCIMS Customer Care at 1-800-889-4422.

For more about NRDC, visit www.nrdc.org.

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