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Past Interns
NWHN is aware that its long-term goals cannot be accomplished by a single generation of activists. In order to invest in its ultimate success, NWHN cultivates the activism and leadership of approximately a dozen young women per year through the Helen Rodriguez-Trias Women’s Health Leadership Program. This program, which was formally launched in 1986 under a different name, was renamed in 2002 in memory of a former NWHN Board of Directors member who spoke movingly of the importance of the organization’s work with young women.
Through this program, young women come to Washington, DC (either in the fall, spring, or summer), from all across the country to be exposed to women’s health policy and to gain the tools necessary for making a critical analysis of health issues. We share with young women the tools we’ve developed to research, question and listen. Interns learn how to do research on specific women’s health issues, as well as how to analyze policy proposals with a feminist, social justice lens. NWHN believes that policy can and should be developed to take into account women’s lived experiences, including the experience of women whose needs aren’t fully met by the current system. Interns take phone calls from women seeking answers for sometime difficult situations. In addition to responding to requests for health information, interns learn how women’s individual concerns can be used to shape policy. Interns work with permanent staff of NWHN to put their new skills to work. Each intern gets a chance to see policy in action, take part in advocacy activities, study a specific topic in women’s health, write about an experience in her life for our newsletter, prepare educational materials and respond to health information requests.
Recent interns have researched lessoned learned from the failed health care reform effort in 1993, conducted their own research on the scope of direct-to-consumer ads and taken part in advocacy efforts to educate policymakers about HIV/AIDS and youth. Recent interns have also published articles in NWHN’s newsletter on the experience of being a feminist in a small town, recovering from sexual assault, eating disorders, learning to speak up and how to find good health information.
Interns conduct all of their work in NWHN’s women’s health library, the largest room in our office. Each intern is provided with a desk and a computer. Interns attend monthly staff meetings and interact with all staff on a regular basis. Each staff person also meets with the interns at the beginning of their internship to share their professional background and the details of their position at NWHN. Local members of NWHN’s board of directors join the interns for a brown bag lunch discussion of their work in women’s health. After their internship ends, participants are encouraged to maintain a long-term relationship with NWHN, including considering serving on the board of directors. NWHN’s current board of fourteen includes 3 former interns.