Careers

CUNY Institute for State and Local Governance (ISLG): About Us

The CUNY Institute for State and Local Governance has a mission to improve the financing, delivery, and measurement of critical public services through research, technical assistance, and education. We lead projects aimed at reforming the criminal justice system, measuring urban inequality, expanding the reach of social service providers, and more. Each project has a dedicated team of research and policy experts who collaborate closely with internal and external organizations. For more information about ISLG, please visit www.islg.cuny.edu. 

Our Goals for Diversity and Inclusion

We strive to foster an office environment and an approach to work that welcomes and respects different perspectives, backgrounds, and life experiences. We are working towards our goal of recruiting and retaining staff, interns and advisory group members who are diverse in terms of race, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, religion, veteran status, socioeconomic status, disability, and justice system involvement. 

Who we are looking for

ISLG is recruiting up to one (1) CUNY Law Student to work on a variety of projects, including projects focused on

• Incubating grassroots organizations that are focused on addressing a policy gap or challenge in New York City;

• Providing funding and training and technical assistance to organizations that incorporate community-based restorative justice practices;

• Developing education and leadership fellowships;

• Supporting gender-based violence projects; and

• Collecting and analyzing data from various sources (jails, community partners, health and mental health service providers, municipalities, etc.).

Specifically, we are seeking an intern to support the Legal Department on a range of legal and policy matters, including:

• Assisting with drafting legal documents such as grantee contracts, data use agreements, amendments, and memoranda;

• Reviewing project-specific materials, including scopes of work, requests for work proposals and submissions, and other program materials;

• Participating in meetings and calls with internal teams and external partners about legal and policy matters;

• Supporting the Legal Department in reviewing and drafting policies and procedures, including data security policies; and

• Assisting the Legal Department with administrative support, including developing and updating legal templates, organizing project files, and other matters as needed.

The core of this internship is creating community and peer-to-peer learning among ISLG interns; to foster community we will have bi-weekly in-person convenings that will cover a range of topics such as relationship building, project management, participatory policy making, etc.

We are hiring interns to work at ISLG from June 2nd to August 1st. Interns will have a hybrid work schedule and report to a designated ISLG staff member. Interns will work on a range of tasks to support the projects listed above as well as others not listed here.

Other Duties

Qualifications

We would love to hear from you, if you are/have:

• Currently enrolled in CUNY’s Juris Doctor (JD) program with strong academic standing

• Ability to commit to a consistent schedule of approximately 35 hours per week for the internship period (i.e., June 2– August 1)

• Ability to attend peer-to-peer credentialed in-person weekly sessions on Wednesday’s from 9:00am-11:00am

• Personal, professional, or academic knowledge of any of the following fields/areas: public interest law, contract law, criminal legal reform, police reform, data-driven research and evaluation, peer leadership development, restorative justice, gender-based violence, community engagement, youth development, and violence intervention

• Excellent research and writing skills with attention to detail

• Ability to work independently and as part of a team

• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills

• Excellent time management skills and experience working in deadline-driven environments

• Ability to prioritize and work on a number of tasks simultaneously

• Flexibility about projects and workflow 

• Passion about equitable state and local policy solutions to pressing social issues 

ISLG is open to flexibility on the requirements above, but we would expect candidates to fit most of the items described.

How to Apply

To apply for an internship, you will need to submit a cover letter describing your qualifications and interests and attach your curriculum vitae. Additionally, we ask that candidates submit the following materials:

1. A cover letter that includes your area(s) of interest, how you hope to contribute to ISLG’s mission, and your proposed start and end dates and work schedule. (1 page limit)

2. A resume or curriculum vitae. (1 page limit)

3. The contact information for 2 references (preferably professors or former supervisors of employment relating to the work of ISLG).

4. Unofficial transcripts (Strongly Recommended).

All application documents must be in English and submitted in a single PDF to info@islg.cuny.edu by the deadline listed below. Please use the subject line “Summer Law Intern Application.” Incomplete application packets will not be considered.

Application deadline will be on April 4.