Summer Law Student Internship
Los Angeles Community Action Network (LA CAN) is a community organization based in the Skid Row neighborhood of downtown Los Angeles. Our constituency consists of extremely low-income and homeless people, primarily those living in Downtown LA and South Central LA. We recruit organizational members and build indigenous leadership within this constituency to promote human rights and address the multiple forms of oppression faced by extremely low-income, predominately African-American and Latino, residents. LA CAN is the home of the Stop LAPD Spying Coalition, a grassroots political organization working to abolish LAPD surveillance and other forms of social and racial control. Stop LAPD Spying’s work includes community research, grassroots advocacy, collective study, direct action, and political litigation.
LA CAN and Stop LAPD Spying are seeking one to two law students to join our community lawyering work for a 10-week internship in Summer 2021. Interns will help with research and drafting for grassroots advocacy, community research, political litigation, and legislative strategies, following the lead of community organizers who are building power to end poverty and policing. Over the ten weeks, interns will experience firsthand the promises and complexities of combining a community lawyering model with grassroots and movement organizing. Interns may also be asked to support other LA CAN projects, including the Downtown Women’s Action Coalition.
Applicants should have strong research and writing skills as well as comfort with community organizing and creative political efforts. Applicants must be committed to dismantling oppressive systems, to collective study, and to the broader fight for Black, indigenous, migrant, queer, and feminist liberation. Given the non-traditional orientation of this internship, applicants should be prepared to work creatively and independently in collaboration with grassroots organizers and community members.
How to apply
Applicants should submit a cover letter, resume, and writing sample. Hiring decisions will be made on a rolling basis. There is no funding available for this internship, but we will sponsor students seeking grants, fellowships, or other external funding.
Applications and questions should be sent to Shakeer Rahman, shakeerr@cangress.org