Who we are:
The Vera Institute of Justice, founded in 1961, is a nonprofit criminal justice organization that strives to build just government institutions and safe communities free from the scourge of racism, white supremacy, profit, and inequity that is pervasive in this country’s legal systems. We are an “inside” lane organization that drives change at scale with ambitious public sector leaders who share our commitment to building anti-racist, reparative systems that deliver justice. We leverage our access to government to transform these systems and work collaboratively with stakeholders across many movements—including advocacy, grassroots, and grasstop organizations. Our role is to pilot solutions that are transformative and achievable, harness the power of evidence to drive effective policy and practice, and use advocacy and communications to change narratives and norms.
Vera has a staff of 300 people and offices in New York City, Washington, DC, Los Angeles, and New Orleans. We are an equal opportunity employer with a commitment to diversity in the workplace. We expect our staff to embody respect, independence, collaboration, commitment, anti-racism, and equity—both in our outward-facing work and the internal culture of our workplace. We value a range of experiences in people’s educational backgrounds and encourage people who have been directly impacted by the criminal justice system to apply.
Who you are:
Vera generates ideas to transform justice systems and takes them to national scale. Following the completion of our strategic plan, we are expanding and formalizing our infrastructure for this multistage ideation and scaling process—which we call the Impact Pipeline. This staged process helps Vera staff generate ideas with potential for national impact, pilot those ideas, adapt and improve them, and evaluate their effectiveness.
The Summer Innovation Intern provides capacity support to the Innovation Department. This position will focus on desk research for new ideas placed on Vera’s Impact Pipeline that have the potential to transform criminal legal/immigration systems at scale. Completed desk research will be presented to the team and inform decision making on the direction of the project.
The learning goals of this internship include fostering skills in project management, facilitation, innovation, and design thinking, identifying how to look at social problems, create approaches, and find solutions, and developing an understanding of how research feeds into strategy building.
The Summer Innovation Intern will work under the supervision of the Innovation Senior Associate and in close collaboration with the Director of Innovation and Program Development and Innovation Analyst.
What you'll do:
Conducting community and legislative landscape research, and synthesizing the outputs
- Support desk research needed to create a landscape analysis for Stage 1 teams
- Summarize and present findings to the team
Creating and developing an internal Impact Pipeline toolkit
- Collaborate with the Impact Pipeline General Intern in mapping out all tools and templates used with initiative teams
- Support the creation of a toolkit that will standardize and organize tools used in workshops into a library of resources for the Impact Pipeline team
Sourcing and compiling resources related to Innovation, Ideation, and Human Center Design
- Gain a foundational understanding of organizational strategy, ideation processes, and human centered design
- Identify introductory resources for Verans interested in learning more about innovation
- Summarize resources into easily accessible formats to be used in workshops
Assisting with ad hoc projects as they relate to innovation, design, and strategy
- Support in the creation of blog posts that summarize key learnings from Stage 1 learning cycles that did not graduate to Stage 2 to further drive existing work at Vera
- Identify potential problem spaces that could serve as the foundation for future Stage 1 applications
- Other ad hoc duties as needed
What qualifications are we looking for?
- Demonstrated interest in the criminal legal system
- Demonstrated experience in project design: how to develop a concept, conduct background research, receive feedback from others, and iterate for project success.
- Ability to do independent desk research: find the necessary information, review, and synthesize to then incorporate into the larger project process
Preferred:
- Currently enrolled in an undergraduate program
Knowledge, Skills, & Abilities you'll bring:
- A demonstrated commitment to racial equity and social justice,
- The ability to work both independently and with others efficiently and effectively
- Strong writing and communications skills
Technical knowledge we need you to be prepared to use:
- Proficient with Microsoft Office Suite or similar software – Power Point and Microsoft Word
Location:
Please note this role will report to our Brooklyn, NY office. Vera interns and employees adhere to a hybrid schedule and are in-office on an alternating schedule. Full-time positions generally amount to 10 days per month. Part-time positions generally amount to 5 days per month.
Schedule:
The intern should be available to work up to 35 hours per week during the summer. The dates will be between June 5th and August 11th, with some flexibility to accommodate personal and academic schedules.
Compensation:
The compensation range for internships is $16.00 - $25.00 per hour. Actual compensation will vary depending on factors including but not limited to experience and performance. Applicants may choose to receive academic credit. For those who need to earn academic credit, Vera will gladly assist in working with the school or program to make arrangements and meet requirements.
How to apply:
Please submit cover letter and resume. In your cover letter, please explain why you are passionate about criminal justice reform and what you hope to gain from this internship.
Applications may also be faxed to:
ATTN: People Resources / [JOBTITLE]
Vera Institute of Justice
34 35th St, Suite 4-2A, Brooklyn, NY 11232
Fax: (212) 941-9407
Please use only one method (online, mail or fax) of submission.
No phone calls, please. Only applicants selected for interviews will be contacted.
As a federal contractor, and in order to ensure a healthy and safe work environment, Vera Institute of Justice is requiring all employees to be fully vaccinated and provide proof of their COVID-19 vaccine before their start date. Employees who cannot receive the vaccine because of a disability/medical contraindication or sincerely-held religious belief may request an accommodation (e.g., an exemption) to this requirement.
Vera is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer. All qualified applicants will be considered for employment without unlawful discrimination based on race, color, creed, national origin, sex, age, disability, marital status, sexual orientation, military status, prior record of arrest or conviction, citizenship status, current employment status, or caregiver status.
Vera works to advance justice, particularly racial justice, in an increasingly multicultural country and globally connected world. We value diverse experiences, including with regard to educational background and justice system contact, and depend on a diverse staff to carry out our mission.
For more information about Vera, please visit www.vera.org
