Our Children Oregon’s paid Equity in Policy and Advocacy Internship program meaningfully contributes to advancing our mission while developing essential skills and providing unique opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students. Meet our Spring & Some of our Summer 2022 interns: Carmela, River, Kathryn, Shauna and Jasmine!
Carmela Davis (she/her), Community Engagement Intern
Located in Salem, Carmela is graduating from Willamette University in the spring of 2022 with an undergraduate degree in Politics, Policy, Law, and Ethics (PPLE) and a minor in Sociology. Throughout her college education, she has become passionate about advocating for communities and issues that are facing unjust legislative and societal challenges. She is excited to be working with OCO to ensure that Oregon children are uplifted through policy and advocacy work so that they can have safe, educated, and fulfilling lives.
What values drive you? Why did this internship stand out for you?
I value to be continually educating myself (and others) about the detrimental impacts unjust legislation/society can have on different groups of people. This is what brought me to OCO, because my drive to always want to be bettering myself and supporting marginalized communities is something that I value. I do not want to become complicit in systems that harm others, and OCO helps to open the door to listening to and advocating for children in Oregon who want to have safe and fulfilling lives.
What’s a passion of yours you’ve acted on?
I have a passion for improving public health and medical institutions in the United States. As someone with a disability, I have seen and experienced firsthand the shortcomings our society has in this regard, and I would like to become more tangibly involved in working to advocate for better healthcare systems and practices
Standout books or podcasts that speak to you?
The 1619 Project is a book I have been reading recently, and I think it does a great job of tying in historical events to current day issues of systemic racism in the US.
What superpower did you want as a child? What superpower would you want now?
As a child, and still, to this day, the superpower I want is the ability to teleport wherever I want.
Macy Bretz (they/them), Foster Youth Engagement Intern
Macy is a former foster youth and joined Oregon Foster Connection to advocate for foster youth in the system. They are now supporting OCO’s foster youth engagement across the state.
What values drive you? Why did this internship stand out for you?
What’s a passion of yours you’ve acted on?
Passing more laws [to support foster youth across the state], setting youth up for success, changing the statistics, and making housing, high school, college, etc., all easier to achieve. While ultimately making foster homes safer and more accepting. Foster youth should be prepared for their futures when exiting the system.
What volunteering or passion projects do you do outside of work?
Kathryn Liu (she/her), Data & Research Intern
Kathryn is working on her graduate degree at OHSU-PSU School of Public Health with a focus on Biostatistics. She hopes to continue developing her data visualization skills and looks forward to working with a very positive and talented team!
What values drive you? Why did this internship stand out for you?
What’s a passion of yours you’ve acted on?
What superpower did you want as a child? What superpower would you want now?
Shauna Rakshe (she/her), Data & Research Intern
Shauna is working on her Master of Science at OHSU. She hopes to learn how the OCO team conducts advocacy work, learn new skills for analyzing, integrating, and presenting data, and make valuable contributions to the work done at OCO.
What values drive you? Why did this internship stand out for you?
What superpower did you want as a child? What superpower would you want now?
Jasmine Contile (she/her), Legislative & Policy Intern
Jasmine is a first year law student at Willamette University and hopes to assist OCO in collecting data on legislative efforts, learn more about child advocacy and juvenile policy for her own personal and professional interest while contributing meaningful work and information to an organization that aligns with her values.
What values drive you? Why did this internship stand out for you?
What’s a passion of yours you’ve acted on?
Jeniffer White (she/her), Legislative & Policy Intern
Jeniffer is in her last year of undergrad at Southern Oregon University, majoring in Economics and minoring in business administration. Over the past three years, she worked as a program associate, supporting relationship-building between parent and child, encouraging pre-kindergarten readiness, and supporting literacy. Jeniffer is passionate about fostering environments that positively influence children’s social, emotional, and cognitive development. With that, she is excited about being a part of Our Children Oregon’s legislative advocacy intern team and looking forward to contributing knowledge and expanding her knowledge. Jeniffer enjoys hiking, flower pressing, and writing handwritten letters to her family.
What brought you to this internship? What values drive you?
What brought me to this internship was many reasons, but one that has been with me since the start of my studies is the need to dismantle the oppressive systems that negatively affect the whole child. This passion was fueled by stories and shared experiences from BIPOC, refugees, and immigrant families. With that in mind, I wanted to find and be a part of an organization whose values and vision align with mine; this is another reason why I chose to intern at Our Children Oregon organization. The value that drives me are, kindness, respect, compassion, empathy, equality, dependability, hope and enthusiasm.
Do you have any standout books or podcasts that speak to you?
Riley Phoenix (she/her), Youth Engagement Intern
Riley Phoenix is an incoming junior at American University in Washington, D.C, and a member of the Frederick Douglass Distinguished Scholars Program, the university’s most prestigious scholarship dedicated to students of color who are committed to fostering socially responsible leaders. As a child of an incarcerated parent, she has been involved with activism since childhood. But, a class on War Crimes and Genocide at Harvard finally piqued her interest in IR after she became aware that issues like racism, reproductive rights, and food insecurity– issues she cared about– were equally foreign policy issues as well as domestic ones. Now at AU, she studies International Law and International Organizations and their roles as answers to global atrocities, and she intends to practice international and human rights law in the future. Riley is looking forward to her time with OCO to advocate for the human rights of children, so that they not only have what they need to thrive, but are able to play determining roles in their own futures.
What brought you to this internship? What values drive you?
As a child of an incarcerated parent, I’ve seen first-hand how current systems in place fail families like mine, which inspired my lifelong dream to become a lawyer to advocate for the rights of those who would be otherwise unheard, specifically children and immigrants. As I continue through my professional and educational journey, interning at OCO allows me the opportunity to collaborate with Oregon’s communities and lawmakers to find real solutions to the problems of today so that no more children go hungry, unhoused, and unheard– a first true gateway into the work I dream of doing.
Curious to know more about our internship program?
Learn more or share with someone that might be interested in a summer/fall internship placement, or support our ability to continue to grow this program!
