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Frequently Asked Questions About the Clara Barton Internship

By the Rev. Meg A. Riley
Director of the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) Advocacy and Witness Staff Group

What exactly will a Unitarian Universalist Women's Federation (UUWF) intern do?
The Clara Barton intern works with the UUA's Social Justice Internship program, located at the UUA Office for Advocacy in Washington, DC. All of the Social Justice interns balance advocacy work, direct service, theological reflection, and cultivating connections with other grassroots Unitarian Universalist (UU) groups to act as a centralizing source of information. The Clara Barton intern will focus specifically on issues affecting women from all parts of the world. Direct service work is designed to engage interns in personal relationships with local communities, and see how legislation affects real people's lives at home and abroad. Theological reflection involves journaling, reading, worship and reflection.

People mean a variety of things by the word advocacy; what does it mean in this context?
Advocacy is complex. Some of the Clara Barton internship's advocacy goals include:

Carefully studying and recording current situations affecting women.
Strategic thinking for continuing to keep women's issues in the forefront
Educating grassroots groups
Mobilizing people to take action including developing effective leadership, present and future.
Evaluating actions' effectiveness to achieve maximum results in future efforts.

What do you mean, advocacy will center on 'women’s issues'? Which issues?
In modern society, there are an ever-changing number of issues that affect women. Some of the current issues that a Clara Barton intern would be working on include:

Health care issues including reproductive choice, comprehensive sexuality education, contraception and the right to abortion.
Childcare
Public assistance for families
Freedom to choose to marry or not to marry
Women’s economic development and equality

These issues are just a few of the practices and policies that all disproportionately affect women's lives. In some cases, the intern may work to make an otherwise overlooked connection between gender and a more general issue, such as minimum wage or affordable housing.

Given the number of issues which are relevant to women, how will the intern set priorities?
All interns work with the Director of the Washington Office for Advocacy to establish priorities. Each intern then creates a "learning/ service agreement" for the year's work. Most work is done in coalitions with interfaith and secular partners. In setting priorities, the UUA Washington Office for Advocacy staff members consider:

Do Unitarian Universalists have a clear position on this issue?
Do we have the potential to have an impact on decisions about this issue right now?
Do we bring anything unique to coalition tables about this issue?

Is it really possible to be effective in fighting for women's rights at this time?
Yes!!! Public opinion strongly supports the concept of women’s equality, and well-orchestrated campaigns for women have a clear and decisive impact on public policy. As the great rabbi Hillel said, " If not now, when?"

How will the UUWF Clara Barton intern provide feedback to UUWF members, other donors, and other interested individuals and groups?
The Clara Barton Intern will provide information through printed communication, electronic communication, programs and presentations. More specifically, she will write articles for inclusion in the UUWF newsletter, The Communicator, and will develop materials to be used by women’s groups in congregations and other grassroots settings. Also included would be an e-mail update list that would keep people alerted about the latest issues and activities. She will develop web pages, including her internship journal. These will be linked to the UUA web site and the UUWF web site. She will meet with constituents at General Assembly and, as resources and time are available, visit with UUWF groups and other congregational groups.

Isn’t it illegal for churches and religious organizations to engage in legislative advocacy because they’re tax exempt?
Not at all! All religious institutions are allowed to do some amount of issue-centered advocacy in the public arena which is consistent with their religious beliefs. Since Unitarians and Universalists have consistently been a leading voice for women’s equality for more than 125 years, advocacy on behalf of women is certainly legal and well within our religious principles!

Why will this internship make any real difference to UU women and UUWF?
The internship program will support the leadership of future generations of feminists, provide an effective voice in the wider world for the equality of women, and engage women across the land to take action on behalf of future generations of women.

What do interns do after they leave the internship center? Do you help them figure it out?
These internships are life-transforming experiences for the participants. Their paths after the year will vary. Some will move directly into advocacy jobs that are directly related to the issues they have worked on in the Washington Office for Advocacy and Witness. Others have gone directly to graduate school, joined the Peace Corps, or traveled internationally. The Washington office staff helps them to make contacts for their future as well as develop concrete job-seeking skills. These internships have tremendous impacts personally, spiritually, ethically, and politically on the participants. We anticipate that, over the years, we will continue to hear how this experience has transformed their lives and their commitment to Social Justice.

Last updated on Friday, April 18, 2008.