2026 Policy & Nonprofit Leadership Interns Selected

Five returning SHECP interns will spend the summer in Washington, D.C., deepening their experience in anti-poverty policy and nonprofit leadership.

The Shepherd Higher Education Consortium on Poverty (SHECP) is pleased to announce the 2026 Policy & Nonprofit Leadership (PNPL) cohort. Reserved for students who have already completed a prior SHECP summer internship, PNPL gives returning interns the opportunity to build on direct service experience by exploring nonprofit management, advocacy, and anti-poverty policy in Washington, D.C. Throughout the summer, the interns will live and learn as part of the DC cohort, engage speakers connected to SHECP’s 2026 theme of rural poverty, and conclude the experience at the SHECP Annual Conference at Marymount University in Arlington, Virginia.

“The Policy & Nonprofit Leadership internship program gives students the chance to return to anti-poverty work with a deeper lens — one focused not only on service, but also on the policies and institutions that shape communities’ lives,” said Jen Handy, Executive Director of SHECP. “This year’s cohort brings intellectual curiosity, practical experience, and a serious commitment to public impact.”

This summer, the Policy & Nonprofit Leadership internship program will return to the Brookings Institution, the National Alliance to End Homelessness, the National Community Action Foundation, and the National Urban League:

• Tamari Kuzanashvili, an International Politics and Economics major at Middlebury College, will be working as a Rural Policy Intern at the Brookings Institution. Tamari will be working with the Global Economy and Development (“Global”) program at Brookings, a program that aims to shape the policy debate to improve global economic cooperation and fight global poverty and sources of social stress.

• Gibson Ward, an Economics and Sociology double major at Washington and Lee University, will be working as a Policy & Nonprofit Management Intern with the National Alliance to End Homelessness, using data and research to understand policies addressing homelessness. Gibson will work with both the Policy and the Operations and Events teams at NAEH.

• Sophia Flanagan, a University of Vermont student pursuing a Public Health Sciences major with minors in Food Systems and Epidemiology, will be working as a Policy Intern with the National Community Action Foundation (NCAF). Sophia will conduct research and prepare briefs that support NCAF's legislative initiatives that support and advance the work of Community Action Agencies throughout the country.

• Jasmine Bonilla, an Environmental Studies major at Hamilton College, will be working as a Policy Intern with the National Urban League's Washington Bureau, preparing memos on congressional proceedings, researching and tracking litigation, and developing advocacy materials. Along with fellow NUL interns, Jasmine will present research and recommendations to NUL senior leadership and will participate in the 2026 National Urban League Conference.

  
  

SOME (So Others Might Eat) has been a long-term community partner with the first-year SHECP Summer Internship Program. This summer, their medical clinic will host two SHECP Summer Interns, and their ABLE program will host a third. This is the first summer they will be participating in the Policy & Nonprofit Leadership program.

• Iris Miller-Bottoms, a Government Major at Hamilton College, will be working as a Nonprofit Management Intern with SOME. Iris will be working with SOME's administrative team to cultivate community partnerships, build program capacity, and develop sustainable streams of support.

The PNPL internship is an opportunity for students to explore the intersection between poverty and policy, building upon their experiences from their previous SHECP Summer Internship. Katie Schadler, a 2025 PNPL intern with NAEH, spoke about her SHECP internships during the 2025 Annual Conference and remarked, "SHECP didn’t just show me what I wanted to do for the rest of my life; it taught me the kind of person I want to be." You can listen to her full speech here: https://www.shepherdconsortium.org/post/reflecting-on-my-shecp-summers-schadler

The Policy & Nonprofit Leadership Internship program will run concurrently with the SHECP Summer Internship Program, from the beginning of June to the end of July. At the end of the program, interns will have the opportunity to present their research and reflections at the SHECP Annual Conference at Marymount University in Arlington, VA. This program has been made possible by funding from the Middlebury Conflict Transformation Collaborative. Additional support has been provided by Hamilton College and Washington and Lee University. For more information about the Policy & Nonprofit Leadership Internship, visit: www.shepherdconsortium.org/policynonprofitleadership.