CLPP is a national reproductive rights and justice organization based at Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts that is dedicated to educating, mentoring, and inspiring new generations of advocates, leaders, and supporters.
My name is Rory and I work as the RRASC Program Student Assistant for Civil Liberties and Public Policy (CLPP). We have a paid summer internship program, the Reproductive Rights Activist Service Corps (RRASC), where we place about 40 students from all over the country at reproductive and social justice organizations for a paid, 10-week internship with a stipend of $3500. Half of these internship spaces are reserved for students of color. Our internship program is unique, in that it is a paid internship, which focuses heavily on reproductive justice and social justice activism. Some people doing legal advocacy for pregnant people who participating organizations include: the Sylvia Rivera Law Project, the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, Young People For, Advocates for Youth, National Asian Pacific Women’s Forum, Justice Now, Project South, SisterSong, National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health, Tewa Women United, Law Students for Reproductive Justice, the Doula Project, the Prison Birth Project, and the Center for Sex & Culture. It is a rare opportunity for student activists to continue and/ or begin exploring social justice and reproductive justice issues while having financial support.
As a former RRASC intern, I can speak to my experience being in the program and how beneficial it has been for me. In the Summer of 2014, I was a RRASC Intern at National Advocates for Pregnant Women (NAPW) in New York City. There, I learned what fighting for reproductive justice looks like outside of my academic studies. I worked directly with were having their rights taken away due to the fact that they were pregnant. This experience not only developed my advocacy skills, but it transformed my outlook on the world and helped me to grow in a unique way. I hope that everyone involved in the RRASC Internship Program this summer will have experiences like this, as well. The RRASC application will open online sometime at the end of November, and it will close sometime in mid-January. If you are interested in advertising the RRASC program at your school or know of students who would benefit from the program, we can provide you with more information regarding the program itself, the application process, etc. You can also learn more on our website. If you have any questions regarding the program, please feel free to email me at rrasc@hampshire.edu.