CPP grant facilitates internship with Planned Parenthood Advocates

Five students received $2,000 Internship Supplemental Grants from the Center for Politics and the People (CPP) during the summer of 2019. The grants helped defray expenses for students to participate in unpaid internships.

Erin Bailey ’21 of Walworth, Wisconsin, is a double major in politics & government and communication, and she interned with Planned Parenthood Advocates of Wisconsin in their Madison, Wisconsin, office.

Bailey says she enjoyed the variety of tasks she helped with. “I was able to work with the public affairs organizer in her efforts to recruit volunteers,” she says. “I also completed a policy research project on over-the-counter contraception. Already legal in countless states, allowing pharmacists to prescribe birth control would increase access to contraception, especially in marginalized communities. My task was to research the benefits of over-the-counter birth control and what methods of birth control pharmacists should be allowed to prescribe.”

Bailey attended the Planned Parenthood People’s Summit in Washington, D.C., on behalf of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Wisconsin. There, she traveled with lobbyists and experienced lobbying firsthand in meetings with Wisconsin Sens. Tammy Baldwin and Ron Johnson and Reps. Ron Kind and Gwen Moore.

The internship helped her with organizational tools, communication skills and volunteer recruitment techniques, Bailey says. “The main aspect I learned is how to discuss divisive issues, such as abortion. With the current divisiveness and partisanship in American politics, learning how to communicate uncomfortable and partisan issues is a lesson I will carry with me in my future endeavors.”

Zoe Hazel ’22
Friendship, Wisconsin