The Conference on Asian Pacific American Leadership (CAPAL) seeks to empower Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) youth by increasing access to public service opportunities and building a strong AANHPI public service pipeline.

DC Public Service Internships

CAPAL’s Public Service Internship Program places undergraduate and graduate students within the public sector in the Washington, DC area. Intern duties may include policy or scientific research, project coordination and management, business, law, communications, and more. In addition to their internship requirements, interns will participate in CAPAL’s programming such as the Washington Leadership Program, be paired with professional mentors based on similar field interests, and reflect on their internships with other CAPAL interns and scholars during regular cohort sessions. Applicants are asked to specify their placement preferences on the application, and those selected will be placed based on their interests and skills. These internships are open to ALL MAJORS.

Public Service Field Internships

CAPAL’s Public Service Field Internship Program places undergraduate and graduate students within public sector positions throughout the United States. Placements may be in rural or urban areas, such as Alaska, Delaware, and California. Interns will be exposed to various duties such as conducting field research, performing site visits to local communities, and presenting their findings to various partners; they will be able to see their work directly benefit the communities around them. Field interns are also given the opportunity to interact with the DC-based CAPAL cohort via video chats and livestreams of various events. At the end of the program, field interns are flown to Washington, DC for CAPAL’s Closing Ceremony.

Public Service Scholarships

CAPAL’s Public Service Scholarship Program awards scholarships to undergraduate and graduate students who will be serving in unpaid public service internships in the Washington, DC area. These scholarships are intended to enable outstanding students with leadership potential to work full-time and learn ways to influence their local communities and the Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) community. Recipients of the scholarships are responsible for securing their own internship opportunity.

The CAPAL-MAASU Public Service Scholarship will be awarded to an undergraduate student enrolled at a school that is a member of the Midwest Asian American Students Union (MAASU) or a school located in the following Midwestern states: Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. All eligible scholarship applicants will be considered for the CAPAL-MAASU scholarship.

Pay: $3,000.00 per year

Any additional questions or inquiries can be sent to hannah.park@capal.org