Institute for Research on Poverty (IRP)

Internship Location: Remote

Organization Type: Nonprofit

Policy Areas: Family welfare, local/state legal systems, social justice

This summer, I worked for the Institute for Research on Poverty (IRP) at the University of Wisconsin – Madison. I worked remotely as an intern, organizing and coding court record data for research and analysis. The court record database contains family court cases from around the state of Wisconsin, and the IRP utilizes the data for statistics, research, and public education. Some of my main priorities this summer were organizing individual court cases, combing through legal files for relevant information, and coding the information in a way that is helpful for IRP researchers. Not only did this internship help me learn more about the legal system as it pertains to family court, but I was also able to connect many of the concepts from my course work to my internship. It really expanded my view of policy work and how it is interconnected to many other fields of work. I am looking forward to drawing on this experience for examples in my future coursework and to spreading ideas about why policy work is so important in many aspects of our lives.