Summer 2025
Position Overview
The Graduate-level Policy & Research Intern will be working with San Francisco Financial Justice Project team and the Office of Financial Empowerment, both housed within the Office of the Treasurer & Tax Collector. The intern will conduct research, analyze legislation, develop media briefings, draft communication materials, and will assist with implementation of programs geared towards supporting low-income individuals.
Financial Justice Project Overview
In 2016, San Francisco became the first city and county in the nation to launch a team dedicated to advancing Financial Justice for its residents. The Financial Justice Project, housed in the San Francisco Office of the Treasurer & Tax Collector, assesses and reforms how fees and fines impact our city’s low-income residents and communities of color. Government programs and courts have long levied fines and fees, either to discourage behaviors or to cover costs. But over the past several years, awareness has increased on how these tools can have an insidious and unintended impact, pushing people into poverty. People with lower incomes and people of color are usually hit the hardest. These financial penalties can make government a driver of inequality, not an equalizer of opportunity. The Financial Justice Project works in collaboration with local anti-poverty nonprofits, legal service providers, grassroots coalitions, and government partners, such as the Public Defender’s Office, District Attorney’s Office, Human Services Agency, Municipal Transit Agency, Sheriff’s Department, Mayor’s Budget Office, and the San Francisco Superior Court, to advance reforms that directly impact people’s lives.
Working with partners at the local and state level, the Financial Justice Project has eliminated or adjusted dozens of fines and fees, lifting billions of dollars in debt off of hundreds of thousands of San Franciscans and Californians with low incomes. The Financial Justice Project and its programs have been featured in various news outlets, including the New York Times, KQED, NPR, and more. Check out our In the Media page to see more.
Office of Financial Empowerment Overview
The Office of Financial Empowerment (OFE) aims to advocate and strengthen the economic security and mobility of all San Franciscans. OFE is a unique private-public partnership housed in the Office of the Treasurer & Tax Collector (TTX). OFE is a convener, innovator, and advocate that leverages City Hall's power to strengthen economic security and mobility for low-income families who live, work, or receive San Francisco services. This work includes Kindergarten to College (K2C), the first publicly funded universal children’s savings program of its kind in the country, now managing accounts for more than 50,000 students in public school. In addition, OFE also provides free one-on-one financial counseling across San Francisco; Bank On San Francisco, which helps individuals access safe, affordable accounts at responsible banks and credit unions; Bank On Youth, which equips young people with a secure bank account, and strategies to save during employment; and policy efforts to fight predatory financial practices and help low-income families build and protect wealth. For more info, see www.sfofe.org.
Essential Duties
Research/Analysis (40%)
Projects can be developed in partnership with the intern, based on their content area interests and desires. Potential research topics may include the following:
- Researching and analyzing financial fraud and scams and identifying best practices to protect consumers in San Francisco.
- Researching safe and affordable financial services for consumers often excluded from mainstream financial services.
- Analyzing quantitative and/or qualitative survey data.
- Developing clear and concise graphics and summaries of research and/or data analysis.
Legislative Advocacy, Tracking, and Media Briefs (35%)
Part of our work includes legislative advocacy, so it is critical for us to stay up to date on local, state, and national legislation related to our work. Potential tasks may include:
- Tracking specific California bills that we’ve cosponsored or generally support.
- Tracking local ordinances, statewide legislation, and/or federal legislation that could impact the work we do or the people we serve.
- Developing media briefings about relevant issue areas.
- Creating letters of support for relevant legislation.
Administration (25%)
Program administration plays a vital role in carrying out our various programs. Potential administrative tasks could include:
- Organizing department’s library of research articles and reports
- Taking and distributing meeting notes.
- Identifying and contacting program participants for interviews as needed.
- Drafting or improving communications materials.
Minimum Qualifications
- Possession of a Baccalaureate degree from an accredited college or university with major coursework in policy, public or business administration, accounting, finance, economics, social sciences, education or related fields, or other subject areas closely related to a specific departmental program or function; AND
- Possession of or in the process of completing a graduate degree from an accredited college or university with major coursework in policy, public or business administration, accounting, finance, economics, social sciences, education or related fields, or other subject areas closely related to a specific departmental program or function; AND
- At least 1 year (2 – 3 preferred) of full-time equivalent experience performing professional-level management and/or administrative/research duties in functional areas such as: policy analysis, program/office/operations management or administration, and/or other closely related functional areas.
Desired Skills and Qualifications
- Strong ability to take initiative on new projects and conduct independent research.
- Detail-oriented with excellent time-management skills and ability to follow through on projects.
- Interest and experience in local government, research, or analysis positions.
- Excellent analytic skills and ability to synthesize and translate complicated material into clear and simple language.
- Experience speaking to a variety of audiences regarding financial information and related complex matters.
- Strong design skills and ability to create compelling visuals.
- Experience managing social media and other communications outlets.
- Experience establishing, promoting, and maintaining professional, cooperative-working relationships with those contacted throughout the course of work.
- Demonstrated interest in moving forward policy or programmatic reforms. Candidates directly impacted by issue areas strongly encouraged to apply.
CompensationType: Hourly wage of $28.29 per hour (SF Job Classification: 9922). 40 hours per week for 8-10 weeks. NOTE: must be authorized to work in the United States.
Location: We are currently working under a hybrid schedule. Intern must be available to work in-person at least three days per week at our office in San Francisco City Hall (usually including Tuesday and Wednesday, subject to change).
Application Deadline: Friday, April 25, 2025. Applicants must send both a resume and cover letter to Michelle Lau at michelle.k.lau@sfgov.org. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.
Timeline: Interviews will be scheduled for the last week of April. Offers and background checks will be made by early May. We anticipate that the intern will be onboarded in early to mid-June and will be expected to work for 8-10 weeks (depending on the intern’s availability). Note:timeline may be subject to change, pending City of San Francisco approval process.
Verification of Education and Experience: Applicants may be required to submit verification of qualifying education and experience at any point during the recruitment and selection process. If education verification is required, information on how to verify education requirements, including verifying foreign education credits or degree equivalency, can be found at https://sfdhr.org/how-verify-education-requirements
The Department is an Equal Opportunity Employer, and encourages women, minorities and persons with disabilities to apply. Applicants will be considered regardless of their sex, race, age, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, military and veteran status, or other protected category under the law.