Public Relations Intern

Public Relations Intern

The Campaign Finance Board is a nonpartisan, independent city agency that empowers New Yorkers to have a greater impact on their elections. Our mission is to make local democracy more open, transparent, and equitable by removing barriers to participation. We make it easier for New Yorkers to vote, meaningfully support candidates for city office, and run for office themselves. NYC Votes, our voter engagement initiative, meets people where they are to share trustworthy election information and help New Yorkers make a plan to vote. We publish the citywide Voter Guide, which delivers information about candidates directly to voters' doors. Our public matching funds program ensures small contributions can make a big difference, allowing regular people to run for office by relying on the support of other regular people, not just wealthy donors and special interests. And we lift the veil on how candidates raise and spend money, increasing transparency and accountability in local government. We believe that when every New Yorker is empowered to participate meaningfully in elections, candidates will better reflect the communities they serve, elected leaders will be more accountable to the public, and New Yorkers will have a democracy they can truly trust.

The Public Affairs division engages New Yorkers, informs them about elections, and boosts their participation in the democratic process. Our strategic goals are to make election information accessible and relevant, increase engagement with underrepresented communities, and cultivate a team that reflects our core values of purpose, curiosity, creativity, and collaboration. The division includes Marketing and Digital Communications, Partnerships and Outreach, Product Management and Operations, and Public Relations. Our division's work includes publishing the citywide Voter Guide, running the official citywide Debates Program, and managing the voter engagement initiative NYC Votes. Within Public Affairs, the Public Relations team works with journalists to navigate and report on complex campaign finance issues, establishes best practices on communicating internally and externally about elections and voting using inclusive language, and the NYC Debates program, providing the public with a clear view of citywide candidates' positions on voters' top priorities.

The Public Relations Intern will be a part-time role for the Fall Semester, reporting to the Events Coordinator on the Public Relations team. They will take on writing, research, and events management tasks, and have the opportunity to learn more about public relations strategy, events, and both internal and external communications in the context of local government. Responsibilities include but are not limited to :

• General Public Relations
• Monitoring media coverage of public CFB decisions or announcements
• Tracking and putting together clips of democracy or campaign finance-related media content (news articles, social content)
• Researching reporters to find who is covering our issues in certain national outlets, digging into neighborhood, borough, and community specific outlets and identifying reporters for potential introductory outreach
• Performing landscape analysis to determine how democracy issues like voting, elections and turnout, and campaign finance are being covered locally and nationally
• Supporting pitches for editorial content or op-eds, identifying reporter targets and drafting pitch language
• Supporting on drafting talking points for media appearances, public partnership events
• Events Planning
• Supporting on drafting internal events-related documents like talking points and run of show outlines
• Researching accessibility best practices
• Researching external events that CFB staff members could attend as speakers

Knowledge - Knowledge of or interest in public relations, journalism, communications - Prior experience or interest in event planning - Knowledge of or interest in city government, local politics, democracy issues

Skills - Strong writing, editing, verbal, and interpersonal communication skills - Strong research skills - Highly organized, with strong time and project management skills - Good attention to detail - Professionalism in communicating with internal and external stakeholders

Abilities - Ability to work both independently and collaboratively - Ability to synthesize new knowledge or material and create your own work product - Ability to work effectively across multiple functions, prioritize, and multi-task

Minimum Qualifications

For Assignment Level I : Matriculation at an accredited college or graduate school. Employment is conditioned upon continuance as a student in a college or graduate school.

Preferred Skills

Experience working in communications, public relations, journalism, copywriting, events management, or similar role - Experience working in politics, government, mission or advocacy work

Public Service Loan Forgiveness

As a prospective employee of the City of New York, you may be eligible for federal loan forgiveness programs and state repayment assistance programs.

Residency Requirement

New York City residency is generally required within 90 days of appointment. However, City Employees in certain titles who have worked for the City for 2 continuous years may also be eligible to reside in Nassau, Suffolk, Putnam, Westchester, Rockland, or Orange County.

Additional Information

The City of New York is an inclusive equal opportunity employer committed to recruiting and retaining a diverse workforce and providing a work environment that is free from discrimination and harassment based upon any legally protected status or protected characteristic, including but not limited to an individual's sex, race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, religion, disability, sexual orientation, veteran status, gender identity, or pregnancy.