Capitol Pathways Student Info
Capitol Pathways is a paid spring internship program for college students who identify as Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC). With the long-term goal of making Minnesota state government and policymaking more representative of our diverse communities, our program provides students leadership, legislative and career readiness training alongside an immersive hands-on paid internship experience with an organization working in policy during the legislative session. For the 2023 legislative session, our program will run from December – May, 2023.

As we navigate the pandemic, we will continue hybrid programming for the upcoming 2023 year. Program staff will provide detailed information about in-person and virtual programming to students accepted into the program.
Learn more about what we provide, expectations, timeline, and more by clicking on the sections below, or click here for a PDF of this information.
NOTE: Some recruitment materials do not include this updated information, but students are not required to submit a letter of recommendation this year. We apologize for any confusion caused on our end.
APPLICANT ELIGIBILITY
*Before proceeding, please carefully read the application criteria below to ensure you are eligible to apply to the program.
To be considered for this internship, you must:
- Be a current college undergraduate student in good academic standing (at least a 2.0 G.P.A and not on academic or progress probation) attending an accredited two- or four-year institution of higher education in Minnesota. (We are not accepting High School PSEO students at this time.)
- Have completed your first year in college (at least have Sophomore status) or have the equivalent in credits of a full first year student.
- Self-identify as BIPOC.
- Have a J1/F1 visa with authorization to work in the U.S. if you are an international student.
- Undocumented students are eligible to apply.
- Be available to interview with up to three host organizations during the weeks of:
- Dates: November 21 – December 2, 2022
- Be available to attend 4-hour long monthly cohort meetings on the following dates:
- Dates: January 20, February 17, March 24, April 21 and May 12 (2023)
- Be available to attend a mandatory paid student orientation and legislative training on:
- Dates: December 26 – 30, 2022
- Be available to attend a race & equity training sometime on the week of January 16, 2023. Date to be determined.
INTERNSHIP DETAILS
In the program, student interns:
- Join a cohort of up to 35 other students and attend 4-hour long monthly cohort meetings for networking, leadership development and professional skill-building sessions. Cohort meetings are facilitated by program leaders and selected speakers. Cohort meetings are compensated time by the host organization.
- Are matched with an organization (lobbying firm, nonprofit, government agency and others) working at or around the Capitol for the length of a legislative session. These internship sites are referred to as our host organizations/sites. All host organizations will assign a staff person as the student intern’s direct host supervisor.
- Work at their internship a minimum of 10 hours per week during the length of session and are compensated a minimum of $15/per hour. Internships provide policymaking experience. In light of the ongoing pandemic, some of the work may be conducted remotely. Intern responsibilities and duties will vary depending on the organization they work with however, some work examples include:
- Informational interviews with legislators, Capitol staff and other policy professionals
- Research, track and summarize bills
- Attend committee meetings, take notes and draft summaries
- Assist in scheduling, preparation, and staffing meetings
- Attend events within your organization and externally
- Write articles for social media (e-newsletters, blogs, etc.)
- Are consistently exposed to other job, internship and networking opportunities through their host organizations, programmed social hours following cohort meetings, a closed social media alumni network where opportunities are posted, and ongoing mentorship by program staff.
REQUIRED MATERIALS
- Resume
- A letter of recommendation is not required this year.
SELECTION & PLACEMENT PROCESS
There are three phases in the selection process.
Phase One: Pre-selection
Program staff will review host and student applications to determine their organizational needs and interests. Based on this information, we will pre-select student applicants to move on to the interview phase.
Phase Two: Interviews
Selected students will interview with up to three organizations. Not all students who interview will move on to Phase Three.
Phase Three: Official acceptance into the program
Program staff will make final selections based on host feedback from interviews along with information from host and student applications. Program staff will notify students of their acceptance into the program and final host site placement.
PROGRAM TIMELINE (TENTATIVE)
2022: | ||
October 17 | Student application opens | |
October 26 | Student info session I (virtual) | |
November 3 | Student info session II (virtual) | |
November 11 | Student application closes | |
November 18 | Interview notifications (phase I) | |
Nov 21 – Dec 2 | Interviews (phase II) | |
December 9 | Students notified of official status in program (acceptance or decline | |
December 12 | Students confirm participation | |
Dec 26 – 30 | Students’ orientation & legislative training | |
2023: |
||
January 2 | Internship start date | |
Week of Jan 16 | Race & equity training (date TBD) | |
January 20 | Cohort Meeting 1 | |
February 17 | Cohort Meeting 2 | |
March 24 | Cohort Meeting 3 | |
April 21 | Cohort Meeting 4 | |
May 12 | Cohort Meeting 5 | |
May 19 | Last day of internship | |
June (TBD) | End of Session Celebration |
PROGRAM CONTACT
If you have any additional questions or feedback, please contact Capitol Pathways Program Manager Kalia Xiong:
- Email: [email protected]
- Phone: 651-289-1075
APPLICATION PERIOD NOW OPEN
Application Instructions:
- Go to https://capitolpathways.org
- Click “Create new account”
- Select user type of student
- Set password using the link you received via email
- Log in, scroll to bottom and click the blue “Click here to apply now”
- Complete the application (in one sitting) and hit Submit application. If you would like to review the full application before submitting, click here for a word doc version.
NOTE: To prevent spam accounts we have included a CAPTCHA feature. To login, you must solve a simple math problem. To register, you will be prompted with an image. This method is not accessible to vision impaired users. If this applies to you, please complete the application here: https://forms.gle/DS2Z6TW2uxhiZms1A
Contact program manager, Kalia Xiong, with any questions or for more information at [email protected] or 651-289-1075.
Questions? Join an online info session!
- Wednesday, October 26 from 11am-12pm
- Thursday, November 3 from 1pm-2pm
RSVP by completing this form: https://forms.gle/WQhP9aNiMSn1YPqF8
CONNECT
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SUPPORT
A gift of any amount is valuable and goes directly to support the program. Donate today to support students of color and their path to becoming civic leaders in Minnesota.