I spent the last summer in Boston gaining an experience of a lifetime.  This experience consisted of an internship at Indian American Forum for Political Education and an internship with State Representative Jay R. Kaufman of Lexington.  Both internships offered a chance to learn in different ways.  I came into this program expecting to get networking and experience of helping others out of it, and I was able to do just that. 

In the internship with Indian American forum for Political Education I was able to help with a couple of community projects.  The first was to create a current prospective membership database in and around the Lexington area.  This required searching online, going through phone books, and speaking with other established organizations like Lokvani.  Through this I was able to create a database in which current members could contact these people about joining this organization.  This project did not just stop there; it also intertwined with my work at Representative Jay Kaufman's office in which as an intern there I could contact the town manager to inquire about a census that may have more complete information about people to contact.

Another project I was able to work on as an intern at IAFPE was the immigration clinic.  Here two other interns and I were trying to arrange a free clinic where taxi cab drivers and restaurant workers could meet with lawyers with no charge to discuss any immigration problems.  In working on this project, I learned that there were many factors to take into consideration.  It was a great experience in learning how to organize and trying to execute a plan of this magnitude.  My role in this plan was to contact the lawyers and find a date in which they would be available to help.  I also worked with the other two interns in trying to coordinate a location and the availability of the workers.  This project proved challenging to finish in time. 

Beyond the two projects I worked on, my internship at IAFPE included attending town meetings with IAFPE and allowed for me to meet many people.  Our interactions were never limited to only IAFPE events.  I was able to meet other IAFPE interns at the State House fairly consistently.  I was always at the State House for the internship with Representative Jay Kaufman and met many people there.

At the start of the State House internship, I performed many clerical activities.  I started out by creating databases consisting of Bills that Rep. Kaufman sponsored or co- sponsored.  As easy this sounds, it proved challenging for two reasons.  The first was that I was just learning my away around the State house and the second reason is due to the disorganization of such information.  I also created another database containing the bills that the Public Service Committee was hearing and the status of the bills.  This second database was an ongoing process throughout the whole internship.   Also, as an intern I was able to become secretary on some days.  I would have to answer all phone calls and direct them to the proper people and then greet anyone entering the office.

As I became more familiar with the office and the way everything worked, I was able to write testimony and letters to constituents.  This required lots of research and diligence in my writing as I was writing on behalf of Rep. Kaufman.  I learned a lot about different bills being heard and about the budget process.  I would have to write about 3 or 4 letters a day or testimony.  While I did this I also attended seminars for interns.  As interns, we heard from many different people including the Senate President, Speaker of the House, State Treasurer and the list goes on.  This was an extremely helpful process in which we got to hear from established leaders and their stories of success.  There would be about 2 of these each day.

As this all went on, I asked for a bigger project and got one.  I was to research about electronic voting and paper verification.  This topic was a hot topic with Rep. Kaufman as he wanted a bill that would create a paper trail for voters who use electronic voting machines.  So after doing much research I wrote a report on it giving my opinions to the matter.  After presenting this report, I was given the opportunity to write the actual legislation for this bill.  I wrote the actual language of the bill to require paper verification and an audit system to make sure everything was okay.  I was able to develop the audit system after contacting organizations like Voter - Verified.  The Representative presented my testimony and bill to the Elections Committee and is still before them for review.  After an IAFPE town meeting, I was able to talk to the Women League of Voters about this and sent her information and the report to her. 

Overall, the experience that IAFPE gave me would never been attainable without this internship program. I have learned invaluable lessons in working with people and ideas.  What I found to be helpful in this program was the enthusiastic and optimistic support of Lee, Ravi, and Representative Kaufman's office.  My only suggestion for improvement in this internship program is more structure to intern meetings and intern projects.  I am extremely glad I chose to do this internship due to everything I learned and experience I gained.

If you know of someone who might be interested in a political internship, please have them contact Lee Mohapatra at 781-863-2241. The deadline for this year's applications are April 1, 2006 and can be obtained at www.iafpe-ne.org.

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