Seeking 2026 Legislative Interns

For 40 years, Rural Vermont has worked to create economic justice for Vermont farmers through education, grassroots organizing and advocacy. We invite you to join our committed team and help to fulfill our vision for  a community-based food system which sustains our farmers, our communities, and our lands.

  • We offer excellent training with our experienced staff and board members and you will have a variety of professional networking opportunities. We are happy to work with you to fulfill needs you may have  for academic requirements, reporting, evaluations, etc.

  • We offer flexibility on the number of hours/week, and the length of the internship. We will work with you to create a schedule that is mutually beneficial.

  • We will also work with you to develop a clear internship plan with concrete deliverables for your portfolio. We have many projects available and can tailor a project so you learn the skills you want to develop while completing important work in the service of our mission.

  • Our internships are unpaid, but we do reimburse for approved out-of-pocket expenses such as mileage to events.

  • On successful completion of an internship, Rural Vermont can be a reference for you and make recommendations tailored to your future educational or employment plans. 

  • Our ideal candidates will be supportive of our mission, self-directed, motivated, and capable of working both independently and collaboratively, as well as have a strong attention to detail and good written and verbal communication skills. 

STATEHOUSE ADVOCACY – Work with Rural Vermont’s Legislative Director and VLS alumni Caroline  Gordon LL.M. and Rural Vermont’s Policy Director, Graham Unangst-Rufenacht, virtually and in person at the Vermont State House to advocate on our priority issues affecting family farmers and their communities.

Intern responsibilities will include: 

  • Attending, monitoring, and taking accurate notes in key legislative committee meetings or floor proceedings;

  • Helping to organize Rural Vermont’s educational “Small Farm Advocacy Days” and  schedule meetings for our farmer leaders and activists with legislators;

  • Helping Rural Vermont members and activists to prepare and present testimony;

  • Contributing to writing periodic State House email updates for our community; and

  • Assisting in tracking the progress of legislation and contributing to developing strategy on priority issues. 

This is an excellent opportunity for anyone who wants to learn about public policy, issue advocacy and the inner workings of the Vermont legislative process. Legal research and writing skills as well as media savviness are not a must but can be beneficial.

Commitment: The 2026 session will likely convene in a hybrid format, allowing us to be at the State House in person and to join committee hearings virtually from home.  We offer flexibility on the number of hours/week, and the length of the internship. We will work with you to create a schedule that is mutually beneficial. We hope to find an intern who will spend about three days working with us each week and welcomes the opportunity to work at the State House or Rural Vermont office as arranged to utilize networking opportunities and personal interaction with experienced legislators, lobbyists, and citizen advocates. The type and pace of activities will run the gamut from tedious to exhilarating – you must be able to work effectively at both ends of this spectrum. 

Schedule: Weekly schedule will vary and requires some flexibility, but will average 15-20 hours/week mostly Tuesday – Thursday mornings 8-2PM (schedule may vary later in the legislative session). This internship runs January – April with the possibility of extending into mid- May depending on the legislative session schedule, outcomes of Rural Vermont’s legislative agenda and intern’s availability. 

Compensation: A modest stipend will be paid at the completion of the internship period.

This position will remain open until filled.

To Apply: Please send a cover letter, including a brief statement of why you are interested in working with Rural Vermont, your resume, a short writing sample and 3 references to: Rural Vermont, 46 East State Street, Montpelier, VT 05602 ATTN Legislative Internships 2025 OR email the above materials as PDF files to caroline@ruralvermont.org.  Please put LEGISLATIVE INTERNSHIP in the subject line.

2025 WINTER/SPRING INTERNS

 

Fritz Junker
Communications Intern

Born in Brookfield, Vermont, Fritz was reared in the woods where his love of the natural world began to bloom. When his family moved to Thetford in 2016, his love of agriculture grew strong roots with Crossmolina Farm in Corinth. He has worked with produce and livestock for the last 5 years at Crossmolina. Fritz also spent one semester in Mississippi working on a cattle farm raising grass fed beef and pasture raised eggs. He has now returned to Crossmolina as the livestock manager and is planning on finishing his schooling at Vermont State with a degree in digital marketing and communications. When he’s not out in the field, Fritz can be found running with his dog, fishing with his friends, or playing guitar in his cabin in Corinth.

Nathan Webb
Legislative Intern

Nathan enrolled a broken-down farmstead into Vermont’s Use Value Appraisal program about 20 years ago, slowly nursing it back to health ever since.  He worked all along as a potter and educator, while pursuing a dream of building a production-scale wood-fired kiln that reaches porcelain temperatures.  Such firings are collaborative, building community while stoking around the clock for days to melt ash into a natural ceramic glaze.  This ancient craft puts a beautifully fluid and organic patterning on the pots, distinguishable from modern kiln designs.  While connecting solar power to the studio one day, Nathan’s electrician described the growing interest in commercial solar development state-wide.  With great curiosity, Nathan began looking into the idea of what he later came to know as energy justice.  This led to conversations with folks at Vermont Law School, where Nathan went on to earn a JD in 2024.  At VLS, Nathan worked with the Energy Clinic on clean solutions such as community solar and agrivoltaics - where farming and renewable energy generation coexist - maximizing land use efficiency and environmental sustainability.  Nathan is excited about this next chapter - advocating with Rural Vermont for the health of future generations.

Isabel Kapitulik


Legislative Intern

Originally from the hilltowns of western Massachusetts, Izzy now lives in Craftsbury where she is starting her final semester at Sterling College this spring. Her studies have focused on ecology and sustainable food systems. She became particularly interested in addressing issues within those fields through policy after taking an environmental law and policy class. Her love of agriculture was sparked by a permaculture design course that she somewhat randomly took at her previous college, and continued to grow as she began working and volunteering on small farms. In her downtime you can find her crocheting, mending an old sweatshirt or taking a walk in the woods.