Background Research Jobs in California (NOW HIRING)

FWD.us is a policy organization working to advance better and more politically resilient solutions on criminal justice and immigration. For too long, our harmful criminal justice and immigration systems have held us back and been weaponized in ways that undermine our nation's promise and democratic ideals.

Our criminal justice reform and crimmigration research team is seeking a detail-oriented critical thinker with strong research and writing skills for a paid, 25-30 hour per week internship supporting our work. This is an opportunity to conduct research, build valuable communications skills, and learn how a dynamic advocacy team operates in a fast-paced environment while supporting our organization's larger strategic goals. People who have been directly impacted by the criminal justice system are encouraged to apply. 

Candidates should be available to work 25-30 hours per week between the hours of 9:30am to 5:30pm PST for 4-6 months. Interns are paid $21/hr, plus benefits. This position will be expected to work on-site in the Oakland, CA office on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, and work remotely on Wednesdays and Fridays - final schedule to be determined dependent upon candidate's availability and hours.

The preferred start date for this position is early-mid September 2026. 

For priority consideration, please submit a resume, a cover letter and contact information for two references on or before August 14, 2026.

Specifically, you may:

• Participate in ongoing quantitative research, writing, data collection, and analysis. Prior experience in quantitative research strongly preferred. 
• Support the research team in verifying research claims for public-facing documents.  
• Engage in legislative and background research on laws, policies, academic research, and publicly-available data.
• Assist with monitoring media outlets, legislative news, and other public information sources to inform timely and relevant products.
• Draft memos and backgrounders that highlight research findings for use in internal and public-facing documents.
• Assist with administrative tasks when necessary.

Basic Qualifications:

• Strong quantitative analysis skills, including confidence working with spreadsheets in Excel or Google Sheets. 
• Dedication to the mission of FWD.us and an interest in advancing impactful criminal justice and immigration reform policies. 
• Must have a strong interest in policy, government, and/or community organizing.
• Strong organizational skills and attention to detail, with the ability to adapt to new conditions, assignments, and deadlines.
• Ability to work effectively, both independently and as part of a collaborative team.
• Strong verbal and written communications skills.

Other Helpful Experience (Not Required):

• Previous experience undertaking data cleaning and analysis in Stata or comparable statistical programming software.
• Knowledge of criminal justice system data. 
• Knowledge of immigration court, arrest, detention data. 
• Previous experience with data scraping and other public data acquisition methods.
• Please note any additional language skills (particularly Spanish, Portuguese, French) in your cover letter or resume.  

Equal Opportunity Employment/Diversity

We are an organization committed to making the world a better place for all people. Diversity is a source of our strength, and allows us to make better decisions, be more impactful, and excel at our jobs day to day. We see our internal commitment to diversity as reflective of how we view the world and the changes we want to see become reality.

This organization is an equal opportunity employer and complies with all applicable federal, state, and local fair employment practices laws.  The company strictly prohibits discrimination and harassment against employees and applicants for employment on the basis of an individual's race, color, religion, creed, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, citizenship, ancestry, age, disability, genetic information, marital status, veteran status or any other status protected by applicable federal, state or local laws. This policy applies to all terms, conditions and privileges of employment, including recruitment, hiring, placement, compensation, promotion, training, discipline and termination.

The organization understands that too often what are viewed as the traditional credentials are subjective criteria that exclude historically marginalized communities and act as barriers to hiring and recruiting the best candidates. 

As part of FWD's best hiring practices, we do not have educational requirements for any of our jobs.  Many of our jobs do require specific interpersonal, skill-based, technical, policy or other requirements and applicants for those jobs will be evaluated based on their level of expertise, to include lived experience and work experience - which could have taken place at an educational institution or elsewhere.

FWD.us believes in fair chances and employment opportunities that benefit everyone. Ensuring that people who have had contact with the criminal justice system--including incarceration for serious offenses and substantial periods of time--have the opportunities upon their release to fully succeed and contribute to this country is central to our work and is a value to which we are absolutely committed to uphold in how we operate and who we hire. We do not conduct criminal background checks on applicants, unless required by state or federal law for specific roles.

The company makes reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities to allow such persons to perform the essential functions of their jobs, to the extent required by law. Employees or applicants who would like to request a reasonable accommodation should contact Management. The company will also, where appropriate, provide reasonable accommodations for an employee's sincerely-held religious beliefs or practices.

Applicants directly impacted by the criminal justice or immigration systems are strongly encouraged to apply.