Government Relations Intern Jobs in Reston, VA (NOW HIRING)

Bread for the World is a Christian advocacy organization urging U.S. decision makers to do all they can to pursue a world without hunger. Our mission is to educate and equip people to advocate for policies and programs that can help end hunger in the U.S. and around the world. The Karen Sue Smith and Rose DiMartino Internship Program enable you to contribute your efforts to this mission while benefiting from opportunities for supervised learning, personal development, and gain work experience.
 

DEPARTMENT:   Government Relations 

REPORTS TO:    Senior Domestic Policy Analyst  

SEMESTER:        Fall (Sept - Dec 2026)

SCHEDULE:        Part Time: 22.5 hours per week   

APPLY BY:           Sept. 4th 2026

PRIMARY PURPOSE: As the intern for domestic policy issues, you will support the organization's advocacy to end U.S. hunger and poverty. Learn how federal policy is developed and advanced, gain hands-on experience in legislative advocacy, and deepen your understanding of hunger, poverty, and faith-based policy work. Primary responsibilities will include a combination of the following:

• Track relevant bills as they are introduced and move through congress.
• Monitor relevant committee hearings and markups, as well as House and Senate floor activity when there is debate on Bread's issues.
• Support lobby meeting scheduling by corresponding with congressional office staff to find available meeting times.
• Attend coalition meetings and congressional advocacy meetings.
• Provide background research on Bread issues, congressional offices, etc.
• Participating in department meetings
• Work on additional projects as requested

SKILLS/KNOWLEDGE REQUIRED:

• Pursuing a BA or BS degree with some prior office work experience.
• Experience or basic knowledge of domestic nutrition issues Bread focuses on.
• Strong relationship, administrative and writing skills. 
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills (written, oral, and electronic)
• Be detail-oriented, flexible, organized and able to meet deadlines working in groups as well as individually.
• Ability to think critically about complex issues.
• Strong computer skills, including proficiency in MS Office Suite, database software and Internet.
• Willingness to learn.
• Prior Hill internship experience is a plus.
• Commitment to the mission of Bread for the World

WORK ENVIRONMENT ISSUES:

• This internship will be based in Washington, DC 
• Bread is a hybrid organization  

CULTURAL EXPRESSIONS:

Bread is committed to advancing racial equity externally and internally, all staff members play a vital role. In the course of our work, each staff person should work to apply a racial equity lens to their work and practices; and participate in racial equity on-going training. Bread is also committed to being an equal opportunity employer. 

OUR VALUES:

1. We value our faith. Our faith in Christ compels us to love our neighbors near and far and is the foundation for our hope, story, mission, and values.
2. We value human flourishing. We believe that every human being, created in the image of God, has inherent dignity that affords an opportunity to thrive in relationship with God, self, neighbor, and the environment; and to access enough nutritious food for good health.
3. We value justice. We seek to establish effective systems, structures, and policies that affirm equality and advance equity among all human beings to alleviate hunger and poverty.
4. We value courage and prophetic voice. In a spirit of wisdom and love, we will be bold in articulating and pursuing our vision of a world without hunger.
5. We value nonpartisanship. We believe that effective and sustainable public policies are made when, in good faith, we employ a civil and bipartisan approach to develop and implement laws and programs to achieve our mission.
6. We value collaboration. We believe in working alongside and building community with a diversity of churches, interfaith communities, institutions, and individuals, including people experiencing hunger, to achieve our mission.
7. We value impact. We strive for excellence in our work and hold ourselves and our nation’s leaders accountable in the pursuit of public policies that render measurable results and meaningful change for people everywhere affected by hunger.

DISCLAIMER:

Background and reference checks will be conducted on all final candidates. The information in this job description indicates the general nature and level of work expected of employees in this classification. It is not designed to contain, nor to be interpreted as, a comprehensive inventory of all duties, responsibilities, qualifications, and objectives required of employees assigned to this job.