Voice Up Community Awareness Public Health Internship Helping Communities Prepare for the 2027 Medicaid Changes 100% Remote Academic Credit or Volunteer or Official Enrollment in Voice Up's School for Humans Flourishing Internship Overview The Voice Up Community Awareness Internship is an innovative, community-centered opportunity designed to help ensure that individuals and families understand the upcoming 2027 Medicaid changes before they affect their access to healthcare. Across the United States, millions of people may experience changes in eligibility, enrollment, or coverage. Unfortunately, many individuals remain unaware of these changes until they are already facing disruptions in care. Voice Up believes that information saves lives when it reaches people early, clearly, and through organizations they already know and trust. This internship places undergraduate and graduate students directly into their communities to serve as educators, connectors, and advocates who help bridge the gap between public policy and everyday people. Rather than working behind a desk, interns engage directly with community organizations, healthcare providers, schools, faith communities, libraries, food banks, and nonprofit agencies to increase awareness, distribute reliable information, and connect individuals with official Medicaid resources. The internship emphasizes service, collaboration, leadership, and practical community engagement while providing students with meaningful professional experience. Internship Responsibilities As a Voice Up Community Awareness Intern, you will work alongside community partners to expand awareness and improve access to trusted information. Responsibilities include: Building partnerships with community health centers, free clinics, hospitals, schools, colleges, libraries, food pantries, legal aid organizations, faith-based organizations, and other local agencies that serve Medicaid populations. Organizing and facilitating educational presentations using easy-to-understand language that explains the upcoming Medicaid changes, the Know Check Act framework, and available community resources. Hosting outreach tables at health fairs, neighborhood festivals, back-to-school events, community celebrations, and other public gatherings to provide educational materials and answer questions. Assisting individuals one-on-one by helping them locate official Medicaid offices, community health centers, enrollment resources, and other support services available within their communities. Recruiting and mentoring additional student volunteers who can continue outreach efforts beyond the internship period, creating sustainable community impact. Collecting community feedback regarding questions, concerns, and barriers that individuals experience while navigating Medicaid resources and reporting those findings to Voice Up to strengthen future educational materials. Participating in weekly team meetings, professional development sessions, and community planning activities while documenting outreach activities and measurable community impact. Desired Qualifications Voice Up welcomes students from all academic disciplines who are passionate about serving others and strengthening their communities. Students pursuing degrees in public health, nursing, medicine, social work, psychology, counseling, education, communications, public policy, nonprofit leadership, business, and related fields are especially encouraged to apply. Successful interns demonstrate: Strong interpersonal and communication skills. Compassion for diverse populations. Professionalism and reliability. Willingness to learn complex information and explain it in plain language. Ability to work independently while collaborating with community partners. Commitment to improving health equity and community well-being. Previous experience is not required. Comprehensive training and ongoing mentorship are provided throughout the internship. Professional Development Interns receive structured training in: Medicaid policy fundamentals. Community engagement strategies. Public speaking and presentation skills. Partnership development. Health communication. Leadership development. Cultural humility. Community resource navigation. Professional networking. Program evaluation and impact reporting. Students gain valuable real-world experience working with healthcare organizations, nonprofit leaders, educators, and community advocates while building professional relationships that support future careers. Learning Outcomes Upon successful completion of the internship, participants will be able to: Communicate complex healthcare policy in language that community members can easily understand. Develop sustainable partnerships with organizations serving vulnerable populations. Plan and implement community outreach initiatives. Demonstrate leadership in collaborative, community-based settings. Connect individuals to trusted healthcare resources using official state and local systems. Collect and evaluate community feedback to improve future educational initiatives. Apply principles of public health, service, and community engagement to address real-world challenges. Benefits of Participation Interns will leave the program with practical experience that extends beyond the classroom. They will strengthen leadership abilities, improve communication skills, expand professional networks, and gain firsthand experience working with organizations addressing healthcare access and health equity. Most importantly, interns will contribute to helping individuals and families better understand important healthcare changes before they become crises. Every conversation has the potential to help someone maintain access to healthcare, connect with essential services, or better understand their available options. Through this internship, students become trusted community leaders who help transform information into action and uncertainty into opportunity. At Voice Up, we believe meaningful change begins one conversation at a time. This internship offers students the opportunity to serve, lead, and create measurable community impact while preparing for careers dedicated to improving the health and well-being of others. That observation became a formal research question when Art Fuller entered a doctoral program at the University of Indianapolis, under an IRB-approved study protocol. The research took him into college classrooms across ten states, talking to African American students about their lives not their transcripts, not their majors, but the actual texture of what they had lived through. What he found, replicated with a consistency that should unsettle anyone who has ever sat on a university curriculum committee, was that the students already possessed, in their own biographies, exactly the caregiving, crisis, and recovery experience that a behavioral health career is built on. They had sat with a parent through addiction. They had held a household together during a hospitalization. They had done, unpaid and unnamed, the emotional labor that entire professions are organized around. And almost none of them had ever been told that this counted as anything.
