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Every year the Citizen Advocacy Center accepts several law, college, and high school students for the internship program. During the summer, CAC hires law interns and fellows. Our interns work to investigate and analyze reports of what appear to be violations of the law, undemocratic public policies, and obstacles to civic participation. 

Meet our summer 2020 interns below: 
Victoria Coats
Northwestern Pritzker School of Law
Victoria L. Coats is a rising third-year student at the Northwestern Pritzker School of Law. Prior to law school, she served as a legislative assistant for U.S. Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard. In this role, she managed education and labor issues for the Member’s seat on the Appropriations Labor, Health, Human Services, and Education subcommittee, along with a portfolio including civil rights, judiciary, housing, and women’s issues.

Before her time on Capitol Hill, Victoria was an elementary school language arts teacher through the Teach For America Corps in New Orleans, LA. She continued to teach middle school writing in Austin, TX, through KIPP, a high-performing charter school network. She is deeply passionate about democratic protections, civic engagement, and institutional accountability as the bedrock of a just and inclusive society.
Jackson Paller
Loyola University Chicago School of Law
Jackson Paller is a rising second-year law student at Loyola University Chicago School of Law. He did his undergraduate studies at Northwestern University, majoring in political science. After graduating in the Spring of 2017, he spent two years working on political campaigns.

As an undergraduate, he got involved in many community organizing efforts as a member of local organizations Reclaim Chicago, Reclaim Evanston, and The People’s Lobby. These experiences included multiple opportunities to lobby local and state elected officials on a number of progressive issues, including the “fair tax” and the People and Planet First Budget.

As a law student, he is interested in many aspects of government, election, and civil rights law. During his second semester as a first-year law student, he worked with former Governor Pat Quinn and attorneys from Mauck & Baker on several local election issues during the cases of Harned v. Evanston Municipal Officers Electoral Bd. and Morgan v. White.
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He hopes to continue building on this work during his time at CAC, as well as doing work to protect citizens' rights under the Open Meetings Act and Freedom of Information Act.
Afaaf Amatullah
Elmhurst College
Afaaf Amatullah is double-majoring in English and Philosophy at Elmhurst College. As a Pre-Law student, she is on her college's Mock Trial team and works alongside a retired judge. Outside of her studies, she currently serves on the leadership boards of Union Board, Food Recovery Network, and The Leader. She is also completing a student research fellowship over the summer through her college. Afaaf has interned with civil advocacy groups in the past, such as CAIR Chicago. She admires the important work done by CAC in the struggle for social/policy change. She joined CAC as an intern to learn more about advocacy, policymaking, and grassroots activism.
Lucy Campbell
Brown University
Kate Li
Naperville Central High School
Lucy just completed her freshman year at Brown University in Rhode Island and is interested in political science and public health. At college, Lucy is an outreach worker for people experiencing homelessness through the organization Housing Opportunities for People Everywhere (HOPE). She also works at the Miriam Hospital’s Maternal-Infant Studies Laboratory and helps to research the bio-behavioral effects of maternal mood disorders and substance use on infants.

Lucy is originally from Park Ridge, Illinois, and graduated from Maine South High School. Her interest in civic advocacy and law stems from the national We the People competition, which she participated in during her senior year. Lucy was a competitive rock climber in high school and can often be found at Chicago’s First Ascent climbing gyms.
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Kate Li is a rising senior from Naperville Central High School, where her interest in law and the community originated from competing on the Speech team and participating in her school's Junior State of America (JSA) chapter. As a debate agent for JSA, Kate has engaged her fellow students in discussing critical topics in current events and organized events for voter registration and election awareness. Kate is excited to help out others around her in any way she can and hopes to do so with the CAC while learning more about the law at the local level this summer.
Shreya Joshi
Waubonsie Valley High School
Shreya Joshi is a 16-year-old rising junior from Naperville, Illinois. She firmly believes in the power of the youth and Generation Z’s ability to create a more inclusive and tolerant society. As the founder of Program TEAL (Tolerance, Engagement, Action, and Learning), she strives to share her passion for political activism with other students through her civic engagement workshops. In addition to this, she’s actively involved in her school’s Speech team and Model United Nations as well as her state representative’s Youth Advisory Council. She also serves as an Editorial Manager for Redefy, a teen-led nonprofit dedicated to fighting discrimination and intolerance, where she works with a team of 60+ staff writers. She is beyond excited to be interning for CAC this summer to apply her passion for civic engagement and learn more about the work that CAC does.