Ameelio

Public Policy & Advocacy (Intern)

Temporary in United States - Remote OK

Ameelio has quickly established itself as the future of prison communication and virtual learning. We were recently chosen as Fast Company’s World-Changing Idea in Social Justice and awarded a NYTimes Tech for Good Award 2021.

In brief

The ideal candidate will play an important role in advancing policy change by identifying opportunities for advocacy through Ameelio’s work. The candidate will bring expertise and, ideally, prior experience in the corrections and/or criminal justice reform space to influence important advancements and improve upon criminal justice policy at local, state and federal levels.

What we're looking for:

  • Between 2-3+ years of professional experience in a related role/environment
  • Responsibilities include:
    • Working closely with the Public Policy & Advocacy Manager, and completing all allocated tasks.
    • Researching and identifying policy advocacy opportunities to advance incarcerated access to family communications, education, and reentry services.
    • Work with manager to Identify and cultivate a network of stakeholders and coalition partners interested in leveraging technology as a solution to new and existing criminal legal challenges.
    • Assess current systems and affairs to provide recommendations for improvements in corrections environments based on leading research.
    • Provide evidence-backed analysis to help shape Ameelio’s products and services.
    • Join policy director to represent Ameelio at national and local conferences, events, and advocacy days related to reforming the criminal legal system and reducing recidivism.
    • Develop and maintain a strategic policy agenda for Ameelio, including long-term achievable legislative and regulatory goals and guiding implementation protocols.

Why you'll love us:

  • A welcoming and collaborative environment with people who are. dedicating their lives to fighting the commercialization of incarceration
  • Experience working closely with users who rely on our products to stay in touch with their loved ones.
  • An environment for rapid experimentation and ownership.
  • Contributing to the foundation and culture of a young and growing organization.
  • Experience working cross-functionally and exposure to a variety of business functions.
  • An incredibly high bar for the quality of your work.
  • Flexible and remote working environment.
  • Compensation: $3,000 / month (3 months total)

About Ameelio

Ameelio is a nonprofit technology company that builds free technology to accelerate the creation of a more humane and rehabilitative justice system. We were recently chosen as one of Fast Company’s 2021 World Changing Ideas. Our tools will enable 27 million Americans to communicate with their incarcerated loved ones for free, organizations to scale their social services, and educators to empower incarcerated people through virtual learning. We are a technological bridge that reconnects incarcerated people with their families and vital resources — for free. Our tools will help improve post-release outcomes, lower recidivism rates, and help America safely reduce the size of its prison populations.

We’re backed by Schmidt Futures, Mozilla Foundation, the Robin Hood Foundation, Google.org, and Fast Forward accelerator. Our funders also include Eric Schmidt, the former Google CEO, Jack Dorsey, the CEO of Twitter and Square, and Vinod Khosla, co-founder of Sun Microsystems and the founder of Khosla Ventures. Our work has been covered by Forbes, TechCrunch, Fast Company, The Washington Post, Business Insider, and others.

Company History

Ameelio was an all-volunteer effort until late-2020. Since, we've built an A-team that brings together technical and criminal justice expertise, participated in Mozilla's Spring MVP Lab (won 1st place), Fast Forward Accelerator, Robin Hood BRL program, and Visible Connect's Accelerator. We’re backed by Schmidt Futures, Mozilla Foundation, the Robin Hood Foundation, Google.org, and Fast Forward accelerator. Our funders also include Eric Schmidt, the former Google CEO, Jack Dorsey, the CEO of Twitter and Square, and Vinod Khosla, co-founder of Sun Microsystems and the founder of Khosla Ventures.

External References:

Problem We're Solving

The $1.4 billion prison communications industry generates obscene profits by charging extortionate prices to the incarcerated and their loved ones. Families spend up to $500 a month to stay connected to their loved ones inside. A 15-minute phone call runs as steep as $25. Our work has never been more important. Because of COVID, prisons have shut down all in-person visitation. Low-income families have few options to communicate with loved ones.

Exclusive contracts leave prison telecommunications companies unchecked by competition: former FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn called the industry “the clearest, most glaring type of market failure I’ve ever seen as a regulator”.

Poverty and incarceration are viciously tied: over 50% of incarcerated people had no income eight years preceding their arrest. For-profit prison companies entrench this cycle. One in three families with incarcerated loved ones is forced into debt ( $13,000, on average) by the cost of maintaining contact.

This is a social and moral disaster.

The Solution

A suite of free prison communications and virtual learning tools that connect the incarcerated with their loved ones, service networks, and colleges, which will improve post-release outcomes.

Connect: Video Conferencing, eMessaging, Voice Calls

Reconnecting the incarcerated with their loved ones and supporting the next generation of remote prison programming.

Learn: Virtual Learning

Enabling the incarcerated to access a wealth of digital educational resources, earn college degrees, trade certifications, and chart their own path to successful reentry.

Letters for Families

App that bypasses the absurdly high cost of making phone calls to prison by converting texts, photos, games & news to snail mail. We currently have over 1,200,000 users in all 50 U.S. states, and in 42 countries.