Internship Report: Mayshaim Tahir

Mayshaim Tahir worked with Anthony Graves, the Director of Regional Affairs for the City and County of Denver, in Summer 2017. Her objective in this fellowship was to gain hands on experience with local politics. She previously worked on the Hill in DC and wanted to compare the two spaces and further her interest in public policy. She was Anthony's shadow. Every morning she would digest the news for him and he would text her their itinerary for the day. He would often send her on his behalf to meetings and she would report back with a summary of each event or meeting. They would meet with various people and entities such as mayors in the Denver area,the Colorado Municipal League, CDOT, RTD, and the Denver Regional Council of Government.

Mayshaim's most memorable experience was working on important issues such as DACA and the Dreamer's Act. She would attend press briefings which enabled her to immerse herself in the issues from different points of view. She was able to meet many different people and build long-lasting relationships with people—such as Anthony Graves. She had a very meaningful lunch with the Mayor and was able to have a lengthy conversation about the true impacts of the thousands of people moving to Denver,the complications of gentrification and the pressure on him as Mayor and a person of color.

Mayshaim learned how to effectively condense a lot of information into digestible summaries for government officials. She enjoyed how hands on the experience was, with few administrative responsibilities. She was able to utilize her conflict resolution skill sets of active listening, questions of inquiry and other communication techniques to help her excel in this position. Mayshaim still has Anthony Graves over for dinner and stays in contact with several other individuals that she worked with in this fellowship.

~Kristen Noble