The City of La Palma has entered into a public policy intern program with Cal State University Long Beach, it was announced at their October monthly meeting.
“We’re lucky enough to have a couple of individuals come to work with us as interns and this was something that was born out of a program between Cal State Long Beach actually brokered by Mayor Pro Tem,” said city manager Conal McNamara.
“It’s a conversation we’ve been having with the University for a little while and they thought it would be a great idea for their public policy students to get some real-world experience in municipalities,” he said.
“We’re very lucky to be at the forefront of this program,” said McNamara. “I think this might very well be the very first of its kind for them in this new program,” the city manager said.
Without getting into the details of the new program, McNamara introduced two interns that are already working at La Palma under the public policy agreement.
McNamara introduced Travis Radiol, a grad student now working as a Human Resources Assistant in the city’s administrative department. Travis is a graduate student in the school’s public policy department.
Travis is currently a graduate student in Cal State’s public administration program and has about six months or so remaining in the program. He previously graduated from Cal State Long Beach with a bachelor’s in psychology and also graduated with their human resources management certificate, said McNamara.
“We also have Lauryn Slaughter, who is currently serving as an administrative intern for the general government department,” the city manager said.
Slaughter is in her last semester of an MPA program at Cal State Long Beach and is hoping to get a greater understanding of the day-to-day operations of local government.
McNamara said the program was negotiated by Mayor Pro-Tem Marshall Goodman, who has worked with the university for months to work out the details.
“Mayor Pro Tem Goodman was really the one that brought this in for us and it’s just been a great partnership,” McNamara said.
Goodman said Dr. Adam Butz, who heads the Public Policy Institute at Cal State Long Beach was going through an accreditation with the department, and he approached me as an elected official. I’m an alumnus, I graduated in 2021. And told me about this idea he had to engage in the accreditation process. And so I hit the ground running.”
Goodman has a Master of Public Administration with a concentration in Urban Affairs from California State University, Long Beach where he is a part-time lecturer of Public Policy in the Political Science Department.
Moreover, Goodman said he has agreed to assist Dr. Butz in expanding the program and will work with other cities like Buena Park, Anaheim, Lakewood and others enrolled in the pilot program.
“We’re starting with the smaller cities but eventually will give students an option per semester to work at a large or smaller city,” said Goodman.
“And that is the whole concept,” he added.
“I’m glad we got two great interns working here in the city and we hope to expand that to numerous other universities,” said Goodman. I think it’s a great opportunity for MPA (Master of Public Administration) to see what it’s like on the ground” in real-life governmental situations, he added.
“Good to see you all here,” said Goodman to the interns.
“I’m glad it all worked out.”