Members of Heritage's Young Leaders program.

To build the conservative movement, The Heritage Foundation focuses considerable attention on educating and training rising young leaders.

For example, we have identified more than two dozen promising young professionals working on Capitol Hill or in other public policy roles for a workshop this week on foreign policy and national security. The program—developed, organized and run by our very own young professionals here at Heritage—aims not only to educate participants on policy but to teach the next generation how to lead, motivate, and influence their peers.

Organizing this event are Heritage’s own young professionals from our Douglas and Sarah Allison Center for Foreign Policy Studies.

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The Heritage Foundation’s Heather Pfitzenmaier has been recognized by Forbes magazine as one of the most influential young policy leaders in the country.

Named as one of the “30 Under 30 in Law and Policy,” she was lauded in particular for her “efforts to reach out and promote its conservative agenda to the next generation.”

Pftizenmaier oversees Heritage’s Young Leaders Program, including our internship program, to guide young conservatives as they start their careers. This program continues to have an impact: two former Heritage interns were elected to Congress in 2012.

Bob Miller addresses Heritage's fall 2012 intern class as Heritage Vice President Becky Norton Dunlop looks on.

Entrepreneur and Heritage Foundation member Bob Miller urged Heritage interns in a speech last week to “to keep the American Dream alive for those who come after us.”

Miller, who built Better Baked Foods from the ground up, knows actions speak louder than words.

“My life demonstrates the positive effect of the American Dream. My 50 year story is really a love affair with freedom,” he told the 60 interns assembled in Heritage’s Allison Auditorium for their graduation ceremony.

Miller came from humble beginnings  making donuts at his family’s bakery. He eventually started a hot dog and pizza stand, which grew into one of the largest frozen food manufacturers in the United States. Continue Reading »

For three newly-elected members of Congress, this past weekend’s Heritage Foundation briefings for freshmen lawmakers should have been a refresher. That’s because they participated in Heritage’s educational programs before.

• Rep.-elect Andy Barr (R-KY) was a Heritage intern in 1996 while an undergraduate at the University of Virginia. He worked for Heritage scholar Matthew Spalding before moving to the Hill to work for then-Rep. Jim Talent.
• Rep.-elect Tom Cotton (R-AR) interned at Townhall.com, which was then a Heritage project, in 1997 while an undergraduate at Harvard. Inspired by Heritage, he spent a year at the Claremont Graduate School, before going to law school and joining the military after 9/11.
• Rep.-elect Richard Hudson (R-NC) participated both in our educational programs for Congressional chiefs of staff and in our James Madison Fellows program while serving as chief of staff to Reps. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) and Mike Conaway (R-TX).

One of Heritage’s chief missions is to educate rising leaders in the conservative movement. Our internship program, part of our Young Leaders Program, is just one part of what Heritage does to educate the next generation of policymakers.

That three freshmen lawmakers have links to Heritage indicates that our efforts truly pay off in the long run.

Do you think educating interns and Congress members alike about conservative principles is the best way to ensure the future of the conservative movement?

The Heritage Foundation’s Heather Pfitzenmaier, who leads our Young Leaders Program, will be awarded a Buckley Award by the Young Conservatives Coalition.

The Young Leaders Program works with young conservatives across America and oversees Heritage’s prestigious internship program.

Below is the press release announcing her accomplishment: Continue Reading »

Former Heritage intern Alex Anderson

CNN selected Alex Anderson, a recent graduate of Heritage’s Young Leaders Program, to be one of three “iReporters” covering the Republican National Convention this week in Tampa.

Anderson interned in Heritage’s administration department and was mentored by Rob Bluey, who heads Heritage’s Center for Media and Public Policy. A video he produced recently won first place in Heritage President Ed Feulner’s competition to bring conservative principles to life.  Continue Reading »

The Heritage Foundation's summer 2012 interns pose with Heritage President Ed Feulner.

Thanks to the support of Heritage Foundation members, 73 young conservatives were able to spend their summer working with Heritage experts on the day’s most pressing issues. During the three-month internship program, they gained a better understanding of our nation’s first principles and learned important career skills.

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President Obama’s comment to entrepreneurs that “you didn’t build that” was misdirected. Rather than exalting the government for building bridges that help transport goods and services, we should instead realize that it is a free market system that allows us to prosper and grants us the ability to build up our own businesses.

Heritage Foundation intern Dylan DelliSanti explains on The Foundry that “the government has a role in society, but it is only through the market process that individuals can cooperate effectively on a grand scale.”

DelliSanti expands on the market’s role in helping individuals and their enterprises:

President Obama’s “You didn’t build that” comment has drawn much attention. The reactions from both the President’s defenders and his critics illustrate a profound misunderstanding about how the market actually allows us to cooperate.

As Milton Friedman, echoing Foundation for Economic Freedom founder Leonard Reed, pointed out: “not a single person in the world can make [a] pencil.” This may sound strange at first, but the reality is that it takes many people, each with different skills, coordinating with each other from around the world to produce a single pencil. The graphite may have come from Italy, the wood from Oregon, and the rubber in the eraser from Malaysia.

Yet no government direction was needed to bring these people together.

It is the entrepreneur who brings these people and resources together, guided by a market system in which prices determine the most efficient use of resources. Government planners can never match the ability of the market process to facilitate an environment for cooperation and coordination—no matter how intelligent the bureaucrats or how benign the governing elite.

Click here to read DelliSanti’s post in its entirety.

Do you think free enterprise is more helpful to entrepreneurs than big government?

Heritage Foundation interns pose in front of the Capitol in Washington. From left to right: Bridget Littleton, James Kennedy (behind), Anna Jones, and Rita Heaton (the author)

This summer, I had the opportunity to work as an intern in The Heritage Foundation membership office.

After graduating in May from Cedarville University with a degree in marketing, I decided to apply to Heritage to gain experience in a principled, policy-oriented organization. Knowing how competitive Heritage’s internship program can be, I jumped at the chance for a position!

Here are seven reasons my experience this summer at Heritage has been invaluable: Continue Reading »

Angelise Schrader

Moving from Hawaii to Washington, D.C. could be quite a difficult adjustment for anyone. However, Angelise Schrader’s passion for the conservative movement led her to make this transition eight years ago, and she hasn’t looked back.

“Hawaii is so different,” Schrader says. “The people there are very laid back. I have really enjoyed being in D.C. where everyone is busy working hard for what they believe in.”

Schrader originally moved to the mainland to attend Patrick Henry College, a conservative school outside of the nation’s capital. Before joining The Heritage Foundation, Schrader worked with Star Parker at the Center for Urban Renewal and Education, an organization that addresses issues of race and poverty with principles of freedom and personal responsibility.

Schrader currently works with Heritage’s Young Leaders Program, an initiative that promotes the conservative mission to the next generation through a variety of programs and opportunities for both students and young professionals. Continue Reading »