Summer Institute

Since 1991, the Truman Foundation’s Summer Institute program has been bringing Truman Scholars to Washington for internships at government agencies and nonprofit organizations. Summer Institute is designed to introduce newly graduated Truman Scholars to the realities of working in public service in Washington, as well as to provide opportunities for community building within the Scholar cohort. This program takes place a year after having been awarded the Truman Scholarship. When not working, the Summer Institute Scholars live together in a dormitory on the George Washington University campus and attend:

• seminars focused on national politics and policymaking;
• meetings with established Truman Scholars and other prominent public servants; and,
• Scholar led-presentations on Tuesday nights throughout the summer.

We are thankful for our partners for hosting Truman Scholars as summer interns, giving them hands-on experience working in public service. Following is a list of partner organizations who have hosted Scholars recently. This list is by no means exhaustive:

• American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy
• Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
• Friends of the Truman Foundation
• Institute for Policy Studies
• Latino Victory Project
• National Zoning Atlas
• Perseus Strategies
• Spur Local
• Stewards of Affordable Housing for the Future
• Teaching for Change
• The Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies
• The Council of State Governments
• The German Marshall Fund of the United States
• The Neurorights Foundation
• The World Bank
• U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
• U.S. Department of Education
• U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
• U.S. Department of Treasury
• U.S. Government Accountability Office
• U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Ways and Means
• U.S. International Trade Administration
• United States Botanical Garden
• Weitzman Institute

The 2026 Summer Institute will be held from Sunday, May 31 to Saturday, August 2 in Washington, DC.