Bridging passion and policy at the State Capitol

Sofia Fontana ’26 found public service as a career path during her freshman year in a living learning community at the USF. Eager to learn more, she participated with the Leo T. McCarthy Center‘s USFVotes and this summer, is now a McCarthy Fellow in Sacramento. Sofia shares her journey over the last few months as an intern at Disability Rights California. 

The McCarthy Center has been central to my USF experience thus far. I heard about USFVotes and the McCarthy Fellowship programs through the Martín-Baró Scholars, a first-year social justice living-learning community. Eager to get  involved on campus, I tabled and created social media materials for USFVotes, and talked to various alumni of the Fellowship programs. Not knowing whether public service was the career path I wanted to pursue and not having any prior experience in government, I decided to apply for the McCarthy Fellows in Sacramento program. I thought it would be a great opportunity to see if public service was the right path for me, and the Capitol seemed like a perfect place to figure that out. 

My passions lie in Education and Disability Rights, so I reached out to various organizations like the California Department of Education and the California Commission on Disability Access before settling on Disability Rights California (DRC), a protection and advocacy organization that works on cross-disability issues. As a Public Policy intern at DRC I not only learned more about Disability Rights, but learned that every issue is a Disability Rights issue. 

My week-to-week included listening to webinars on reproductive rights for people with disabilities and disability justice, sitting in on strategy meeting for bills, attending hearings for DRC sponsored bills like SB 483 which would ban the use of prone restraints in schools, and SB 445 which would provide guidelines for school districts to translate Individualized Education Programs (IEP), and participating in an Administrative Law Intensive on a student disciplinary case. I also had a couple of longer form projects which were creating accessible educational materials about the California Legislature in Plain Language, updating contact lists, coding data for a report on the Censuses proposed changes to questions about disability, and coming up with two policy proposals DRC should work on in the future. 

Some of my favorite memories were attending the State of the State on Disability and getting to connect with the Capitals Disability Leaders, going to a CFILC ribbon cutting ceremony, and a luncheon at Sacramento State as part of the Youth Leadership Program Celebration. During my time at DRC, I gained a lot more knowledge on cross-disability issues which has made me feel more confident in advocating for Disability Rights beyond DRC and in spaces that are not disability-focused. I also gained more knowledge about California State politics, the legislature, and lobbying which before starting this internship had felt intimidating as a Sociology major with no prior experience in government. I have also had the opportunity to network across DRC’s organization to learn about their other initiatives including the legal advocacy units, the communications team, and the strategic partnerships and community engagement team.  

I think that I grew the most during my time at DRC in two facets: Knowledge, and building professional connections. Being in the public policy unit has exposed me to the ins and outs of what it means to effectively pass legislation and also all the hiccups on the ride there. The McCarthy Fellows program made me feel confident about connecting with people in the Capitol, and meeting with professionals who are in the public service careers of my dreams. Two of my favorite moments were the McCarthy center networking event at Frank Fat’s where I met Assemblymember Connolly, and connecting with the Executive Director of the CA Commission on Disability Access over coffee. 

Not only was I able to gain valuable skills and gain more knowledge about my passions, but I also grew as a person with a disability. Having and feeling represented at DRC and meeting other disabled folks working in public policy has not only given me more hope, but has allowed me to connect with people where disability is not something that’s hidden but that fuels the work that I got to do this summer. The McCarthy program has not only made me feel solidified in my decision to pursue a career in public service, but has given me the tools to build on what I learned this summer and apply it to my future career in education and disability rights.

Learn more about the McCarthy Fellows in Sacramento