Kate Inman

Kate Inman is a third-year transfer student studying Political Economy and Society & the Environment. As a local Bay Area native, she has grown up in a diverse community and found passion through service early on in her life. Motivated by strong women entrepreneurs in her family, she was encouraged to be an outspoken advocate for her peers as a Youth Commissioner for the City of Pleasanton. Going on to chair the commission, over her three terms Kate organized city events including annual Youth in Government day, mental health panel, and an anti-bullying campaign. However, working alongside the city council also illuminated the government's shortcomings when it came to meeting the needs of underrepresented community members. Kate has continued to study the intersections of politics, racial equity, and institutions both at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and UC Berkeley as she hopes to resolve these issues through a career in public service.

She is most passionate about resolving issues regarding education equity, community engagement, and environmental justice. After competing on a highly selective competition civics team and nationally ranking second overall, civic engagement has been a core value guiding her experiences as an undergraduate. She went on to work for an environmental policy non-profit, the Go Green Initiative, as a team lead conducting research on California’s drought policy and water conservation methods presented to community stakeholders. Motivated to continue working with her community, she co-founded an organization to reintegrate formerly incarcerated people into civic society after Proposition 17 passed in November. Partnering with rehabilitation groups preventing recidivism and the Dean of Political Science at Cal Poly, their group authored civic education modules available online and printed literature. Kate spent this last summer working in a congressional office as the district intern for CA-24. Working with congressional staff, she spearheaded constituent outreach from daily communications to organizing district wide events. Over the course of her internship, she wrote legislative memos on unemployment and social security policy in addition to response letters to constituent issues and planning the Congressional Art Challenge and App Competition. This summer, Kate hopes to intern for a public policy research group or non-profit in Washington, D.C. as a part of Cal in the Capital that is interested in studying methods that expand access to a more accessible and responsive form of government.