On a recent summer morning in Sacramento, Janet Mendoza-Partida walked from her office at the California Department of Education to the state Capitol. She described how her upbringing as the daughter of Mexican immigrants in Watsonville shaped her perspective and aspirations. Her father worked as a farmworker, and her mother provided childcare. Before attending UC Berkeley, Mendoza-Partida envisioned becoming a teacher within her agricultural community.

This summer, Mendoza-Partida participated in the Cal-in-Sacramento fellowship, a program run by the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies (IGS). The experience has broadened her career goals and expanded her understanding of what is possible.

“Cal-in-Sacramento, providing me this opportunity to be here and to understand what people do here, and to work here myself — it’s beyond where I ever thought I would be,” she said. “I could have never seen myself being where I am today.”

Mendoza-Partida is one of more than 1,000 students who have taken part in the fellowship over five decades. Alumni have worked across both major political parties in California’s government and contributed to policy areas such as forestry, agriculture, housing, energy, and economic development.

Christine Trost, executive director of IGS, explained that recent efforts focus on selecting fellows who are first-generation college students to ensure that California’s diverse population is represented among state policymakers.

“We are building a robust pipeline of committed public service-oriented students,” Trost said. “The invaluable lived experience and perspectives that they bring with them into state government and policymaking spaces is essential to solving the critical issues that are facing our state.”

Kenny Kutter is another 2025 Cal-in-Sacramento fellow whose background influenced his decision to pursue public service. His parents met in Indonesia before moving to the United States. Kutter’s interest in politics deepened after his father lost his teaching job during the COVID pandemic.

“At that point he was in his early 50s, effectively being forced into retirement,” Kutter recalled. “Watching him navigate being unemployed for the first time, watching him struggle — that hardened my resolve to go into politics.”

This summer Kutter worked with Assemblyman Corey Jackson's staff through his fellowship placement. He will return to Berkeley for his junior year with new insights about future possibilities.

“In the long term,” Kutter explained, “my main career goal is to get into a position, eventually, where I can help effectuate real public policy that can help real people. That’s been my mantra from the very beginning, but I didn’t know how I would get there.”

Founded in 1919 as the Bureau of Public Administration at UC Berkeley—now known as IGS—the institute has maintained close ties with state government throughout its history by providing expertise and information for elected officials.

The Cal-in-Sacramento fellowship began in 1973 amid shifting attitudes toward social change among young people following the activism of previous decades. Initially student-run for about thirty years with little formal structure or documentation from its early days, it gradually became an established institution on campus under IGS leadership starting in the early 2000s.

A preparatory course on state government operations was added along with research requirements; past fellows working at the Capitol now play an important role helping current students secure placements each summer.

Tom Negrete—a former participant who later became director of California Research Bureau—recalled being placed at the Lieutenant Governor’s Office during his time as a fellow: “That experience convinced me that I definitely wanted to be a journalist. I did not want to work in state government.” After working at news organizations including The New York Times and Sacramento Bee he returned full circle when he took up his current post at State Library’s research bureau.

When COVID-19 disrupted many internship opportunities for fellows in 2020 Negrete arranged for eighteen participants whose original placements were canceled to collaborate remotely on reports assessing pandemic impacts across California communities.

“This is a perfect example of the fellowship’s direct impact,” Trost said. “These students are smart, they’re curious. Let’s put them to work. Let’s create some fact sheets that are going to help inform our policymakers’ responses to how we can help communities during this unprecedented time.”

Current fellows like Mendoza-Partida and Kutter often focus their efforts on policy areas shaped by personal experiences—including education access or housing challenges exacerbated by disasters such as wildfires or affordability crises across California.

“They’re bringing their lived experience to the policy areas that they’re most passionate about,” Trost explained. “That’s often education; it’s often climate and environment or housing... They want to go in there and learn—and then use what they have learned about how state government works—to make changes that will improve their lives and those of their communities.”

Kutter researched disaster recovery after wildfires displaced residents from different socioeconomic backgrounds; he also contributed legislative support for bills addressing basic needs among community college students facing homelessness.

“I was already vaguely interested in housing because we live in California with a seemingly never-ending affordable housing crisis,” Kutter said.

For Mendoza-Partida educational equity remains central: She reviewed grant applications from school districts statewide while interning at Department of Education—an assignment which exposed underlying disparities shaping outcomes for local families like hers growing up near Watsonville.

Her next step will be joining Sacramento State University’s Capitol Fellows Program before deciding between graduate study or entering professional roles related directly back toward supporting communities similar those she grew up alongside—a trajectory highlighted by Trost as evidence supporting value delivered through Cal-in-Sacramento initiative:

“California is huge and it’s diverse,” said Negrete. “If you want to understand the state and meet its needs you have got find way bring diversity—not just race/ethnicity but income levels experiences... Cal-in-Sacramento has made real effort try place students who are first-generation college students...”

Trost sees recruitment efforts within context defending democratic institutions:

“At time when seems like democratic institutions under threat when federal agencies being dismantled it more important than ever support students interested public service... They really believe now time lean working state government or other spaces—they want bring experiences perspectives also what learned here Berkeley support those institutions keep them strong so continue serve people this state nation.”