Supporting Nonprofit Capacity Through Summer Internships: A Win-Win for Students, Host Organizations, and Our Community
Since its inception, the Foundation for a Healthy High Point has been one of a group of regional and statewide funders that has helped local nonprofits expand capacity through their funding of a summer internship program that places college students with local organizations. This initiative is part of the Foundation’s partnership with the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation’s Non-Profit Internship Program (NPIP), established in 2011 to diversify the pool of young nonprofit professionals in North Carolina. The program is also supported by the North Carolina Network of Grantmakers.
Each year, the Foundation identifies up to three local nonprofits to participate in the program, covering the cost of student stipends and overhead expenses. This year, in addition to Communities in Schools and Operation Xcel, the High Point Schools Partnership (HPSP) was a sponsorship recipient. A program of the Guilford Education Alliance, HPSP works to bring business partners together for a greater understanding of the needs of the schools. This summer, they were assigned Jessica Anguiano as an intern.
Jessica, a Randolph County native, is a rising senior at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. She is an early education major with a minor in teaching English as a second language. She spent eight weeks with HPSP and gained valuable education experience, including field observations in a Spanish immersion school and a newcomer school, exposure to nontraditional teaching methods, and observation of Y Readers program at the Hartley Drive Y. She was also able to participate in other activities such as grant writing and school supply drives that offered insight into the community resources that are available to schools.
Jessica has wanted to be a teacher since she was a child. After college, she plans to come back to Guilford County to teach. She is drawn by the human connection teaching provides, and the opportunity to share knowledge – rewarding aspects of a career in education. In addition, as a Latina, she hopes to be someone for the younger generation to look up to, since there is not a large number of Hispanic teachers in High Point. “The more time I spend in the classroom, the more I fall in love with the profession of teaching,” Jessica said. “It’s definitely a profession that gives you the opportunity to give back and make a difference in at least one person’s life, which I think is beautiful.”
Heather Bare, Youth Enrichment and Mentorship Coordinator for HPSP, was Jessica’s internship advisor. Her role is to bring together the various entities that provide after school and summer programs and help them collaborate. One of Jessica’s responsibilities was to help create a directory of all the youth enrichment providers in High Point that will serve as a comprehensive resource for families and schools. Heather also focused on exposing Jessica to a variety of contacts in the education space. “When we realized Jessica wanted to be an educator, we tried to think of things that would benefit her on both sides,” Bare said. “We wanted her to see both the education and nonprofit sides, and also have opportunities to network and meet principals in the area.”
The internship experience proved to be mutually beneficial for both Jessica and HPSP. Jessica gained perspective on the behind-the-scenes work that goes into providing educators and students the support and resources they need along with an understanding of how a community can work with its schools. The connections she made will be helpful when she starts her job search, and her experience in individual schools made her eager to come back and work in High Point. “It’s so valuable for college students to have this kind of experience outside the classroom, because you learn a lot that they don’t teach you in college courses,” Jessica said. “Not only do you learn a lot from the work you do, but the people who surround you teach you a lot about how to thrive in a professional environment.”
In turn, she brought a fresh new perspective to the efforts of HPSP. And she provided an extra set of hands that allowed them to accomplish more. “We originally brought Jessica on to work on the directory,” said Bare. “But we soon realized that she could do that and so much more. We’re so grateful for the opportunity to participate in NPIP, and it would have been a terrible loss to not participate. It was a win/win for both us and Jessica.”
The Foundation’s support of NPIP helps to provide short-term capacity for local nonprofit organizations. But more than that, it is an investment in high-quality, hands-on training for young people interested in a nonprofit career – or, in Jessica’s case, in returning to High Point as an early childhood educator, a role that is crucial to the success of the community. The program provides the Foundation with an invaluable opportunity to engage with the younger generation and encourage them to consider pursuing this kind of work.