Katherine Olives
Last week we concluded the Career Impact Program with Communitas America with a finale event where we heard from the students who interned for social enterprises and non-profits throughout the city. Matthew Washington, Deputy Manhattan Borough President, spoke at the event. For him, internships were an invaluable aspect of his life, and those experiences got him to where he is today. But Matthew didnt pursue any internships, he was drawn towards internships that made a difference in the community, and now hes representing his own.
Growing up wasnt easy, he went on to explain; his father died at the ripe age of thirty-three, leaving his mother to raise five children on her own. My mom became a single parent with five black kids in a poor neighborhood. I could have been every statistic. Thankfully, my mother wasnt having that. Matthew recalls that his mother ingrained in him the importance of investing in your education and your future. During high school, he interned at LEAP, an organization that brings art into the classroom. They offered him a job after that, and he continued to work after school and during the summers. He was able to buy his first pair of jeans, and get through college.
When Matthew graduated college, he visited his old supervisor and they hired him on the spot. They needed someone to manage a program for kids in the park, and as a result, his job required him to work with elected officials in the local area. One of those elected officials happened to be Gale Brewer, who became the Manhattan Borough President in 2015. So my high school internship literally led me to where I am today, he said.
Matthew went on to say, Throughout my career, I was interested in learning everything. I knew the organization I worked for was advocating for bigger things, and I wanted to be a part of what was happening. We need young people like you who stand up and say they want to invest their time in something.
This summer, CCNY students invested their time in a number of different organizations creating change in fields like education, economics, energy, entrepreneurship, and much more. We heard from four of those students. The first was Jocelyn Gao, a CCNY student in the MPA program who interned at Echoing Green. At Echoing Green she worked on content creation, event support, data analysis, and partnership cultivation, and was incredibly inspired by the social entrepreneurs she met during the summer. While she considers herself a lifelong student, shes passionate about creating some change in the world, and hopes to make in impact in the fields of womens and minority rights, youth education, and the environment.
Kartikeya Sharma, who interned with Bootstraps Film, was up next. This summer, Kartikeya worked on a docu-series following a study on Universal Basic Income. The goal was to spread awareness about UBI and how it can be utilized. Kartikeya specifically created a tool to understand and visualize the struggles of different individuals that was dependent on over 12,000 applications–the data, as we can imagine, was something that had to be managed. Through this internship, Kartikeya learned that UBI can be beneficial in helping society transition the future, and credits this internship as a way to really understand the social enterprise culture. Kartikeya believes that theres no better way to use your skills than for a social purpose.
Then, Hugo Meza spoke about his internship at Yada. He was the only intern working on a team directly with the CEO and CTO of the startup. Yada aims to create a scalable workforce of research assistants augmented by software & AI. This was Hugos first internship, and he couldnt believe how different the startup world is compared to the corporate world. He learned a lot this summer because he was able to manage his own projects, and he learned all about algorithmic thinking.
Finally, Asia Johnson spoke about her experiences at BlocPower. She revealed that she was attracted to the internship because its a social enterprise company–she believes its essential to work for a company whose mission is aligned with your passions. At BlocPower, Asia used data to contact building owners and make recommendations about how to make buildings more efficient. She also put together an impact report, created social media posts, and worked on case studies. Asia learned a lot at her internship including time management, editing, and how to craft the perfect tone of voice, but the most valuable thing she learned is how important it is to take care of the earth we have now. She stressed that the tiniest bit of effort can go a long way.
We hope that if youre a student and youre reading this, you keep Asias and Matthews words in mind and remember that the time and effort you invest in yourself–and in organizations that matter–will go a long way to creating a brighter future.
Wed like to specifically thank William Poon, Director of Strategy at Communitas America, for making these internships possible for CCNY students. Hes optimistic about the future these students will create, and said, “We're excited to see the next generation of Changemakers in New York explore and gain experience working alongside social ventures. We're grateful to all the partners that made this possible and look forward to seeing how these students change the world in the coming years.”
