Jewish Federation of Greater Kansas City’s Leadership Tomorrow summer internship program recently wrapped up its eighth year. Five Jewish college students spent the summer working with nonprofit organizations across Kansas City, gaining real-world work experience, personal and professional development, and valuable mentorship and networking.
This summer, due to continuing COVID-19 concerns, the program was adapted to be a hybrid of online and in-person work to ensure the interns’ comfort and safety.
All of the weekly professional development days were virtual, and program coordinators made sure that each internship placement was capable of offering remote work opportunities for the interns. Interns also had regular virtual meetings with individual mentors - an important part of the program that provides them with guidance and advice from community leaders.
One benefit of going virtual was that it allowed the interns to learn about the importance of adaptability and how to self-motivate to get their work done when there isn’t anyone close by to check their progress.
Other skills the interns said they learned this summer included time management, how to communicate more professionally and making professional connections.
In addition to their internship placements, the interns were split into groups to research, construct and present a grant proposal for a selected Kansas City non-profit.
Instead of the usual annual luncheon, this summer’s program culminated with Zoom presentations of the interns’ grant proposals. The interns presented to Leadership Tomorrow supervisors, mentors, funders and advisors, as well as representatives from each nonprofit.
Generous donors provided up to $6,000 to be given to a local nonprofit; the amount of money received was influenced by the quality of the presentations. This year’s recipient was Reach Out and Read Kansas City.
Leadership Tomorrow is a nine-week, paid internship program offered to Jewish college students through the Jewish Federation. It was founded in 2013 by a group led by Irv Robinson to expose students to different ideas around entrepreneurship, leadership and philanthropy, and to encourage strong Jewish leadership in future generations.
To date, there have been 81 students and 23,600 hours of work provided to the community across 39 different nonprofits. The program has awarded $98,000 in grants to 20 area nonprofits.
Do you know a Jewish college student who would benefit from this program? Applications for Leadership Tomorrow 2021 will open in November of this year. For more information, visit www.jewishkansascity.org/leadershiptomorrow.
