This summer 19 students were placed in different offices at all three levels of government through the Children’s Aid Community Building Summer Internship (CBSI) program. The program, which runs through our public policy office and is currently in its ninth year, provides high school and college students with hands on experiences in public service in neighborhoods in the Bronx, Washington Heights, Harlem, and for the first time this year, Staten Island.

At the program’s end of summer appreciation ceremony, Children’s Aid CEO and president Phoebe Boyer commended the interns on completing the summer program and Sandra Escamilla, our new vice president of the Adolescence Division, delivered a warm and encouraging keynote speech to the young students that urged them to find their purpose.

“When you follow your purpose, the prosperity that you find is unmatched,” said Sandra.

Within each of their internships, CBSI participants completed key office tasks and learned how to support and engage constituents in their communities. Interns also attended weekly training sessions with facilitators from the Resilience Advocacy Project (RAP), which they used to collectively complete a community engagement project. After realizing that many New York City high school students lack access to information around the college process, this year’s group of interns created an online petition to urge the Department of Education, Mayor de Blasio, and Governor Cuomo to create a universal college prep program in New York City. The interns shared their project with New York State senators and assembly members and city officials at the program’s end of summer appreciation ceremony.

We congratulate our CBSI interns for completing a successful summer and for being prime examples of how integral building community is to the Children’s Aid mission.