Community Fellows: Paying It Forward

Started in 2010, the Adelphi Community Fellows Program places ongoing students in paid summer internships at regional nonprofit organizations. This coming summer, Adelphi will place 60 students at 70 organizations, including Music & Memory, P.E.A.C.E. Afterschool Program, and the Fair Media Council, among many others.

The Community Fellows Program gives students crucial job experience. The students, in turn, provide critical staffing support to nonprofit organizations. The program has even helped shaped students’ careers.

As a Community Fellow in the summer of 2012, Lisa Gioia ’13 interned at the Fair Media Council. At the end of the summer, she was hired as the council’s communications coordinator.

Now, she is eager to pay it forward by bringing on board another Community Fellow.

“I feel that this program is important for Adelphi students because it not only opens their eyes to the nonprofit sector, but it also gives them a chance to get some ‘real world’ experience before graduating,” she said. “They can learn so much about the nonprofit sector that they did not know before.”