Helping Hands Nonprofit Leadership Program Provides Leadership and Internship Opportunities to Students

The goals of the program are to “train, develop and expose University of New Haven students to the nonprofit sector; help pipeline and sustain leaders of color in support of regional community organizations, provide BIPOC identifying students at the University of New Haven, leadership and teamwork training from experienced regional leaders during the 2022 calendar year, [and] to provide students with an 8-10-week, experiential learning opportunity during the summer of 2022 that helps prepare them for leadership roles in the sector.”

Assistant Director of Employer Relations, Marcus Paca, said that the idea for Helping Hands came while speaking to faculty in the criminal justice department. “I learned that many of their students were looking for more ‘preventative’ areas to work in, rather than traditional ‘badge and gun’ carrying positions,” he said. “I leveraged that information with Wells Fargo’s Corporate Foundation arm, who were looking to invest in regional, nonprofit management development training programming for minorities. After many months of planning, research and focus groups, I developed a proposal that was widely supported both internally at the University of New Haven and in the external nonprofit community.”

This semester, students will start with leadership development training. By the end of this semester, there will be a post-training social and internship selection. In the summer and fall of 2022, students will complete their internship. Finally, in the mid-fall semester, a recognition awards ceremony will be held for participants.

The program is open to a group of 10 to 12 sophomore, junior and rising senior BIPOC and female students. Majors must be within criminal justice, business, psychology or health sciences.

During the leadership training discussion that will last two sessions, participating nonprofits will prepare a 20 to 30-minute presentation.

There is much to offer within the leadership training context. Students will learn about teamwork, leadership, communication, empathy and emotional intelligence, the impact of nonprofit work, will have daily work to complete, and more.

Nonprofit organizations that students can network with include New Haven Reads, Integrated Refugee & Immigrant Services, West Haven Community House and Students for Educational Justice, among others.

Students will know what organizations they will be interning with by the end of March. Internships have various areas of focus, including strategy and planning, advocacy, impact and outreach, case management and operations, development, and grant making.

After completing the Helping Hands Nonprofit Leadership program, students can expect a profound knowledge on new topics. The program supports the next generation of regional community service professionals, students will be vetted by talent and experience acquisition opportunities, and there are possibilities for subsidized internships and regional organization branding and marketing opportunities.

Paca said that the goal of the program is “to expose students to different types of regional nonprofits and provide [an] opportunity to learn directly from seasoned executives on how [to] become a successful leader within community based organizations.”

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