Foster City Resident Spends Summer Working for Area Nonprofits

SILICON VALLEY, CA – While many local teenagers were off at camp, playing Pokemon Go or streaming Netflix for hours on end, a group of special youth took a different approach this summer, dedicating their days off of school to working for area nonprofits.

Through Bank of America's 'Student Leaders' program, these students were given a rare opportunity to build their workforce and leadership skills through a paid summer internship at a local nonprofit organization.

One of those students is Foster City resident Lauren Hayat, an incoming senior at San Mateo High School this year. She interned at LifeMoves– a local nonprofit that helps provide housing and supportive services for homeless families, individuals and veterans to help them return to stable housing and long-term self-sufficiency.

“Lifemoves has inspired me with their dedicated mission to break the cycle of homelessness," Hayat says of her experience. "As part of the Bank of America internship program, I had the opportunity to rotate through three of their departments to get a feel for the company."

She kicked off her internship helping the ACES (Achieving Career and Education Success) Programs Team craft an “Eager Leaders” Curriculum. Eager Leaders is something that she originally created at her high school and is program about leadership and self-confidence. Her goal is to come up with a plan that is implementable throughout the LifeMoves Family Sites (there are six). She has also helped the Housing Program by creating collateral that market different, lower cost zip codes to LifeMoves clients who are looking for affordable neighborhoods to move into.

She also worked on updating a Resource Guide that is used heavily by the LifeMoves drop-in center in Palo Alto. Following a national leadership summit D.C-- also facilitated through B of A-- she will be rotating between HR, Finance and Development.

"I’ve learned so much about the challenges of living in such a costly area, the amount of lives truly effected by homelessness, and about the tireless work all employees in a nonprofit dedicate to improving the lives of others. Thank you to Bank of America for providing me with an internship that I will remember for a lifetime.”

Noor Dahbour of San Mateo, a recent graduate from Carlmont High School in Belmont, was also selected to intern at LifeMoves.

Noor kicked off her internship by joining the efforts of the LifeMoves Marketing Team and helping with special projects to move along LifeMoves marketing efforts through social media and collateral creation. Subsequently, she also joined the Housing Program Team to help them continue to create collateral that market different, lower cost zip codes to clients who are looking for affordable neighborhoods to move into.

Following her trip to D.C, she was slated to continue some of her special marketing projects as well as rotate between HR, Finance and Development.

“At LifeMoves, I learned the importance of networking, creating and keeping relationships within the community," she said of her experience. "I now have a better understanding of how non-profits run and the importance of each and every employee and volunteer. At LifeMoves especially, the importance of creating acknowledging everyone’s work and commitment is what drives to its success. I learned that in order to become as impactful as possible in your community, it’s important to work as a collaborative team.”

Both young ladies joined LifeMoves’ greater group of Summer Interns in special activities. They each received tours of some of LifeMoves shelters and have gotten opportunities to interact with clients. This interaction is a way to open their eyes to the embedded issue of homelessness in Silicon Valley and not only learn about what implementable solutions are out there as supports for the homeless population, but to also connect the actual work they are both working on to the solution.

Hayat and Dahbour are just two of more than 200 'Student Leaders' nationwide selected by Bank of America for this year's program.

Other Silicon Valley-area youth included:

• Aishwarya Laddha, a Cupertino resident, and rising senior at Cupertino High School, who interned at Silicon Valley Education Foundation
• Ria Gandhi, a Sunnyvale resident, and rising senior at Harker School, who interned at Silicon Valley Education Foundation
• Katherine Li, a San Jose resident, and rising senior at Lynbrook High School, who interned at Silicon Valley Education Foundation

"Early employment opportunities help teens build the skills they need to establish a career and get on a path toward financial stability,” said Raquel González, Silicon Valley Market President, Bank of America. “Helping students access resources and skills that prepare them for future success is an important part of our work to address the underlying issues related to economic mobility as we work to create a thriving Silicon Valley economy.”

If you or someone you know have a passion for improving the community, click here to learn more about the organization's eligibility criteria. Applications for the 2017 program will be accepted from Oct. 31 through Feb. 3.