Futures and Options is excited to welcome the following new business partners for the spring 2010 Internship Program. We partner with private and nonprofit businesses that represent the broad spectrum of employment sectors in New York City, and we always welcome opportunities to bring aboard new businesses as internship sites. The internships at two of these sites, The New York State Attorney General and F.J. Sciame Construction Co., Inc., are funded through generous donations to our Sponsor an Intern campaign that funds a students’ stipend for 12 weeks.
Read on to find out what our newest partners do, how we started working with them, and what their Futures and Options’ interns are doing for their businesses.
Donlin, Recano & Company, Inc. is a leader in the bankruptcy claims management field. The Chairman of the Board of Futures and Options, Stephen Hessler, introduced us to Scott Stuart, Executive Director, and Elizabeth Ellison, Director of Marketing and Communications at Donlin, who immediately saw reasons for their firm to collaborate with Futures and Options. Our program coordinator Tyran Williams worked with Lenny Olson to place Steven Oladunjoye, a senior at Bronx Aerospace Academy High School, in the Human Resources Department. Steven is supervised by Lenny.
New York State Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo is the head of the Department of Law. He is both the "People's Lawyer" and the State's chief legal officer. In these roles, the Attorney General protects the legal rights of NYS citizens, advises the Executive Branch of State government and defends actions and proceedings on behalf of the State. In an effort to expand our offering of law internships, Futures and Options Program Coordinator Tyran Williams invited the Office of the Attorney General to partner with us. As a result, Sydney Huggins, a senior at Murry Bergtraum High School, was offered an internship in the Legal Recruitment Bureau, which is primarily responsible for recruiting attorneys, law students, investigators and legal support analysts, as well as managing the hiring process. Sydney is directly supervised by Marilyn Thornton and Mary Harris. Sandra Jefferson Grannum is the Bureau Chief. This internship is funded through our Sponsor an Intern campaign.
The Saatchi & Saatchi New Business Team: (Back Row from left) Benjamin Bittman, Eric Damassa, Nikolay Bogomolov (Futures and Options Intern), Joao Martins. Front row from left: Jill Bennett, Lynne Collins, Pat Murphy. Photo Credit: Erin Lyons.
Saatchi & Saatchi is a global creative communications company. Former Futures and Options Board Member, Seth Wolk, the Executive Vice President, Director of Human Interests, introduced us to Saatchi & Saatchi’s Jennifer Randolph, who as the Senior Vice President, Organizational Development, directs the firms diversity recruiting. Jennifer coordinated the selection of an intern. Nikolay Bogomolov, a senior at the High School of Economics and Finance, was offered an exciting internship in their New Business Group, where he assists with identifying and pursuing new accounts and organic growth opportunities. Nikolay is supervised by Eric Damassa.
F.J. Sciame Construction Co., Inc. is one of the tri-state's leading construction management firms. Thanks to a generous donation through our Sponsor an Intern campaign we were able to reconnect with F.J. Sciame, after partnering with them in the summer of 2007. Supervisors Kaisha Slobodzian, the Marketing Coordinator and Mary Kwon, Marketing Associate, selected Zabier Rodriguez, a senior at Bronx Aerospace Academy High School, to intern in the marketing department.Support Center for Nonprofit Management is dedicated to improving our society by increasing the effectiveness of nonprofit leaders and their organizations. Andrea Dispenza, Program Coordinator of Training at the Support Center, reached out to us in the hopes of finding an intern to provide administrative support. Andrea interviewed several candidates and selected Shakeela Pegues, a senior at Brooklyn Preparatory High School, whom she now supervises, as their first Futures and Options intern.
If you are interested in learning more about hiring Futures and Options’ interns, please contact our program coordinators, Digmarie Ruiz and Tyran Williams.
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The Municipal Forum of New York, Inc. summer intern program, coined the Urban Leadership Fellows (ULF) program by the Board of Governors of the Municipal Forum, was the inspiration of Mort Downey, then CFO of the MTA. Mr. Downey suggested the Muni Forum use proceeds from its annual dinner and lunches to provide NYC public high school graduating seniors with summer internships in the public finance industry.
ULF Alumni at the recent Alumni Networking Reception (From left): Edwin Huang, Crystal Chen, Andy Yu, Wei Hua Li, and Joyce Lee.
The program started in 1991 with three interns from three high schools. In 1996, thanks to an introduction from Cathy Callender, a former president of the Muni Forum's Board of Governors and current Board Member of Futures and Options, The Municipal Forum engaged Futures and Options as a partner to manage and expand the program. Since 1996, 342 young people have benefited from their internship experience in the ULF program.
This partnership between the Municipal Forum and Futures and Options has led to an outstanding program designed to attract diverse and motivated young people to careers in the municipal finance sector. The six-week internship program includes a full day at Bond School, specialized workshops and mentoring by the Young Professionals in Public Finance. The Municipal Forum awards scholarships each summer to ULF alumni who maintain a 3.0 GPA during college, as well as one Community Service Scholarship. This January, Futures and Options hosted the second annual ULF Alumni Networking Reception.
According to Kenneth W. Bond, of Squire, Sanders & Dempsey L.L.P. and a board member of The Municipal Forum, “Giving these young people an opportunity to experience a Wall Street work environment motivates them to pursue higher education and a career in finance. We know the program is working because each year we visit with "alumni," now college students or starting their careers, who were interns before and we can note their growth and maturity. Futures and Options has played a vital role in managing, sustaining and expanding the program each year to ensure that future graduating high school seniors may experience the opportunity of a Wall Street career before heading to college.”
For more information on the ULF Internship Program, please contact Digmarie Ruiz or call 212-601-0002.
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It is our priority to keep in touch with our alumni and offer support in any way we can. If you are an alum of our program, please take a minute to update your contact information with us, so that we can keep in touch and keep you informed about upcoming alumni events. Thank you for your help!
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Futures and Options is proud to spotlight its program and introduce you to some of our partners and young men and women who participate.
Click here to view our video.
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Futures and Options is very excited to share our 2009 annual report with you. The report details our work in the last year to serve the youth of our city and strengthen the workforce of tomorrow.
Thanks to your support we were able to serve 54 percent more students this year than in 2008. Please click here to read about our student's accomplishments, the benefits to our business partners, our new program initiatives, recent fundraising events and much more...
If you would like to receive a copy of our annual report please contact us at 212-601-0002 or email Serena Handley.
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Did you think wish lists were only for the holidays? You can visit our Amazon.com wish list to donate items that will improve our program workshops, add to our college guidance materials, and assist us in organizing our small office. This wish list was compiled from requests by program staff and will be regularly updated to reflect the needs of our students and staff.
Visit our wish list to donate an item that will directly benefit the youth of our Career Development and Internship Program.
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An early investment in the work preparedness of teens pays dividends for New York City today and for years to come. The benefits and costs of inaction are reflected in a 2007 report compiled by the Community Service Society and the Center for an Urban Future titled, “Closing the Skills Gap: A Blueprint for Preparing New York City’s Workforce to Meet the Evolving Needs of Employers” by David Jason Fischer and Jeremy Reiss.
- Of the 20 largest cities in the nation, New York has the lowest percentage of teens in the workforce.
- As of 2003, New York ranked 43rd of the 50 states in college attendance by adults (ages 25–49), with less than 4% of high school graduates enrolling in college.
- 21.4% of New York City adults did not have a high school degree as of 2000, versus 15.5% nationwide.
- New York City residents with a bachelor’s degree earn an average of 144% more than individuals with only a high school diploma, over the course of a working lifetime.
- A person with a college degree requires less than a fifth of the support from publicly funded programs over their working lifetime than someone who does not complete high school.
One of the most important solutions posed in the report is to facilitate more early work opportunities: “Mindful that early work experience is vital to long-term labor market success, city officials should provide young people with opportunities to learn about the workplace and to earn money to support their families.”
Futures and Options is the solution to this crisis. We provide underserved New York City teens with “opportunities to learn about the workplace and to earn money to support their families” through our internship, pre-internship and college guidance programs. As Seth Pinsky, President of the City’s Economic Development Corporation, stated, “We can’t succeed as an economy with a population that’s undereducated and under-skilled. We need to invest in the people who are born here and grow up here.”
For more information on the importance of the work Futures and Options does, reasons to get involved, and how you can help, please see our fact sheet or contact Patty Machir, 212-601-0002.
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Kick-Off Event for the
Youth, I.N.C. Young Professionals
Mentoring Program
What:Youth I.N.C. Young Professionals Mentoring Program for the George Westinghouse High School Internship Program Kick-Off Event
Who: George Westinghouse High School Interns
Where: Mansueto Ventures, 7 World Trade
When: March 3, 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm.
For more information on the George Westinghouse High School Internship Program, please contact Tyran Williams or call 212-601-0002.
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To view photos of our workshops, field trips and events visit our Flickr page.
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Our top priority is staying in touch with you. Please sign up for our newsletter and program and event updates.
To join our email list click here.
If you are a friend, donor, business partner or alumni of Futures and Options, please take a minute to fill out this short survey and update your contact info with us.
For more information on our programs or events, please email us at info@futuresandoptions.org or call 212-601-0002.
To download an application for the Internship or Pre-Internship Program, visit our website.
