spend your summer with leap

College students! Looking for something to do this summer, getting paid while learning practical leadership skills at an API nonprofit organization? Consider applying for the paid summer internship at Leadership Education for Asian Pacifics (LEAP). It's a great opportunity and could be a really valuable experience towards putting you on the track towards working at/with API community-based organizations. Read on for details:

Leadership in Action (LIA) is an eight-week paid summer internship program designed to develop emerging young leaders by providing college students with practical leadership skills and the opportunity to work hands-on in the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community in Southern California.

Approaching its 11th year, the program takes learning beyond the classroom, and places the student interns in a range of AAPI community based organizations in order to gain real-life experience working at nonprofits.

The intern's weekly schedule is comprised of 4 days at their assigned community based organization (CBO) and 1 day at LEAP. At the CBO, the intern works with their assigned supervisor on a meaningful project. At LEAP, the intern's day is devoted to leadership development training, issue discussions, CBO site visits and a community impact project. Nationally recognized trainers deliver workshops in critical skill areas. Issue discussions are on local or timely topics of interest and are facilitated by local community leaders/activists and LEAP trainers.

The last component is the community impact project. This project will give the students interns an opportunity to flex their leadership skills in a safe setting, as well as allow them to contribute a service that has lasting impact on to the Asian American and Pacific Islander communities. The group of interns is given the freedom to pick a project they feel will help better the community, and work on that project for 2 months. For past group projects, check out the website!

I've seen some of the community projects that have come out of this program, and they've been really solid. For more information about LEAP's summer internship, including a list of organizations they've worked with, and how to apply, go to the website here.