Click here to view the presentation and see how you can harness the power of Linkedin.

Pilot program gives Jewish female CUNY students funding for unpaid summer internships.

by Hannah Dreyfus, Staff Writer, The Jewish Week

Isabel Goldin, a first-generation American and marketing major at Baruch College, needed a waitress gig to support her unpaid internship at Valor International, a start-up e-commerce company. Though she wanted to focus on the job full time, her family obligations made that impossible.

“My parents never asked me for anything, but the expenses of every day living weigh on them,” said Goldin, 22, whose parents emigrated from Soviet Georgia in 1992. Her father, a former professor, was not able to transfer his Ph.D. in the United States, and her mother was diagnosed with cancer shortly after their move. Both are currently unable to work.

A realist, Goldin hopes a career in business will help her family move forward. “Money makes a difference,” she said, “some sort of paycheck is a non-negotiable for me, but internships are necessary to move your career forward.”

This summer, for the first time, Goldin won’t have to choose. Hillel at Baruch College, with support from UJA-Federation of New York and the Jewish Foundation for Education of Women (JFEW), is piloting a paid internship program for 23 Jewish women in financial need. Participants, lower income City University of New York (CUNY) students, face challenges in accessing and securing competitive internships without sacrificing necessary summer earnings.

“We don’t want these talented young women to have to choose between income and career aspirations,” said Elizabeth Leiman Kraiem, executive director of JFEW. “We’re leveling the playing field.”

Click here to read on and see the full piece about JFEW's new pilot program!

"I am thankful for Alyssa Schuck, our Program Advisor at Stern College. I'm thankful for the support JFEW has given that has allowed me to attend and graduate from Stern College, summa cum laude."

Yael Farzan, Stern College

"I'm thankful for my family--my husband who has been so understanding and patient and my parents and siblings who have been so encouraging and loving. I'm also thankful for straight A's on my midterms. It was not easy but I persevered!"

Beverley Khan, City Tech

"I am thankful for the opportunity to be involved in higher education where I am surrounded by like-minded people. And although I am in a difficult program I have had a strong educational background and an amazing support system encouraging me every step of the way!"

 Jamie Bernstein, Stern College

"I am thankful for many things this year, including my Grandfather reaching the age of 90. He passed away last month, but I am thankful he had such a long life and that he passed so peacefully within the comfort of such a loving family like mine."

Andrene Wright, John Jay College

​​​"I am a current recipient of the JFEW scholarship. I am thankful for being selected for this award. This scholarship has meant a lot to me in pursuing my study. I am thankful." 

Myint Aye, City Tech

"This year, I'm especially thankful for all the opportunities that have come my way, some of which I couldn't have even imagined. Also I am thankful for my family and friends who support me in everything I do."

Dafna Meyers, Stern College 

"I am thankful for all the incredible people in my life who have encouraged me to explore life beyond the borderlands."

Liner Nunez, John Jay College

"I am thankful this semester for being able to keep up with high grades. Happy Holidays!"

Tetyana Martsiyash, John Jay College

"Thank you JFEW for sponsoring the JFEW CUNY Service Corps experience. The JFEW Scholarship has allowed me to make greater impacts in my community, and for that, I am very grateful!" 

Naomi Ducat, Queens College

"I'm thankful for alot of things this season. One of the things I'm so proud of is my RN license. I dedicate my success to my family and the amazing Mr. Stephen Soiffer (Special Assistant to the President), who has been an inspiring mentor and counselor and like a father and a great friend too. Thanks to him, I have my JFEW scholarship."

Bojkena Selmanaj, City Tech

"I am so thankful for all JFEW has done for me throughout college. JFEW enabled me to do research which I will be presenting in a few weeks at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium and provided the conference sponsorship allowing me to attend. The mentoring we receive during the program is extremely helpful, and I feel lucky to be part of this wonderful group! Thank you for all you do. My college experience would truly not have been the same without JFEW."

Chavi Kaufman, Stern College

"I'm thankful that hard work pays off! ( I got an A on my history paper!)"

 Ashley Dennis, Hunter College 

”I'm thankful for the opportunity to continue my education as a graduate student and for all the academic success I accomplished in college! And of course I am thankful for my wonderful family and friends who support me through the good and bad.”

Shiny Sharma, John Jay College

“I’m thankful for getting to participate in the JFEW CUNY Summer Service Corps. My internship was a great opportunity and I thank JFEW for giving us this chance to work in the summer.”

Syeda Kabir, Lehman College

I am thankful for...family. Though we support each other throughout the year we only get to see each other certain times of the year and I cherish those times.

Nicole Ruiz, Hunter College 

"As school soon comes to an end I am thankful for my education. I am thankful for my wonderful professors, inspiring classes and the library it has helped me begin." 

Denise Zami, CLIP Fellow, Stern College

See more of what we are thankful for on our JFEW Facebook page!

Just a few years ago, we all received THE acceptance letter. We were extremely excited and ready to start our pathway to becoming a Nurse. However, there were no fine prints attached to that letter to warn us on what we were about to embark on. 

Our family and friends probably already know this, but here is a little snippet of what I’m talking about. Our social life declined sharply, coffee and red bull became our best friends, we had countless sleepless nights where all we wanted to do was cram all the textbook materials into our head; which, as we found out, is very near impossible. I am not going to name names, but I believe some of us even tried to sleep with our textbooks in the hope that some miracle would happen and all the materials would magically transfer to us while we took our very valued and rare good night sleep. We realized it the hard way that in nursing exams, every answer is right but ours is probably still wrong. We also found out that nursing school was akin to boot camp for our brains. 

In addition to the pins that we will be given today, there are some thank you's to be given out as well. First, thank you very much to my parents who have been my biggest motivator to continue on and never give up. Thank you to all the parents out there, Thank you to all the husbands, wives, significant others, children, family, friends, relatives and everyone else. I wish I could name every other relation but I have been given a strict time limit and I do not want to be embarrassingly cut off half way for exceeding the time limit. But, thank you for being such a great pillar of support and having our backs while we followed our dreams of becoming a nurse.  

Thank you dearest professors and the entire nursing faculty. Thank you Professor Plummer. Everyone knows that nursing students are notorious for trying to hackle for their two points. So, thank you for putting up with that and the constant "Prof, WHEN WILL OUR GRADES BE UP?" Thanks to all of you, here are a few things that we will always remember. In first semester, every mistake we made on our med math exam equaled to us killing a patient. In second semester, we found out the smell of flesh being burnt was just as terrible as hearing a bone bring drilled. In third semester, we hated Cancer and thanks to our psychology class, we started self-diagnosing ourselves with OCD, generalized anxiety disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder and the likes. In fourth semester, who will ever forget our very infamous first med-surg exam? And at this point, even in our sleep, we all know to massage a boggy fundus till it is firm. 

A big Thank You to JFEW for the all the support and amazing opportunities that we would have never got.

Finally, today, we are graduates and just a step away from being nurses. It has been a tough journey full of tears, happiness, anxiety and stress. Strong friendships have been built, tears have been shed, our sanity has been tested, doubts about ourselves have been raised and many failures we have faced. However, despite all the hurdles and storms that we have gone through, I am certain that I speak for everyone when I say it was all worth it. We thought this day would never come, but look around, here we are. On our pining day, the fruit of our sacrifice and hard work feels so sweet. Today marks the day that our hard work has paid off. Today marks the day that our professional journey has only just begun. Today marks the day that WE DID it. 

My dear friends, I leave you with this quote that I found online. "When you are a nurse, you know that every day, you will touch a life or a life will touch yours."  We should never lose sight that we can only make this world a better place one patient at a time.   Thank you and congratulations Class of 2014!

My educational prospects were jump started when Maureen Yusuf, then Middle School Director of Breakthrough New York, walked into my sixth grade classroom and explained their program--a tuition-free, nonprofit, six-year college access program for low income and minority middle school students. I was only twelve, but I already knew I needed all the help I could get. Breakthrough changed the trajectory of my life.

First, they guided me to the Peddie School, a top-tier boarding school in New Jersey, and helped me secure financial aid and scholarships so I could afford to attend. Then, while at Peddie, I was able to take advantage of a variety of unique opportunities, including spending a summer on scholarship in South India volunteer teaching math, English and hygiene to Muslim girls.

Fortunately, she applied to a competitive program at the City University of New York and earned a scholarship to study Radiologic Technology. If you've heard any of President Obama's speeches during his education bus tour through the Northeast this month, you know that Myriam is an exception -- distinguished from countless Americans shut out of higher education because they cannot pay for it. Many of them will be young women, a demographic that is still playing catch-up in education around the globe.

Read the rest of Scholarships for Women Help to Level the Playing Field by JFEW President Jill W. Smith on Huffington Post.

I recently had the pleasure of speaking to a group of 24 students from SUNY's Binghamton University and Stony Brook University campuses. They were part of a program underwritten by the Jewish Foundation for Education of Women. The non-sectarian foundation provides scholarships to enable New York women to pursue careers in certain fields; at SUNY the funds underwrite education in International Relations and Global Affairs, the topic I'd been invited to address. 

Read the rest of Where Public Education Produces Winners by Sarwar Kashmeri on Huffington Post.

These benefits may last long past the first job. According to a May survey conducted by Gallup and Purdue University, college graduates who held an internship or job in college where they were able to apply what they were learning in the classroom, were twice as likely to be engaged in their work. They also experienced a greater sense of well-being: a measure that includes a sense of purpose, financial security, strong and supportive relationships and good health.

Internships help schools satisfy new expectations for employment outcomes and improved rates of retention. Increasingly, schools are under scrutiny for the performance of their graduates in the job market. The White House will soon rank colleges using a formula that takes into account tuition prices, completion rates, and the earnings of their graduates. While we don’t know if internships can directly boost the earnings of college graduates, the National Association of Colleges and Employers has found that nearly 50% of employers wish to see an internship on student resumes. Early research on the connection between internships and retention is also encouraging. The Association of American Colleges and Universities identifies internships as a “high impact” educational practice that can increase student retention and engagement.  

This month, thousands of students will begin summer internships. Many will work without pay, and many of those will be women. While little research exists on gender and internships, a study by Intern-Bridge found that female interns were 75% more likely than male interns to work for free. How many more students—talented qualified students who may stand the most to gain from the experience—will lose out because they cannot afford to work without pay?

Social entrepreneurs and philanthropists seek out underleveraged situations to maximize the effect of their investment. Helping students financially so that they can work at substantive, unpaid internships is a small investment that can generate returns to a student, her school and her employer that may last beyond a single summer. “I love my job,” a recent graduate reported, “and I owe it to my summer as an intern. It pointed me to an industry I would not have otherwise considered and to an employer who hired me after graduation. This would not have happened without financial support.”