Do you think that the life of a lawyer is working long hours until 2 a.m. and having your accomplishments measured by your “billable hours?” It doesn’t have to be that way. There are alternatives. You can be a lawyer and still have a life, as Sandra T.M. Chong most certainly proves. As Assistant General Counsel for the San Diego Unified School District, she provides legal counsel on school construction, labor compliance, student rights, and other issues. She also negotiates settlements to litigation and disputes, as well as identifies potential liabilities. But her life isn’t limited to being a lawyer. Sandra, 35, loves eating and exercising, so in addition to dishing out legal advice, she also regularly serves up restaurant reviews and exercise tips. To learn more about Sandra, her career, and her extracurricular activities, check out this week’s Young & Professional Profile.
For American high school students, gaining admission to the United States’ top colleges is a difficult process. It’s even more challenging though if you’re a high school student in Vietnam who isn’t familiar with American culture and the U.S. educational system. Khoa Pham, 23, noticed this unmet need for help in navigating the admissions process and formed VietAbroader. The organization provides information, guidance, and networking to make Vietnamese students competitive for admission and scholarships to top U.S. universities. The group also serves as a bridge linking local students in Vietnam with Vietnamese students studying overseas. Since its founding in 2004, VietAbroader has held two conferences attended by more than 1,000 Vietnamese students and parents. In the past two years, over 100 students attending those conferences have gotten admission and scholarships to U.S. colleges. To learn more about how Khoa and VietAbroader are making a U.S. college education attainable for Vietnamese students, check out this week’s Non-profit Spotlight.
Gaining admission into an elite MBA program or top-ranked college is a highly competitive process. Differentiating oneself to stand out from all the applicants is no easy feat. That’s where the services of Expartus, an admissions consulting company headed by CEO Chioma Isiadinso, can give a prospective student that winning edge. Chioma, 36, Co-Founded Expartus after working for Harvard Business School’s MBA admissions board. Her company uses personal branding to help clients market themselves effectively to their most desired programs. Admissions advisors and
brand strategists provide personalized services, helping each client with the unique challenges and concerns he or she faces. In addition to providing individual consulting services, Expartus also conducts seminars and workshops, including its new “Brand Your Way to an MBA” workshop. To learn more about how Chioma and Expartus are helping students get into their dream schools, check out this week’s Young & Professional Profile.
Because they can’t speak for themselves, children are some of the most vulnerable members of society. Yet, for any community or country to thrive, it needs to invest in the well-being of its children. Children Now, a nonpartisan research and advocacy organization, believes that children in the United States are getting short shrift from policymakers, and it strives to make children’s issues a top public concern. It wants to ensure that every child has a quality education, access to affordable health care, and a wholesome media environment with fewer junk-food advertisements. Stacy Hae Lim Lee, 30, a director at Children Now, handles one of the most difficult parts of keeping an organization functioning smoothly: fundraising. Her fundraising responsibilities include putting together proposals to foundations, researching funding sources, and developing outreach plans to funders. As a member of the executive team, she also helps with overall strategy. To learn more about Stacy’s work at Children Now, check out this week’s Nonprofit Spotlight.
Inspired by his Bangladeshi grandfather’s dream of an educated Bangladesh, Aadel Chaudhuri and his family started Books for Children. The family-run organization believes “a book can change a life,” and in keeping with that motto, it provides books and builds schools in Bangladeshi villages. Once a year, Aadel, 24, travels to the South Asian country to check on the schools, donate books, set up spelling bees, and meet with ministers of education. Back in the United States, he takes time out of his busy schedule as a medical student at Stanford University to design brochures, update his organization’s Web site, and forge partnerships with other charitable organizations. The hard work all pays off during his visits to Bangladesh when a child approaches him and asks in broken English to be read a recently donated book. Read more about Aadel and Books for Children’s efforts to promote literacy in Bangladesh in this week’s Nonprofit Spotlight.
Being a refugee or immigrant in a new country can be an overwhelming, daunting, and confusing experience. Clementine Msengi, 34, can relate. In 1995, she arrived in Iowa as a refugee from Rwanda’s genocide. Speaking little English, and not understanding American culture, she had a difficult time adjusting. Since then, though, Clementine has earned a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree, and started Bright Move Network. The organization helps refugees and immigrants in the Waterloo/Cedar Falls area of Iowa adapt to life in the American Midwest, while also introducing the local community to its newest residents. It integrates newcomers into the community by matching them with mentors, offering skills training, and providing referrals to service providers. The goal is to empower immigrants and refugees with the skills and resources needed in order to be self-sufficient, contributing members of their adopted communities. To learn more about Clementine’s work as Executive Director of Bright Move Network, check out this week’s Nonprofit Spotlight.
After a close friend died in the early 1980s, during the dawn of AIDS, Paul Kawata became involved in HIV/AIDS issues. Today, as Executive Director since 1989 of the National Minority AIDS Council (NMAC), he is the longest serving and surviving AIDS-organization Executive Director in the United States. NMAC is the only national nonprofit that focuses on HIV/AIDS among racial and ethnic minorities. It provides support to community-based organizations through trainings, on-site technical assistance, conferences, publications, and other services. Paul oversees the general operation of NMAC, works to raise funds from major donors, and serves as the public face of the organization during events such as its annual United States Conference on AIDS. More than 70 percent of U.S. HIV/AIDS cases are among minorities; thus, Paul says his organization’s work is greatly needed. Read more about Paul Kawata and the National Minority AIDS Council in this week’s Nonprofit Spotlight.
While many people are staunch supporters of the “bootstrap” motto, few could say that a helping hand, an inspiring mentor, or a friend with encouraging words didn’t lead to ultimate professional success. The Hispanic College Fund (HCF), based in Washington, DC, offers this support through a variety of ways, be it college preparation seminars for teens, university scholarships, internships, mentorships, and so much more. When HCF founders launched their innovative program 14 years ago, it was out of frustration at how few Latino students could afford to pursue the college degree that would eventually lead toward upward mobility. Program Manager, Jeanne Barrueta, tells us that this non-profit sees itself helping mold future leaders by supporting those pursuing degrees in business, science, engineering, technology and math. What she has found in response is that HCF alumni turn right around once those degrees are in-hand to donate what they can to further the Hispanic academic and professional cause, thus supporting the next generation of leaders. Learn more about the Hispanic College Fund in this week’s Non-Profit Spotlight and how your mentorship or financial contributions will be able to help thousands more achieve their dreams.
Schools require a lot of resources and support to fulfill their missions and set children on the path to success. The Oakland Small Schools Foundation (OSSF) of Oakland, California, strives to improve the quality of the city’s innovative small public schools by providing strategic planning services, helping secure needed resources, and engaging in other activities to promote school excellence. The organization has a unique partnership with the University of California, Berkeley, in which graduate students have the opportunity to develop sustainability plans for Oakland’s experimental small schools. One dedicated student in this program is Jeff Kang, 27, who is working toward his MBA degree at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business. Through information gathering and analysis, he is creating a plan for success for the small school to which he has been paired. Check out how Jeff is making a big positive impact on a small public school in this week’s Nonprofit Spotlight.
Serving Latino youth, aiding them to develop skills, helping them mature into leaders, mentors, and peer educators; not only are these the goals of Puerto Rican Youth Development (PRYD) and Resource Center, Inc., but they are also the agency’s tangible successes achieved over the last 30 years since opening of operations. Working within New York’s Greater Rochester Area, PRYD helps community youth discover their creative passions, guides them on how to attain academic stability, and educates them on a variety of issues surrounding personal health and well-being. Mildred D. Vazquez, Executive Director, tells us that this non-profit was launched entirely by a team of teen leaders wanting to help their peers grow successful in an environment often limiting great achievement. Now decades later, the agency is in even more demand and is in the process of a business overhaul to ensure that it reaches peak potential. Read this week’s Non-Profit Spotlight to find out more on the history of PRYD, the vision of its new executive director, and what’s in store for an increasingly successful future.
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