Riley Foundation sponsors summer work program

By By Steve Gillespie / staff writer
Nov. 5, 2003
Grants are available from The Riley Foundation for non-profit organizations wanting to hire college students during the summer.
The grants will provide $3,000 stipends for students who work full-time for eight weeks. Additional funds for materials may be available.
Organizations interested in applying for the grants must be based in Lauderdale County, have 501(c)(3) incorporation status and not be private foundations.
Grant applications must outline projects for student workers. The projects should be tangible and easily measured, such as: assembling market data; writing a manual; measuring client satisfaction; developing new services; making videos or creating newsletters.
The grants cannot be applied to data entry, secretarial tasks, office maintenance or other activities that are a part of the ongoing operation of an organization.
Because the program is meant to introduce students to the non-profit sector outside of an academic setting, schools and universities cannot apply.
Students eligible to participate in the program: 1) must be undergraduate or graduate students enrolled in a college or university in Mississippi, provided they have not been previously employed with the applying organization; 2) cannot have relatives on the organization's staff; and 3) must plan to return to school after the summer work program.
Becky Lewis, of The Riley Foundation, said the program is designed to familiarize college students with non-profit organizations, expose them to career possibilities in the non-profit area and establish communication between colleges and non-profit organizations.
The application deadline for grants is Dec. 1. For more information or an application, call The Riley Foundation at 481-1430.