Fordham’s Serving the City Internship program provides both Fordham College Rose Hill and Fordham College Lincoln Center students with access to paid internships with nonprofit organizations in the New York area. The program was founded on the goal to give students access to internships that reward them with stipends, as well as advance the work of nonprofits.
Laura Auricchio, Ph.D, dean at Fordham College at Lincoln Center, oversees the Serving the City program alongside Maura Mast, Ph.D, dean of Fordham College at Rose Hill.
“We knew that students in FCLC and FCRH were looking to gain experience through internships, but we also knew that often these internships were unpaid. Our vision was to build a program that provided stipends for students to participate in internships at non-profit institutions,” said Auricchio.
According to Auricchio, the program was first envisioned in early 2020. However, it wasn’t until COVID-19 swept throughout the country that Auricchio and Mast decided to partner with the Museum of Arts and Design and the New York Historical Society to pilot virtual internships during summer 2020. These initial two organizations are still part of the Serving the City Internship program.
“Internship opportunities dried up [once COVID-19 hit] and we also saw the challenges that non-profit institutions in New York were facing, especially cultural institutions that had to close during the lockdown. We initially called this the Cultural Engagement Internship Program, to reflect the emphasis on cultural institutions. Last year, we changed the name to the Serving the City Internship Program, to reflect the wider range of institutions with whom we are partnering,” said Auricchio.
Serving the City works exclusively with non-profit organizations, and the program has grown to include almost 40 partners and 150 internships over the past two years. Serving the City partners include organizations such as the Brooklyn Museum, PEN America, The Center for Fiction and The National Arts Club. Donations from generous Fordham alumni are what allows the program to offer stipends to students.
“Some organizations reach out to us and in other cases we reach out to organizations that have been referred to us or that we know through our networks. We look for partnerships that will provide students with an engaging experience,” said Auricchio.
Cole Mullins, FCRH ’24, served as the Development and Administration Intern at the Dyckman Farmhouse Museum in Inwood, Manhattan this past summer. Throughout his internship, Mullins gained valuable experience in grant writing, donor research, fundraising and learning about the ins and outs of nonprofit organizations. A unique aspect of Serving the City, which Mullins noted, is that the internships are available to exclusively Fordham students.
“The Serving the City program provided me with different internship opportunities only available to Fordham students. This made the process very quick and efficient because the different organizations were only interviewing/hiring students at Fordham,” reflected Mullins.
As of summer 2023, a total of 47 students have held internships through the Serving the City program. Auricchio and Mast expect approximately 15 internships to be held by students this fall.
“I would definitely recommend students utilize the Serving the City program as it provides Fordham students with specialized internships only available to them. This provides ample opportunity to get much needed experience in NYC companies. It is also a paid internship opportunity which is a helpful perk when students are searching for jobs,” said Mullins.
Interested students can utilize Handshake and filter postings according to the “Serving the City” tag to view available internships.
Additionally, Mast details new internships in her weekly Dean’s newsletter, which is shared with the student body.
