Removing Obstacles That Keep Young People of Modest Means From Join Charities

Some charity experts warn that nonprofit jobs, especially for entry-level workers, are increasingly limited to people who already have money — and the social connections and ease that accompany it. That’s a potentially ominous development, says Cynthia Gibson, a former program officer at the Carnegie Corporation, in New York, and now a management consultant to nonprofit clients.

“We’re supposed to be the sector that values something other than pedigree. What about hard work and tenacity and persistence and doing it yourself? Doesn’t that count for anything?” asks Ms. Gibson.

AmeriCorps, the federal national-service program, provides stipends to more than 30,000 young people each year, but it’s hard to tell how many of those volunteers are from modest backgrounds; the federal program doesn’t keep statistics on the percentage of its alumni who are first-generation college graduates.

Unpaid internships function as a rite of passage for many other young people who seek to gain a foothold in the charity world. Interns acquire experience and make connections — but only if they can afford to pay for housing and food without earning a salary.

“That becomes the pool from which nonprofit organizations do their hiring,” says Brandon Silverman, national communications director at the Center for Progressive Leadership, in Washington. “You end up with highly qualified young people, but the process really narrows what the entry-level staff looks like.”

Paid Internships

The Center for Progressive Leadership recently embarked on an effort to make paid internships available to young people who would otherwise be shut out of this formative experience. The New Leaders program is now in its second year, and of the 45 participants, notes Mr. Silverman, one-third are first-generation college graduates.

Gladys Padilla is one of them. After graduating from the University of California at Riverside, she spent the summer as an intern at the Center for American Progress, something she says she could never have afforded to do without a stipend. Ms. Padilla grew up in Los Angeles — her mother is a housekeeper, her father a gardener — and like many first-generation college students, she has not just her own well-being to think about, but her parents’ as well.

The internship gave Ms. Padilla at least a temporary respite from her worries — about finding a job and how to pay back all of those student loans. But most important, she says, has been the opportunity to lay the groundwork for a future nonprofit career.

What will that career look like?

“My goal is to help people overcome obstacles and let them know that they’re invincible and that they can do anything in this world,” says Ms. Padilla.