OUR STORY
Over 25 years ago, the Hon. Jacqueline M. Lewis and her late husband Robert Lewis offered a spare room in their Capitol Hill home to a neighboring Senator’s intern. As need for temporary intern housing grew, they established Washington Intern Student Housing (WISH). Since then, WISH has become the leading intern housing and residential life services provider in Washington D.C. for over 100 colleges and universities around the world, having provided housing to thousands of interns since its founding, offering special programming and events for its residents each semester.
Through her work Ms. Lewis developed an insight into the value of internship or “experiential learning” programs. Washington, D.C. offers unparalleled opportunities for college students to gain work experience and make key connections. Participation in experiential learning programs is often designed to lead to direct employment for the student upon graduation and can be key to accessing next generation leadership roles. Indeed, since the founding of WISH, many of the major public and private colleges and universities now offer structured Washington, D.C. internship programs for their students.
Advancing diversity in America and its workplaces is critical to its continued success. Historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) have led the charge in contributing to this success. However, Ms. Lewis observed that there are common financial challenges that HBCUs and their students face in accessing the resources of Washington. The larger and/or well-known public and private institutions have been able establish and promote their D.C. internship programs while many of their students are equipped to overcome the high-cost of D.C. housing, which now averages over $5,600 per semester. Financial support, endowments and other similar resources are not equally available to all colleges and all students.
Ms. Lewis sought a way to combine her public philanthropy and private benefaction into an internship-focused partnership benefitting HBCUs and their students. In 2021, she established the HBCU National Center to foster experiential learning, mentorship, and networking in Washington, D.C. for HBCUs and their students. The HBCU National Center has created two grant programs, the Internship Support Grant and the Intern Housing Grant. It takes time, effort and resources to develop and sustain a DC internship program and small cash grants can be the key to helping administrators tackle these hurdles. The Internship Support Grant aims to address this need by providing $1,000 cash grants to internship administrators to be used in any manner that advances, promotes or sustains the HBCU’s Washington, D.C. internship program. Ms. Lewis has pledged $1million to provide Internship Support Grants through the Community Foundation of Sarasota County (CFSC), a public-benefit 501(c)(3) corporation. Tax-deductible donations can be made CFSC to help ensure the continued availability of the Internship Support Grants.
For those without the means, D.C.’s housing costs prevent promising students from gaining valuable internship experience and the Intern Housing Grant program is aimed directly at eliminating this hurdle. Privately, Ms. Lewis is providing Intern Housing Grants to be administered through WISH for fully-paid housing to qualified HBCU students during their D.C. internship program. The Intern Housing Grants provide fully-paid, safe and convenient accommodations on Capitol Hill at 215 Constitution Avenue N.E. with other student interns, and include kitchen and laundry facilities, all utilities and internet/Wi-Fi access. Since 2021, the National Center has provided free housing for 23 interns from 13 HBCUs.
OUR STORY
Over 25 years ago, the Hon. Jacqueline M. Lewis and her late husband Robert Lewis offered a spare room in their Capitol Hill home to a neighboring Senator’s intern. As need for temporary intern housing grew, they established Washington Intern Student Housing (WISH). Since then, WISH has become the leading intern housing and residential life services provider in Washington D.C. for over 100 colleges and universities around the world, having provided housing to thousands of interns since its founding, offering special programming and events for its residents each semester.
Through her work Ms. Lewis developed a unique insight into the value of internship or “experiential learning” programs. Washington, D.C. offers unparalleled opportunities for college students to gain work experience and make key connections. Participation in experiential learning programs is often designed to lead to direct employment for the student upon graduation and can be key to accessing next generation leadership roles. Indeed, since the founding of WISH, many of the major public and private colleges and universities now offer structured Washington, D.C. internship programs for their students.
Advancing diversity in America and its workplaces is critical to its continued success. Historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) have led the charge in contributing to this success. However, Ms. Lewis observed that there are common financial challenges that HBCUs and their students face in accessing the resources of Washington. The larger and/or well-known public and private institutions have been able establish and promote their D.C. internship programs while many of their students are equipped to overcome the high-cost of D.C. housing, which now averages over $5,600 per semester. Financial support, endowments and other similar resources are not equally available to all colleges and all students.
Ms. Lewis sought a way to combine her public philanthropy and private benefaction into an internship-focused partnership benefitting HBCUs and their students. In 2021, she established the HBCU National Center to foster experiential learning, mentorship, and networking in Washington, D.C. for HBCUs and their students. The HBCU National Center has created two grant programs, the Internship Support Grant and the Intern Housing Grant. It takes time, effort and resources to develop and sustain a DC internship program and small cash grants can be the key to helping administrators tackle these hurdles. The Internship Support Grant aims to address this need by providing $1,000 cash grants to internship administrators to be used in any manner that advances, promotes or sustains the HBCU’s Washington, D.C. internship program. Ms. Lewis has pledged $1million to provide Internship Support Grants through the Community Foundation of Sarasota County (CFSC), a public-benefit 501(c)(3) corporation. Tax-deductible donations can be made CFSC to help ensure the continued availability of the Internship Support Grants.
For those without the means, D.C.’s housing costs prevent promising students from gaining valuable internship experience and the Intern Housing Grant program is aimed directly at eliminating this hurdle. Privately, Ms. Lewis is providing Intern Housing Grants to be administered through WISH for fully-paid housing to qualified HBCU students during their D.C. internship program. The Intern Housing Grants provide fully-paid, safe and convenient accommodations on Capitol Hill at 215 Constitution Avenue N.E. with other student interns, and include kitchen and laundry facilities, all utilities and internet/Wi-Fi access. Since 2021, the National Center has provided free housing for 23 interns from 13 HBCUs.