Hi friends! It’s my birthday!
Looking for a way to commemorate this momentous occasion?! I hope you support my nonprofit -- Florida Community Innovation!
At FCI, we empower young innovators to build things that make Florida better, like the Florida Community Resource Map (connecting people to food banks, job resources, and more), an anti-human trafficking training certification, an environmental sustainability messaging campaign, and more.
I think what makes us different is that (1) we build our projects with communities and we iterate + research to make sure we're building solutions that actually work and (2) we put young leaders at the center of our work.
Trust me — we couldn’t be working harder to serve people across Florida. Today alone, I met with awesome friends and colleagues from the Mount Dora Community Trust, the Holden Heights community, and Save Miami — all for inspiring, “Save the World” tech projects built by and with our students.
We've worked with a few universities now, and the money I'm specifically trying to raise this birthday is for our University of Florida internship program. This program is special. I'm trying to raise enough money now to completely fund all the students this fall, who are enrolled in in an internship class and/or working for us. They get course credit AND get paid for meaningful work!!
When we started this program, we were trying to give first generation college students and other students who may not normally have access to tech internships a chance -- to find paid work that actually moves their career goals forward, while helping Florida at the same time.
These students inspire me everyday. They come up with innovative ideas, they work hard, and they truly have hearts for service.
It'd mean the world if you could support us! We have more students each year who are interested than we can afford to pay, and with public service, the more, the merrier.
Support us and be a part of the change you want to see!! You can give money to support a student, and you can also volunteer your time by joining our weekly class, engaging in one-on-one mentoring, and more. Learn more on https://lnkd.in/gM_-EBTy.
Thank you for making a difference!
Amazing work! Thank you for your commitment to our community, Varian team. 🥕