The Institute for Responsible Citizenship is currently accepting applications for its summer leadership program in Washington, D.C. You should be a college sophomore to apply.
The Institute provides America’s best and brightest African-American male college students with unparalleled networking opportunities, leadership development, and lifelong mentorship.
Program highlights include:
• Exposure to congressmen, Supreme Court justices, doctors ,
business executives, educators, and other influential leaders
• Rigorous academic seminars
• Roundtable discussions, including seminars on leadership
development
• High-level internships around Washington, DC
• Activities that promote strong bonds with each other.
The program runs from June 5 to July 31, 2010. Students must commit to two summers. Housing is paid for by the Institute. Students work at paid internships based on their career interest
You should be a college sophomore to apply. The Institute does not have
a GPA requirement. However, the median GPA for recent classes is 3.65.
An applicant’s GPA is not the only criterion that is evaluated during the
admissions process. Campus involvement, awards earned, athletics, and
volunteer work are also important factors.
The application can be found on the web at www.i4rc.org/application.htm. Applications must be received, not postmarked, by the deadline of January 29, 2010.
Inquiries should be directed to info@i4rc.org or (202) 659-2831.
Helping black colleges go ‘green’
The United Negro College Fund has received a $1.8 million grant from The Kresge Foundation in support of the Building Green at Minority-Serving Institutions Initiative.
This initiative is the inaugural project of the Facilities and Infrastructure Enhancement Program of the UNCF Institute for Capacity Building. The program will focus on facilitating the green transformation of UNCF member institutions and that of other minority-serving institutions.
The Building Green initiative will build knowledge and capacity through a series of Building Green Learning Institutes, Technical Assistance Workshops and $20,000 mini-grants to help Minority-Serving Institutions incorporate principles of sustainable design and energy efficiency into their building projects and overcome barriers that often include small endowments and low in-house expertise in green building practices.
Working with institutions to overcome these barriers will be critical to achieving the initiative’s two goals: 1) To increase the number of buildings and structures on Minority-Serving Institutions campuses that register for and achieve Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification; and 2) To increase the number of these institutions that are signatories of the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment (ACUPCC).
Learning Institutes will be held in Atlanta, GA; Minneapolis, MN and San Antonio, TX in 2010.
UNCF will partner on the Initiative with Second Nature, an organization with expertise in advancing sustainability and green building with leaders in higher education. Additionally, the American Indian Higher Education Consortium, the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, and the Thurgood Marshall College Fund have agreed to participate in and promote the initiative.
Institutions often view green building as an expense or a luxury that is unaffordable, rather than as an investment. And typically, green building construction costs are 1-2.5 percent higher than those for non-green buildings. However, investing in a green initiative pays medium-term returns that often amount to ten times the increased expenditure during the life-cycle of a building or renovation in savings on energy, water use and waste disposal.
In the case of HBCUs, for example, retrofitting and or renovating historic structures that are energy-inefficient and have high operating costs would yield significant medium- and long-term savings.
“From our research and experience, minority–serving colleges and universities want to cut operating costs, reduce waste and pollution, and protect human health through sustainable building practices, and we’re thrilled to work with UNCF to boost that capacity,” said Dr. Anthony D. Cortese, President of Second Nature.