The 501c Business Incubator Council, LLC (501c BizInc Council)™ and its lead charity, the Economic Empowerment Foundation for Exempt Startups & Small Businesses (EEF-501c)™ are excited to announce its inaugural Student Internship Program, we are calling it The Academic Partnership Initiative (API). Feel free to share this news with colleagues or forward to an interested party.

API has been on hiatus due to COVID. It is being modified in order to facilitate a relaunch for the Fall 2024 Academic Term AND to include an additional discipline as part of its Student Intern Learning efforts.

No shade but unlike others offerings, our programs are not exclusive to the best or classified as top tier. That’s not achieve in a vacuum, name, wealth, or connections should not be a factor, nor should there be other levels of exclusion.

We know this from experience, its how the BizInc Council came to be and why it converted its volunteerism into game changing efforts that cant fail or fall short.

We’ve put assets, programs, resources, connections, training opportunities & peer building memberships in place for those continuously deemed unqualified, are barred or excluded from opportunities everyone should have EQUAL access to.

Now those who utilized them CAN continue becoming their best and understand they’ve ALWAYS been at their top of their game. Its about evolving to become better and better and better.

THE ACADEMIC PARTNERSHIP INITIATIVE (API)

The Academic Partnership Initiative (API) is a Student Intern-to-Startup Match program of the 501c BizInc Council™ where we invite Academic Institutions in the US to Partner with EEF-501c™ for Year-Long Internships for Students attending the Institution. API originally focused only on Students enrolled in the Schools of Technology but we are expanding API to include other disciplines such as Communication & Podcasting and more.

That said, 501c BizInc Council™ & EEF-501c™ will be offering Partnerships to the following learning environments both nationally, and in DC & PR:

** Community Colleges (CC),
** Historically Black Colleges & Universities (HBCUs)
** Minority Serving Institutions (MSI), and
** Vocational Education Institutions (VocEds)

Whose Eligible

API is a reflection of our mission and purpose, its keenly focused on leveling the playing field for those who are ignored, underserved, there but not recognized. Institutions eligible for Partnership are on the lower-bottom have of Federal ranking/rating resources such as those produced from NCES. Media resources such as those from US News and World Report may or may not be considered but will not determining factor.

Per Nominations from our Board, a list is maintained, Letters of Invitation (LOI) to US Institutions would NORMALLY be sent during the latter half of each May inviting them to participate in the program.

This year however, both the number and issue date for Invitations has been extended based on a number of factors beyond our control including Program Support Resources, the number of LegUp Awardees with projects ready for Mentorship Duty, or available PMs for Internship with The Foundation or one of its 25+ sibling charities, but primarily the ongoing delay in processing of essential documents or data by Federal Agencies, including the IRS. But we are moving ahead as planned, delayed or not.

Process: Pre-Registration vs. Program Registration

Onboarding the program occurs in two (2) phases, Pre-Registration and Full Program Registration.

Pre-Registration is essential so we have an idea of Partners needs and participation parameters, time to secure and adjust where needed. The Official Program Registration is where everything from Participating Interns selections & Awardee Mentors, Partner & Intern introductions are made, to all confirming resources and finalizing other program components such as dates, etc., happens.

As 2024 is both the Foundations 10th Anniversary year and the relaunch of API. For this year only Special Inaugural Invitations are in the process of going out, with Invitees receiving a call alerting that they have an Invitation forthcoming so they are aware. Aside from this years Special Invitation, the processes articulated are the Standardized Protocol for API.

On acceptance of our Initial Invitation, a formal Acceptance Letter with API’s Institutional Program Partner Registration Package will be sent.

There is a nominal Registration Fee which accompanies the Pre-Registration Form as part of the Partnership Registration Process.

The Registration Fee is based on the number of Student Intern participating, those details are available in the API Program Description which accompanies the Pre-Registration Form.

The Pre-Registration Process includes asset planning on our end but also quite an extensive bit of research to matchup Awardees from our LegUp and/or other Programs, resources availability confirmations, kick-off & other tentative scheduling, all those are based on the desired Program subject matter and logistics for the API Partners Student Intern.

Pre-Registration Submission & Payment would normally be accepted over the two (2) week period beginning Monday

Memorial Day thru Midnight the 2nd Friday following Memorial Day (June).

However, for this inaugural, the processing of some key compliance updates remain delayed by Federal Agency’s impacting our launch. So we are extending the submission cycle making the 2024 due date for Pre-Registration obligations Midnight Sunday, June 30, 2024.

The Full Registration Process can be submitted as early as Labor Day but must be completed no later than mid-October. The API Program Cycle is every Autumn-Fall with Official activities concluding during the next years Graduation Season.

Special Considerations

The BizInc Council has deliberately kept the Summer Season Open, its the perfect transition point because:

  • its an opportunity for API Student Interns to continue Mentorships if projects are still ongoing,
  • its an opportunity for API Student Interns to explore/pursue other Internship opportunities with the Council itself, or throughout its Collective of more than 25 Charities,
  • its gives Student Interns a change to explore/pursue Internship Opportunities with other LegUp Programs especially the new ones being formed,
  • its a perfect opportunity for Institutional Partners to become familiar with other LegUp Programs should a desire to participate more broadly is already there.

The API Program Cycle is Autumn to Spring in keeping with our Fiscal Reporting Cycles which begins on October 1. Work-Study and other Credit Value assessing is determined by you so that along with scheduling, you can easily frame your Students Program in keeping with your Institutions Academic Requirements.

Each Institutional Partner must have their Students ready to start their LegUp Mentorships no later than the end of October. Mentorship may begin as early as desired, in consultation with the Mentor particularly if Project parameters must take precedence. Determining these factors, getting them pre-set keeps our Setup-to-Go-Live transition as seamless as possible. Its why we implement a Pre-Registration Process is most everything The Council & its incubator support charities undertake.

Institutional Partners are welcome to Renew their Program, a simple notification to The Foundation no later than March 1 as you near the end of your program year. We use the Spring Break Cycle as our program & operations adjustment period, and also our the transition period going into our Summer-to-Fall activities.

This is also a common time frame when Program Awardees or Participants across ALL our varying Intern types typically transition between Internship Programs (i.e. school to In-House), or they transition out of Internships into Fellowship & other roles across the collaborative.

At this time API is 1 Academic Year, API Program Renewals are 1 Program Cycle for a total of 2 consecutive Academic & Calendar years, this is to ensure starting out that each Institution and Individual Student Intern has an equal opportunity to participate with no long wait list to participate.

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COMING SOON!

Thanks for your patience as we are complete updating information in order to finalize the process of readying API , and developing LegUp/Internship Programs in Podcast Communications, Veterinary Support Services, Real Property Asset Management & more.

Meantime, feel free to visit our new & updated websites beginning with https://501cEconomicEmpowermentFndn.org and to review our our listing in the national Fiscal Sponsors Directory at https://fiscalsponsordirectory.org/?page_id=14438 to learn more about EEF-501c™ and small business incubator charities whose joint mission is serving the 501c business concern and eliminating access barriers to funding and business asset Tax Exempt Startups & Entrepreneurs routinely encounter face-to-face.

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Economic Empowerment Foundation for Exempt Startups & Small Businesses™
&
501c Business Incubator Council, LLC™

And Thanks again to the Volunteers that manage and maintain our websites.