BPM Executive-Level
Black Internship
Program
Our BPM Executive-Level Black Internship Program is structured for the development of minority business executives and entrepreneurs. BPM recruits minority interns that are fully committed to success in business from historically Black colleges and other Black sources. BPM interns will be fully immersed in a variety of business activities at market-leading companies that will groom them for success at the highest level of business engagement.
According to the results of a recent nationally representative study, if graduates had an internship or job in college where they were able to apply what they learned in the classroom, their odds of experiencing these positive outcomes saw a marked increase. The results suggest that it's less important that a graduate attended an Ivy League or other esteemed institution and more important that the student was involved in experiential learning opportunities that could adequately prepare them for their professional future.
An internship not only provides the work experience that helps students put their education into practice, but it furthers the development of their leadership skills and, most importantly, gives them a competitive advantage as they pursue a permanent position. Students who graduate with internship experiences are generally more likely than students without those experiences to find employment after graduation. For minority students, the benefits of an internship as an introduction to a company for post-graduate employment are even greater.
Not only do students who completed an internship in college see more success in securing full-time employment, but they also report higher levels of satisfaction with their overall career outcomes.
Our BPM Executive-Level Black Internship Program is available to all of our key strategic, corporate, institutional, and government partners who embrace the BPM Mission.
Shirley Chisholm
POLITICIAN
Shirley Chisholm was an American politician, educator, and author. In 1968, she became the first Black woman elected to the United States Congress, representing New York's 12th congressional district for seven terms from 1969 to 1983. In the 1972 United States presidential election, she became the first African-American candidate for a major party's nomination for President of the United States, and the first woman to run for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination.
Born in Brooklyn, Chisolm studied and worked in early childhood education, becoming involved in local Democratic party politics in the 1950s. In 1964, overcoming some resistance because she was a woman, she was elected to the New York State Assembly. Four years later she was elected to Congress, where she led expansion of food and nutrition programs for the poor and rose to party leadership. She retired from Congress in 1983 and made her home in suburban Williamsville, New York. She taught at Mt Holyoke College while continuing her political organizing. In 2015, Chisholm was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
