SACRAMENTO REGION, CA (MPG) – Students from Cordova, Mesa and Rio Linda high schools recently rolled up their sleeves to make a difference for single moms and their kids this summer. 

The students, part of SAFE Credit Union’s annual corporate summer internship program, painted classrooms and sorted donations for Single Mom Strong at their Single Mom’s Empowerment Center in Citrus Heights.

“We are a very small team with a large mission,” says Single Mom Strong founder and Executive Director Tara Taylor. “Community support like this makes all the world of difference to us.”

The Empowerment Center, home to Single Mom Strong’s EmpowerME Preschool & Childcare programs, provides discounted, high-quality preschool and childcare that specifically meets the needs of children of single parents.

SAFE’s corporate internship program gives area high school students a behind-the-scenes look at the credit union’s operations while providing hands-on job and job-seeking skills. Each year advisors arrange for the interns to volunteer, instilling the importance of corporate citizenship.

“Our internship program strives to teach interns not only about our day-to-day and back-office operations but to also provide them with a big picture of what it means to work for a socially responsible company,” says SAFE Credit Union Financial Educator Savannah Brown.

Mesa Verde High School senior and intern Nicole Vasques says her internship has been a great opportunity and is thankful volunteering is part of the program. “I think it’s nice giving back to the community too,” she says. “It’s great to know we are here to help single parents.”

The students spruced up the organization's two heavily used preschool and pre-K classrooms. The rooms provide space for up to 27 children each day and students enrolled in summer camps.

“We have 3- to 4- and 5-year-olds playing and running around all day, so clearly the walls get dirty,” Taylor says. “We are really grateful to have the students come here to make sure the rooms stay warm and inviting. This makes such a huge difference.”

Rio Linda High School Senior Jaiden Domingo says he enjoyed how the internship gave “a chance for us to give back to the community.”

“More companies should give back,” he says.

Danielle Yeater a senior at Cordova High School, said the opportunity to help out at the facility “shows that SAFE is a good company willing to get people out to volunteer.”

At the Empowerment Center, Single Mom Strong serves nearly 800 local single mothers by hosting community events to create connections, providing life and career coaching, and disseminating free professional clothing.

During their two-week SAFE internship held through Friday, students learn about banking principles, receive resume-building guidance and engage in mock interviews and ice breaker practice sessions. They learn about marketing from professionals and this year will create a group marketing project for SAFE’s three high school student-run branches, also at Cordova, Mesa and Rio Linda high schools. The interns will go on to work in the student-run branches this coming school year.

Mesa Verde High School Senior Nohemy Garcia says she mostly valued learning about the interview process during her internship including, to “not to be someone else. Show your own personality.”

The nonprofit Single Mom Strong began supporting single parents seven years ago, opening its Single Mom Empowerment Center five years ago. “We believe high quality childcare and early childhood education should be available even on a single budget income,” says Taylor.