The Municipal Forum of New York chose 45 New York City high school seniors to be Urban Leadership Fellows for 2016.
The Fellows will receive a paid summer internship at a financial or finance-related company, which will let them explore careers in finance, the group announced on Monday.
The 2016 Fellows come from high schools all across the city: 11 in Manhattan; eight in Brooklyn; six in Queens; two in the Bronx; and one in Staten Island. This year's class not only has the largest number of students but at 49 it also has the most sponsoring institutions.
"The Urban Leadership Fellows Program provides an introduction to careers in finance that can change the course of a student's plans and aspirations," Caroline Cruise, President of The Municipal Forum of New York, said in a press release. "It's exciting to see the world of finance open up in front of these talented students."
The Fellows will work 40 hours a week at paid summer internships and attend orientations, municipal bond school, Excel workshops, and public speaking and presentation training. A trip to Washington, D.C., will be hosted by the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board.
Each Fellow also receives a $500 book grant. And Program alumni who meet GPA requirements can earn college scholarships of $1,000 for up to three years.
The program has awarded Fellowships to 644 New York City high school seniors since it was created by the Forum in 1992. Of those chosen, 91% come from families with household incomes lower than $75,000 a year. The program is supported by the Forum's annual fundraising dinner, taking place this year on Wednesday, May 11.
The companies sponsoring this year's program include: A.C. Advisory; Acacia Financial Group; Academy Securities; Assured Guaranty; Bank of America Merrill Lynch; Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ; Barclays Capital; Battery Park City Authority; BlackRock; Blaylock Beal Van; Bryant Rabbino; and Build America Mutual.
Sponsors also include CaineMitter; Citigroup; D.Seaton and Associates; Empire State Development; Fitch Ratings; Goldman Sachs; Hawkins, Delafield & Wood; Hilltop Securities; Janney Montgomery Scott; Jefferies; JPMorgan Securities; Loews Corp.; Loop Capital Markets; Metropolitan Transportation Authority; Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo; Mohanty Garguilo; and Moody's Investors Service.
Additional sponsors are Morgan Stanley; Municipal Bond Club of New York; New York City Comptroller's Office; New York City Housing Development Corp.; New York City Office of Management & Budget; New York State Homes & Community Renewal; Nixon Peabody LLP; Public Resources Advisory Group; Prager; Raymond James; RBC Capital Markets; Roosevelt & Cross; Samuel A. Ramirez; Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association; Siebert Brandford Shank; Standard & Poor's; The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey; UBS Financial Services; Wells Fargo Securities; and Winston & Strawn.
