During the summer months, PYB was fortunate to employ a group of capable and hardworking young leaders in our inaugural 
Intern Program. All of our interns, both camp-based and corporate-based, served as critical advocates and recruiters for our inaugural Collegiate Summer Camp Series, as well as aided in the creation of the program’s innovative educational and athletic curricula. Then, when our camp-based interns coached and mentored a total of 312 campers during our five weeks of summer camps, our corporate-based interns led the execution of important projects. These projects targeted several areas within PYB’s operation, including fundraising, communication and outreach, board member engagement, and budget and finance work.
Isaac Bushnell, a sophomore at Northwestern University majoring in political science, spearheaded our organization’s digital communication and outreach initiatives. On a daily basis, Isaac managed PYB’s social media content on PYB’s Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts, as well as provided significant information and articles for our monthly newsletter regarding our people, happenings, and progress. Additionally, Isaac generated unique written and visual content for partner acknowledgements and for our organization’s website.
Jake Engler, a senior and information management and technology major at Syracuse University, established the initial structure and outreach for PYB’s fall foul-shot-a-thon fundraiser, which will include and club teams throughout the city and region. Jake also headed PYB’s crowdfunding campaign to raise money for programming, operational, and capital campaign expenses. Through the crowdfunding campaign, PYB was able to raise awareness and donations from a group of generous supporters.
Danny Holdsman, a senior at Central High School, guided the recruitment and outreach of sponsors and participants for PYB’s two 16-team middle school tournaments for middle school aged boys and girls set to be on Martin Luther King Jr. Weekend of 2017. Danny also took lead on the external research of companies and individuals that would potentially take interest in PYB and our mission for youth development.
Zach Mahler, a junior at Penn State where he studies kinesiology, led on the structural work to plan a large scale AAU basketball tournament during Memorial Day Weekend of 2017 at the Philadelphia Convention Center. Zach also helped with much of the prospect and foundation research to ensure our best efforts when applying for funding.
Kyle Lafferty, senior at Rosemont College majoring in sociology, revamped the I Am Philadelphia Basketball social media campaign, aka #IamPYB. He, along with several other Philadelphian basketball enthusiasts, shared their personal stories about their connection to the game and why they believe in PYB’s mission. Also, Kyle supported much of the administrative duties for our summer camp programming to ensure all interested student athletes would be able to attend.
Ari Rosenfeld, a sophomore and a newspaper and online journalism major at Syracuse University, strategically generated the written content and assisted in the entire creative creation of PYB’s 2015-16 annual report. This full and transparent report will be released in November. Additionally, Ari helped with several pieces within the crowdfunding campaign and the South Jersey briefing event to certify both projects were successfully completed.
Alexander Schwarz, a junior at George Washington University studying finance and entrepreneurship, aided in the brainstorming and beginning steps of PYB’s promotional video being created by Isaiah Nathaniel and Calcom Technologies. Alex also created and executed a successful South Jersey briefing event to raise awareness of our organization and to initiate relationships with our neighbors in New Jersey.
Our six camp-based interns, all of whom play basketball at the collegiate level and have demonstrated a passion for coaching and mentoring, were instrumental to the success of PYB’s summer camps, both on the court and in the classroom. These terrific coaches and mentors included Jayla Greene (sophomore, Gwynedd Mercy University), Greg Holdsman (sophomore, Denison University), Ben Holl (senior, Johnson State College), Jalil Pines-Elliott (sophomore, Elizabethtown College), Jamil Pines-Elliott (sophomore, Elizabethtown College), and Antonio Woods (junior, University of Pennsylvania). Additionally, Kyle Lafferty and Zach Mahler, two of our corporate-based interns, assisted in coaching and mentoring during several of our camp weeks. Our camp-based interns provided basketball skill-building instruction through engaging drills and competitions, as well as team-concepts information during dynamic group settings. Our student-athletes were able to implement their learnings during the instructional game play at the end of each camp day.
During PYB’s Summer Intern Program, every two weeks PYB conducted a Development Workshop for our corporate-based and camp-based interns. 
These gatherings included a meet and greet with Villanova’s Tony Chennault, a discussion about leadership and movement tactics, and a conversation around athletes and activism where our interns wrote a profile on an athlete meaningful to them. Our intention was to provide our interns with an intellectually stimulating, meaningful, and relevant topic to ignite personal thought and expression, as well as offer them the opportunity to engage with PYB board members, supporters, and community leaders.
Thanks to our summer intern’s quality work, PYB has been able to substantially push forward with many new initiatives that are critical to our organization’s growth. In the months to come, we look forward to building upon their contributions. We wish all of our interns the best of luck in the 2016-17 school year!
If you or someone you know is interested in joining PYB’s Intern Program, please email Diana Venezia, Fund Development Coordinator, at dvenezia@phillyyouthbasketball.org, or call (215) 864-8274.
By Diana Venezia, Fund Development Coordinator