Youth Conservation Corps Provides Summer Internships to Local NFP Businesses

Online, June 9, 2010 (Newswire.com) - BENNU Legal Services is a non-profit agency dedicated to Supporting American Dreams. BENNU strives to offer affordable legal services on a sliding-fee scale to individuals as well as small businesses and specializes in immigration, small business, and family law. In addition to legal aid and support, BENNU's mission is educational. The agency provides legal information and trainings in many forms, from seminars and one-on-one consultations to distribution of pamphlets about key constitutional rights and responsibilities. BENNU also creates and delivers programs to help others develop important business, office and legal skills and experiences. These often allow participants to qualify for a larger number of job opportunities or promotions.

Through its programs BENNU has helped several individuals and families. In one such case, a young woman was stuck working the morning shift as a waitress in a restaurant because she couldn't speak English well. She started English as a Second Language (ESL) classes to convince her boss to schedule her for the busier night shifts. She had never considered the possibility of another job besides waiting tables, but one day her ESL instructor told the class about BENNU's SKILL program. The SKILL program introduced her to office environments and taught her many useful skills; she learned about telephone etiquette, customer relations, databases, and translating. Thanks to her experience with BENNU, a new career path opened for the young woman, and she has decided that she wants to find a job in an office where she can use her bilingual skills to help her company.

Recently, the Youth Conservation Corps received grants from the Corporation for National and Community Service to provide summer internships for local non-profit organizations. BENNU was awarded several summer internships to focus on building the organizational, administrative, and financial capacity of the organization. The interns are fundraising and marketing majors at area colleges, and are eagerly helping to increase awareness of BENNU in the community. Spreading awareness is very important to BENNU so the agency can reach as many people as possible. For instance, many immigrants in abusive relationships do not know where to turn for help and live in fear. Domestic abuse is a critical problem in Illinois, with an estimated 10,000 Latina victims in Lake County alone. BENNU helps individuals and families to find an escape and turn their American nightmares into American Dreams.

If you would like to know more about BENNU or would like to support an American Dream, please call (847) 478-8200, or visit www.bennulegal.org.