My name is Haley McMenomy. I am a 4th-year Business Administration student concentrating in Operations and Supply Chain Management with a minor in Leadership Studies. This semester, I was able to intern at Helping Empower Youth! (HEY!) a non-profit in Atlanta that aims to provide basic necessities and essential services to Black youth in Atlanta. I was able to witness firsthand how Kacey and Coach Boyd, the two founders of HEY! have put their hearts and souls into an organization that is directly making such an impact on a group that is so often uncared for.
My favorite task I assisted on this semester was helping with a video shoot for our Giving Tuesday video, as well as other social media promotions. We had some of the boys come in, as well as board members and supporters of HEY!. I was able to interview them and really hear firsthand how much HEY! means to the children it serves. It was also really special to get to hear why board members of HEY! choose to support HEY! compared to other non-profits in the area, and how essential the work that is being done is. We then used this video footage to showcase on our social media everything that HEY! stands for and is doing in the lives of black youth in Atlanta.
A lot of my internship also centered around research and demographics about the youth we serve. I was honestly surprised when I started digging into zip codes and school research and realized that in an area so close to Georgia Tech, the median household income is only $29,287, and 37.1% of people fall below the poverty line. During my time at Georgia Tech, I have heard the term “Tech bubble” used so often when talking about campus safety. I didn’t realize how entrapped in the “Tech bubble” I have been to completely disregard the heavy need for basic necessities only 10 minutes away from campus. I am so grateful for my semester at HEY! and how much I have learned throughout my time here. I have seen my coworkers step up wherever it is needed, and pour so much of themselves into a cause they so deeply care about. It has been inspiring to witness people really “doing the work” as I heard during the video shoot, and I can attest to just how much of an impact they are making just from my semester at the HEY! House.
The Institute for Leadership and Social Impact is an interdisciplinary institute that promotes servant leadership and social innovation that contribute to a more just, caring, and equitable world. Learn more about our Social Impact Fellows program.