By Kevin McCauley
Fleishman-Hillard has launched the Alfred Fleishman Diversity Fellowships program to provide top-level mentoring, professional development and employment opportunities for minority college seniors and graduate students.
The first crop of fellows will be in place during the summer in participating offices in St. Louis, Chicago, San Francisco, Dallas, Atlanta, Washington and New York. The paid program will run for six to 12 months.
CEO Dave Senay promises the fellowships are “not typical internships.” The fellows “will be mentored closely by senior vice presidents or higher and exposed to every aspect of agency life. Our intent is to groom the fellows to be agency-ready upon completion of the program,” he said.
The program honors the F-H founder who is remembered for his effort to foster communications among black leaders and corporate executives in the firm’s headquarters city of St. Louis.
As superintendent of recreation during the 1930s, Fleishman integrated recreational facilities in St. Louis for the first time. He later served as president of the metropolitan St. Louis Urban League.
During the racially charged 1960s, Fleishman worked with the St. Louis Human Development Corp. on the “Street Academy” program, an alternative educational and job preparation for young people in the black community. That effort led to Fleishman’s book, “Dialogue with Street Fighters.”
He retired from F-H in 1975 and died ten years ago at the age of 96.
Information about the fellowships is at www.fleishmanhillard.com/careers/diversity.
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