CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A nonprofit organization is helping minority college students succeed after graduation.

Gardhouse provides students with career guidance and connects them with paid internships.

Some of them are at minority-owned businesses.

"Not only are we able to provide students with real-life experience within the industry that they're seeking to answer, but we're providing operational support to small businesses locally that traditionally don't receive the same support that large-scale businesses do,” Gardner says.

Executive Director Jonathan Gardner says he started the organization in 2019 after he learned historically students of color have been twice as likely to be unemployed after graduation.

“We have students that are working full-time jobs and part-time jobs. We have students that are just overwhelmed by a course load because of the pandemic,” Gardner says.

Since its inception, Gardhouse has reached 200 students from the Charlotte area.

“We are an organization that not only focuses on the professional barriers that students face, we also focus on the mental health barriers. So once a student gains employment, we want to also make sure that they are whole as individuals,” Gardner says.

Trinity Hallums, a junior at Johnson C. Smith University, is majoring in psychology and minoring in biology.  

She did an internship at Gardhouse in the fall and received resume help, coaching for job interviews, and workshops in her field.

Hallums, who is pursuing a career in psychiatry, is grateful for the organization’s support.

“I want somebody else to have faith in my career,” Hallums says.

Their help has allowed her to gain more confidence and continue working hard.

Thanks to the organization, the student plans to pursue an internship related to her field this summer.

To learn more about Gardhouse, click here.