Social Impact Fellowship 2022
A summer program for rising 11th and 12th graders from low-income upbringings to find mentors, give back to their community, and build confidence.
Thanks to a donation of laptops, every Fellow completing the program will get a free MacBook!
The 2022 Summer Fellowship is now complete. Waitlist below if you’re interested in joining next year’s 2023 Fellowship!
High School Students
Join the waitlist to be notified when applications for next year’s program open up.
Mentors:
Join the mentor waitlist to be notified when mentorship opportunities open up.
Social Impact Fellowship
Our students build lifelong confidence and network through structured mentorship and project-based learning. Our alums have gone on to receive scholarships and attend top universities.
🙋🏽♀️ Rising 11th-12th grade for the upcoming school year
🍎 Identify as low-income (reference)
💻 Ability to commit and participate, June to September
🗺 Attend high school in the State of California, Oregon, or Washington.
Important Dates
May 20 - Acceptance
June 5 - Orientation Day
September 24 - Banquet
Hear from past Fellows
"Close the Gap is such an inspiring program. My family hit a rough patch when COVID-19 hit, and I went from having everything to having nothing. I began to realize that there were a lot of people in my community also struggling with food insecurity, and I wanted to give back to them through my project. This scholarship will ultimately help my chance of getting into college where I hope to study law and really make change in the POC community."
India Cathcart
Scholarship Recipient
2021 Fellow
"I appreciate the whole Close the Gap family for opening so many opportunities for me. This whole program gave me confidence and the ability to create something so amazing with mentorship and guidance. This experience made my whole summer, the people I met and what I learned will forever have a special place in my heart."
Amiya Marbles
Scholarship Recipient
2021 Fellow
"As I was exploring project topics, my eyes were opened to the aid my community needed when it came to adolescent vaping. After months of hard work and dedication, the feeling of winning second place was unbelievable. Close the Gap has taught me so much over these past few months, and I have a new understanding of what it is to be a leader and have an impact on others"
Valerie Henriquez
Scholarship Recipient
2021 Fellow
"Without Close The Gap, I would have never thought that I would be able to land a summer job, let alone a marketing internship, at the age of 16. Close the Gap has empowered me to recognize the importance of networking and utilizing all the resources that are available to me."
Janet Yu
Scholarship Recipient
2020 Fellow
"Growing up without a father, my mom had to play both roles which was pretty difficult for her. She still managed to raise my brother and me to become great men. Close the Gap didn’t just provide me with people who care about me, they truly opened my eyes to the potential that I have."
Brandon Morales
Scholarship Recipient
2020 Fellow
"My parents are immigrants, so I don’t have a lot of role models to look up to for college prep. Close the Gap provided me with so many opportunities and even paired me up with a mentor from Amazon who has helped me with college applications. I now have so many role models I can always go to for help."
Anjelika Khadka
Scholarship Recipient
2020 Fellow
Growth Mindset Scholarships
Present your Social Impact Project to a panel of Silicon Valley leaders for an opportunity to receive the $1,000 Growth Mindset Scholarship. We have awarded over $15,000 in scholarships to date.
Leverage your Growth Mindset Scholarship:
Include the scholarship on your college application
Increase competitiveness for other scholarships
Check out this year's scholarships >
Thanks to a donation of laptops, every Fellow completing the program will get a free MacBook!
How it works
Cohort-based learning
Workshops and Socials
Grow together through workshops hosted by industry leaders. Network with speakers with lived experiences and build community with mentors and Fellows through team bonding socials.
Project-based learning
Social Impact Project
Fellows tackle a social issue they care about and self-direct a social impact project. Our Fellows have used their social impact project as part of their college application and personal insight questions.
Structured mentorship
Mentorship Mondays
Every Fellow is paired with a mentor who will meet with them every week. Mentors are full-time professionals from top organizations like Google, Amazon, and Microsoft.
The Social Impact Project
The Fellowship was conceived through a “pay it forward to move forward” model. As Fellows gain the toolkit to close their own gap, they will also give back to the very community that nurtured their growth and success (hint hint: it’s never too early to give back!).
The Social Impact Project introduces students to project-based learning and empowers them to tackle social issues that impact their local community. At the end of the program, the most creative, impactful project will be awarded the $1,000 Growth Mindset Scholarship.
Past Social Impact Projects
Fellow Janet Yu Tackled Financial Literacy
Fellow Brandon Morales Tackled Food Scarcity
Fellow Anjelika Khadka Tackled COVID-19 Resources
This Year’s Mentors
“[Close the Gap] has cracked the code in helping first-generation and low-income students self actualize during COVID-19.”
-Ceyhun Yakup Özkardes-Cheung, Thrive Global
100% Virtual & Free
Accessible mentorship is important to Close the Gap Foundation. To that end, all of our programs are run entirely virtual and free for our participants.
Check out this summer’s workshop lineup that includes Landing Your First Job, Mental Wellness, College Preparation, Personal Finance, and Public Speaking.
The inaugural Spark Fellowship held at the Google Community Space in San Francisco, California (June 2019)
The second annual Spark Fellowship kicked off virtually despite the COVID-19 pandemic (June 2020)
Janet Yu, Fellow '20 and 1st place recipient, presents her Social Impact Project on teaching financial literacy to her Gen Z peers.
Jessica Garcia, Fellow '20 and scholarship recipient, presents her Social Impact Project on law injustice among marginalized communities.
Anjelika Khadka, Fellow '20 and 3rd place recipient, presents her Social Impact Project in providing COVID-19 supplies and translating resources for immigrant families in Contra Costa County
Brandon Morales, Fellow '20 and 2nd place recipient, presented his Social Impact Project on prepping and delivering over 300 meal kits to homeless populations in the Bay Area
Joceylnne Leon, Fellow '19 and 3rd place recipient, presented her Social Impact Project in providing social mentorship to first-gen college students
Alex Peng, Fellow '19 and 2nd place recipient, presented his Social Impact Project in tutoring low-income high school students with SAT prep, helping one student score a 92th percentile
Willian Nguyen, Fellow '19 and 1st place recipient, presented his Social Impact Project in distributing over $1,000 worth of school supplies to low-income elementary school students
We loved playing virtual musical chairs at one of our weekend socials!
Getting group help with mentors and Close the Gap staff on social impact project brainstorming.