Corporate Internship Leadership Institute

Name

Corporate Internship Leadership Institute

Legal name

Career Immersion & Leadership Institute

Website

https://internshiptalent.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2019

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Workforce Development Services

NAICS

Professional and Management Development Training (61143), Professional Organizations (813920), Human Resources Consulting Services (541612)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200), Services-Employment Agencies (7361)

akta.pro primary industry

Internships, Externships & Work-Based Learning Placement (EDAMAKAB)

akta.pro secondary industries

Leadership, Service Learning & Volunteer-to-Career Pathways (EDAMAKAJ), Alumni, Peer & Community Networking Programs (EDAMAKAM)

Keywords

• Workforce development services
• Internship placement programs
• Career readiness training
• College career coaching
• Paid internship programs

Headquarters

HQ city

New Orleans

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Donations and Philanthropic Support: CILI operates as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization funded primarily through donations from individuals, corporations, and foundations. The organization solicits tax-deductible contributions through its website, event fundraising, and Give NOLA Day campaigns. Donation tiers support specific purposes including internship wages, retreat costs, and general operations.
2. Corporate Sponsorships: Corporate partners provide financial support through sponsorship packages at various levels (Freshman through Graduate level sponsorships ranging from $250 to $1,500). Sponsors receive visibility and recognition at CILI events and in digital materials.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Corporate Internship Leadership Institute runs a year-long fellowship program that pairs Louisiana college students with career coaching, soft-skill workshops, and paid corporate internship placements. It supplements the flagship fellowship with open Hire Learning$ workshops, a post-graduation Career Bridge track, the Internship Central regional job portal, and an annual Business Case Competition, all delivered at no cost to students through employer, university, and foundation partnerships.

Product overview

Corporate Internship Leadership Institute operates a multi-program workforce development platform focused on connecting first-generation Louisiana college students to career opportunities. The core offerings include the CILI Fellowship Program (year-long leadership development with monthly workshops, coaching, and internship access), Hire Learning$ (open workshops on career readiness topics), Career Bridge Fellowship (post-graduation transition support), Internship Central (regional job portal), and the annual Business Case Competition. Programs are delivered through partnerships with Louisiana Economic Development, IBM Skills Build, LinkedIn Learning, Predictive Index, and Microsoft Office Suite, and leverage the Wild Apricot membership management platform.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Tenth Institute: Core initiative of CILI designed to help Black and Brown students secure middle to high-wage job employment opportunities post-graduation through multi-year internship and professional development experiences.
• Hire Learning$
• Career Bridge Fellowship Program
• Internship Central

Products and services

• CILI Fellowship Program Year-long leadership and career development experience for Louisiana college students providing monthly workshops, coaching, networking opportunities, retreats, career readiness training, and access to paid internship opportunities through employer partners. Targeted at first-generation and Pell-eligible students.
• Hire Learning$ Career readiness and soft skills training workshops covering resume building, interviewing, networking, career exploration, financial management, professionalism, and Microsoft Office Suite. Open to all college students regardless of ethnicity, location, or major; available in-person and virtually.
• Career Bridge Fellowship Program Program providing focused career coaching for students within 3-12 months of completing their degree, helping them transition into post-graduation employment through personalized career plans, networking opportunities, and skill-building experiences.
• Internship Central Regional job portal connecting college students with paid internship opportunities, featuring a resume database for employers and tips and resources for interns. Employers post positions at low cost; internships must include minimum $15/hr wage and 20 hours/week.
• Business Case Competition Annual regional competition where college student teams develop real-world solutions for local small businesses, presenting proposals at Pitch Night with prize awards of $1,000 for first place and $500 for second place.
• Tenth Institute Internship Program Multi-year internship and professional development initiative connecting college juniors and seniors with paid internship opportunities, including self-awareness coaching, leadership development, professional branding, and financial wellness training, focused on Black and Brown students securing middle-to-high wage employment.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 150 students trained since 2021, with 50+ placed in paid internships in summer 2025 alone.
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Eleven partnerships are on record, tiered community partner, core partner, supporting partner, government partner, curriculum partner and assessment partner.

• College Trackcommunity partnerStrategic or Co-development PartnerCommitted as a community partner to support CILI's mission of connecting college students of color to career opportunities.
• City of New Orleans - JOB1 Office of Workforce Developmentcore partnerStrategic or Co-development PartnerLaunched the Tenth Institute Internship Program partnership in 2021 to provide minority college students with internship opportunities and career pathway support.
• New Orleans Regional Black Chamber of Commerce (NORBCC)core partnerStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartners with CILI on the Annual Business Case Competition. Provides access to small business owners who serve as case study subjects for student teams.
• Propellercore partnerStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartners with CILI on the Regional Business Case Competition. Propeller, a local accelerator, helps source small business cases and provides mentorship resources.
• Goldman Sachs Alumnisupporting partnerStrategic or Co-development PartnerAlumni network supports CILI's Business Case Competition by contributing expertise, judging panels, and mentorship for student teams.
• Louisiana Economic Development - Campus 2 Careergovernment partnerStrategic or Co-development PartnerState economic development agency partnership providing curriculum resources and career pathway connections for CILI students.
• IBM Skills Buildcurriculum partnerTechnology or IntegrationProvides online learning platform and skills training resources used in CILI's professional development curriculum for students.
• LinkedIn Learningcurriculum partnerTechnology or IntegrationProvides online learning resources integrated into CILI's career readiness and professional development programming.
• Predictive Indexassessment partnerTechnology or IntegrationProvides behavioral assessment tools used in CILI's self-awareness training and career coaching programs for fellows.
• incHRement, LLCcore partnerStrategic or Co-development PartnerHR consulting firm founded by Gretchen McKinney that provides leadership for CILI's coaching team and professional development curriculum.
• Dress for Success NOLAcommunity partnerStrategic or Co-development PartnerProvides professional styling services for female CILI fellows to support their professional wardrobe needs for interviews and workplace.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Braven: Braven is a national nonprofit career accelerator that partners with universities to prepare low-income and first-generation college students for strong first jobs. It mirrors CILI's fellowship-plus-internship model with corporate employer partners and is one of the closest direct comparables in scale and mission.

Broad incumbents

• Genesys Works: Genesys Works provides pathways from high school through college and into corporate careers for underserved students, with intensive internship programming. It overlaps with CILI's college-stage internship-and-coaching model and competes for the same corporate social-responsibility dollars.
• Year Up: Year Up is a national workforce development nonprofit providing paid internships and career training to young adults from low-income communities. It operates at much larger scale than CILI across multiple U.S. cities and serves a similar first-generation/low-income talent-to-corporate-employer bridge, making it the most comparable direct mission peer.
• INROADS: INROADS is a national nonprofit that places talented underrepresented college students into paid corporate internships and leadership development programs. Like CILI, it focuses on diverse college-student talent pipelines and corporate employer partnerships, though at a much larger national scale.

Emerging players

• College Track: College Track is a national college-access and completion program that supports first-generation students from high school through career. It is already a committed CILI community partner and shares the same first-gen, college-to-career mission, though it operates at larger national scale.
• NPower: NPower is a national nonprofit that provides tech-focused workforce development and job placement for veterans and young adults from underserved communities. While its curriculum is tech-oriented (differing from CILI's general professional focus), it competes for similar corporate employer partners and grant funding.

Regional players

• Louisiana Economic Development: Louisiana Economic Development's Campus 2 Career program is already a CILI partner. As a state agency, it operates workforce-development programming at the state level and is the most relevant regional public-sector comparable.
• Propel Center: Propel is a New Orleans-based social impact accelerator supporting local entrepreneurs and small businesses; CILI is already a Propeller partner on the Business Case Competition. While Propeller's mission is entrepreneur support (not student placement), it serves the same regional ecosystem and overlapping local employer base.

Others

• Handshake: Handshake is the dominant career platform for college students and is used by CILI for Internship Central. It is an enabling technology peer — a key infrastructure provider for college-to-internship matching, comparable in function (though not in mission or scale) to CILI's placement model.
• Grads of Life (Year Up design partner network): Grads of Life advocates for employer adoption of skills-based hiring and supports workforce development organizations serving Opportunity Youth. It addresses an adjacent layer of CILI's value chain (employer demand for diverse talent) and is relevant as a thought-leadership peer.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/InternshipCili

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Corporate Internship Leadership Institute