connect | share | support

Mission-driven Initiative

We are Yale alumni who come from diverse backgrounds, including being 1st in our families or from underserved backgrounds to graduate from college or graduate school. We connect with each other to share our stories and have a positive impact on the lives of Yale students and alumni.

We celebrate diversity

1stGenYale is inclusive of all diversity: race, ethnicity, culture, gender, nationality, disability, age, sexual orientation, religion, socioeconomic status, and family hardships.

How can alumni help?

❖ Organize career workshops, panel discussions and events, virtual and in person, on relevant topics to alumni and students.
❖ Connect with the Office of Career Strategy to offer summer internships or full-time employment for Yale students.
❖ Connect with fellow alumni and students in 1stGenYale on Cross Campus.
❖ Share your life & career experiences with students through 1stGenYale networking programs held twice a year on campus and many opportunities throughout the year.
❖ We are looking for alumni leaders to help us grow into a sustainable organization.
❖ Your ideas? Email us.

year-round events

SEPTEMBER
YAA & YaleNYC | Welcome to NYC
at the Yale Club of New York City

FALL 
1stGenYaleNYC Happy Hour

OCTOBER
1stGenYale Family Picnic
co-sponsored by the
Community Initiative at Yale

NOVEMBER
8th annual Career Networking Mixer
at Assembly/Convocation

DECEMBER-MAY
1stGenYale Summer Bulldogs:
student internship program

MAY
Yale College Commencement:
Welcome to the 1stGenYale FGLI Graduates’ Reception

MAY 
Yale Reunion weekends
late May & early June

JUNE
Yale Alumni Educators & 1stGenYale Book Award

JULY
Alumni Perspectives: Navigating Yale & Beyond: 
a partnership with FSY, Yale College, and Yale Summer Session

AUGUST
Yale College Students
NYC Send-Off Party co-sponsored by YLAN

YEAR-ROUND 
Webinars & In-person with Yale partners / conferences / summer interns / career speakers / meet & greets / send-off & welcome home / holiday receptions / co-sponsorships with Yale SIGs & YAA / for Humanity Illuminated

connecting alumni

Financial support

Mentoring opportunity

Alumni supporting alumni

Alumni & students in other cities

Sharing our stories

resources for students

current program

Since 2020, 250 Yale College students have interned as 1stGenYale Summer Bulldogs around the world. They have received almost $800,000 in summer funding through the Center for International & Professional Experiences (CIPE). 1stGenYale Summer Bulldogs is an entirely Yale alumni volunteer-run program without direct funding from Yale. 1stGenYale, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, relies on donations to operate our programs.
READ MORE

Yale School of Public Health Professor Sarah Lowe, a 2021 and 2022 sponsor, highlights her experience, "It has been my pleasure to serve as a mentor for the 1stGenYale Summer Bulldogs program. I have been so impressed by my interns. They are intelligent, hardworking, and kind young people with a commitment to promoting social justice and community wellbeing. I feel very fortunate to have them as members of my research lab."

resources for students

events & initiatives

for students & alumni

signature annual events

videos

When the videos below open, click sound off and on sound icon in video controls below video to UNMUTE.
Additionally, this link leads to our YouTube channel.

  • Invitation graphic
    Career Networking Mixer 2023
  • Invitation graphic showing names of panelists and date and time
    How Artificial Intelligence Will Affect Your Career and Job Search
  • Being the First Video
  • Invitation graphic
    Demystifying Graduate Fellowship Awards | 2023
  • Demystify Graduate Fellowship Awards | 2021
  • Conversation with Congresswoman Teresa Leger Fernández ’82
  • How to Use LinkedIn to Your Advantage
  • The Meritocracy Trap
  • Our Story: 2016 — August 2020
  • Alumni Perspectives: Navigating Yale & Beyond | FSY 2020
  • Developing a Strategy to Transition Careers
  • Screenwriting 101: Write Your First Screenplay
  • Yalies Who Graduated into the ’08-’09 Financial Crisis
  • What Do You Need to Know Before Applying to Med School?
  • Side-by-Side: Mentoring Future First Generation College Students
  • Finding a Job in Today’s World
  • So You Want to Be a Screenwriter!
  • Coping with Disaster-Related Stress
  • When Plans Change: Interviews: Virtual Is the New Reality
  • When Plans Change: Summer Jobs and Internships 2020
  • Alumni Perspectives: Navigating Yale & Beyond | FSY 2019
  • Blazing the Trail: Being the First
  • Alumni Perspectives: Navigating Yale & Beyond | FSY 2017
  • 1vyG Conference at Yale

reports | press | awards |  contact

Reports

History

Press

Awards

Sponsors

Contact us

[email protected]

Join Us: E-mail Signup
Legal Address:
1stGenYale Inc.
c/o Michael Watson, VP
125 Passaic Avenue
Apartment 220
Kearny NJ 07032-1139

board of directors