Kita: An Internship Platform Connecting Youth & Nonprofits

Inspiration

Kita was inspired by our work with Weston AIC and the launch of its Student Board. Through that experience, we saw strong youth interest in getting involved with the organization, but also recognized how difficult it can be for nonprofits with limited staff capacity to sustainably coordinate volunteers.

At the same time, many young people want meaningful, resume-building experience but struggle to find accessible opportunities that help them grow skills while contributing to their communities. Kita was created to bridge this gap by reimagining volunteering as an internship-style experience.

What it does

Kita is an internship platform that connects youth with nonprofits through structured, skill-based placements.

Youth sign up by sharing their interests, skills, availability, and what they want to learn. They choose a skill track, such as marketing, research, or operations, and are recommended nonprofit opportunities that align with those goals. Youth maintain agency by choosing where they want to contribute.

Once matched, youth are onboarded into one nonprofit at a time and introduced to their role and mentors, including a nonprofit staff mentor and a college student mentor assigned automatically. Nonprofits post clearly defined tasks using simple templates, allowing youth to complete real work while reducing administrative burden for staff.

As tasks are completed, Kita transforms contributions into portfolio-ready experiences, including verified certificates and resume- and LinkedIn-ready descriptions.

What's next for Kita: An Internship Platform Connecting Youth & Nonprofits

Next, we plan to pilot Kita with Weston AIC through a small cohort of youth placements to test workflows, onboarding, and mentor support.

Future iterations would include expanding skill tracks, refining the portfolio system, and developing analytics tools to help nonprofits better understand volunteer impact and retention.

Long term, Kita has the potential to scale across community organizations, creating a sustainable pipeline of youth engagement and skill-building within the nonprofit sector.

Built With

• figma
• lovable