Sajan Patel ’25 Finds Inspiration Through Bank of America Student Leader Program

Sajan Patel ’25 is on a mission to empower young people with financial literacy skills. He spent the summer working with Charlotte-based nonprofit Crisis Assistance Ministry as part of a paid internship through Bank of America’s Student Leaders program. He credits the experience to opening his eyes to the poverty cycle faced by many in our community.

Bank of America Student Leaders is a highly competitive program that connects 300 community-minded high school juniors and seniors from across the country to employment, skills development, and service. Through paid internships with local nonprofits and participation in a national leadership summit, they gain practical work and life experience. Patel was selected as a participant from a pool of over 7,000 applicants.

At Crisis Assistance Ministry, Patel worked as a data analysis intern, analyzing numbers and financial statements to find data-driven solutions to mitigate financial insecurity and housing instability in the local community. “Seeing how the inner workings of a nonprofit come together to achieve a common goal of outreach and aid was so rewarding,” he says.

Patel states that the consumer trends he saw displayed in financial health reports were alarming. Through analyzing almost 150,000 rows of data of all the households who came to Crisis Assistance Ministry over the past six years, he saw a consistently increasing percentage of severely cost-burdened households, meaning that a many of the customers at the nonprofit were becoming further trapped in the cycle of poverty. “Every day, the line of people waiting to get help from Crisis Assistance Ministry grew longer and longer,” Patel recalls. “It was genuinely disheartening to see this.”

To combat this trend, Patel got the idea to start a Youth Financial Empowerment Program at Crisis Assistance Ministry. While the project is still under development, he hopes the program’s workshops and activities will provide essential financial literacy skills to youth from kindergarten through eighth grade in cost-burdened households. “By partnering with the ministry's adult financial stability program, I hope the program can impact hundreds of youths, helping them break the cycle of poverty,” he states.  

In addition to his experience working at Crisis Assistance Ministry, Patel says his participation in the program’s national leadership summit in Washington, D.C. helped him gain firsthand insights into the legislative process through visiting representatives and staff at Capitol Hill, researching bills, and growing his political efficacy through a mock Congress experience. 

One of the most eye-opening experiences for Patel was a poverty simulation activity, in which participants had to navigate the social services system as an impoverished individual, encountering typical challenges such as obtaining housing, childcare, and benefits. “I thought about the customers back home at Crisis Assistance Ministry and how they had to navigate this confusing system every day,” he notes. After this experience, Patel worked with a partner to present a rapid pitch for an app idea to solve this issue, which he calls a “full-circle moment.”

Patel advises any high schoolers interested in nonprofit work to dive in and get involved early. Identifying specific areas of nonprofit work that resonate with you is key, he says. “If you truly believe in the cause, it allows you to be fully invested in your work and volunteering,” Patel says. “This experience has empowered me as a servant leader and empowered me to stand up for my beliefs.”

Bank of America Student Leaders program applications open this fall. Patel encourages any interested juniors or seniors to reach out to him for guidance or support on the application process.