Embrace Living Partners with Chicago-area Universities to offer Health-related Scholarships

In 2024, Embrace Living Communities (ELC) — based in Oak Brooke, Ill. — started partnering with local Chicago universities like Loyola University to offer college internship opportunities to students pursuing various degrees and interests.

“The impact that ELC is making in several communities across the Chicagoland area is admirable,” said Omega Cruz, assistant director of employer relations and career services at Loyola. “Providing Loyola students with the opportunity to gain experience while making an impact is an important characteristic of our program.”

One of those students is Marvin Galvan, a Skokie, Ill., native and sophomore nursing student at Loyola, where he is participating in a research and grant writing internship with Embrace Living.

Galvan decided to attend Loyola after he landed on nursing as a major, something he is passionate about because it exists at the intersection of science and helping others. Through this college internship, Galvan gets to help others in ways he hadn’t previously explored, and he is excited by the opportunity to make a difference while learning valuable professional skills.

Making a Difference Through Grants

After discovering Embrace Living Communities on a virtual job and internship board, Galvan realized their mission, paired with the flexibility and convenience of a mostly remote internship, would make them a good fit for him. Through this internship, his primary responsibility is researching grant opportunities to support Embrace Living’s social service programming. This means Galvan spends time connecting with residents over video calls to learn more about what they need in terms of social services.

“The interviews with the residents are the most enjoyable thing I’ve done so far because you’re directly seeing the impact,” said Galvan. “Every action that I take and the amount of work I put in is reflected in the communities, and seeing that through the interviews is amazing, which is why I want to do the best work I can.”

Changing Student Lives While Helping the Community

As a nursing student, Galvan is excited by the parallels he sees between his studies and the work he’s doing through his grant writing internship.

“Some of these residents are at a low point, not making the most income or away from their families,” Galvan said. “Bringing social services and things that can help them, like health screenings, wellness checks and fitness classes, can bring their mood up. In terms of nursing, it’s similar to healing them but instead of providing direct care, I’m helping bring services, grants and other things that can make their lives better.”

This is one of Embrace Living’s core commitments: to ensure seniors and people with disabilities have a safe, affordable home where they can embrace life. Embracing life means having access to health resources and programs, which Marvin is helping ELC secure through the grants he finds.

“Internships like this have all kinds of benefits for students and for the broader Loyola community, including students being able to receive on-hands experience that are helpful both to a nonprofit organization now and to students as they prepare for a career,” said Cruz. “It can broaden a student’s horizons thinking about the possibilities available to them in terms of vocation, and it provides the Loyola community the opportunity to exemplify Jesuit values like being a person with and for others.”