Teens In Public Service

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Teens In Public Service

Teens In Public Service was co-founded in 1997 by Maureen Pleas Brotherton and her daughter Tia Heim. Thus, Teens In Public Service (TIPS) was born.

TIPS is dedicated to producing future leaders committed to their communities by connecting teens with life changing opportunities and internships at non-profit organizations. At the age of 16, Tia volunteered tutoring homeless children. She also held summer jobs that were typical for her age group. Tia found that full-time summer employment kept her from doing the volunteer work she found most ful

filling. Tia’s dilemma, paycheck or volunteerism, caught Maureen’s attention. Recognizing the shortage of employment opportunities in Seattle that engaged young leaders in the non-profit sector, Tia and Maureen saw an immediate need for an organization that could offer young people an opportunity to have a meaningful summer work experience. TIPS provides teens with the opportunity to work in a service-oriented field and compensates them for what typically would be unpaid volunteer work, while at the same time provides non-profits with bright and energetic high school students to fill their work force gaps.

12/19/2025

Do you know a teen currently enrolled in high school, interested in community service, and between 15-19 years old that would be interested in a PAID summer internship with a local non-profit? Have them apply today! Our application is open through March 2nd, 2026! See our website via link in bio for details.

📷: courtesy Ben Strukus, used with permission

12/18/2025

Last Friday, our Program Director Elle and Development Manager Erin tabled and mingled with high schoolers at Skyline HS in Sammamish during their two lunch periods to share our program; the high school counselors at Skyline have been really proactive about marketing our internships and our tabling event, and we want to thank them and their students for the incredible welcome, lovely engagement, and eagerness to chat with us about community service work!!

11/25/2025

Our Annual Luncheon highlighting the powerful local partnerships we continue to forge occurred a few weeks ago at ; we honored for her extraordinary work as a public servant and TIPS intern (1998!), former Interim Executive Director, and supporter. We also have raised over $250,000 of our $300,000 fundraising goal, and expect to hit our goal be the years’s end as corporate matches and pledges trickle in. THANK YOU TO EVERYONE who attended and volunteered their time to this event. We are a vibrant community and it’s because of YOU. 🩵💛🤍

05/09/2025

We are SO excited to share that we’ve officially selected and hired our 2025 Intern Cohort - our largest program year yet, with 85 incredible young leaders. That’s 10 more interns than last summer! This year’s interns represent 40 different high schools throughout the Greater Puget Sound and will be placed with 60 different nonprofits (stay tuned for an update on who those partners will be!). Congrats to this summer’s interns - we can’t wait to meet you! And, thank you SO much to all that applied this year as well - it was an honor to have so much interest and excitement about our summer internship program.
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Image description: text reading “welcome, 2025 TIPS Intern Cohort” in center of screen with shooting star decal above text. below text, yellow circle with TIPS’ black and white puzzle logo; faint white border
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03/07/2025

The 2025 Intern Application deadline was this Monday, and we are absolutely floored to have received 635 applications!! We are so encouraged by the growing interest in the TIPS Summer Internship Program, and we are grateful for the time and effort spent on each and every one of these applications. Things are starting to get real as we move into our intern selection process!
Applicants, stay tuned, as you’ll hear back from TIPS by the end of the month about whether you’re invited to our interview round. Again, THANK YOU for taking the time to apply to our program - an extra thank you to community partners, school staff, nonprofits, and alumni who’ve spread the word. And, we couldn’t do the work of getting to know each and every one of our applicants without the great support of our Application Review and Selection Committee volunteers. Over the next month, they will be putting in over 750 hours of work in application review and interviews. We can’t wait to meet this year’s intern cohort!
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Image description: Blue background with yellow text reading: “635 Applications Received! Thank you to our Application Review and Selection Committee Teams for over 750+ hours of volunteer support!” TIPS Black and White puzzle logo in background with yellow accent lines on top and bottom.

02/28/2025

We’re back with our second installment of our new series, “TIPS Rewind”! Each month, we’ll be highlighting alumni from a program year, sharing what they’ve been up to since their TIPS internships. Check out the updates from our 2023 intern cohort!
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Image description: Slide #1: Text reading “TIPS Rewind, 2023” with a rewind button decal (two arrows pointing to the left) and accent dots on either side. Slide #2: Photos and quotes from two 2023 TIPS alumni, Nadiya Koth and Vivian Tram, along with the 2023 Rewind decal. Slide #3. Same as Slide 2, featuring Ella Utz and Zoe Willmer. Slide #4: same as slide 2, featuring Marlon Brando Cox Jr. and Leyna Thach. Slide #5 Same as slide 2, featuring Elise Grinstein.
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02/19/2025

Are you a nonprofit org considering hosting a TIPS summer intern this year? We have TWO virtual informational sessions for prospecting (or returning!) nonprofits where we’ll go over our summer program, partner expectations, and application process. This is a great opportunity to ask questions and hear what your summer could look like with a high school intern! The link to register is in our bio. We look forward to seeing you there!
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Image description: Graphic at top center of screen featuring laptop with presenter speaking, text to left reading “Attend a Nonprofit Partner Info Session” with dates of info sessions to right. Text at bottom of screen reading “All nonprofit info sessions will take place from 12:00-12:45 pst on Zoom”

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12/23/2024

The TIPS Office is closed from December 23rd through January 1st! Wishing everyone a safe, restful holiday season. See you in the new year!

12/09/2024

What a year it’s been! We are excited to share the Teens in Public Service 2024 Impact Report, live now on the TIPS website. As we reflect on our biggest year yet, we are filled with gratitude and excitement for 2025! Head to the link in our bio to review our Impact Report, and stay tuned as we begin preparing for our 29th summer of empowering young community leaders.
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Image description: Text reading “2024 impact report” on blue banner across cream background, TIPS logo above text. Text below reading “employing teens & serving community for 28 years,” with star decals to left and right. Photo of 2024 Intern class below.
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11/25/2024

Check it out! Over the past 10 months, TIPS has been incredibly lucky to work with talented Interaction Design students - now graduates - from California College of the Arts. As part of their Social Lab project, these students support a nonprofit organization with their program’s story-telling through visual design. We are so grateful for the thoughtful, creative way the CCA team approached TIPS and our history, and we are excited to share that their collateral will now live permanently on the TIPS website! You can view two of their designs on TIPS’ Mission & About page, along with our most recent blog post — and there’s more to come, soon! Thank you so much, Gayani, Eeshani, Ford, and Divyanshi!!

11/15/2024

TIPS’ Annual Fall Luncheon was last Friday, and we want to extend a huge THANK YOU to our supporters. We are thrilled to share that we raised over $250,000 toward empowering a future generation of service-minded leaders! Attendees heard from our superstar alumni MCs, Nardos and Elias, our nonprofit partners at Seward Park Audubon, TIPS’ Co-Founder, Maureen Brotherton, and TIPS’ Board Chair, Hans Juhl. We were also excited to bring back our Alumni Leadership Award, which went to 2001 alumni, Nate Olsen - incredibly well-deserved.
Our Luncheon is an annual reminder of how grateful we are to be able to do the work we do and for the community that supports TIPS’ mission. Our funding is a direct investment in future interns’ summer experiences and growth as community leaders. THANK YOU for your generous contributions and for joining us in our mission - we could not do it without you! We cannot wait to continue supporting teen leaders in summer 2025. Head to our blog via the link in bio for more pictures from the event!
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Image description: Slide 1: Text reading “TIPS Annual Fall Luncheon, Over 250K Raised!” with 4 pictures of the Luncheon event in the background. Slide 2: Text reading “Thank You to Our 2024 Luncheon Sponsors for Joining Us in Our Impact” at top of image, with two levels titled “Program Cultivators” and “Internship Advocates” below. Logos of corporate sponsors within each level depicted, with a graphic of the Seattle skyline at the bottom of the image.

11/01/2024

It’s finally here!! If you are a high school student passionate about community engagement and want a summer filled with impactful work, you can now apply to the 2025 Teens in Public Service Internship Program. A TIPS internship experience provides you with real-life work experience at a nonprofit in the Greater Puget Sound region. Our nonprofit partners range from museums to advocacy groups to summer camps, food banks, nature preserves, and more! Head to the link in our bio to learn all about our 2025 Intern Application, including eligibility requirements and FAQs. Applications are due March 3rd, 2025, and we’ll continue sharing information, alumni stories, and opportunities to learn more on our social media over the next few months. We cannot wait to see your applications! If you have questions, you can send us a DM or email [email protected].
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Image description: Blue square with background decal, large text reading “The 2025 Intern Application is Live” and small text reading “apply today!” 3 puzzle piece picture frames on the left and the right, each picture showing a 2024 intern at their site, boxing donations, giving a thumbs up, and working on a laptop.
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Address

2900 NE Blakeley Street, Suite B
Seattle, WA
98105

Website

http://linktr.ee/teensinpublicservice

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