SALINA — Soul Bloom, a Salina nonprofit directed by Joan Jerkovich, has hired Brady Stephenson as an intern through Kansas State’s Research and Extension, funded by the Dane G. Hansen Foundation SummerInternship Initiative.

Stephenson will assist with the development of a new nonprofit program called Soul Bloom Lending. This lending program will help individuals and families that are caught in the trap of predatory lending. The program will focus on loan consolidation and financial education.

Stephenson recently graduated from the Kansas Academy of Mathematics and Science. He will begin his junior year in the Fort Hays State University’s Honors College next fall, majoring in finance in economics.

For more information on Soul Bloom Lending, go to soulbloom.org.