Urban Alliance High School Internship Program: Empowering Youth Through Opportunity

Introduction

The Urban Alliance High School Internship Program is designed to support high school seniors from underserved communities by providing them with skills training, internships, mentoring, coaching, and alumni services. The program aims to prepare these students for college and careers, particularly those with GPAs between 2.0 and 3.0. Started in Washington, DC, in 1996, the program has expanded to Baltimore, MD, Chicago, IL, Northern Virginia, and Detroit, MI. Urban Alliance's mission is to provide internship opportunities to students & families that are economically marginalized. The program seeks to prevent high school seniors from becoming disconnected from higher education and the workforce.

Program Overview

Urban Alliance’s High School Internship Program (HSIP) is a comprehensive intervention consisting of several key components: pre-work training, internships, continuous soft-skills training, and post-internship services. The program's logic model includes activities in four areas: skills training, direct work experience, case management, and alumni services. Each component has specific metrics, such as 90% of interns receiving 30 hours of pre-work training and a 75% workshop attendance rate in each region. For mentorship, the goal is for 75% of interns to report high engagement during quarterly surveys. Short-term outcomes are tracked through skills assessments and immediate links to college, training, or living wage jobs, with targets such as 75% showing skills growth and 85% connecting post-program.

Pre-Work Training

The program begins with pre-work training that lasts three to six weeks. This training focuses on general job and soft skills, preparing participants for their internships. Urban Alliance provided training, coaching, and alumni services through program coordinators.

Internship Program

Following the pre-work training, participants begin their paid internships with local employment partners, including nonprofits, corporations, and government agencies. Internships are primarily office or clerical roles, with tasks supervised by a mentor at each job site. Participants attend their internships Monday to Thursday after school throughout the school year. Participants also received coaching and mentorship throughout the program from Urban Alliance staff and workers at their job sites, bonuses for participating in other events or program activities while on a delayed job placement, and access to clothing appropriate for the workplace. Internships take place from 2:00 to 5:00 PM, Monday through Thursday during the school year, and all day Monday through Thursday participants' senior year.

Continuous Soft-Skills Training

Throughout the school year, participants receive ongoing training on life skills and workplace skills, typically on Fridays after school.

Post-Internship Services

After the internship, Urban Alliance connects alumni to continuing services and potential summer internship opportunities.

Program Expansion and Reach

Since 1996, Urban Alliance has connected 6,000 young adults, primarily from communities of color, to paid internships and trained 21,000 more young adults in workforce skills across the greater Washington, DC area (including Montgomery County, Prince George’s County, and Northern Virginia), Baltimore, Chicago, and Detroit. Urban Alliance (UA) brought paid internships to Detroit high school students in Fall 2018. In Detroit, UA is part of a strong network of schools, local government, nonprofits, businesses, and funders who both recognize the importance of youth employment and actively work to strengthen Detroit’s workforce development ecosystem.

The program initially started in Washington, DC, in 1996 and expanded to:

Baltimore, MD (2008)
Chicago, IL (2012)
Northern Virginia (2013)
Detroit, MI (2018)

In certain locations like Baltimore, Chicago, and Northern Virginia, participants could earn high school credits, and in Baltimore and Northern Virginia, they could also receive college credits.

Eligibility and Application

Urban Alliance’s target population was students with GPAs between 2.0 and 3.0 in urban high schools, but Urban Alliance did not restrict access to the program based on GPA. Students are typically referred to the program by their school counselors or teachers.

A successful applicant of the HSIP program would have the following:

Be a senior during the program year
Have half-day or early release schedule
Have the ability to work 8-12 hours/week during the school year
Have no or very limited after school commitments
Be on track to graduate with a minimum of 2.0 GPA
Are committed to fully participating in the program
Submitted Approval from school Counselor
Submitted Parent/Guardian Consent
Complete the full application. Your application will not be completed until you press the "SUBMIT" button.

Internship Opportunities

Urban Alliance provides internship opportunities to students & families that are economically marginalized. Urban Alliance is already in the planning stages of selecting job sites for the following year. Urban Alliance offers various career fields for students.

Property Real Estate Program (PREP)

Urban Alliance's PREP program partners with commercial and residential property management companies across all 5 regions to provide high school internship participants with internships in the property management and real estate field. Students who participate in UA's PREP program will earn a skill badge in Fair Housing and Leasing or Maintenance offered by the Institute of Real Estate Management.

Service Tech (PREP): In this track, students will gain experience in painting, carpentry, repairing and unclogging kitchen & bathroom items, fixing HVACs, and other electrical duties
Leasing (PREP): In this track, students will gain experience in conducting background & reference checks for prospective tenants, reading rental agreements, file management, and customer facing support.

Banking

Before the start of their internships, students will obtain two skill badges, one in Artificial Intelligence and the other in Cyber Security. The skill badges will be awarded to students after the completion of courses provided by an Urban Alliance IT training provider. Placed interns will receive training directly from Bank of America and then will start their internship at one of Bank of America’s local financial center branches. During the internship, students will strengthen skills in customer service, banking branch operations, and be exposed to careers in Banking.

Information Technology

Before the start of their internships, students will obtain two skill badges, one in Artificial Intelligence and the other in Cyber Security. The skill badges will be awarded to students after the completion of courses provided by an Urban Alliance IT training provider. Placed interns will then begin an internship at an IT company or IT department within a company. During the internship, students will strengthen skills in help desk support, program installation, and IT troubleshooting.

Read also: Explore GSU's development history

Healthcare

Interns will be placed at partnering hospital or healthcare company at a healthcare-focused internship. During their internships, students will receive on-site technical training related to the healthcare field.

Program Fidelity and Outcomes

The program staff cultivates relationships with employers and job site mentors. Approximately 80% of job sites were involved both years of the study and 80% of the mentors surveyed indicated they would be interested in having another intern. Mentors were encouraged to discuss the intern's performance with program coordinators.

A study found that the program met or exceeded their target in four of seven indicators: 91% of interns (target=75%) received at least 20 hours of training, 75% (target=75%) worked at least 350 hours, 98% (target=90%) completed a post-high school plan, and 81% of disconnected alumni (target=50%) were connected to alumni services. The program did not meet three indicators: 59% (target=75%) attended at least 80% of workshops, 55% (target=75%) met both pre-work and workshop training attendance targets, and 68% (target=75%) reported high mentor engagement on quarterly surveys.

Implementation Challenges

The study found that program attrition was a challenge. Only 41% of the youth offered the program completed it. Among those who began the skills training, 54% finished the training, and of those who completed the training, 73% completed the overall program. Higher attrition rates were noted among individuals from high poverty neighborhoods.

Cost

Across the four sites and two program years, the per internship cost was between $10,000 and $15,000. About 65% of the job sites involved in the program pay a fee for interns, which varied by affordability.

Evaluation and Data Collection

The study’s objective was to examine the implementation of the Urban Alliance High School Internship Program. The study authors conducted an implementation evaluation using data from a variety of sources including program staff, program participants, observations, program documents, and neighborhood and school data from secondary sources. The study included the sites in Washington, DC, Baltimore, Chicago, and Northern Virginia. Detroit was not part of the study as it opened in 2018, after the evaluation began. Participants came from 80 public and charter schools across the four sites, with 19 schools in Baltimore, 22 in Washington, DC, 34 in Chicago, and 5 in Northern Virginia. Data on individuals came from program applications and the Urban Alliance case management system. The evaluation team interviewed 71 people, including program staff, school staff, job mentors, and students who did not complete the program. Focus groups were held with program participants. Surveys were completed by 134 youth, 249 job mentors, and 94 school counselors. Additionally, the evaluation team gathered audited financial records, observed 27 training or workshop sessions, and reviewed training materials.

The key strength of the study is the wide variety of quantitative and qualitative data collected at the individual, household, school, neighborhood, and state levels. Additionally, researchers collected data from a variety of individuals with different connections to and perspectives on the program.

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