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Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert is challenging the city’s corporate community to help create the most beneficial summer intern program in the nation. Calling the initiative Mayor’s Intern Fellows, the experience is designed to give the student a real world job view and provide needed funds, while providing a much broader experience. This experience will allow the student to visualize their future, see the possibilities a quality education can afford and provide the tools to chart a course to realize their goals.
The Mayor’s Corporate Challenge:
Mayor Leppert and AT&T, the program’s lead partner, are asking corporate leaders this summer to select one to five students from Dallas ISD schools that have been specifically chosen because the program fills each school’s needs.
- The participating students will experience performing job duties within the corporate office environment and have a chance to garner unique leadership experience and exposure to executives of the company.
- Companies will provide an experience where the students will enhance their job and communications skills, receive useful information on the company and the industry, show students the types of jobs available in the industry and the skills needed to do them.
- Adding to the quality and uniqueness of the Mayor's Intern Fellows, time will be spent with the students to help them understand the types of coursework needed to obtain the identified skills, which schools provide these courses and what life choices are needed in order to have a meaningful career.
The Mayor has created the template below for the 8-week Intern Fellows Program to help guide companies in framing their programs. This outline will allow a rewarding experience for the students while giving businesses the flexibility to tailor the program to be successful to their unique environment.
The Template
The Mayor’s Fellows Program will be an 8 week program, June 16-Aug 8, 2008.
The Fellows:
- Fellows will be at least 16 years of age and a legal resident. Fellows must have at least a 3.0 GPA and a solid attendance record (in unique cases, an exception could be made with the recommendation of a principal.)
- Fellows must be either sophomores becoming juniors, or juniors becoming seniors.
- Students must be enrolled in one of the following Dallas ISD High Schools: Adamson, Carter, Madison, or North Dallas.
- Students in the Mayor’s Chesapeake Energy Scholarship Program and Education is Freedom and Senator Royce West’s "It’s About Our Community" programs are encouraged to apply.
- Principals are encouraged to help students focus on an area of interest. (i.e. engineering, energy, communications, etc.)
- Prior to beginning, Fellows must participate in the "It’s About Our Community"-Worksource Training program or an equivalent through Education is Freedom.
- The Fellows will outline progress during their corporate time with a written or multi media project. This will include analysis of the job, the company and industry, and how this has shaped their educational and career choices.
The Corporate Partners:
- Corporations will agree to provide qualified students with fellowships for 8 weeks during the summer. (Program is open to non-profits and governmental entities using the same template.)
- Corporations will agree to pay at least $9.00 per hour for 40 hours a week (or the equivalent as a stipend) That totals $2,880 for the 8 weeks.
- Corporations agree to provide a basic job for fellows for at least 4 of 5 days a week. This is important so the fellows understand the expectations and the basic skills needed for a corporate job.
- Corporate mentors will constructively support students in learning basic office and business skills throughout the program and will create a means to measure progress.
- Corporate partners will assist students in transportation costs (parking fees, DART fare, etc.)
- Corporate partner will assign someone to constructively assist fellows through any challenges along the way (i.e. office skills, appropriate dress, transportation needs). Someone in HR may be appropriate.
- Corporations will create a unique program around the 5th day of the week.
- Significant time with top managers and executives – both shadowing and one-on-one conversations.
- Significant time learning about the company, the jobs within that company, the industry that company is in.
- Significant time outlining the education path, life choices and sacrifices needed to reach those jobs.
- Significant time role-playing in those jobs.
- Take their fellows to at least one lunch or dinner at a fine restaurant.
- Allow for the possibility of post-fellowship mentoring
The Mayor & Lead Partner AT&T will together:
- Recruit corporate partners to participate in the Mayor’s Fellows Program that will supply Fellows spots in the program.
- The Mayor will send a letter to each EIF student encouraging them to be a part of the Fellow Program.
- The Mayor will invite the Fellows down to City Hall to kick off the summer program in Council Chambers, then host a lunch in the Flag Room.
- At the end of the first summer, the Mayor & ATT will convene a meeting of the different corporate participants, to examine what worked, opportunities for improvement, and develop best practices and a new template for the following summer.
Education is Freedom & The Dallas ISD:
- Education is Freedom will be the point of contact for businesses providing opportunities for interns, and work with DISD to help make sure there is a good fit.
- Education is Freedom will organize a special intern fair in the Spring to allow the Corporate partners to interview and meet the Fellows.
- DISD will help ensure the students meet the criteria, facilitate communication between the students, principals and EIF.
- Education is Freedom will reach out to principals of these schools to determine if they feel there are highly promising students that deserve consideration.
Alternatives for corporations that cannot sponsor fellows:
- The corporation can fund a fellow for the 8 week period ($2,880) and the fellow will be placed with a non-profit or government partner in the program.
- The corporation can contribute to a fund to assist with buying clothes, transportation costs, etc.
Students interested in participating in being a Mayor’s Intern Fellow should contact
Education Is Freedom’s CEO, Dr. Marcus Martin (214) 432-8566 or mmartin@educationisfreedom.org.
Companies, Non-Profits and Governmental Agencies interested in participating
should contact Education Is Freedom’s CEO, Dr. Marcus Martin (214) 432-8566 or mmartin@educationisfreedom.org.
For general questions on the Mayor’s Intern Fellows Program, contact the Mayor’s Chief of Staff, Chris Heinbaugh at 214-670-0773. |