Even though summer might feel a long way off, summer internship deadlines are coming up fast, so now is the time for youth, and employers, to get on board. The City’s STEP-UP summer internship program prepares youth for future employment by offering summer work experience and training at Minneapolis businesses.

Applying for an internship

Minneapolis youth ages 14-21 can apply for a summer internship with STEP-UP until Feb. 3, 2012. Applications are available online or they can be downloaded and printed. As part of the process of getting a STEP-UP internship, youth must complete a competitive application process and work readiness training through the program. Internships are paid, and youth are matched up with a wide range of local businesses for summer jobs.

Employer recruitment

Minneapolis businesses can become STEP-UP partners and help provide new opportunities for young people to get a summer job. Each additional job pledged to STEP-UP provides a potentially life-changing opportunity for a young person and helps strengthen our region’s high-skill, knowledge-based economy. Contact Tammy Dickinson at 612-673-5041 or complete the Job Pledge Form.

STEP-UP success

Since it started in 2004, STEP-UP has helped thousands of youth get invaluable experience to help prepare them for their futures. Recently, Hashim Yonis, a former STEP-UP intern, was featured as a speaker at a White House event to kick off a new federal summer jobs initiative. He also participated on a panel of young people who have benefited from meaningful summer employment and work-readiness training.

Yonis, who is now 23 years old, fled Somalia’s civil war and lived as a refugee in camps in Ethiopia and Kenya before moving to Minnesota with his family 10 years ago. Although he spoke no English, Hashim thrived in school and graduated at the top of his class from Edison High School in Minneapolis before pursuing his B.A. at St. Olaf College. While still in high school, Hashim participated in the STEP-UP summer-jobs program, first at the law firm of Faegre & Benson, then at the City of Minneapolis Public Works Department. Now just five years after graduating high school, Hashim works with recent immigrants as the School Administrative Manager at Roosevelt and Wellstone International High Schools in Minneapolis.

Yonis is just one of many young people who have built their skills and gotten valuable experience through STEP-UP. Here are a few facts on the thousands of youth who’ve been a part of STEP-UP:

• STEP-UP has created over 14,000 employment opportunities for Minneapolis youth in the private, public and nonprofit sectors.
• More than 50 percent of STEP-UP interns are from immigrant families.
• 86 percent of STEP-UP interns are people of color.
• 93 percent of STEP-UP interns are from families that live in poverty.
• In 2011, nearly 2,000 young people obtained meaningful employment and work-readiness skills in 211 Minneapolis companies, nonprofits and government offices.