Partnerships with local businesses will help scale internships for high school students across the nation
(October 07, 2019 – New York, NY) NAF is thrilled to announce the expansion of locally-sponsored NAF Future Ready Labs for Summer 2020. In the second year of the pilot program, locally-sponsored NAF Future Ready Labs will include eight teams that will provide internships for high school students.
NAF Future Ready Labs empower employer partners, academy, and district representatives to take the lead on providing an innovative internship experience for students, with the support of NAF’s strategic structure, tools, and resources that help them take the first steps in building a strong, diverse, and local talent pipeline. This program provides NAF high school students an opportunity to put their education into practice in a unique work environment.
Locally-sponsored NAF Future Ready Labs provide an opportunity for employer and community partners to work with NAF academies and advisory boards to support high-quality paid internships for NAF students. Through a multi-week experience, 20-25 student interns will complete a project of value for the business sponsors in a collaborative team-based environment, participate in skill-building workshops, and connect with professionals who serve as mentors.
The 2019-2020 school year will mark NAF’s second year of implementing this program with tools, resources, and supports for a select group of communities across the country. These eight teams were selected through a rigorous application process to identify strong goal-oriented school districts and employer partners to plan and implement meaningful internship programs for their communities’ high school students. School districts and their employer partner members in the following communities were chosen to participate:
Returning:
- Cabarrus County, North Carolina
- Detroit, Michigan
- Harford County, Maryland
- Orange County, Florida
New:
- Baton Rouge, Louisiana
- Charlotte, North Carolina
- Foothills Consortium, CA – Azusa Unified School District, Charter Oak Unified School District, Duarte Unified School District, and Monrovia Unified School District
- Milwaukee, Wisconsin
“We are so excited to enter into our second year of the NAF locally-sponsored Future Ready Labs program and continue to expand its impact. This innovative opportunity will reach more students nationwide and bring together local businesses and community members to invest in the next generation of talent,” said Brooke Rice, Senior Director of Work-Based Learning at NAF. “We welcome back our returning teams and are thrilled to work with our new participants for the 2019-2020 school year.”
Teams will travel to New Orleans this November for a kickoff training that will bring together education and business partners to begin their program planning.
About NAF:
NAF is a national network of education, business, and community leaders who work together to ensure that high school students are college, career, and future ready.
NAF works with high need communities to transform the high school experience through an educational design that includes industry-specific curricula, work-based learning experiences, and relationships with business professionals, culminating in a paid internship. NAF academies fit within and enhance school systems, allowing NAF to become an integral part of a plan for higher achievement at a low cost. NAF academies focus on one of five career themes: finance, hospitality & tourism, information technology, engineering, and health sciences. During the 2018-19 school year, over 100,000 students attended 617 NAF academies across 35 states, including DC and the US Virgin Islands. In 2018, NAF academies reported 99% of seniors graduated with 87% of graduates planning to go to college. For more information, please visit: https://naf.org/