Another Exciting Year For The Industry Scholars Program Is Underway

The Career and Technical Education (CTE) Industry Scholars program—a project spearheaded by Grant Associates, the New York City Department of Education, the Center for Youth Employment and the Partnership for New York City—is geared up for its third program year! The program first launched in January 2017 to offer industry-specific internships and a variety of career activities aimed at helping CTE students apply their skills in authentic industry settings while gaining real-world work experience. To date, through the CTE Industry Scholars program, more than 5,500 CTE students have taken part in career exploration and internships across 109 high schools in all five boroughs.

The CTE Industry Scholars program model relies on an implementation approach that leverages intermediary support: the intermediary cultivates the working relationship with sector-specific employers in securing relevant work-based learning opportunities, while building the in-school capacity to grow and sustain partnerships with key employers. Employers engage in the program by providing meaningful career exploration for CTE students by hosting career days and workplace tours, providing job shadowing opportunities, conducting mock interviews and resume reviews for students, and hosting student interns specializing in their industry. Grant Associates is thrilled to be partnering with the following best-in-class sector-based intermediaries to do this work: Brooklyn-Queens-Long Island Area Health Education Center, C-CAP, Futures and Options, and NAF.

Through the development and first two years of operation of the CTE Industry Scholars program, the program model has proven to be effective in coordinating and scaling work-based learning opportunities across the CTE system. Some program outcomes to date include:

  • 2,250 industry-aligned paid internships
  • 118% of Year 1 & 109% Year 2 internship goals achieved
  • Tripled the number of interns from year 1 to year 2
  • 24% increase in number of female interns from year 1 to year 2 (from 38% to 47% female)
  • More than 500 employers participated across eight industry verticals
  • 190 CTE programs and 109 high schools were provided internship opportunities
  • 76% of interns go to schools outside of Manhattan

We are thrilled to be in our third program year and look forward to growing our industry partnerships to connect more employers to this amazing pipeline of young talent coming out of NYC CTE. This year, 1,650 CTE students will be connected to high quality paid internships aligned to their CTE coursework. We will also be putting on 16 career days, 32 workplace tours and 40 mock interview and resume writing workshops. Each of these touchpoints help high school students explore careers in their specialization, provide real-world context and opportunities to learn about the workplace, and prepare for their futures.