San Francisco (March 17, 2021) - As the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) plans for summer programming, SFUSD wants to ensure that high school and transitional age youth are included in summer opportunities. With support from SF Board of Education Vice President Alison M. Collins, Supervisors Gordon Mar and Matt Haney connected with SFUSD staff to explore opportunities for expanded high school learning. Now Supervisors Mar and Haney are advocating for $2.6 million in funding to bolster SFUSD’s Early College Interns program. The proposal would provide 800 internships in July and August, ranging from 35 to 150 hours.
“I really appreciate that we were able to come together as city leaders and include the expertise of our staff in thinking of ways to build on effective programming that SFUSD currently has in place,” SF Board of Education Vice President Alison M. Collins said. “This is a great example of authentic city-district partnership in support of youth.”
In the summer of 2016, Dr. Jen Fong, Executive Director of SFUSD’s College & Career Readiness, created the Early College program, which allows high school students to dual enroll in City College of San Francisco and receive college credit. At the same time SFUSD expanded a pre-educator pipeline for high school students to explore careers in education via paid internships. These two programs then merged to become Early College Interns, which expands opportunities for students who are interested in career opportunities and earning class credit while they work.
This summer, the additional funding from the City for the internship program would allow students to take a Career Technical Education (CTE) course at City College of San Francisco and receive college credit. The internships would take place in July and August and range from 35 to 150 hours. Rising 11th and 12th graders are generally the target age for internships. The program also seeks to conduct early intervention to guide some rising 10th graders towards the On-Ramp to Postsecondary Success.
SFUSD’s College and Career Readiness team will coordinate the program and internship placements. Most students will intern with youth and be part of a Pre-Educator Pipeline. Others will be part of a community health program or general internship placement to learn job readiness skills. Interns will be placed at various SFUSD school sites, partner sites, and other sites such as businesses and law firms.
“It is so inspiring to watch high school interns apply their college Child Development classes in SFUSD elementary schools. Not only does the high school intern benefit from this program, but also the elementary students are receiving more individualized attention during the pandemic. With in-person internships, our Early College Interns will make a big difference this summer,” said Jen Fong, Executive Director of College & Career Readiness.
"It's been an incredibly tough year for high school students. They've lost a year of in-person learning, and many have missed out on critical paid work opportunities as well. We’ve absolutely got to double down this summer on ensuring that every single young person who wants and needs work readiness training and college credit has access to it," said Supervisor Matt Haney, Chair of the Budget and Appropriations Committee. “This innovative initiative will help hundreds of our city's high school students access critical learning and job opportunities at a time when they need it more than ever.”
"We have an opportunity to nurture the talents of older youth as we emerge from this pandemic. This summer, high school students get to support the development of younger SFUSD kids while working in paid internships connected to City College courses and field experience credits,” said Supervisor Gordon Mar. “Not only are we supporting young people who lack access to these opportunities, but we’re strengthening public institutions. Today’s interns are tomorrow’s educators, staff and leaders in the SF Unified School District and other educational settings."
SFUSD is committed to helping all students develop strong academic knowledge and skills, as well as a host of dispositions and behaviors, that increase their curiosity and engagement, activate their full potential for learning, and prepare them for life, work, and study beyond their secondary school years. While the pace and the path toward achieving these outcomes will vary among students and unfold along a set of learning progressions, the goal is for every SFUSD student to possess these capacities by the time they graduate. A group of targeted June and July graduates will be supported to transition from high school to college matriculation via summer coursework and a longer internship, and potentially a job working with youth.
Earlier this month, Mayor London N. Breed, Superintendent Dr. Vincent Matthews, and community organization TogetherSF announced the launch of the Summer Together Initiative, a newly formed coalition of San Francisco community organizations, nonprofits, businesses, SFUSD, and City departments partnering to offer a combination of free in-person and virtual learning experiences for public school students this summer.
About SFUSD
SFUSD is the seventh largest school district in California, educating over 56,000 preK-12 students every year. San Francisco is both a city and a county; therefore, SFUSD administers both the school district and the San Francisco County Office of Education (COE). This makes SFUSD a “single district county.”
More information regarding SFUSD’s preparations for in-person learning:
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