Creating New Opportunities for Young People: Urban Alliance

For recent graduates entering this fiercely competitive job market, an internship can confer a distinct advantage. But for many minority and urban youth, internships simply aren’t available. That’s where Urban Alliance comes in, providing the internships that lead to the skills that lead to jobs. We talk to Urban Alliance CEO Eshauna Smith and to Bank of America’s Kerry Sullivan about this nonprofit that’s making a huge difference. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to this episode of Here's Something Good, a production
of the Seneca Women Podcast Network and I Heart Radio.
Each day we aspire to bring you the good news,
the silver lining, the glass half full, because there is
good happening in the world everywhere, every day, we just
need to look for and share it. Here's something Good

(00:27):
for Today. Think for a minute about the situation that
high school students face as they seek summer jobs and internships.
This year COVID nineteen A teetering economy, uncertainty everywhere. Now,
imagine you're a student from a low income neighborhood. College
may not be on your radar, nor our internships. You

(00:48):
can't even envision that you'd ever work in a professional situation.
That's what millions of teens, mostly from urban environments and
most of the minority, are confronted with, and it means
that their employment options are limited, not just this summer,
but for their entire future. But there's an organization dedicated
to improving the future economic prospects for these young people,

(01:08):
giving them experience and a new set of skills for
the work world through paid internships, which has put more
than five thousand youth on the path to success. We
heard about Urban Alliance through our partner, Bank of America,
which works closely with them. Today we'll talk to Ashauna Smith,
CEO of Urban Alliance, and Carrie Sullivan, president of the
Bank of America Charitable Foundation, about the urgent need Urban

(01:29):
Alliance is filling Nowies college graduates are facing what is
being called the worst job market since the depression. According
to the Center for Labor Markets and Policy at Drexel University,
only twenty of youth age of sixteen to nineteen will
work this summer, compared to thirty three percent before the
pandemic hit, and at least one in four young adults

(01:51):
are unemployed right now, which is higher than the peak
during the Great Recession. And with the competition for jobs
so fierce right now, having some grounding in the national
world can offer a huge advantage. But what if you
come from a community were very few go to college
where professional jobs and internships are non existent. How do
you pick up the so called soft skills that employer's prize.

(02:13):
How do you learn, for instance, to do presentations, to
speak up in meetings, to build a network. And it's
a problem not just for the job seekers. When young
people from minority backgrounds are kept out of the professional pipeline.
Companies are denied the diverse talent and points of view
that lead to greater innovation and impact. Urban Alliance is
helping close that gap and more than five thousand high
school students have benefited so far. The results are amazing.

(02:37):
The interns are accepted to college and Urban Alliance members
retain the skills that lead to professional success. I spoke
to a SHAWNA. Smith, CEO of the Urban Alliance. Here's
what she had to say. Urban Alliance is a nonprofit
organization that's been around for folks years and what we
do is provide low income high school seniors with their

(02:58):
very first internships or they're very first job, and we
partner with major companies including Bank of America. The internship
lasts from November to August of the senior year. It
is fully paid and the point is to expose them
early on to what a real workforce experience is like
and to ensure that there been able to connect to

(03:21):
pathways of economic self perficiency based upon the skills and networks,
the mentorship, and the early workforce experience that they've be seen.
From these opportunities, they usually come into these workforce experiences
at major companies never having been in that kind of
a corporate setting, and so the first and deepest impact

(03:44):
is around the exposure level. So they are brought out
of their neighborhoods and into new realities and really begin
to break down sort of those stereotypes that those places
don't belong to them and that those places aren't for them.
Oftentimes that we hear when students complete these internships is
that the companies, the staff, they got way more out

(04:05):
of this experience than the young people did. Really the
most important thing during this pandemic, the most important thing
that Urban Alliance wanted to do was to make sure
that our students continue to learn and earn during this time,
that they're learning still and that they're earning away. And
so Bank of America has been great in helping us
to keep those internships going virtually this summer. We also

(04:26):
spoke with Carrie Sullivan, president of the Bank of America
Charitable Foundation, on why this partnership with the Urban Alliance
is so important right now. We have been a long supporter,
a long partner with Urban Alliance, and they are critical
partner in our work with youth, in connecting youth to
the possibilities of work career and really having a life

(04:48):
where they can prosper. So they have been a great
partner not only in Summary's employment but also with internships
during the school year. Well, this summer is particularly challenge
with all the issues we are facing through the pandemic
and a lot of the racial justice issues before us,
and as a company, we really had to pivot and

(05:09):
we've spent a lot of time thinking about how best
to provide a virtual work experience for young people, and
we were able to do that. In fact, this summer,
we're putting about three thousand young people to work virtually
this summer and providing them with a stipend, which is
also a very important piece of our program, making sure
they're earning money for the financial obligations they have, not

(05:32):
only for themselves but for their families. Such an incredible program,
especially this summer when things are so challenging. Urban Alliance
will be making the difference for young people and for
our country for decades to come. So here's something good
for today. When you improve the outlook for young people,
you're changing their future and the future of communities. We

(05:52):
all benefit when companies have a diverse workplace and diverse
points of view. Urban Alliance is making that happen every day.
You can help them by getting involved personally or getting
your company involved. Go to the Urban Alliance dot org
to learn more and to learn more about programs Bank
of America supports, go to Bank of America dot com
slash Workforce Development. Thanks for joining and have a great day.

(06:26):
Thank you for listening, and please share Today's Something Good
with others in your life. This is Kim Azzarelli, co
author of Fast Forward and co founder of Seneca Women.
To learn more about Seneca Women, go to Seneca Women
dot com or download the Seneca Women app free in
the app store. Here's Something Good is a production of
the Seneca Women podcast network and I Heart Radio. Have

(06:46):
a Great Day. For more podcasts from my heart Radio,
check out the i Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or
wherever you listen your favorite shows.