State Superintendent Tony Thurmond Launches Summit on Paid Internships to Support Youth and Help Reduce Crime

SACRAMENTO—Amid reports of a spike in crime, including crimes committed by juveniles, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond is developing a new program to help youth prepare for bright futures and to help prevent youth from engaging in crime.

Thurmond announced today that he will be working with partners to develop a paid internship program to help teens and young adults earn while they learn about career pathways. Youth will also be connected with career advisors who will help them learn about career and employment opportunities to ensure they have a secure role in the global economy in the years ahead, which will benefit not only themselves and their families but their respective surrounding communities.

To launch the program, Thurmond will host a summit on Tuesday, October 10, 2023, beginning at 11 a.m., that will include partners and interest holders across youth-serving sectors to design the program and secure funding for paid internships and other resources to support youth. Partners will include school districts; workforce agencies; public housing agencies; city, county, state, and federal government agencies; foundations; community-based organizations; faith groups; universities; police agencies; and research agencies. Anyone who wishes to support developing and funding the programs may participate. A press conference is scheduled before the summit at 10 a.m., and both events will be held at the California Department of Education (CDE) headquarters in Sacramento and will be livestreamed.

The summit will explore ways to design paid training and career coaching programs and examine other programs that may help, such as mentoring, mental health, and housing programs.

The intent is to connect youth ages thirteen to twenty-four to programs. The summit will focus on how to launch programs and pilots in Oakland as a start and will look to expand to other cities such as San Francisco, Sacramento, Fresno, Los Angeles, and San Diego, to name a few.

Thurmond sponsored Assembly Bill 2088 in 2022 to fund paid internships for youth and has signaled that he will introduce a similar measure in the 2024 legislative cycle. The summit will inform legislative and budget recommendations that Thurmond will pursue in next year’s legislative cycle. Thurmond and partners will be contacting foundations, corporations, donors, nonprofits, and businesses to help fund pilots until a legislative allocation can be pursued in 2024. Thurmond intends to work with partners to blend and braid funding sources—including funding from government programs, workforce development programs, and foundations—to help any young person who wants a paid internship opportunity.

Those interested in participating in the summit or in supporting the paid internships program should email CAstudentinternships@cde.ca.gov.

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Tony Thurmond — State Superintendent of Public Instruction
Communications Division, Room 5602, 916-319-0818, Fax 916-319-0100