We are facing a terrible crisis in education due to the pandemic, and in the midst this, new opportunities can emerge.
While our eighth graders long for a return to in-person school and apprenticeships, recent data shows they are learning important career skills in our online programs (see our charts below). And new virtual capabilities offer us ways to continue to support our alumni to build their career skills even as they attend over 30 different Boston high schools.
Thanks to funding from partners, Youthworks and the Boston Private Industry Council, we are launching a new paid internship program for 40 ninth grade Apprentice alums. The program, LaunchPlus, will offer 40 hours over 10 weeks of virtual career skills, careers exploration, and weekly small group meetings with our staff. Youth will earn $700 for completing weekly “deliverables” and the program will culminate in youth completing an online job application for the City of Boston’s Success Link summer job program. Our goal: have all students capable and ready for a virtual summer job.
With few career programs and job opportunities for this age group, LaunchPlus extends our reach and fills a critical gap during the transition to high school–already a difficult period for young people.
Our program services now span grade seven to grade nine and we are growing a career pipeline to nurture a talented, diverse future workforce in Boston.
We are so grateful for the support all of our partners, individuals, and foundations have provided to help us reach more young people.
Statement on Racial Justice from Apprentice Learning’s Board and Staff
At Apprentice Learning, experience ignites purpose. Witnessing the uniquely compounded injustices inflicted upon Black people, we write with renewed vigor and humility as we denounce oppression in all of its forms. The Apprentice Learning community grieves over the tragic and senseless deaths of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Tony McDade. We recognize our responsibility to say their names and speak truth to power. Systemic racism impacts all of us: our staff, students, families, alumni, board and business partners. Our students are receiving mixed messages about both the significance of their lives and their rights to protest inequities. We firmly stand with those who unabashedly profess that Black Lives Matter and who edify our youth to confidently and safely navigate society.
Our core commitment has always been to close the opportunity gap and nurture the dreams of young people from communities impacted by a long history of systemic racism in this country. Apprentice Learning fosters experiences that inspire and enable young people to seize their futures, creating a pipeline where power can be redistributed so that all of society benefits and thrives. Our students and their families, our alumni, and our worksite partners are worthy of this endeavor.
Thank you, Cummings Foundation!
City Summer Interns at NorthStar Asset Management
We are so thrilled to receive a second year of generous funding from The Cummings Foundation. Thank you, Bill and Joyce Cummings, Joel Swets and Joyce Vyriotes and all of the Cummings employees and volunteers who donate time to support the great work of social service and educational organizations across the region. Your support makes our work possible and we are more effective thanks to this very special grant.
Thank you Eastern Bank Charitable Foundation!
When we opened our first bank account to launch Apprentice Learning, Eastern Bank in Ashmont was our choice for a community bank. We were warmly welcomed by Roxann Cooke, who is now Senior Vice President and Regional Manager.
Eastern Bank has supported Apprentice Learning’s growth as a banking partner and as a funder. We are thrilled to announce this $10,000 award in support women and girls, for our City Summer Internship program for rising ninth grade girls.
We are a 2018 recipient of the Cummings Foundation $100K for 100 nonprofits!
We are thrilled to be a 2018 recipient of the Cummings Foundation $100K for 100 nonprofits.
“The Cummings Foundation grant is the largest competitive grant Apprentice Learning has received. Not only will funding help us to serve more students this year and next, this gift propels our organization into Boston’s nonprofit ecosystem in significantly new ways. We are so very grateful to Bill and Joyce Cummings for their deep generosity and radical philanthropy.”
—Helen Russell, Executive Director
Letter to our worksite partners
Thanks for your participation in the spring apprenticeships. Our students benefit tremendously from the time you spend mentoring and teaching them. Many of our alums return with vivid recollections of their experience so we know it has an impact on a young person’s outlook on the world. We appreciate you!
Partners hosting this spring’s 21 apprentices are:
Ace Hardware in Roslindale
Birth Street Home & Garden
Boing Toy Shop
Caramelo (Thursday)
Fresh Hair (Thursday)
Horizons for Homeless Children
Game Engagement Lab at Emerson CollegePet Cabaret
Microsoft Store (7)
Nazareth Childcare Center
Polka Dog Bakery
Rédgine’s Botanical Spirits
The Thrift Hop of Boston
Station8 Hair Salon
Week one is always the Week of Nerves for the apprentices. For most, it is the first time for independent interactions with adults who are neither families nor teachers. Our preparation emphasizes the importance of introducing oneself with a great smile, handshake and a clearly spoken name. On your part, if you can provide a clear overview of your business, a spot for backpacks and put them right to work! Please remind the apprentices to take off their coats.
Our staff will make brief workplace visits over the next six weeks. These check-ins are an opportunity for you to share any questions or observations with us and for us to convey any questions that have come up via the apprentice. Our aim is to make the most of both your and the students’ time.
Also, we’d like to arrange some time to interview you about your experience as a site partner. As our program grows to serving over 100 students in schools in Brighton and Jamaica Plain, you can help us attract new business partners. Please let us know if you would be willing to speak about your worksite partner experience.
Our Pilot Year
With our pilot year concluding, we have much to celebrate. Apprentices gained poise and keen insights into workplace culture. Our Site Partners were unanimously positive in their feedback, noting that Apprentices arrived ready to go to work and exhibited a seriousness of purpose that belied their ages. And Apprentices have landed in highly selective jobs and summer programs!
It’s still a little early to know if we have helped students over the long term. One of our goals is that Apprentices will be successful in their ninth grade year in high school, typically the most treacherous year for becoming ‘off-track’ for graduation. But we are off to a strong start: seven students have been accepted to programs that combine academics and career interests. And will support them through high school.
Five Apprentices have been selected for Summer Science Academy, at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a paid summer internship where students explore science topics while working in various hospital departments. Two Apprentices have been accepted with full scholarships to MassArt’s program, ArtWard Bound, a four-year college preparatory program that combines academics and study of the arts. And, four students applied to ABCD Summerworks jobs program and will be notified this week if they have been selected from the lottery for paid summer jobs. The remaining students have summer plans that include residential summer camps, academic programs, or family travel. All Apprentices will move into high school next year with a career portfolio and a sense of their own work competencies.
All of our Site Partners expressed an interest in hosting an Apprentice next year.
Why We Work with 8th Graders
Take a closer look at why and when students drop out of high school. Breakthrough Collaborative’s 2011 brief assembles compelling data on the country’s dropout crisis. Read the full brief , “Challenges of the Ninth Grade Transition“.
Among some of the most startling data:
• Ninth grade retention rates and failure rates are higher than any other grade. In fact, a ninth grade student is three to five times more likely to fail a class than students in any other grade.
• Although students who are under‐prepared academically are most likely to fail one or more courses and ultimately drop out, even students who are well prepared
academically and previously high‐achieving can face considerable hurdles when they enter high school.
High school requires students to take charge of their own learning without the continuity of watchful middle school teachers. In Boston, students are no longer transported aboard yellow school buses, instead relying on public transportation. First period classes have an especially high rate of failure because students do not arrive at school on time.
Apprentice Learning prepares students before they begin high school, with experiences that reinforce the importance of punctuality and attendance. As part of our skill set, students travel independently (with lots of support) to worksites. Apprenticing in a professional environment requires that overcome challenges of interacting in an unfamiliar environment, communicating with strangers and asking questions. Building these competencies better prepares students for the unexpected obstacles of 9th grade.
Our students are eager to begin a life with more independence. Our job is to prepare them sufficiently so they can progress with confidence.
