Philadelphia Youth Need Small Business Commitment

The Chamber is encouraging small businesses to offer paid summer internships to Philadelphia youth by joining its workforce development initiative, Working Solutions. 

The goal of Working Solutions is to provide young people with the tools and experience necessary to become tomorrow’s capable and productive citizens and employees.

As part of this initiative, the Chamber is calling on local businesses to provide 1,000 paid summer internships in 2007, more than double the number from 2006. 

This is an ambitious yet attainable goal, and one that necessitates the involvement and support of the region’s entire business community, including both large and small companies.

As of March 1, employers have already pledged to provide 322 jobs for Philadelphia students, including 25 from Commerce Bank and 50 from Independence Blue Cross.

Small companies that can offer one or two internships are just as important as these large companies.  Each internship has the potential to provide a life-changing experience for a young person. 

Breaking down the barriers between the businesses and students will take the commitment of Greater Philadelphia’s enlightened leadership, from businesses of all sizes.

At Rethinking Philadelphia, a recent forum that explored the positive social and economic impact of investing in the region's youth, David Brown, Principal and President of Brown Partners, spoke of the reciprocal learning opportunities that internships provide for both businesses and youth, especially at small companies. 

 “For small businesses, internships represent an investment that has a direct impact on the bottom line today and into the future.  If we don’t grow talent now, they won’t be there to make us grow in the future,” Brown said.  

Brown Partners, a full service minority-owned advertising firm, offers 10 internships a year to Philadelphia youth.  These interns have become integral to the operation of Brown’s firm.  “An internship becomes just the way we do business, “ Brown said.  “ We get a lot out of it because when the students graduate, they are already acclimated to our culture.”

Once a student in the Philadelphia School District, Mr. Brown was mentored early on and now provides mentoring for others

Three years ago, Brown created a program called the Big Pitch, a competition that matches public high school students with professional ad agencies. Students create an advertising campaign and also gain exposure to careers in advertising.  Appropriately, the campaign for this year’s competition is “Encouraging Employers to Hire Philadelphia High School Students for Summer Jobs.”

There are many available resources to teach businesses how to structure their internship program.

On April 11, the Chamber and Philadelphia Youth Network will host a program called Working Solutions to help employers learn the best practices for creating a successful internship program. 

Additionally, each company that participates will be assigned a Philadelphia Youth Network liaison who will provide orientation and training for employees, assistance in crafting job descriptions and developing projects that will benefit both the business and youth, and personal attention to candidate processing and support for intern performance. 

The Chamber is also advocating for legislation that will help offset the cost of providing an employer-paid internship by creating a tax break for participating companies. 

Commerce Bank is the Corporate Partner of Working Solutions; Philadelphia Youth Network is the Managing Partner, and employer-paid internships are part of WorkReady Philadelphia. 

Join us in this important campaign.  For more information and to see our progress as we reach our goal of 1,000 internships, visit greaterphilachamber.com or contact Working Solutions at 215-790-3732.