PROGRAM OVERVIEW:

The Youth Internship Program is a job readiness initiative designed for high school-age refugees. It consists of two main components: a classroom unit where participants learn essential job readiness and life skills, and an experiential unit where they can practice these skills through internships. The hands-on experiential learning internship component of our program takes place at the BD kitchen, farmers’ markets, and partner businesses throughout the greater Providence area.

In addition to the experiential learning internship component, there is a weekly in-person seminar for all of the program participants. This two-hour workshop focuses on reinforcing workplace skills such as collaboration, communication, and problem solving. The seminar is also an opportunity for the youth to reflect on their internship experience, share their experiences with each other, and set short-term and long-term goals. Youth also write resumes and practice interview skills, and receive support in securing summer employment. The seminar culminates in a final exhibition/graduation, where the youth speak about their experiences with community partners, Beautiful Day supporters, family, and other invited guests. After the exhibition, the youth are celebrated with a graduation ceremony.

CURRICULUM OVERVIEW:

Our hope is that the Beautiful Day curriculum will be transferable and adaptable to other youth job training programs. In place of discrete lesson plans, the curriculum is divided into a menu of activities with supporting documents. The activities are arranged in a sequence that works for our program, but depending on your group, time frame, and desired focus, you can choose which activities fit the needs of your youth and program.

CURRICULUM ORGANIZATION:

The curriculum is broken down into three sections:

1. Set-up and logistics. This section contains documents that support setting up and managing a youth training program. For example, you will find a sample email to introduce the program to new internship partners; a sample spreadsheet for recording work hours; a sample Google form for youth to log in and out of work.
2. Check-in questions and team building exercises. An important part of our training program is building communication and collaboration skills and creating a supportive team of youth who are comfortable sharing their experiences. We begin every session with a check-in question. Because many of our youth have limited English proficiency, we keep these questions basic and accessible. And within each session, we include a small group or whole group team building exercise. In addition to building collaboration, these activities act as energizers for youth who may be tired at the end of a school day. 
3. Learning activities. The learning activities section contains the activities that youth do throughout the program to support their internship work. These are the activities that encourage them to reflect on their experiences, think about how they can improve through goal setting, communicate their experiences to others, and demonstrate their growth. Each activity is outlined with a focus question, rationale, and supporting documents for either print or electronic use.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

SET-UP AND LOGISTICS

• Recruitment Flyer
• Internship site introductory email
• Rubric for bonuses
• Google form check-in
• Mid-year supervisor evaluation

WARM-UP AND TEAM BUILDING

• Check-in questions
• Team building activities

LEARNING ACTIVITIES

• Getting to know you – youth-to-youth interviewing. (Pair students. Generate a list of interview questions. Students interview each other with the 4 or 5 questions and then introduce their partner to the group.)
• Community Agreements and Program expectations
• Interests/Personality survey
• Beginning self-reflection survey
• Preparing for Internship and sample to project
• Internship Photo Slideshow presentation: sample
• Workplace conflict and problem solving: sample and youtube video
• Internship reflection questions: sample and sample
• A Day in the Life: sample
• Mission Statements and Stories: sample
• Mid-year self evaluation
• Interviewing a coworker: sample questions and sample presentation
• Resume: sample resume, resume organizers
• Preparing for job interviews. Interview prep questions and elevator pitch
• End of program exhibition – at the end of the program, youth create presentations about their work experiences and speak to community members as part of our graduation celebration: Presentation Outline, Sample Boards, Youth Prep Questions, Exhibition Handout.

ADD END OF YEAR REFLECTION SURVEY AND GROUP EXIT INTERVIEW

Submitted by Fred Wambolt
Curriculum Developer
Youth Program, 
Beautiful Day RI