In coming weeks thousands of New York City high school students will have the opportunity to test drive certain business careers while still participating in their regular school curriculum under a new plan from a group of Wall Street firms and the city’s Department of Education. The plan is to build and expand upon the city’s “Modern Apprentice” program from its current 500 students to around 4,500 in the next five years.
The program was launched this week through a partnership between both JPMorgan Chase and the information technology firm Accenture. Apprentices would make $15 to $25 an hour for part-time work over the three years of the program. New York joins a growing national movement to add more apprenticeship opportunities for young people to both help their job readiness and preparedness, as well as fill open positions as a wave of workers, begin to retire and people shift careers following the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“In ninth grade, it’ll be more career exploration and, and an understanding of what jobs and careers are available in the city,” she said. “So they’ll be taking site visits, they’ll be learning about themselves and what they’re passionate about. And so it’s more of an exploration type of curriculum. In 10th grade, it’s about readiness, getting ready to show up at a workplace.”
Barbara Chang, Executive Director at CareerWise NY
CareerWise NY believes that its staff will soon start training teachers at 60 city high schools in the city with the intent of teaching participants career exploration and readiness. Ninth graders will start having access to those lessons in the spring of 2023, with additional classes for 10th graders in 2024. The new expansion would place New York as one of the largest programs in the United States.
In New York, where big name companies like Amazon, Citi, Mastercard, and Bank of America hold headquarters program participants have the opportunity to earn between $15 to $25 an hour for their work. Participating companies will also contribute $4,000 a year to training each apprentice, which can cover technical certifications, career-specific training, or college tuition.
At the end of the three years, they are not guaranteed a job that provides options for them to stay on with the company, go to college, get another job, or negotiate a way to work while attending college. Similar programs started by Accenture in Chicago saw immense growth starting with five apprentices in 2016 and now reaching 2,000 with plans to hire 30 more in New York next fall.
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