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Higher Promise Working with Businesses to Create Paid Internships
For Flowserve’s Josh Iocca, being a part of the new Higher Promise internship program makes sense — as an employer and as a member of the Kalamazoo community.
“There is untapped talent in Kalamazoo,” said Iocca, plant manager for Flowserve in Kalamazoo. While the plant has tapped a number of student interns from the KRESA machining program, “we need to diversify our outreach in the community in which we live. Our office is in the Edison neighborhood. We like to service the neighborhood. We’d like to reach out to those students to represent their neighborhood.”
The Kalamazoo Promise announced the Higher Promise in November. The new program aims to provide Promise scholars at Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo Valley Community College, and Kalamazoo College with paid summer internships beginning this summer. The Promise hopes to place 40 interns with 35 community partners with goals of the students working more than 22,400 hours and earning a total of $336,000.
By mid-November, area employers had already committed to more than two dozen internships, including those at Flowserve, Stryker, Consumers Credit Union and Southwest Michigan First.
Von Washington Jr., executive director of community relations for The Promise, said the program was born out of an intentional effort to address the needs of students and employers.
“We were hearing from employers about the lack of talent and lack of individuals coming into the workforce, and they needed strategies to try to get students,” he said. “And, some students just weren’t getting access to good internships.”
Washington said that as an educator, he wants to interact with students as much as possible and to find out how the program is working for them.
“But it’s no fair asking how they are doing unless you’re willing to provide answers and support them with what they’re facing,” he said.
The focus of Higher Promise is on establishing paid internships for Promise Scholars, he said. Unpaid internships can be very valuable for gaining experience, he said, but for some students, who rely on summer jobs to help pay their school bills, accepting an unpaid internship is not possible. “Some students have to make money in the summer,” he said.
The Kalamazoo Promise scholarship is available to every Kalamazoo Public Schools graduate who meets residency and attendance requirements. It covers all tuition and fees at almost every university and college in Michigan.
The Promise staff is busy recruiting businesses for the Higher Promise. The ask is simple: commit to offering at least one paid internship this summer. They’re looking for a variety of experiences and are willing to talk to any employer.
The scholarship program is also looking at expanding the program by trying to find funds to help small businesses participate in the internships. Washington said that the effort is focused on students attending WMU, K-College, and KVCC currently, but they hope to expand it to students at other schools in the future.
The Promise will work with employers to match them with interns. Employers are asked to commit to attending a diversity and inclusion workshop. They are asked to release interns on Fridays for Promise-organized workforce navigation workshops on professionalism, job skills, financial planning and other skills.
Although the stated goal is for 40 internships, Washington said he’d be thrilled to have 100. And that may happen given the overwhelmingly positive response to the program so far.
Flowserve has about 380 employees in Kalamazoo, and the company employs more than 17,000 people worldwide in 55 countries. Past internships have frequently led to full-time employment within the company, which makes parts such as pumps and valves that help companies move fluids and gases. Clients include Pfizer and Exxon.
Iocca said he has very little expectation that incoming interns will have much experience or knowledge of the technical skills required to succeed at Flowserve, but he is confident that they can provide that training for students.
“Predominantly what we’re looking for are people who are hungry to learn and who have the soft skills to communicate with a diverse group of people,” he said. “We want people who are interested, optimistic, and just willing to learn — that’s the biggest part of it.”
He said internships are vital for students because they can help them “understand what their passions are and what they’re interested in. That can be hard to get in school. It’s nice to get out in the real world and see what opportunities there are. And I think the Higher Promise is a fantastic idea, because it will get students more interested in the opportunities that exist in their own community.”