A presentation about a program providing high school students with work experience in areas aligned with their interests grabbed the attention of Thanh Nguyen, who immigrated to the U.S. with his family over a year ago from Vietnam.

Nguyen was in an English class at East High School when he learned about YouthWorks, which provides nine-month paid internships to students in the Des Moines school district.

“I immediately applied for it and got in,” said Nguyen, 19, whose internship is with Federal Home Loan Bank of Des Moines where he works on the information technology, or IT, service desk. “They’ve given me the opportunity to figure out what I like doing.”

In this internship, Nguyen said he created an online dashboard that shows his IT co-workers about customer service tickets, including how long it takes to resolve each ticket and the types of service issues needing to be resolved. “With all of the information on the dashboard, my bosses can comprehend issues easier,” he said, who plans to attend Iowa State University.

Nguyen is one of 11 students from East who participated in YouthWorks this past school year. The program, which has been at East for three years, will expand to North High School in the coming school year.  

“There are tons of job opportunities for high school seniors, many of which [the seniors] never knew about,” said Chris Noth, YouthWorks director. YouthWorks connects the students with mentors and others who “can provide them with connections that open doors. It’s huge for a student because, if people don’t know who you are, how can they offer you a job?”

History of YouthWorks

YouthWorks is part of Project Iowa, a nonprofit organization launched in 2011 to bridge the skills gap and connect job seekers with in-demand careers. In 2021, Project Iowa created YouthWorks, which provides high school students with job experiences, mentors, academic credit and competitive wages.

YouthWorks started at East in 2022; that school year three students graduated from the program. Noth gets word out about the program by visiting classrooms with high school juniors. To participate, students must have grade-point averages of 2.0 or better; an 80% school attendance rate; and be on track to graduate on time. Interested qualifying students apply to participate.  

During the first six weeks of YouthWorks participants’ senior year, students are involved with intense training focused on building core professional and personal development skills. Topics in the training include professionalism, communication, emotional intelligence and goal setting, Noth said. Students also learn about time management, how to ask good questions and note taking, he said.

In October, students begin to work at their paid internships. Work hours are generally from 2 to 5 p.m. on Mondays through Thursdays. On Fridays, students meet as a group for additional instruction, discussions about their jobs and planning for life after high school. In the summer, the students work full time at their internship. In July, each student does a presentation about their growth, lessons during the year and their next steps.

Improved communication skills

Riziki Masumbuko, 18, immigrated to the U.S. from Tanzania with her family in 2019. The recent East graduate said that participating in YouthWorks improved her communication skills.

“I was shy,” said Masumbuko, whose internship is with Polk County’s treasurer’s office. “Making eye contact with somebody was very hard for me. I’ve improved that. I can make good eye contact now and my communication with people is better. … It’s easier for me to talk to people I don’t know now.”

As Masumbuko became more confident in conversing with others, she began working in customer service at the treasurer’s office, answering questions and helping people with various issues. A few times, people who emigrated from Tanzania needed help understanding some issues they needed handled at the treasurer’s office.

“They didn’t speak English so I had to translate for them in Swahili,” Masumbuko said. “It was not easy but I was proud that I was able to do it.”

This fall Masumbuko plans to attend Des Moines Area Community College, where she’ll study business and money management. Prior to taking part in YouthWorks, Masumbuko said she didn’t have confidence that she would be successful at college or in a professional job. The people she works with at the Polk County treasurer’s office helped bolster her self-confidence, she said.

“Nothing is easy,” Masumbuko said her co-workers told her. “Everything we start is hard. If we focus and put our mind on what we want to do, it becomes easier.”

Expansion plans

YouthWorks, with offices located at 4801 Franklin Ave., will expand to North High in the coming school year. Noth said he expects at least 20 students to be part of the program in 2025-26.

Within the next five years, Noth said his hope is that the program is in all five of the Des Moines school district’s comprehensive high schools.

“I want to see us have a waiting list,” he said.

High school students don’t thrive by sitting in a classroom, listening to lectures, six to seven hours a day, Noth said. “They need people teaching them in real-world settings. They need a chance to fail and they need a chance to build their skills.”

YouthWorks currently partners with eight employers to  provide internships and mentors for students. The sectors the jobs are in include information technology, government, law, accounting, property management, marketing and education.Partnering with YouthWorks helps businesses find talented future workers, Noth said.

“We all know that there’s not enough [workers in Iowa] and that it’s hard to find good talent,” Noth said. “If you can cultivate new employees before they go to college, that will give a business an edge.

“Our local youth are hungry for opportunities; they are going to work hard. If businesses neglect them, they are doing so at their own peril,” he said.

Noth said interest in YouthWorks is increasing among students and the program needs more business partners.

“We want businesses to understand that education isn’t just the teacher’s job in a school building to get students ready for the future,” Noth said. “It’s also our job as a nonprofit and businesses’ job in the private sector. We all have a role in preparing students for future jobs.”

Nguyen said businesses benefit from hiring YouthWorks interns.

“They get to know more about the new generation and how prepared we are for our future careers and how determined we are,” he said.