This report from the Urban Institute provides a six-year evaluation of the Urban Alliance High School Internship Program. Urban Alliance’s program operates in Washington, DC and Baltimore, MD, and provides senior year training, paid internships and mentorships for at-risk youth. The evaluation used a rigorous randomized control design with a population of 1,062 youth to estimate the causal impacts of the program.
The evaluation finds that young males who completed the program were 23 percentage points more likely to attend college and 10 percentage points more likely to attain a two-year degree or be enrolled in their third year. The report also surfaced significant impacts on hard and soft skill development.
These findings demonstrate the impact of meaningful internships, mentorships and work-based learning opportunities in high school and may be instructional for similar programs.
