Wanting More for Minneapolis

By Joel Crandall, Genesys Works Program Manager

With recruitment season for the next class of Genesys Works Young Professionals in full swing, I am reminded how proud I am to be a Minneapolis resident. Genesys Works has historically done very well in St. Paul because of great partnerships both on a district level and with individual schools. When I joined the Genesys Works staff two years ago, one of my personal goals was to see the opportunity presented to a greater number of students in the Minneapolis Public Schools.

I have lived on the city’s north side for about nine years and have worked with high school students in a number of different capacities (coach, youth pastor, and mentor). I believe in students from MPS, and I care deeply about seeing them connected to opportunities that will change their lives, especially as it pertains to access to college and meaningful careers. Though these are a few of the reasons it matters to me personally, there are bigger implications as well.

Why it matters:

• Minneapolis is the state’s third largest school district

• The district is comprised of 70% students of color and 66% students eligible for receiving free and reduced lunch: key demographic groups we serve.

• Several existing Genesys Works clients are located in or near the district and would like to work more closely with students from Minneapolis.  

Our goal:

• Is to have 102 MPS students from the city’s seven high schools apply for the program.

• Our historic numbers show that this will ultimately result in 35 students starting training and 23 being placed in jobs with large corporations in the Twin Cities (for perspective, St. Paul Public Schools, a similarly sized district this year is projected to have 305 applicants from seven schools and place 84 students in jobs).

What you can do: 

If you are concerned about seeing this life changing internship opportunity available to high school juniors in MPS, there are some very practical things you can do to help make this goal a reality.

• Contact people in your network that are employees of high schools in the district to let them know about this opportunity for their students. You can direct them to the schools page on our website.

• Contact high school juniors that you know directly. They can apply for the program directly through our website.

• Email programs that you know that serve students in the district (after school programs, parks, etc).

• Promote the opportunity on your Facebook, Linked In or Twitter account.

Together, we can see Genesys Works provided as an opportunity to many eligible juniors in the district.