Summer 2024 Highlights
At the beginning of 2024, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu guaranteed a summer job to any Boston Public School student who wanted one. Scores of private sector companies and community-based organizations took up the call, leading to a summer filled with learning, laughter, and hard work.
In partnership with Mayor Wu’s FutureBOS initiative, the PIC supported nearly 2,500 youth with securing paid jobs and internships across the city this summer. Led by the Office of Youth Employment and Opportunity, FutureBOS seeks to ensure that employment is engaging and meaningful, leading to growth in professional and personal development.
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center interns at their closing ceremony.
The PIC matched over 700 students with employer-paid internships at financial services firms, hospitals, tech companies, and more. 450+ students were placed at community-based organizations, with wages funded by YouthWorks, SuccessLink, and private funders including Liberty Mutual and Bank of America. The PIC also supported a coalition of 18 CBO partners with hiring more than 400 teens and young adults with funds from FutureBOS and SuccessLink. While learning experiences differed across company and industry, each intern received mentoring from supervisors and opportunities for networking and professional growth in their six- to seven-week paid programs. Additionally, PIC career specialists assisted more than 800 BPS students with finding a summer job in the traditional teen employment sectors such as retail and food services.
Healthcare is the biggest employment sector in Boston and the PIC is proud to partner with several prominent local hospitals. Over 330 students benefited from hands-on experience in diverse departments from food services and transport to neurology and clinical engineering. At Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Mayor Michelle Wu even stopped by to visit with students and listen to their summer experiences. Mayor Wu also joined Tochukwu Njoku, a DCFI intern and incoming freshman at Yale, on his morning commute.
In the financial services sector, over 130 interns worked at companies like Bank of America, the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, John Hancock, Liberty Mutual Insurance, and more. At two different events, John Hancock gathered financial services interns and MLK Scholars working in nonprofits for networking opportunities and a financial literacy workshop led by Everfi.
Kelby Vincent, a quality assurance intern at Trivium Interactive.
Nearly 50 students interned in STEM fields such as biotech, engineering, and architecture. Vertex Pharmaceuticals hosted 32 interns across several different departments, with all students working on projects each morning in the company’s Learning Lab. The Boston Society of Architecture organized a cohort of 11 students who worked at different architecture firms. On Fridays, the group came together to explore Boston neighborhoods, learning about the unique history and architecture in each.
Through the Tech Apprentice program, over 80 students experienced technology-facing roles in both community-based organizations and private companies. Many community-based organizations — like Square Tech, the Clubhouse Network, and Mbadika—students learned and taught a wide variety of STEM skills. In the private sector, the variety of roles were widespread; some worked in software coding, while others explored the worlds of IT support, web development, data science, and digital media.
Across 68 community-based organizations, over 430 students worked in a wide array of roles. Many experienced the challenges and rewards of childcare at camps and daycares, including three interns who explored early childhood education at East Boston Social Centers. Some organizations placed students in administrative support roles, others delved into community service and outreach, and a few students even tested their green thumbs in agriculture.
Through Edvestor’s Bloomberg Arts Internship, a cohort of 42 students interned at arts and culture organizations around the city. In addition to their individual projects, the cohort also enjoyed arts and culture days that included visits to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and the Strand Theatre.
Interns performing spoken word poetry at the Bloomberg Arts Institute closing ceremony.
Several new companies and community-based organizations hosted interns for the first time. In the private sector, AbbVie, BU Wheelock, National Grid, Parlance, RODE Architects, Trivium Interactive, and Walgreens were new employer partners. Like our longstanding partners, these employers both paid and supervised the students. 11 new community-based organizations also joined our team of partners: MIT Data Activism Program, Association of Haitian Women, We Grow Microgreens, Little Peoples Playhouse, Little Scholars Learning Academy, Wonder Years Learning Academy, Roslindale Learning Academy, Mother Clarac Daycare, Boston City Hall, Charlesview Residences, and Brookview House Inc.
We’d like to extend a heartfelt gratitude for all companies and organizations who hosted interns this summer. A special thank you to our private industry anchor partners: Bank of America, Boston Children’s Hospital, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Brigham and Women’s Hospital Faulkner, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Massachusetts General Hospital, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, Harvard University, John Hancock, Tufts Medical Center, State Street, and Vertex.
Through our collaboration with our private sector and community-based employer partners this summer, Boston’s students experienced the workplace as a learning place, developing skills that will be critical to their future success. We thank these partners for their commitment to welcoming this new generation to the workforce.
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