What problem does it solve? Currently, youth in NJ choose to go out of state for college or job training and also may leave the state upon graduation to seek employment. This causes a shortage of civil service workers and shortages in certain types of occupations that can negatively impact NJ's health, technology, infrastructure, educational system, both non-profit and for-profit industries and overall competitive edge. What is your solution and who does it apply to? My solution is to make available paid internships where youth can work directly with state employees who can mentor them while they attend college, get job training or explore career opportunities in fields that interest them. An example of this is Isabella (Izzy) Gonzalez, a former participant of a NJDOH funded teen pregnancy prevention who now is in her 3 year of working with NJDOH Child and Adolescent Health (CAH) Staff on her college breaks. Paid internships with competitive wages (below a program specialist trainee) with youth who are recommended, apply and are partnered with Mentors that have a specific interest in grooming future leaders in their field. Izzy focuses on adolescent health in her work with NJDOH but other interns could focus on other areas; agriculture, early intervention, technology, HIV/AIDS and other infectious disease etc. For this to work, staff would need to be committed to work with a young person for 2-4 years to help them develop professionally. What is the anticipated impact? Izzy is an example of a youth who is very motivated to work in the field of child and adolescent psychology, an area where NJ is lacking professionals. Although Izzy attends school in NY State, her work with NJDOH brings her back to her home state and allows her to create connections with potential future career mentors in her field of interest, impact the work of the CAH Program with an important youth voice and gives us a perspective of the long term impact our programs are having on NJ youth. The anticipated impact would be a more plentiful, skilled and passionate workforce for NJ as well as infusing youth voice and perspective into all of our workforce arenas.
I like this idea, but am worried about CSC lists...how would a qualified, trained intern ensure they are on the list if they don't qualify at the time the test is drawn and we have to pick from the top 3?
Supporting the next generation of Government Leaders is a wonderful and enlightening experience even more so if the leaders and the members, are supportive of the same or similar issues/concerns. Whomever the members are, will be on the learning spectrum of becoming the next government leaders taught from experienced leaders with knowledge and wisdom.
The challenge could arise when the candidate whom qualifies, may not be he one selected the first time around and displayed all the characteristics of the candidate needed. Which can be encouragement and the motivation to the one not selected to come out ready for all the next set of challenges.
This content is created by the open source Your Priorities citizen engagement platform designed by the non profit Citizens Foundation