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San Antonio's District 5 City Council office is continuing its push for a new internship program that targets disconnected youth — or 'Opportunity Youth' — between ages 16 and 24 that are not working or in school.
Earlier this month Councilwoman Teri Castillo submitted a council consideration request with the support of four council colleagues to explore the feasibility of an internship program. An estimated 36,000 people in Bexar County in this age range.
On Monday, Castillo rallied the support of several organizations outside the city's NXT LEVEL Youth Opportunity Center on the West Side.
Castillo said that many times employers will require experience that people in this demographic have not had the opportunity to get through traditional circumstances.
"Paid intern opportunities go beyond the financial dollar connected to that internship opportunity, it provides our youth to engage with the community and gain soft skills, social emotional skills, and of course, the experience opportunity," she said.
The proposal includes potentially modifying the city's existing City Ambassador program. It takes summer interns who have at least a year of college and places them at employer partners across the city from June to August. In 2024, there were 242 college students participating with about 57 employers according to the city's Department of Human Services.
Since the ambassador program requires some college experience, Castillo is proposing adding a component for those that fit the opportunity youth category.
The city's NXT Level center works with many students in this age bracket. It was created in 2019 through a partnership between Goodwill, Communities in Schools, and the city. Since then, it's served about 1,400 youth. In 2024, it served 518 youth and assisted 69 in getting a high school diploma or high school equivalency, and 83 participants obtained employment.
Several organizations on Monday attended Castillo's announcement including Thrive Youth Center, Healy Murphy Center, SA Youth, and Young Women's Christian Academy.
Among those supporters Thrive is an emergency shelter at Haven for Hope that serves LGBTQ+ youth. It announced on Monday that it has expanded its bed capacity to 20. Executive Director Justin Holley said the creation of an internship program like this would help provide additional opportunities.
"Our basic youth that come into our shelter, most of them don't even have GEDs or high school diplomas," he said. "So it's for us to connect them to that, but at the same time, we're giving them those resources. It would be to connect them to jobs that are out in the community and get them some income to be able to get them on the pathway to sustainability."
The City of San Antonio has a Youth Commission made up of students selected by city council members and the mayor. Like many of the city's commissions, it acts as an advisory board to the council.
15-year-old Lena Morales is a member of the commission. She said experiences detailed by some of her colleagues show that many feel disconnected.
"I know a lot of people personally where they feel as if they don't have as many opportunities as other students from probably bigger schools or other students from maybe more privileged families," she said. "And so I do think that an opportunity offered to them like this will make them realize that there are opportunities out there for them. There are resources for them to have a better future."
The city council's governance committee is expected to review the idea in the coming weeks to determine feasibility.
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