Summer at City Hall: Partnership focuses on youth
By Bina Lefkovitz, Jonathan Raymond and Jay Schenirer
Traditional summer school for teens has all but vanished in cities over the past several years, as a result of funding cuts during the recession. The lack of summer learning opportunities can be especially damaging to low-income teens, who often return to school in the fall having lost academic gains made during the previous year.
Understanding this, the “Summer at City Hall” program was launched in 2010 to focus on teen learning and leadership, and provides a model for other communities seeking to create an engaging and enriching summer program for youth. Launched by Sacramento City Council Member Jay Schenirer in partnership with the Sacramento City Unified School District and youth advocate, Bina Lefkovitz, the program now also includes the Sacramento County Office of Education.
The partnership
SCUSD has approximately 47,000 students in 80 schools. The majority of students come from low-income neighborhoods, with 72 percent qualifying for a free or reduced-price lunch. Recognizing how summer learning loss affects students, SCUSD has developed extensive summer programming for students from kindergarten through 9th grade via its Youth Development office. The school district and the county run student recruitment and provide staff to coordinate district support during the summer.
The city’s interest in creating the Summer at City Hall program stems from its desire to foster active citizens who care about and want to engage in making their neighborhoods better places to live. The City of Sacramento provides student stipends, bus passes for all students, and parking for teachers and facilities, and also coordinates all daily logistics; arranges internships, field trips and speakers; and provides the overall program planning and implementation on behalf of the partnership.
About the program
The program recruits students from all five of SCUSD’s comprehensive high schools, one continuation school and several of the smaller high schools. Youth participants are recruited by SCUSD’s Youth Development staff, which operates year-round after-school programs for the district, and summer programming for almost 5,000 students. Summer at City Hall is one of the few programs in the school district currently that serves the 16- to 18-year-old age group.
Summer at City Hall offers four key benefits for participants:
1. Provides approximately 85 high school students with a six-week, five-credit summer course that combines civics, leadership and work-readiness skills development
2. Offers those students a five-week internship of 27 hours (with a stipend of $270) in a city department, where they gain work experience and explore careers in local government
3. Gives these students, most of whom come from the city’s most at-risk neighborhoods, a safe, constructive place to be during a portion of their summer break
4. Reminds local elected officials and city staff how important young people are to the city’s future, and helps dispel negative stereotypes about teens.
The program grows rapidly
Summer at City Hall has grown from 30 students and one SCUSD teacher in its first year to 85 students and three SCUSD teachers in 2013. This year 160 students applied for 85 slots. Additionally, each year, four “returning youth” are also recruited to participate in the program’s planning and execution.
Program structure
Students participate in internships at various city departments including the offices of the mayor and city council, city manager, city attorney, city clerk, transportation, Regional Transit, police, fire, animal control, parks and recreation, finance, neighborhood services and the Crocker Art Museum. Interns also participate in field trips to various city facilities, where speakers from city departments and community partners conduct tours and answer questions.
The results
To date, 150 students have participated in the Summer at City Hall program. Students consistently report they have improved their team building, networking, communication, developing professional relationships, presenting ideas and accepting criticism skills as a result of participating in the program. Students also consistently express a desire for more information about how government operates, which has led to the creation of a more formal curriculum with a heavier focus on local government’s functions and impact on neighborhoods where students live.
Due to the overwhelming success of the program, the partnership is now seeking funding and exploring options to expand the program.
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Bina Lefkovitz is a youth advocate and can be reached at blefkovitz@gmail.com. Jonathan Raymond is superintendent of the Sacramento City Unified School District and can be reached at jraymond@scusd.edu. Jay Schenirer is a council member for the City of Sacramento and can be reached at jschenirer@cityofsacramento.org.
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A longer version of this article was originally printed in Western City, the monthly magazine of the League of California Cities.
