By Brandon Patterson

Oakland city efforts to provide young people with internships in science, technology, engineering, art and math (STEAM) will get a boost from a new grant from the state Department of Education, State Superintendent Tony Thurmond and city officials announced on Monday. Oakland Unified School District will launch the Bay Area STEAM Career Accelerator, funded by a $750,000 state grant, with the goal of supporting more young people ages 13-24 in seeking internships in STEAM fields beginning next summer.

The grant will primarily be used to build out infrastructure to support students pursuing internships, said OUSD Superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammell, according to Oaklandside — especially students in West and deep East Oakland, where students are overwhelmingly Black, Brown and lower income. That could include hiring more staff to help students find internships and provide career counseling, Johnson-Trammell said, adding that she wants to target chronically absent students. The state is currently recruiting partner companies to host interns, said Thurmond, and similar programs could also be launched in Sacramento, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

African Americans are underrepresented in STEAM fields. According to a report released by the Journal of Blacks in Higher Education in February, Blacks made up just 9% of all workers in science, technology, engineering, and math fields despite being 12% of the U.S. adult population. About 18% of all Black workers were employed in STEM fields compared to 25% of all White workers and 39% of Asian workers.

“I have never met more ambitious and more entrepreneurial young people than the young people that I’ve met in the city of Oakland. And they deserve to have opportunities as technology continues to unfold,” Thurmond said, according to Oaklandside. “They deserve to have those opportunities and the chance to earn and learn and get on the pathway that will prepare them for the future.”

OUSD has existing programs to support students in finding internships. The Exploring College, Career, and Community Options (ECCCO) program serves hundreds of students each year, according to the school district, giving them stipends for internships that would otherwise be unpaid and providing resume help and other types of job-readiness skills building. A parcel tax — which was renewed by voters for another decade in 2022 — also raises millions annually to fund college and career courses in schools. This year, around 550 students have participated in paid internships across 100 internship sites, according to the school district.

The grant is funded by three $250,000 donations from PG&E, General Motors, and the biotechnology firm Genentech headquartered in South San Francisco. Thurmond, Johnson-Trammell, Thao, and several city councilmembers announced the grant at a press conference at the Kapor Center in downtown Oakland.

“This truly is an investment in ourselves and our community. This is going to have a ripple effect that will go beyond just the one student,” said Thao.

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