Investing in the Next Generation: The 2024 Rees-Jones Summer Youth Internship

August 19, 2024

Investing in the Next Generation: The 2024 Rees-Jones Summer Youth Internship

By Lynn Gibson, Senior Program Officer

For the past six years, The Rees-Jones Foundation has provided funding to youth development organizations in order that they provide their youth (ages 16-21) with an opportunity for paid, meaningful work and mentorship experiences for eight weeks or more over the summer. This year, the Foundation sponsored 31 interns at six agencies (Behind Every Door, Buckner, Casa del Lago, Dallas Leadership Foundation, For the Nations Refugee Outreach, and Youth Believing in Change). These agencies are all long-time partners with the Foundation and share our desire to show youth in our community that they have a hope and a future.

During the summer internship, the youth work at one of the six aforementioned nonprofits – typically by helping out with summer camps for younger children or helping agency staff with specific projects. The interns often become a part of the staff by attending staff meetings, participating in planning, and often having responsibilities assigned mimic what paid, full-time staff are doing. Since summer tends to be a busy time for youth-development agencies, having the interns there allows agencies to run more effectively and even expand their effective programs.

In addition to the work that the interns do at their respective agencies, the Foundation also plans four dedicated content days to convene the interns for group programming. In 2024, gatherings focused on key topics surrounding banking, car-buying, preparation for college and career, and giftedness! Programming on content days is generously provided by other community organizations offering wisdom and life experience in their contributions. Having the chance to partner with other nonprofits and key speakers across Dallas who appreciate the potential of these interns has been a gift to Foundation staff each year. An added benefit was hearing from interns this summer who told us how meaningful these group days have been because they love forming connections with young adults from other places in their city, and appreciate hearing a variety of content from experts in fields they want to learn more about.

We often get asked “why” we sponsor The Rees-Jones Youth Internship Program. At the outset, it was to provide youth from under-resourced communities with an opportunity to access a paid, full-time, summer internship. Over time, we’ve learned that there have been many other unanticipated but valuable “outcomes” that have resulted from the program. For the interns, the paid internship provides them with a unique opportunity to learn, grow in their faith, and understand the nonprofit they have grown up in as a business and a ministry. For the agencies, they are able to staff and expand their own summer programs, which allows them to do more of what they want to do and also to cull new ideas from the interns themselves. For our staff, we get to witness young world-changers learn and grow before our eyes. It is not lost on any of us what an honor it is to be part of these interns’ lives–even if for just a moment in time.

Each year, we cap off the experience with Career & Calling day, which culminates in a formal dinner. One intern from each agency shares their experience with the 65+ in attendance. The remarks often center on the opportunity to serve, to grow personally, professionally, and spiritually, and to have more clarity and motivation about their future work and/or study. The why, simply, is to prepare our youth for the next best thing in their lives. The Rees-Jones Foundation continues to invest in the next generation because we believe these young men and women are full of inherent value and worth, and we remain passionate about showing more of this God who loves them and created them for a beautiful purpose.