By: Andrew Valenti, Reporter November 6, 2020

A local businessman is developing a nonprofit organization to secure multiyear internships for Black college students in the New Orleans area.

Perry Sholes, president of human resources firm Progressive HR Strategies, is launching the Corporate Internship Leadership Institute. The goal, Sholes said, is that these internships will turn into permanent employment opportunities for the students after college and in turn decrease underemployment rates for students of color.

According to nonprofit think tank the Economic Policy Institute, Black workers are twice as likely to be unemployed as white workers overall (6.4% vs. 3.1%), and Black workers with a college degree are more likely to be unemployed than similarly educated white workers (3.5% vs. 2.2%). While employed, Black workers with a college or advanced degree are more likely than their white counterparts to be underemployed when it comes to their skill level. Almost 40% are in a job that typically does not require a college degree, compared with 31% of white college grads.

Sholes said the idea has been in the works since late 2018, and the first cohort of interns is set to enter the program next summer.

Home Bank has given verbal confirmation to be a community partner and has provided a monetary contribution to the organization. Sholes said he’s spoken to businesses in the tourism and hospitality, health care, manufacturing and information technology sectors about providing internship opportunities through the program.

College Track has also committed to being a community partner.

“While the tourism and hospitality industry is already well developed here, we’re really targeting other sectors that we think will transform the region so we’re less reliant on tourism and hospitality and more diverse,” he said.

Sholes said he’s received interest from Dillard University, Tulane University, Loyola University and the University of New Orleans. There would also be a focus on students of color at technical colleges and New Orleans-area students who left the area.

“The companies don’t all have to be in New Orleans,” he said. It’s really targeted for the region, so I’ve had conversations with companies in Houma, Covington and Mandeville.”

We are excited to announce that, thanks to funding and support from the TIAA Institute, we are embarking on a National Study on Black Student Loan Debt. This research, which will center on the voices of Black borrowers, will be done in partnership with Dr. Jalil Bishop of the University of Pennsylvania. The study will enable us to better understand the lived experiences of Black borrowers, so we can design policy solutions to address their needs.

Link to Full Article and Study

How Internships Impact Employability and Salary

Posted September 30, 2019 by Robin Porter

It’s finally Fall, and with it come thoughts of cider mills, football games and cozy sweaters. And, of course, applying for next summer’s internship! If you’ve been putting it off or debating whether internships really matter in the big scheme of things, let us assure you, they do!

In fact, one of the most basic factors separating students who find it relatively easy to land a well-paying job upon graduation from those who end up unemployed or underemployed is whether the students had internships or not—and whether those were paid vs. unpaid internships. 

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From the Report - RACE

RACE - While the region’s workforce is made up of 42% minorities, minorities only account for 32% of the jobs analyzed in this report. The overall racial makeup of the jobs in this report is as follows:

• White – 68% * Black or African American – 25%
• Hispanic or Latino – 3% 
• Asian – 2% 
• Two or More Races – 1% 
• In fact, of all the occupations analyzed, only Licensed Practical Nurses, Tank Car, Truck, and Ship Loaders, and Clinical Lab Techs, have a higher minority participation rate than in the region’s economy as a whole. 

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A new study finds that 12.4 percent of black college graduates were unemployed. For all college graduates, the unemployment rate stood at just 5.6 percent.

JANELL ROSSNATIONAL JOURNALMAY 27, 2014

The Ivy-League-educated barista who can't find a job that pays enough to live anywhere besides her childhood bedroom. The freshly minted MBA and law school graduates strapped with debt and frustrated about the six-figure jobs and master-of-the-universe titles that haven't materialized. 

Nearly five years after the Great Recession officially ended, the struggles and dampened expectations of young college graduates have become a fixture of American politics and even popular culture. But amid all the focus on the difficulties of college-educated millennials, one facet of this upheaval has remained largely unexplored: the continued significance of race.

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More New Orleans high school grads entering college, but racial disparities persist, report says

• BY DELLA HASSELLE | dhasselle@theadvocate.com 
• APR 18, 2019 - 2:30 PM

And those who entered the workforce without getting a degree were likely to get very low-paying jobs, largely because Orleans Parish has an economy that is less diversified than other parts of the country and is dependent upon low-paying industries, researchers said.

It also has lower job growth and higher unemployment rates. In all, that results in a lower median household income: $38,700 in 2017, compared to $57,700 nationally.

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