The inaugural cohort of the Cumberland County summer internship program left county leaders with one main takeaway: The program is a success, but they will continue to focus on ways to show the strengths of county departments and on bonding activities.
The program, dubbed “Ignite: Fueling Passion, Fostering Growth,” started on July 8 and will end on Aug. 16. Enrollment in the project was open to high school juniors and seniors, as well as college students in Cumberland County. The 36 interns that make up the initial cohort are being paid $15 per hour and work about 20 hours at the following departments:
Next year, the county plans to also include its public information office and the department of public health.
“We want them to experience local government and each of our departments,” said Dominique Hall, Cumberland County’s director of human resources. “What is unique about this program is that it provides students with extra opportunities to interact with our department heads, our local officials and they get to tour the departments as well.”
Hall noted that the name for the program truly reflects its intended outcome: to spark interest and curiosity in local students.
“We’re trying to instill in them a passion for local government and for Cumberland County,” Hall said.
To further foster that level of interest, student workers have designated “ignite days” when they tour county facilities and departments. The latest one took place on Aug. 2, when students learned about operations at the county’s department of animal services.
“They get to interact with each other and grow together as a cohort, all the while they are also learning about our county departments,” Hall said of “ignite” days.
Hall said that beyond the work and fresh perspective on county government, student workers can also gain mentorship opportunities and training in leadership skills.
For college students, the internship can also yield professional networking and post-internship opportunities.
Hall said that the idea came from Cumberland County Board of Commissioners Chairman Glenn Adams.
“The chairman is very interested in our youth and giving them the opportunity to learn about local government,” Hall said, noting that recent hiring challenges for local and state governments across the country have prompted local leaders to get innovative with recruiting and employee retention strategies.
A 2023 report from American City and County, a publication serving local leaders from around the U.S., showed that according to more than half of the 250 state and local government human resources managers, their full-time workforce had increased over the past year.
At least 27% of them reported that their workforce stayed the same, 17% said it had decreased.
About 13% of respondents of the survey said employees are accelerating their retirement plans, while 30% of them reported that current staff members are prepared for retirement.
“It was more common for organizations to report an increase in people leaving than a decrease,” the report stated.
Hall said the program could help with potential recruitment woes.
“You have all these recruitment issues going on, so we want to start showing our youth what local government is,” Hall said. “They get to see it, from the aspect of: ‘Hey this is not just a career where you can just earn money.’ You’re actually looking out for your family members, you’re working for your friends, you’re actually doing this for your community.”
For Hall, working in local government has been empowering.
“I love local government and it is a way for me to give back to my community,” she shared, adding that so far local officials have enjoyed the program.
“We had our first meet and greet, which includes our orientation and we had our department managers and the board of commissioners there,” Hall said. “Everybody was like ‘this is awesome, I cannot wait to see how we grow it.”
In one word, Hall described the program as exciting.
“Everybody has been excited. The work that the interns are producing is phenomenal,” she said. “We’ve just been in awe at the things that they are able to do and how quickly they can do it. It gets us to see what the future of Cumberland County could look like, how these students are actually impacting it now, and how they can continue to impact the county in the future.”
The way to grow the program is to offer even more opportunities, Hall said. For instance, the program could expand to work closely with Cumberland County school districts to offer internship programs yearround.
“We also want to increase the number of departments we have participating in the program and increase the number of ‘ignite’ days,” she noted. “Maybe the students also create community projects too. Really, I think the sky’s the limit.”
Anyone interested in learning more can contact Cumberland County Human Resources at 910-678-7653 or email dnhall@cumberlandcountync.gov.
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