The My Future So Bright Summer Job Place Program is back for its third year, bringing in a list of students ready to get to work for the summer of 2025.

Organized by the Mid-Carolina Regional Council, backed by NCWorks and supported by the City of Fayetteville, the work-based learning program is seeking out up to 60 small businesses (categorized as businesses with 25 or fewer employees) to partner with to take student interns for the summer 2025 session.

EMPLOYER COMMITMENT INCLUDES: 

• Serving as the employer-of-record for a youth team. 
• Providing a simple job description for the student. 
• Maintaining an active NCWorks employer account. 
• Interns will work up to 32 hours per week and observe all standard holidays. 
• Being willing to take on interns between the ages of 14 -19 years old.

The rest of the requirements for an internship including payment for the interns and insurance are taken care of by the program. The program is fully supported financially by the City of Fayetteville, which has allocated a total of $200,000 for the program to be paid over a three-year period.

In 2024, 22 students graduated from the program, with 11 local businesses participating in the program. This year, the number of enrolled interns has more than doubled with between 80-90 students expected to take on paid internships in 2025. The spike in participation is mainly due to the continued partnerships with educational institutions such as the Cumberland County School System, Fayetteville Technical Community College and District C Teamship helping with recruitment.

“That’s really what we focused on this year, how do we really develop partnerships that are going to be key for us,” said Jennifer McArthur, APRA and NextGen compliance monitor for Mid-Carolina Regional Council. “The school system was the major partnership for youth. This year we’re not tapping into the same youth. We have some that are returning, but a majority of these [interns] are brand new.”

Organizers with the Mid-Carolina Regional Council relied on feedback gained from last year’s program to lead expansions. 

“One of the things that we learned last year that we did differently this time was from the employers; it’s too short of a time,” said McArthur. “That’s also some feedback that we had to incorporate to make it better for the youth. Now we’re having you here a little bit longer, you’re exposed to this environment, it’s helping you develop more skills, more insight and more knowledge. But as well, the employer is able to utilize you a lot longer than they would before.” 

The business will be able to host interns in three different cohorts with different time ranges so interns can all graduate from the program on August 1, 2025. 

• COHORT 1: JUNE 16 – JULY 31 
• COHORT 2: JUNE 23 – JULY 31 
• COHORT 3: JUNE 30 – JULY 31

Organizers say that it’s a working relationship between the Mid-Carolina Regional Workforce Development Board and NCWorks to use the program as a launch pad to help local small businesses maintain growth throughout the year.

“I haven’t turned down a business yet, and that’s the way I want to keep it,” said Veronica Rozier, business services coordinator for Mid-Carolina Regional Council. “Even if they don’t go with the summer program, it’s a year-round thing for the businesses. As soon as those students leave, you have positions open. That got you to the point where you can take on more overhead. If that’s the case then we can do a hiring event for you, or we can take those transitioning Veterans or take from the pool of people claiming unemployment claims. There’s so many pools that we have available that we can actually fill those vacancies for those businesses.”

Businesses interested in taking on student interns with the “My Future So Bright” program can contact Veronica Rozier via email at vrozier@mccog.org.