About 10 years ago, a young girl came to George Irby looking for a job.
She was 16, Irby recalled, and she had a 3-year-old child of her own.
Partly because of her situation, Irby took a chance on the teen, hiring her as one of 25 participants for an annual summer internship program. He never once regretted the decision.
“She wasn’t asking for anything because she wanted to work for what she had,” said Irby, the Columbus city planner who administers the internship program locally. “She was one of the hardest workers I’ve ever had come through the program.”
That young girl eventually graduated high school and earned an associate’s degree from East Mississippi Community College, Irby said. She has held down a job ever since.
“To me, that’s a success story,” he said. “That’s the main reason we do (the summer internship) program.”
That program, though, and the success stories it creates, is in jeopardy.
A Mississippi Department of Transportation grant that had for 20 years provided the city $35,000 each summer to employ 25 interns, ages 16-24, has been discontinued for the past two years due to state-level budget cuts.
Last year, after MDOT announced it would not fund the program, an anonymous donor in Columbus shouldered the entire cost.
This year — now that MDOT has announced it cannot yet resume the grant — Irby is hoping multiple private donors will share the load in sponsoring the internships.
While the goal is $35,000, Irby said $20,000 would guarantee at least a scaled-down version of the program. He said if he didn’t have enough commitments to reach at least the minimum by mid-May, he would not collect any sponsorship money and the program would be canceled.
Those interested in sponsoring can call Irby at 662-364-1898. If a donor wants to remain anonymous, he said he would honor those wishes.
Program benefits
The 10-week internship program historically starts the week after school lets out and runs until students return. Interns in Columbus usually make about 50 cents an hour more than minimum wage — which means in recent years they have made about $7.75 per hour.
More than 200 apply for positions each year. Irby said his office then interviews 75 to 100 candidates from which it selects the 25 participants.
Once hired, most of the interns are placed with the Public Works Department, landscaping medians and working on beautification projects along roadsides.
Beyond direct benefit to the city, Irby said the program helps prepare participants for real-world work expectations.
He said 70 percent of the interns have never before been employed. So in the program, they receive life skills training on etiquette, managing finances, and dressing and preparing for job interviews.
“It’s a small part of the program, but it introduces them to things they need to know that they might not otherwise get,” Irby said.
Interns also can lose their spots during the summer, too, if they don’t adhere to a few simple, but strict, standards.
“If you lie, and you get caught, you’re gone,” Irby said. “We also expect you to be punctual and we stress that.”
Each year, the thing Irby said strikes him most is hearing how interns spend the money they earn.
“Most of these folks come from low- to middle-income homes,” he said. “A lot of them tell us they are going to help their parents some way, whether it’s helping pay bills or buy school clothes for their siblings.”
Starkville
Last year, when MDOT suspended the grant, Starkville paid for its own internship program through its general operating funds.
It was enough to hire 21 interns for the summer and place them throughout several city departments.
Mayor Lynn Spruill said the city did not budget funds for an internship program this summer, though, mainly because work on a $4.5 million capital improvement plan that will be underway in earnest by then. That program also will require intense time and attention for the department heads who would otherwise be supervising the interns.
“It’s just a priority of funding,” Spruill said. “We will look at it again next year.”
Zack Plair is the managing editor for The Dispatch.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 37 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.