Evaluation Report: Urban Alliance High School Internship Program

Schools in high-poverty areas often lack sufficient resources and offer inadequate instruction. Moreover, because of family, neighborhood, and peer environment factors, low-income children attending these schools have difficulty taking advantage of the educational opportunities that do exist. In Washington, DC, where the program is headquartered (and where the cost of living is high), 27 percent of children under age 18 live below the federal poverty level. In Baltimore, MD, the share of children in poverty is even higher, at 34 percent.

Urban Alliance (UA) supports at-risk youth in these communities through its High School Internship Program, which provides job skills training, mentoring, and work experience to high school seniors. The program serves youth before they become disconnected from school and work, with the goal of helping them successfully transition to higher education or employment after graduation. This evaluation demonstrates the effectiveness of this program through a randomized control trial and finds a statistically significant increase in the probability of males graduating high school, attending college, attending a four-year college, and attaining a two-year degree or being enrolled in their third year as a result of the program.