Jobs 253 offers Tacoma Public School incoming juniors and seniors the opportunity to earn high school credit for graduation and the opportunity to gain meaningful work experience.
Greetings Jobs 253 students and parent/guardians,
Thank you for participating in our modified 2021 Jobs 253 Program! Our goal this year is to provide students with a paid experience that develops leadership skills while benefiting our community in a meaningful way.
The Program begins this semester with a preparatory online course that is self-directed through schoology. Student receive a .5 credit for completing the course and become eligible for the paid program. Students would need to complete the course to be eligible for the experience.
Jobs 253 – Overview
The Jobs Program will consist of three components or phases; 1) Job Readiness Training, 2) Community Service Project Preparation, 3) Community Service Project.
Selection Criteria: Community Service Project
- Benefits your community/neighborhood and/or addresses some specific community need (Ask yourself, when I do this project, who am I helping?)
- Develops meaningful leadership skills in yourself
- Is approved by neighbors, organizations and others impacted by your project
- Can be completed with materials/supplies available to student (including masks or other personal protective equipment (PPE)
- Is deemed safe by supervising parent/guardian
- Is greater than 20 hours of work, less than 40 hours
Student Safety: Virtual Communication and Community Service Project
Coordinator communications: Jobs 253 coordinators will communicate with students and parents through phone, email, and virtually through Microsoft Teams. Weekly emails will be sent to students and parents/guardians with program updates. Weekly meetings with students will take place during the program on Wednesdays 10:30am-12pm.
Coordinator virtual office hours for students will be available through Microsoft Teams. Office hour meetings will always have 3 or more participants, student participation is required weekly at student’s request, coordinators can also call students to work through learning concepts, and feedback together. Students with similar interests for community service projects will be allowed to communicate and collaborate with coordinator pre-approval.
Community Service Project Agreement form will be completed with electronic signatures through InformedK12 before starting component three.
Parent/Guardian Supervision Expectation
Parents/Guardians will be included in all email communication regarding program updates to students. Parents/Guardians will serve as community service project “supervisors” for their own children to ensure student safety. The coordinator will complete a final review and approval to begin work after the parents/guardians have reviewed and approved the Jobs 253 Community Service Proposal.
Program Completion: Credit and Stipends
Students can earn up to 1.0 CTE elective credit (.5 SJ253 Introduction to Internship and .5 SJ253 Worksite Learning) and up to $1,000 for completion of all 3 components of the program. Students have the option of exiting the program after completion of each component (completion stipends awarded after completion of each component).
Key Program Dates (***Dates subject to change***)
June 24, 5-6pm Jobs 253 Orientation: virtual meeting link emailed to students
June 28 – July 9 Component 1 – Job Readiness: Completion stipend and T-shirt pick-up
July 12 – July 23 Component 2 – Community Service Project Preparation: Completion stipend and mask/safety equipment pick-up
July 26 – August 6 Component 3 – Community Service Project: Completion stipend and Community Service Collection of Evidence
August 12, 5-6pm Jobs 253 Celebration: (virtual meeting link emailed)
We look forward to seeing you at the program kickoff (virtual meeting link will be sent to participating students)