Never in a million years would Lisa Miles-Wilkerson and Carlos Ramos thought that Project Pull would shift to a virtual internship, especially not for two years in a row! However, in the words of Mama Lisa, “There is never a dull moment” when it comes to Project Pull.
Project Pull was founded in 1996 with the goal of “pulling” young people into public service by providing structured mentorship opportunities to highly motivated high school and college bound students who demonstrated an interest in the fields of architecture, engineering, business and the sciences.
Celebrating its 26th summer, Project Pull continued with its Career Pathway Model in response to the COVID-19 Pandemic. Despite the global pandemic, and amidst San Francisco’s shelter in place order, Project Pull quickly shifted to a virtual platform and was able to continue providing San Francisco youth with a meaningful summer experience. With one year of virtual programming under their belt, Lisa and Carlos hit the drawing board to identify ways to switch things up from last summer. Their brainstorming session resulted in the development of a career pathway project that was in addition to the research presentations from last year.
Through this project, interns had the opportunity to further engage with their fields of interest and was designed to teach them more about the various career fields that various City Agency departments has to offer. They were also very excited to pilot a San Francisco YouthWorks and Project Pull partnership this past summer. SF YouthWorks interns had the opportunity to participate in Project Pull programming, creating an amazing addition to the Project Pull family.
Project Pull would like to thank all the career mentors, interns and colleagues that made this summer possible. A special thank you goes to Mr. Michael Carlin, Acting SFPUC General Manager, for his belief and full support of our Project Pull Program. Through the efforts of Project Pull, they are changing the lives of San Francisco Youth and paving the way for future City employees. Click here to view the full 2021 Project Pull Annual Report.