Q&A
Discussion of Public Service Corps program and internship placements
1:06:34
ยท
3 min
Council Member Carmen N. De La Rosa and Assistant Commissioner Kadian Outar discuss the Public Service Corps program, focusing on internship placements and future plans for the program.
- They address the distribution of interns across city agencies, with a majority placed in DCAS and HRA.
- The Public Service Corps Intern and Hire Expo is discussed, including its success in filling internship roles and plans for future events.
- Assistant Commissioner Outar explains the pathways for interns to enter civil service after completing their internships and obtaining degrees.
Carmen N. De La Rosa
1:06:34
Okay.
1:06:35
And if the committee could ever be helpful, you know, we gotta refer our Staten Island colleagues because then they wanna recede, and that's a problem.
1:06:42
So we want them to stay.
1:06:45
So the Public Service Corps program, Local Law 4 of 2023.
1:06:50
At our previous civil service and labor hearing that we held jointly with council member Dinowitz and the Committee on Higher Education in late October, we were awaiting DCAS's report on the Public Service Corps.
1:07:01
We received the report in mid December and would appreciate if you could answer some questions reflecting on its content.
1:07:07
The report states that you had 11 a 116 PSC interns who were placed in in f y 24 2024, and that it successfully recruited students from diverse backgrounds and from a variety of academic institutions.
1:07:24
Of the 1 16 interns who were placed, 40 were placed in DCAS, and 54 were placed in HRA, while most of the other participating departments only placed 1 to 5 interns.
1:07:36
Is there a reason why such an overwhelming majority of students were placed at the class NHRA?
1:07:41
Was it based on need for interns, or are you better situated to offer, experiential experiential learning opportunities.
1:07:52
What was the reason for the kind of differences in agency participation?
Kadian Outar
1:07:57
Thank you.
1:07:58
For the DCAS part, we have to champion the work that we're doing.
1:08:01
Right?
1:08:02
Yeah.
1:08:02
But we are really doing outreach to all of the agencies to engage them in, participating in the program, and so they are encouraged to share job descriptions to to us.
1:08:13
They're encouraged to utilize the program to, you know, alleviate some of their staff and needs that they have.
1:08:19
We also look at with the schools that we're engaging, the location of them.
1:08:23
So sometimes depending on where the school is located and where the agency is located.
1:08:28
Within DCAS, there may be opportunities that are centralized in Manhattan, and you will have a lot of schools that are central in Manhattan.
1:08:36
Within the Department of Social Services, they may have opportunities that are across different boroughs.
Carmen N. De La Rosa
1:08:41
And
Kadian Outar
1:08:41
so that allows us to engage schools and students that are within different boroughs because these students go to school and they come in 20 hours.
1:08:50
So it would be hard for them to track from Queens to come to a position in Manhattan.
1:08:54
So we try to factor all of that, but know that we, have to make intentional outreach to both the schools and the agencies so we can bridge that gap.
Carmen N. De La Rosa
1:09:02
And you're encouraging agencies to participate, I'm assuming.
Kadian Outar
1:09:06
Absolutely.
1:09:06
Yes.
Carmen N. De La Rosa
1:09:08
We saw in the report that you had launched the Public Service Corps Inter and Hire Expo in the summer and fall of 2024 and successfully filled 28 internship roles.
1:09:18
Do you foresee an expansion of this program in the future?
1:09:22
And of the students who completed their intern internships, do they have a pipeline for entering civil service in the future after they obtain degrees for undergraduate or graduate school?
Kadian Outar
1:09:32
Yeah.
1:09:32
So we are definitely going to be hosting that event, yearly.
1:09:36
We are planning one for this coming spring because we saw the benefit of for both the students as well as the agencies.
1:09:43
And the pathways for students is making sure that they understand, the process.
1:09:49
They're coming in as an intern.
1:09:50
If you're working for DCAS, we currently hire a PSC interns as well within our team, then they know about the opportunities that are available.
1:09:58
They're getting information on the civil service, process, the examination process.
1:10:03
These are students that can also go into the civil service pathways fellowships and other opportunities.
1:10:08
So while they are onboard, onboarded to the city, they're being provided with information on how they can kinda navigate the system.