At a hair salon in the Bronzeville neighborhood on a recent morning, half a dozen teens braided, pressed and curled colorful wigs on a line of mannequins. Each wore a T-shirt rendered with a pink logo: Branding You Salon.
Morgan Witherspoon lathered shampoo into a client’s tight coils. As an intern, the 17-year-old shadows a professional hairdresser and styles customers’ hair. She squeezed a dollop of conditioner into her palm.
“I just want you to use a dime-sized amount, just a dime,” said instructor Chris Curse, peering over her shoulder. “Girl, that’s a whole quarter, but we’re gonna go ahead and go with it.”
Witherspoon is one of 1,400 students participating in a Chicago Public Schools summer internship this year, a six-week program aimed at connecting teens with real-world work experience. CPS pays students a stipend of up to $2,000 after placement at one of 300 partner sites, including restaurants, nonprofits and small businesses.
CPS leaders say the initiative is designed to expose students to career pathways they might not otherwise access. Participation has grown in recent years, up from 1,000 students in 2022. The district, which is facing a deficit of more than $730 million this budget season, funds the program through a mix of grants, philanthropy and partnerships.
Later, Witherspoon glued hair extensions onto a protective cap fixed on a mannequin. She’s spent hours placing, laying and curling the locks into bouncy ringlets. She hopes to study business in college so she can one day manage her own salon.
“I’m learning experiential hairstyles, but also, we’re getting to learn the business and how it works,” said Witherspoon, a rising senior at Dunbar Vocational Career Academy.
Summer jobs have gained renewed momentum since the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly under Mayor Brandon Johnson, whose Chicago Youth Works program hired more than 31,000 teens last year — up 55% from 2022, according to the mayor’s office. The expansion comes as so-called “teen takeovers” during warmer months have fueled debate over public safety and how to create more opportunities for young people across Chicago.
Research has shown that summer jobs in Chicago can curb violent crime in disadvantaged neighborhoods while improving teens’ long-term job prospects.
For business owners, the program offers an extra hand during peak season and an opportunity to shape the future workforce.
At Tacotlán, a popular Mexican eatery in the Hermosa neighborhood, the spicy, savory smell of birria wafted through the kitchen. The restaurant has hosted CPS interns for two years, according to manager Alexandra Macías, and the extra staff helps offset the summer crowds. The three students answer phones, take orders and pack meals. Last year, they hired an intern to work part-time after the program ended.
“It’s cool to be able to teach someone the ropes, and if they want to have their own business one day, or work in the industry, they get that hands-on experience,” Macías said.
In a humid, backroom kitchen, 17-year-old Santiago Gutiérrez poured the rich beef broth through a metal sieve, filtering chunks of chile and whole spices. With practiced ease, he stirred the leftover mixture, a steaming, deep red mixture that clung to the edges of the pot.
Gutiérrez, a rising senior at Prosser Career Academy in the Belmont Cragin neighborhood, remembers telling his parents he was hired: “They were proud. Like, they actually said, ‘Thank God you got this, because you’re getting opportunity.’”
More Top Picks Projectors Outdoors
He bikes to the restaurant every morning. He always looks forward to prepping the toppings — the reliable repetition of mincing cilantro, onion and other garnishes. “I want to get even more fast, even more precise,” Gutiérrez said.
Back in Bronzeville, salon owner Brandy Irons supervised a line of interns during a hair wash demonstration. Irons taught cosmetology at Dunbar until her position was phased out during the COVID-19 pandemic. But she missed working in a classroom setting — so she applied to be a CPS internship site. Her daughters, both CPS alums in their 20s, help run the initiative.
The salon’s interns work from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., five days a week. Every Friday and Saturday, they invite live models to hone their skills.
“I typically want them to learn what will finance them, what will help them get some money,” Irons said. “As long as they learn to braid, they’ll have a one-up over most new stylists.”
Across the salon, Rihanna Jackson styled her mannequin with a wavy pixie cut. The 17-year-old Dunbar student wants to attend dentistry school, but she’s found an overlap with hair care: “This is actually helping me because I’m doing a lot of hands-on work,” she said.
Jackson plans to braid to help pay her way through college. “And I really want to learn to do my own hair,” she added. “Why pay for it?”