Paid Internships Pledged for Students in Santa Ana

The message was simple: Santa Ana students, struggling to make ends meet and go on to college, need more paid internships.

To get the point across, about 350 residents from throughout Orange County gathered in St. Anne’s Church Tuesday night to rally for the cause and extract promises from local politicians and business leaders.

One commitment came from Orange County Business Council representatives, who promised up to 60 paid internships within the next year.

“Everybody’s got a little project they haven’t done because they don’t have enough time,” said Business Council consultant Bert Weinstein. “Is it the kind of project that you could give to a high school student?”

The Santa Ana Chamber of Commerce also said it would add 25 paid internships over the next year.

The meeting was organized by the Orange County Congregation Community Organization, which argues that youths will have more incentive to remain in school if they become interested in a career.

Meeting organizers said they focused on Santa Ana youths because a state Department of Education report found that the school district has a high school dropout rate of 20%, the highest in Orange County.

Students would apply to the individual businesses or business organizations for the internships, officials said.