Corporate Work Study Program

Corporate Partner Page

A member of the national Cristo Rey Network (www.cristoreynetwork.org), Verbum Dei’s Corporate Work Study Program (CWSP) provides students with real world job experiences and allows them to earn a portion of the cost of their education. It is an integral part of their educational experience at Verbum Dei High School. A positive attitude and a commitment to high standards of responsibility and behavior are required.

This internship program places four students in teams that are then leased to local corporations to perform general clerical and administrative work. This is not a vocational training program, but rather a new and better method to help our students pay for a college preparatory school education AND receive real world experience that translates to access to opportunity. In return, the students forward their salaries to VDHS Work Study, Inc., a non-profit public benefit corporation that will in turn offset the majority of the $8,800 in actual educational costs. The program is patterned after the highly successful Cristo Rey Jesuit High School in Chicago that now educates approximately 550 students annually using this model.

Every student attends five full days of work at a Los Angeles based business each month. Class and work schedules are designed so that students are never required to miss one for the other. The school day (7:30 a.m. - 3:05 p.m.) and year (10 months) are extended to make up for the time students spend at work. The program has evolved into an innovative means of providing students with crucial hands-on, white collar work experience, while simultaneously empowering them to take an active part in financing a major portion of their education. As a result of working in the business environment, students acquire desirable job experience and marketable skills, develop a network of business contacts, and gain exposure to a variety of career opportunities. In addition, our students have demonstrated a strong work ethic that leads to increased self-esteem.

The way it works is that our students work one full day each week (five days per month) in a corporation as an entry-level clerical worker (mail room, filing, copying, etc.,). These corporations pay the team of four students who work for them (each on a different day) an annual salary of $27,500 that would cover a large part of the costs of educating the students. The students’ salary would be forwarded to VDHS Work Study, Inc., which in turn will handle issues such as Workers’ Compensation, Social Security, Medicare and tax withholding and pay the majority of the students’ tuition. While students’ family contribution would decrease significantly, the benefits of giving students’ corporate work experience is the real motivation behind the program. We know our students have more than academic obstacles; they have social ones that keep them from success. This program is designed to expose our students to new possibilities and help them attain success.

Cristo Rey Network Schools bill themselves as "schools that work." This is, quite literally, the truth. Verbum Dei High School provides high quality, private, college preparatory education to low income students. The bedrock of a Cristo Rey Model high school is the Corporate Internship or "work" program which places students into entry level clerical positions and generates much needed revenue for the school. Cristo Rey model high schools are able to cover more than 90% of their operating expenses through the work program and a modest tuition. By partnering with local business and not-for-profit organizations, Cristo Rey model schools are changing the face of urban education in the United States.

The Corporate Work Study Program is a win win situation. It's a win for students and it's a win for the organizations employing them. By assuming the role of a temporary employment agency, Verbum Dei High School has streamlined the process for employing our students. The students are not on the payroll of the employing organization. Rather they are employees of the school’s separately incorporated work-study or corporate internship program, which the sponsoring organization pays quarterly, annually or monthly for the services of the students.

For more information about CWSP please contact: