UMW Receives $200,000 in V-TOP Grants for Growing Internships

A pair of $100,000 V-TOP grants from the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia will allow the University of Mary Washington to continue expanding opportunities for student internships.

The University of Mary Washington has received $200,000 in Virginia Talent + Opportunity Partnership (V-TOP) grants to enhance internship and work-based learning opportunities.

"There's no substitute for a quality internship as part of the undergraduate experience," said UMW Provost Timothy O'Donnell. "We are so pleased to have increased support to make this a reality for more UMW students."

A combination of a pair of $100,000 grants - the Student Internship Support Grant and the Internship Data Collection Grant - the funds bolster an effort already in progress to expand work-based learning at Mary Washington.

"These awards from the Virginia Talent + Opportunity Partnership will support our institutional goal to help students prepare for Life After Mary Washington," said UMW Center for Career and Professional Development Director Antoinette Jenkins. Life After Mary Washington is the University's current Quality Enhancement Plan - part of the reaffirmation of accreditation process that happens every 10 years - aiming to weave internships and other career-readiness endeavors into the fabric of the UMW experience.

By the time they graduate, nearly 30 percent of all Mary Washington students have completed some type of internship. And last summer, V-TOP named UMW a "Top Employer for Interns."

A $250,000 grant awarded to Mary Washington in summer 2022 got the ball rolling in growing these efforts, allowing for the creation of the Rappahannock Work and Learn Collaborative (RWLC), also run by Jenkins. Composed of partners representing GO Virginia Region 6 - Fredericksburg, and the Middle Peninsula and Northern Neck - the RWLC is charged with expanding work-based learning opportunities, especially paid internships, for K-12 and post-secondary students.

The two new awards will keep the effort moving, with the Student Internship Support Grant supplying 50 students with $2,000 to offset internship-related costs such as transportation, housing, professional attire and supplies. The Internship Data Collection Grant will help procure a platform to collect and analyze student internship participation statistics, filling a shared need for such information by both UMW and the commonwealth. The funding also will provide incentives for students to complete internship preparation training and to report internship participation.

All three grants, which total $450,000, come from the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) as part of the Commonwealth Innovative Internship Fund and Program. SCHEV administers the V-TOP program in partnership with the Virginia Chamber of Commerce Foundation and the Virginia Business Higher Education Council.

In addition to the creation of the RWLC and the hiring of Jenkins as its director, the original 2022 grant allowed UMW to sponsor and help plan the Fredericksburg Regional Chamber of Commerce's 2023 and 2024 Intern Expos for hundreds of area students.

Region 6 also boasts the highest level of participation across the state in a V-TOP initiative that provides matching funds and/or state-funded staffing agency support for small to mid-sized businesses to hire interns. More than 40 employers are in the pipeline for the program, with more than half having fulfilled all the prerequisites.

"This is significant," said Jenkins, who facilitates the prerequisite training programs. "The rate at which employers in our region have embraced the opportunity to pursue the Matching Funds Program is a testament to the dedication of the RWLC."

The funding, efforts and enthusiasm have a twofold effect on the greater Fredericksburg area, said Associate Provost for Career and Workforce Kimberly Young. "As the region's only four-year academic institution, we have the important responsibility to not only support our students' career preparation through work-based learning, but to engage and support our regional employers in the process."

Public link

Please use the above public link if you want to share this noodl on another website.