Budget

In our IMLS grant proposal we budgeted $15 per hour for up to 24 hours of work per week (no less than 10 hours a week). We assumed cohort students (total of 10, five each year) would work for most of the school year and estimated that to be 30 weeks.  

$15/hour x 24 hours/week x 30 weeks = $10,800 per student 

We chose $15 per hour because that will soon be the minimum wage in Illinois. Additionally, some industries will pay students more than that, so we needed to be able to compete. Funding a program exactly like this one will certainly be no small feat; however, this is where you can modify your own program to fit your budget. Some CTE programs may span only a semester rather than an entire school year. You may also decide to scale back on the number of hours per week you can dedicate to a CTE student. A smaller scale might look like this: 

$15/hour x 10 hours/week x 15 weeks = $2250 per student

Work with the CTE teachers and administrators at your local high school to design a program that meets the requirements of the CTE program and fits within the constraints of your budget.

Cohorts 

We designed our program to have a cohort of five students each year. We envisioned the students working at different workplaces and coming together at monthly curriculum meetings to learn from each other and  share experiences. There are many examples, especially in the medical and engineering fields, that highlight the benefits of the relationships built in cohorts. We struggled to recruit students into our program and in the first two years we were unable to build a cohort to the size we imagined. It takes a lot of time and effort to mentor just one student, so a cohort may not be something you can manage. This is ok. We recommend scaling here. If you can only handle mentoring (perhaps supervising, too) one student, then do that. This is work worth doing. 

Professional Development 

Our program included some exciting professional development opportunities for students: traveling to and attending the 2022 and 2023 American Library Association Annual Conferences. We also planned a culminating event to celebrate completing the program. The goal of these experiences was to expose students to networking and recognize the value of continuing education.  

This is another piece of the program to scale to fit your budget and capacity. If traveling to a national conference is not possible, look for local opportunities. We encourage you to reach out to conference organizers and ask for financial assistance for your student(s). If attending an event is out of reach, we recommend seeking out free webinars and free online conferences to gain skills and network with professionals. 

Career Exploration Programs 

If serving as a workplace partner to a CTE program is not something you can do, we recommend you try a small-scale career exploration program to reach out to middle school and high school students.  

Job Shadowing 

Reach out to your local high school and offer the opportunity for students to shadow you for a day. Some schools have job shadow programs already in place. Teach young people about the work we do in libraries. 

Middle School Career Day Presentation 

We were invited to a local middle school to talk to students about working in libraries. Offer to serve on a panel and answer questions from middle school students.