Alderman Raymond Lopez’s 15th Ward office is hiring for two summer internship programs, offering Chicago youth and college students paid positions to learn municipal government while supporting constituent services.
Applications close Friday, May 29 — just one day away.
The office is recruiting one college intern from the City Council Aldermanic College Intern program and approximately 10 interns, aged 16 to 24, through the Chicago Youth Works program, formerly known as One Summer Chicago.
Candidates can apply through www.chicagoyouthworks.org.
The college student internship position pays $15 per hour for 35 hours per week, with work hours from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The position offers flexibility; interns may work slightly less on Sundays and can extend their hours during Thursday ward nights if desired.
The 10 Chicago Youth Works internship positions pay an hourly wage for 20 hours per week, also with 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. work hours.
Mark Alvarez, 15th ward office communications director, said both roles center on constituent services and learning how city government operates at the ward level. Interns answer phones, take service requests from residents, and input cases — work that teaches them about municipal services and their impact on the community.
“You answer phones, constituent phone calls, you take in their service requests,” Alvarez said. “You learn about the basic services that the City provides as you take in these phone calls, you hear their stories and as you input these cases you begin to learn a little about what the City offers, what they don’t offer and what kind of impact you can have by just being here at the office.”
The college intern serves as supervisor to the Chicago Youth Works interns, a responsibility Alvarez held during his own internship. In that role, he helped organize and run an entirely intern-led pop-up event in the 15th Ward — a project that brought city and ward resources directly to residents.
“We bring out a table full of resources the City provides as well as the ward. We sit out there and we listen to resident concerns where they are. Especially those residents who are unable to get to the office, some have mobility issues, seniors who don’t necessarily know to come to the ward office when they have issues,” Alvarez said. “We are, instead, coming to where they are at to provide them with services on their block.”
Pop-up events are scheduled every Thursday starting June 4 throughout neighborhood locations in the ward. The office promotes these events through its newsletter and resident mailers, with each neighborhood receiving its own schedule, he said.
The internship includes responsibilities beyond phone work. Interns maintain a clean, public-ready office space and handle grounds maintenance — tasks that Alvarez described as valuable life skills.
“This is not easy work,” Alvarez said. “While it is a minor part of the job, there were some times when we had to work in the ward office to make it clean and ready for the public to come in and view. That is an especially good life skill for some students who may not have that skill; to come learn how to vacuum an office, how to clean the tables, how to garden outside where we have planters, and how to water [and take care of] the grass.”
The office has a track record of retaining interns. Some high school interns have returned for multiple summers, and Alvarez has personally reached out to former interns to encourage them to apply again, he said.
Alvarez shared the highlight of his internship.
“I would say the most fun thing I did as an intern was to attend a City Council meeting, watching and absorbing everything that happened, seeing how it all runs and how aldermen operate at City Hall,” Alvarez said.
The office hopes to provide continued opportunities for interns to grow within city government. “If we can give them an opportunity to work again, we’ll give them that opportunity,” Alvarez said.
Interested college applicants and 15th Ward students can contact Communications Director Mark Alvarez at 773-823-1539 to submit a resume for consideration, according to Alderman Lopez’s May 14 newsletter.