Local Students Receive Job Training Skills

Dejiah Beatty is a student at University of Michigan. PHOTO PROVIDED BY BANK OF AMERICA.
Dejiah Beatty is a student at University of Michigan. PHOTO PROVIDED BY BANK OF AMERICA.

Local Students Receive Job Training Skills

By Tia Carol Jones

A partnership between Urban Alliance and Bank of America is providing local young people with job skills training through paid internships, as well as post-high school planning, with the goal of helping on their journey to fulfilling careers.

Two local young people, David Allen and Dejiah Beatty, are participants in the program. Allen, a student at North Carolina Agricultural & Technology, is working as a Digital Ambassador at the River North branch. Beatty, a student at University of Michigan, is working as a Digital Ambassador at Bank of America’s Hyde Park branch.

Urban Alliance has been around since 1996 and has connected 6,000 young people to paid internships and trained 21,000 young people in workforce skills in Chicago, Baltimore, Detroit and the Washington, DC area.

Prior to their work at Bank of America, Allen and Beatty participated in a three-week training program. They took compliance training and simulations of lobby interactions with clients. The students also have a workplace mentor who gives them immediate support at Bank of America.

Allen wanted to participate in the program because of the opportunity to gain skills that would help him in the future. He has been able to learn about the real world applications of the skills he is learning through the program. As a Digital Ambassador, he is assisting customers who come into the financial center with mobile banking before they go to a relationship banker.

“It’s been a great experience, I’ve really been enjoying my time here. The team that I work with is amazing,” Allen said.

Allen added that the team has been able to answer every question he has. He likes being the first face customers see when they walk into the bank. The staff and the customers have been patient with him during his time there.

Allen is studying criminal justice at North Carolina A&T. Urban Alliance has been helping him with his college and career goals, including scholarship assistance. Allen’s experience at Bank of America has given him access to careers within financial institutions.

“Bank of America has opened my eyes to corporate security and the banking world, with careers in security, including security analysts … Bank of America has also opened my eyes to doing corporate side law to make sure the networks are safe,” he said.

Allen is grateful for the connections he has made through Urban Alliance and during his time at Bank of America with his paid internship.

Beatty wanted to participate in the program so that she could tap into her minor, which is business administration. Her work during her internship includes helping the clients check-in and helping them navigate the mobile apps for immediate support and solutions, while helping them decrease their wait time while they are in the bank lobby.

As an alumni of the Urban Alliance program, Beatty has access to summer internships and engagements that the program has to offer. Beatty is studying to be a cardiac surgeon, with hopes of opening her own clinic.

“One thing that I’ve learned as I began navigating my personal journey and my career journey, is that personal health and personal finance are two of the most crucial aspects in every person’s life and they’re not always the easiest to talk about. I’m happy to be gaining the fluency of both of those skills,” Beatty said.

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