Bridging the Opportunity Gap: The Success and Struggle of Minneapolis’ Step Up Program

MINNEAPOLIS — Jordan Dotson’s office at Best Buy’s corporate headquarters represents more than just a career in environmental compliance; it is the culmination of a decade-long journey fueled by personal grit and a city-wide initiative designed to break the cycle of generational poverty.

Dotson, a 25-year-old manager, oversees complex regulatory and math-heavy compliance frameworks for the electronics giant. A 2019 graduate of Minneapolis South High School, her path to the corporate suite began on the city’s North Side. To reach the opportunities she sought, she spent years taking two buses every day from her working-class neighborhood to South High, balancing theater rehearsals with the high academic expectations set by her parents.

However, Dotson’s story—once the standard-bearer for Minneapolis’ "Step Up" internship program—is becoming increasingly rare. While the program has transformed the lives of 36,000 teenagers since its inception in 2003, it now faces a critical inflection point. As the Twin Cities grapple with a shifting post-pandemic economy, remote work hurdles, and a cooling climate for diversity initiatives, the pipeline that carried Dotson from a North Side bus stop to a Fortune 500 career is beginning to narrow.

Main Facts: A Program at the Crossroads

The Step Up program, a cornerstone of Minneapolis’ workforce development strategy for over two decades, is currently navigating a period of significant contraction. Designed to connect low-income students and students of color with high-level professional experiences, the program provides training, mentoring, and paid summer internships.

Current State of the Program:

• Declining Participation: From a peak of 2,325 interns in 2011, the program saw a low of 1,250 interns this past summer—a decline of nearly 50% from its record high.
• The Demand Gap: Despite the drop in available slots, student interest remains high. Currently, two teenagers apply for every one available internship, leaving over a thousand motivated youths without placement.
• Economic Impact: Step Up interns earn up to $16.50 per hour for 40-hour work weeks. For many, these wages are not just pocket money but essential contributions to household stability.
• Workforce Demographics: According to the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED), nearly all of Minnesota’s net workforce growth since the early 2000s has come from communities of color and immigrant populations. Programs like Step Up are no longer just "social programs"; they are the primary engines for the state’s future economic viability.

Chronology: From Civic Vision to Post-Pandemic Reality

The history of Step Up is a reflection of the evolving relationship between the public and private sectors in Minnesota.

The Foundation (2003–2010)

In 2003, then-Mayor R.T. Rybak and former U.S. Bancorp CEO Richard Davis recognized a looming crisis: a widening "achievement gap" that threatened to leave a significant portion of the city’s workforce behind. They launched Step Up to bridge the gap between Minneapolis’ elite corporate headquarters and its underserved neighborhoods. Davis, who began his own career as a part-time bank teller, became a fierce advocate for the "mentorship-to-management" pipeline.

The Growth Years (2011–2019)

The program reached its zenith in 2011, placing over 2,300 students. During this era, companies like Best Buy, Target, and U.S. Bank integrated Step Up into their corporate culture. Jordan Dotson entered the program during this period, landing an internship at Best Buy at age 15. For Dotson, the experience was "jarring" but transformative. She worked under Mary Thomas, a Best Buy attorney who would mentor her through her high school years and her subsequent graduation from the University of Minnesota.

The Modern Disruption (2020–Present)

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent shift to remote and hybrid work models fundamentally altered the internship landscape. In 2025, the program’s budget sat at $3.75 million for 1,385 interns, but numbers continued to slide toward the 1,250 mark in 2024. The transition from a centralized office culture to a distributed workforce has made it increasingly difficult for managers to provide the hands-on supervision required for high school interns.

Supporting Data: The Rising Barriers for Youth Employment

The decline in Step Up opportunities coincides with a worsening labor market for Minnesota’s youngest workers. Data from DEED paints a sobering picture of the challenges facing Gen Z and Gen Alpha in the Twin Cities.

Teen Unemployment Trends:
Angelina Nguyen, director of labor market information at DEED, notes that teen unemployment in Minnesota jumped from 7.9% in the spring of 2025 to 13.5% by May of the following year. For Black Minnesotans, these rates are historically even higher, reflecting systemic barriers that programs like Step Up were designed to dismantle.

Market Competition:
Teens are no longer just competing with each other; they are competing with older, more experienced workers who have re-entered the entry-level labor market due to economic necessity. Furthermore, the "traditional" starting blocks—fast food, retail, and entertainment—have seen a contraction in openings over the last 12 months.

The Economic ROI of Mentorship:
While corporate participation is down, the individual return on investment for participants remains staggering. Consider Mike Archer, a Step Up alum and graduate of Minneapolis Southwest High School. Archer, who grew up in a household with a total income of $14,000 a year, began his journey picking up litter in a city park for $7.24 an hour.

"I wasn’t just running around the neighborhood," Archer recalls. "I was responsible. My job gave my mom a break." Today, Archer is a journeyman electrician and foreman, earning $63 an hour. His projected annual income exceeds $100,000, and he is a first-time homeowner—a trajectory he credits directly to the work ethic and responsibility instilled by his first Step Up summer.

Official Responses: Addressing the "DEI Chill" and Remote Work

Program leaders and labor analysts point to a "perfect storm" of factors causing the current stagnation in internship placements.

The Political Climate

There is a growing concern among program advocates regarding the "mercurial" political environment. Analysts suggest that some employers are pulling back from programs specifically targeting students of color due to pressure to avoid anything that could be labeled a "diversity initiative." This "DEI chill" has led some corporations to broaden their criteria or reduce their visible participation in race-conscious workforce programs.

The Managerial Crisis

Tammy Dickinson, the long-time manager of Step Up, identifies a more practical hurdle: manager burnout. "Workforce shifts have resulted in fewer managers available to take on interns," she explains. In a hybrid world, the "compliance brain" and "people skills" that Jordan Dotson mentions as essential are harder to teach through a Zoom screen.

The Industry Shift

Step Up leadership is now looking toward healthcare as the next great frontier. While corporate office roles are shrinking, the demand for personal care assistants and nursing assistants is at an all-time high. Dickinson is calling on healthcare providers to "step up" and view these internships as essential training for their future nursing and medical technology staff.

Implications: The Long-Term Economic Stakes

The contraction of Step Up is not merely a loss for the 1,000-plus students who are turned away each year; it is a long-term risk to Minnesota’s economic infrastructure.

The Talent Pipeline

Minnesota’s population growth is stagnant among white residents, meaning the state’s future tax base and labor pool are entirely dependent on the successful integration of people of color and immigrants into high-wage industries. If the pipeline from North Minneapolis to Best Buy or U.S. Bank is severed, the state faces a future of labor shortages and increased social spending.

Social Mobility and Stability

For mentors like Rene Madrid, a U.S. Bank manager and immigrant from El Salvador, the program is about more than just filling a desk. Madrid has mentored over 50 interns at his East Lake Street office. He notes that even if an intern doesn’t choose banking, they leave with "personal finance, credit, and money management skills." These are the foundational blocks of community stability. One of his top bankers, Jorge Estudillo Castillo, 22, began as a Step Up intern from Cristo Rey High School. His ability to serve the Latino and Black neighborhood in both English and Spanish is an asset that the bank cannot easily replicate through traditional hiring.

The Call to Action

The stories of Jordan Dotson and Mike Archer prove that the Step Up model works. It transforms "at-risk" youth into six-figure earners and corporate managers. However, as the program’s founders Rybak and Davis once argued, the "twin engines" of government and business must both be engaged.

As Step Up looks toward the 2026 season, the challenge remains: Can Minneapolis businesses look past short-term economic uncertainty and the complexities of remote work to reinvest in the human capital of their own backyard? Without a resurgence in employer participation, the path that led Jordan Dotson from a bus stop to a boardroom may soon be overgrown.

"Do what you need to do in order to do what you want to do later," Dotson recalls her parents telling her. The question now is whether the city of Minneapolis will do what it needs to do to ensure that "later" remains a possibility for the next generation.