Local governments across the country are confronting a familiar workforce challenge: how do we attract the next generation of employees to public service? The City of Fort Collins, Colorado, is taking a long-term approach. Rather than waiting until young people enter the workforce to introduce them to municipal careers, the city is creating opportunities for future employees that begin as early as middle school and continue through high school and college.

Through volunteer service, internships, mentoring and work-based learning, Fort Collins is building a citywide talent pipeline designed to introduce young people to public service while developing skills and relationships that can carry forward into their careers.

Starting the Pipeline Early

The effort grew from two challenges. Volunteer opportunities for teenagers were historically difficult to find, even though volunteer experience can strengthen college and job applications. At the same time, many young people had little exposure to civic engagement or an understanding of what municipal government does. Fort Collins saw an opportunity to address both.

The City's NextGenServe program gives teenagers an entry point into local government through a city-managed volunteer club. Participants spend time serving their community while gaining firsthand exposure to municipal operations and the wide variety of careers available in local government. The city's goal is to spark that interest as early as middle school and provide opportunities to sustain it through college.

That early exposure matters. A teenager may know that cities employ police officers, firefighters or parks employees, but may have little idea about the careers available in information technology, finance, human resources, engineering, communications, planning, utilities and dozens of other specialties. Working alongside City employees makes those possibilities visible.

From Volunteer to Intern to Future Employee

What distinguishes the Fort Collins approach is that youth engagement isn't treated as a single summer program. Instead, the city is creating a continuum of experiences.

NextGenServe provides an initial introduction through volunteer service. High school and college internships then offer opportunities for deeper engagement and real-world experience within City departments. An Internship Cohort program adds professional development, networking and relationship-building to the experience.

Together, those programs create a pathway that can move a young person from initial exposure to municipal government toward increasingly meaningful work experiences, and potentially toward a career in public service.

Learning More Than a Job

Fort Collins has also designed its work-based learning opportunities to develop skills young people can carry into any profession. Experiences span numerous city departments and extend to local nonprofit organizations, exposing participants to both public service and philanthropic careers. City staff members serve as mentors, helping young people develop workplace skills such as teamwork and time management. Each work-based learning experience concludes with participants presenting what they have learned to city leadership.

That structure turns a summer experience into something more substantial. Young people aren't simply completing assigned tasks; they are developing professional skills, forming relationships with mentors and learning how organizations and communities work.

A Citywide Approach Built Through Partnerships

Another important element of the Fort Collins model is where the program resides organizationally. Rather than being operated independently by a single department, the initiative is housed within Human Resources, providing an enterprise-wide perspective. Departments collaborate to develop volunteer projects and connect participants with employees who can share their professional experiences.

External partnerships expand that reach. The local school district helps connect students with the program and with resources available through their schools, while nonprofit organizations provide additional opportunities for meaningful community service. The result is an approach that views workforce development not simply as an HR responsibility, but as a collaborative effort involving the entire organization and community.

A Replicable Model for Local Government

Teen programs aren't new to local government. What Fort Collins believes makes its approach different is its citywide talent-pipeline focus.

Many youth programs are centered within individual departments. Fort Collins instead houses its program in Human Resources and connects experiences across the organization, creating a broader pathway from youth engagement to potential employment. The city believes that model can be replicated by other local governments.

That offers an important lesson for communities confronting workforce shortages. Recruiting the next generation of public servants doesn't necessarily have to begin with a job posting. It can begin years earlier, with a teenager volunteering on a city project, meeting a municipal employee, discovering a career they didn't know existed and beginning to see local government differently.

For Fort Collins, innovation in the talent pipeline means creating those connections early and providing young people with opportunities to keep building on them. In doing so, the city isn't just filling today's workforce pipeline. It is helping cultivate the public servants, community leaders and engaged residents who will shape local government in the years ahead.

For more information contact Sue Schafer, Manager of Volunteer Services, Fort Collins, CO, at sschafer@fcgov.com.

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