Advancing San Diego: Building talent pipelines
EDC’s Advancing San Diego (ASD) internship program, run in partnership with the Border Region Talent Pipeline K-16 Collaborative and Imperial Valley EDC, has transformed how students across San Diego gain early career experience, while helping local businesses address talent needs. In Summer 2025, the ASD program placed 210 interns at 110 companies across San Diego and Imperial Counties, creating an invaluable bridge between education and industry in high-growth, high-wage fields like engineering, computing, and business. This program plays a crucial role in addressing regional talent shortages, helping local companies access vetted, diverse talent and offering students paid, hands-on learning opportunities in high-demand industries.
Summer 2025 by the numbers
*Priority populations include low-income individuals, first-generation college students, current community college students or community college transfers, veterans and active-duty military students, and students with disabilities
Addressing the talent gap with community impact
At the heart of ASD’s mission is a commitment to reaching under-resourced communities, ensuring that students from diverse backgrounds gain valuable career experience while helping local businesses address critical talent needs. Companies apply each year by early spring to host students from Advancing San Diego Verified Programs to be interns. These Verified Programs are selected based on industry-determined criteria, including industry engagement, diversity, equity, and inclusion, as well as curriculum that teaches the most in-demand skills in computing, engineering, and business. This approach ensures that students’ skills align with evolving workforce demands, enhancing the overall impact of the internship experience.
EDC recruits local small to medium-sized businesses to host interns, and once companies are selected, students from Verified Programs apply for available internship roles. With more student applicants than available positions, students from priority populations receive preferred access to internship positions. In Summer 2025, 82 percent of interns identified with one or more priority populations, up nine percent from 2024. Importantly, the program provides financial support covering intern wages at a competitive rate. In 2025, local companies saved more than $1 million in payroll costs, ensuring businesses can prioritize mentorship and on-the-job training over recruitment logistics.
Real-world experience and career advancement
Each year, the internship program provides students with valuable work experience directly linked to their academic pursuits, equipping them with practical skills and career confidence. At the same time, companies benefit from student contributions. Surveyed companies shared that hosting interns improved their outlook on early-career talent: 91 percent agreed or strongly agreed that the program increased their likelihood of hiring a university student, and 82 percent said the same for community college students. For employers, this means a pipeline of highly motivated, well-prepared candidates who bring immediate value.
Day in the Life of a San Diego Intern video campaign
During the 2025 summer internship program, ASD launched its first “Day in the Life of a San Diego Intern” video campaign, inviting interns to share a glimpse into their internship experience through short videos. Thanks to generous donations from the San Diego Padres, San Diego FC, San Diego Wave FC, San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, and SeaWorld San Diego, ASD was able to give five lucky winners tickets to signature San Diego experiences. The video campaign gave ASD interns the opportunity to share their professional experiences with the local business community and increase exposure of careers in San Diego to diverse groups of local young talent.
“After our sixth year partnering with this valuable program, Left Coast Engineering has hosted more than a dozen interns across electrical, mechanical, and aerospace engineering, plus computer science majors. As a small business here in San Diego since 1999, we see this as an opportunity to help develop and equip these engineering students with
both the skillsets and mindset for successful product development. Our goal is to help engineers graduate with more experience and more value to benefit any hiring company.”
—Anita Baranowski, CEO, Left Coast Engineering
Is your company interested in hosting summer interns in 2026?
Learn more about San Diego’s workforce trends and insights
To learn more and get involved in EDC’s work, contact:
Emily Chowaniec
Coordinator, Talent Initiatives